DOMINICA!

            DOMINICA! Let me tell you, what a beautiful island! I am from Seattle where there is a plethora of green and lush nature but this island kicks Seattle’s ass in that department. The only thing you see from the boat looking out onto the island is a beautiful lush landscape. The first day we were in Dominica I had no tours planned so a friend and I took a walk around the downtownish area of the island. As we walked around in the hot and sticky air I observed men walking around barefoot in the middle of the street, street vendors selling their main crop, bananas, and children in uniforms for school. The houses were bright and vibrant colored but maybe the size of my room at home, some the size of my closet. PRETTY UNBELIEVABLE. It was an eye opening short walk around the area that’s for sure.

            The next day it was a turn of events in weather that is for sure, down pouring cold rain with a sticky, hot air. GROSS to say the least. My tour went in vans up into the lush areas of the country. While driving on extremely windy roads up crazyyyy inclines, our crappy van broke down a good 5 to 6 times. Every time I grabbed my friend Chelsea’s hand and freaked out about falling backwards down the hills. We discussed getting a voice note on our BBM ready to send to our parents as our last words hahaha. But each time we broke down the driver just put on the brakes, restarted it, and we kept on going, NO BIG DEAL.

            We reached our first stop on the tour, Emerald Pool, which was absolutely breathtaking. Thank goodness my mom and dad forced me to pack rain gear though because while I was comfortable and not getting wet in my rain gear, walking the hike to the cite, my friends were stripped down to their bathing suits. The guide told them to leave their clothes in the van so that they have dry clothes to come back to. YAY I was prepared J The Emerald Pool was a beautiful waterfall coming out of lush greenery and rocky surroundings. Some people went swimming in the pool of water under the waterfall, which they said was amazing and quite surreal. Then we left and drove to the other side of the island to see the Trafalgar Falls, two gorgeous 75+ feet waterfalls. I can’t tell you how amazing these waterfalls were; I have never seen a waterfall so big and beautiful. While standing looking at them I felt nothing but peace and serenity. MY MOTHER WOULD HAVE PROBABLY CRIED IT WAS SO AMAZING.

            That first night everyone from the ship was eager to get out and see the nightlife on the island. We went to a bar called JR’s, where the roof was well not existent. You could look up in the building and see the night sky. Pretty cool.  We drank the beer made in Dominica, Kubuli. It was surprisingly really tasty. As we left JR’s to find the next place we were going to check out, taxi drivers telling us about a club called crazy coconuts bombarded us. It was a little funny though because the guys that were offering to drive us to this club had beers in their hands and had also just left the bar we were also at. My friends and I thought it was hilarious that we were being offered a ride from taxi drivers that may be more intoxicated than we were. We did end up going to crazy coconuts though, for a minimal 6 dollars. J  The music playing at the club was CRACKING ME UP!!! They were playing songs that were popular in America 3 years ago. It is interesting how slowly that type of media reaches other countries. We left the club around 12 and headed back to the ship, to find extremely intoxicated people ALL over the ship. It was hilarious to watch these students try and handle themselves in front of the staff on the ship. Apparently a girl came back that night and had to be carried to the doctor by locals, she blew a 0.4 dear god!!!! Thank goodness I’m smarter than that J

            The second night we left the port around 8 pm. The captain of the ship must have been eager to get back on the water because we were going around 29 knots. FAST! When we reached the open waters of the Atlantic Oceans it was ROCKINGGGGG let me tell you. The boat was not only shaking and felt like an earthquake but it was also going up and down with the movement of HUGE waves. Everyone was getting seasick and I was scared that we were going to capsize. That is how horrible it was.

            Now that we are back at sea for 4 days, on our way to the Amazon, we have class everyday, which means homework. I think the one thing I overlooked about this trip is that we actually have to do school work. The idea that I’m on a cruise ship with friends and I have to sit down and do my homework really doesn’t appeal to me.  Although it was a difficult task to get myself to actually focus, I finally got there and got everything done.

            Tonight I am meeting with my group for my global studies project on measurements of poverty in Brazil and I can’t wait to get that out of the way!!! It is my biggest project and thankfully my group all decided we wanted to do it ASAP so we don’t have to worry about it the rest of the cruise. Well that is all for now. Next stop AMAZON! I will do my best to write a little more frequently.

Xoxo

-me-