Dominica!

(No not the Dominica Republic, but pronounce it is with a ghetto accent)

Dominica's amazing beautiful!! I woke up at sunrise to watch the boat pull into the island; it easily could have been one of the most beautiful sunrises I've ever seen! After suiting up and packing a small backpack for the I headed out with my friends Brittany, Lana, Cody, Joe, and Cameron we wondered into town where we hired a driver to take us around the tiny island! For just 15 dollars we explored the town by car and checked out the Bionomic gardens. After this we headed up the hills to swim in some secret waterfalls! On the way we stopped at some fruit stands to try the fruit of the island (although SAS advises not to eat anything that wasn't cleaned with good water- or anything at all) we also ran into a man on the road with a snake around his neck and a machete in his hand! So by the time we had arrived to those "secret falls" all the other drivers had decided to share the "secret" with all the other travelers on the island. Oh well! We hiked on down a pretty rigorous path to the two falls and swam for a tad. I mentioned in earlier post about attempting to develop Sea legs, whelp there's also this thing called land legs. It's when you're so used to the swaying of the sea and you finally get to solid land you constantly think it's moving. So, naturally I no longer have land legs and think there's a continuing earthquake! That made hiking all the more interesting! 

After all the stumbling around we did we had worked up an appétit so we asked Benjamin to take us to his favorite local spot. We ended up at a unnamed restaurant that served two items; Curried fish and Curried beef. We all took the safer route and went for the curried beer.. it was really delicious! Following lunch we had Benjamin drive us to the east side of the island to Rosalie Forest where we had heard about a lodge with a tree house.  After an hour drive through the Islands Mountains he had taken us as far as we could go, we walked the rest on foot until we finally found the reception. Their we were told that we could stay in the tree house up the hill for 20 bucks a person the only thing was that its was a 15-minute hike uphill through the rainforest, which was HUGE understatement. It was closer to 25 minutes of hiking an intense steep hill! Once moment (the hippie lady that worked there) finally got us to our tree she showed us that you must but wood chips down after we pee. We drank some Caribbean rum bottle and headed back town to the river to swim! The water was crystal clear and fresh... just what us stinky kids needed! After attempting to play jungle Jane and swing from a vine and failing I just splashed around with the others! We met the British man that owned the land next store and told us his property had a bar and to stop by! We followed the signs for the "bar" which actually turned out to be similar to a small hut- but hey the beers were cold! So we hung around and listened to the tails of his life! By this time the rainforest has turned completely dark except for the fireflies. This is when we realized we had left our flashlights in our tree…at the top of the massive hill. Imagine the adventure of six kids more or less hiking in the middle of a the dark rainforest! After many tumbles, bumps and bruises we made it back to the tree house and eventually fell asleep to the noises of the jungle and the rain taping our tin roof.

            Benjamin had promised to pick us up from the forest the next morning around 10, so around nine we headed out to make the long trek back to the road he had left us on the day before. During the journey we recapped the nights and bruise and remembered all the weirdness that happened that night.. like Brittany jumping out of the window, my jungle Jane rope burn or the mystery of who broke the railings! We were relieved to see that Benjamin the driver had kept his word to get us. Once back in town we spent the day on the black sand beach soaking up the sunlight! Next stop Brazil!!