Carnival 2011

It's that time of the year again! Carnival!!! So last year I didn't participate in any of the Carnival activities (sorry, large crowds of drunk people really don't appeal too much to me), but Molly's family was visiting so I decided that I would tag along with them if they did anything related to Carnival. I actually did want to see what it was all about. The opening festivities actually started about two weeks ago, but I only wanted to see the main thing. So on Monday, there was all sorts of activities in Portsmouth. It started at 3am with J'ouvert (pronounced Jew-Vay) which means "dawn or daybreak" (hence the 3am start time!). Of course, I decided to stay in my comfy bed for this and let everyone else get up at the crack of dawn (or more likely the case, still be up from partying the night before!). Molly and her mom did decide to go (they went at a more reasonable time of 6am) but only stayed 45 min.

I did however go and watch the parade in Portsmouth on Monday afternoon (as is any caribbean fashion, what was supposed to start at 3pm, didn't actually begin until closer to 5pm). My friend Susie (see earlier blog) is back in town, and she dressed up and participated in the parade (second picture of her in her costume on the beach). This is more of the traditional get-up that you will see in Trinidad or Rio (Brazil). The first picture is what a lot of the people here actually wear (complete with the ghoulish mask). The parade in Portsmouth was very short (I was under-whelmed, so maybe next year I'll have to go to Roseau and see it proper). There was a whole bunch of little girls in white and red cowgirl costumes (they had to be cheerleaders or a dance team or something of the sort), very cute; the ghoulish guys running around, and the Ross t-shirt "band" (no they weren't playing music, but they were walking behind a two story speaker truck!). That was pretty much it...see, now you're disappointed too!

So historically Carnival (or Mardi Gras in the states) is the very beginning of Lent (for those of you not religious inclined). So basically Tuesday was Mardi Gras, which literally translates as "Fat Tuesday." That was the last day to engorge yourself before Lent actually begins, which is on Wednesday or "Ash Wednesday." During Lent, you are supposed to give up something. This year, I've decided to give up desserts (chocolate, cookies, cake, and ice cream...please God, give me strength!!). A few years ago, I gave up Starbucks, which didn't turn out so good (I blame my professor, who is Catholic and told me about the "loop hole." So Sundays apparently don't count for Lent, which is 40 days and 40 nights and signifies the time Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by Satan. If you count the days, it's closer to 50, so Sundays are free days and you can have what you gave up. Once I found that out, I only lasted half the time.) Hopefully this year I'll do better and ignore the "loop hole" days.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to next year, and maybe I'll get to see all the cool costumes! Can't wait for Lent to be over, luckily I'll be at my Grandma's for Easter so great food awaits!!

Boiling Lake...check!!

So I FINALLY did Boiling Lake. Let me tell you, I've actually been scared to do this hike for the past year. This is one of the "big 3" hikes in Dominica (and the longest at 10 miles). Some people say of the big 3 that it is the easiest, but it is definitely an endurance test. I purposefully did several long hikes (5 milers) that were moderately rated 2-3 out of 5, and then some harder rated hikes 4-5 out of 5, that were short in duration 1-1.5 hrs. This one takes the cake though...rated 5 out of 5 and takes anywhere from 2-4 hours...each way...yes, you are reading that correctly, a 4-8 hour hike. I finally decided this semester that I was going to do it, even if it killed me. So early last Saturday morning we head down south to Roseau to the start of the trail near Titou Gorge (where I've done the Canyoning trips). We started with 15 people (and we ended with only 13!) up the trail at around 8:30am. Now, I'm not fast (5 ft in height can only give you such large stepping ability), but I'm not the slowest person on earth either so I figured I'd be in the middle of the pack. As soon as we get there it starts raining (and rains the ENTIRE hike)...which I was actually glad for because it was a pleasant temperature and I'd much rather rain and slightly overcast rather than hot sun! The majority of the hike was in covered forest and much of the hike was stairs (basically this hike was 10 miles on a stair master). Quite a few river crossings and some scrambles up and down old river beds. The majority of the hike there is uphill. It trick ya...its kind of a low grade initially, then come all the stairs. There are some downhill parts, but everytime I came to those, I couldn't help thinking, damn, I have to go back up those (there is a pic on my facebook account if you want to see). :( I can do low grade incline nicely, but the steep parts are what always kill me. Luckily I knew that if I just took my time, I would eventually get there. When we finally got to the top of the first mountain, the views were amazing! And better yet, the next part was all downhill!!! We get to this crazy section where we are actually climbing down a waterfall (I kinda slide down it on my butt...I'm more secure that way) and then arrived in the Valley of Desolation (see pic above on bottom). This place has been described as "other worldly." Which I guess is true, especially if you are in Dominica where everything is green. Here you have to be careful because these are active fumaroles, so if you step in the wrong place (like I did), you sink into the mud/quicksand like areas and lose your shoe (I eventually got it back). There are streams running through here, but they are VERY hot, so you want to avoid them. The Valley of Desolation was pretty cool. After this, you walk through the (now) warm river, cross over another river, and more stairs up a second mountain, and then over another river. (Yes, I know by now you are singing "To Grandmother's House We Go!") A short scramble up an old river bed and then a short walk to arrive at the Boiling Lake (see pic above on top). And it only took me 3 hours to get this far!!! It is the 2nd largest boiling lake in the world. Not entirely what i expected though. There was a ton of steam (to be expected) and the majoring boiling part is in the middle (I thought it would be more like a rolling boil everywhere). This is because there is a magma chamber underneath it. We ended up on a ridge right above it, so I didn't go down right to the lake (it's not like you can take a dip in it anyways), but it was still pretty cool. (Take note that I get dehydrated REALLY easily so I came prepared with 2.5L of water and 500ml of Gatorade...At this point I've gone through 1.5L of water and the gatorade). We chilled out here only for about 30 minutes (I know, 3 hours of walking just to get there and we didn't stay very long), but this is because it started raining and it was FREEZING!!! I was huddled under part of a rock with another girl shivering, so we decided to head back. The hike home was uneventfuly, except that I did 90% of the hike back by myself! The fast group went ahead (took them 2 hours to get back), I was in the middle (took me 3 hours to get back, the rest of my water, and another liter after I was done!), and the slow group was behind me (4 hours to get back). See, going up was harder for the cardio, coming back was harder on the body (imagine walking down stairs for 3 hours). Let's just say, the next day the parts of me that were sore were my calves and my quads (not my butt like I thought)~ was unsore about 4 days later. Now, a little over a week out, the only nagging injury is a blister that burst on the way TO the lake (and then I had to hike 3 hours back with it), so I've got a hole in the side of my foot that is slowly healing, but I'm having to treat it like it was infected (I don't think it was, but just to be on the safe side...I like having all my extremities). So, when I got done with the hike my comment was, "One and done!" I'm glad that I did it (and in 6 hours, under my goal time of 6.5 hours) and it was cool to see and I can say that I've done it, but I don't know that I would ever do it again! :) I'll let you know when I do the other 2 hikes on the "big 3 list!"

A housemate has arrived!

I've got a new neighbor!!! Back story first though... So when I first moved into my apartment, and English couple (Tess and Kevin) lived below me with their three dogs (Honey, Bell, Ocho). They moved out in March of this year (have their own land and have built some eco-cottages near where I live). So for the past 5 months, I've essentially had the whole place to myself. Nice and quiet, but always can be unnerving at times (no male presence or dogs, just deter any potential problems). Also, lucky for me, I never had any issues with no one living below me. But all that has changed now!

At the end of August, a new Ross faculty named Molly (from Wisconsin/Minnesota~~and yes, she has the accent to prove it) moved in with her dog Cocoa (chocolate lab- who doesn't have the accent and rarely barks at all). And lucky for me, she's my age so potentially an instant friend. As fate would have it, we get along great. I love her dog (and my cats are adjusting to the dogs visits~ they're not running away as much and actually are coming to investigate) and it's nice to be able to take walks with someone else and an animal (safety in numbers, especially from all the locals trying to pick you up!), watch tv shows or movies with someone, and have dinner parties and eat on the patio furniture she brought with her! She gets along great with my friends that I have introduced her to as well, so extra special plus.

So hasta la vista empty house and buenos dias to company when you want it!! Woo hoo!! BTW...I may have several adventures (a la: the hiking kind) lined up for this semester so look forward to some new posts coming in the next couple of months!

I'm YOUR weather girl....

AAAAHHHH.....Hurricane season. :) Yes, that is a smiley face. So unless you've been living under a rock for the past two weeks you know that the Atlantic hurricane season is in full swing. Growing up on the southeast coast of the US, this is nothing new. I've been in my fair share of hurricanes (luckily I've lived a good ways inland so I haven't really been horribly affected by them), so nothing new to me. You would think that living in the caribbean, where all the hurricanes usually pass through first before they get to the states, I would see a lot more. Not so says I. Luckily for me the Windward Islands (of which Dominica is considered) are a little more southern so the hurricanes usually turn north before they get to us. Such as Earl and Fiona did this past week. (Sorry to all my peeps in NC who got battered by Earl yesterday.) Now, Fiona turned north much earlier and was of lesser caliber, so we didn't see any effects of her at all. Earl on the other hand...

Right now Dominica is hot. Hot, sunny, and humid. Yeah yeah..tough life, I know. But believe it or not, sunny tropical days get old (especially if it's upper 80's or low 90's and 80% humidity!). So when Earl in all its massiveness came through the area last week, it was actually kind of a nice change. (I know you're thinking, "What kind of crazy girl actually likes hurricanes?") See Hurricane Earl went much more north of us, so we didn't get it full on, just some of the southern leading bands. This meant cloudy skies with a little rain (not much), the wind picked up a bit (more so right on the water, I really couldn't tell that much at my house), and crazy seas. Crazy seas meaning 10-12 foot swells on the normally calm and flat Caribbean side of the island. A welcome from "gorgeous" weather. AND....I'm NOT the only one that thought that (three of my girlfriends said the same thing I'll have you know)! We actually sat on the beach and watched the waves and had a glass of wine and birthday cake.

Dominica does get hit head on by hurricanes and some nasty ones at that. I don't mind if they stay away while I'm here. The next storm (Gaston) is actually tracking to hit us dead on sometime in the middle of next week (luckily it is just a tropical depression so it should be a cake walk...but it makes me giggle to see everyone squirm who's never experienced one before). So the lesser of the hurricanes...BRING IT ON (you bigger ones can keep turning north however) this chica is excited for cloudy and stormy days every now and then! (Disclaimer: This blog may be updated next week to cancel out everything I just said if Gaston and the one behind it get bigger, hit us head on, and really mess things up! However, let's hope not.)

It's electric!! (boogie woogie woogie)

Today's society has too much sensory overload. You come to appreciate that living on a developing island. In the states, you're always running around doing something...driving you car while listening to the radio, texting or talking on your cell phone, surfing on the internet or even having your butt parked on your couch while watching television for hours on end. Now, don't get me wrong...you can do that all here too, just not always.

For example, we have days where the power is just off. No reason or warning, just "Sorry, you don't get electricity today." This morning I woke up (yeah yeah, I dragged myself out of bed at 10am, but in my defense I couldn't get to sleep last night until around 2:30am) and realized my fan was not working. I immediately knew that, "okay, today is going to be one of those mornings I don't have power." After you experience this a few times you get used to it and at least your first thought isn't "oh crap..." So I went on my morning like I normally do (feed the cats, clean the litter box, make breakfast...luckily the stove and oven are gas powered so at least you can eat when there's no electricity) and instead of eating my breakfast while watching tv, I sat at the kitchen table and read a magazine. At this point, the power still isn't on. So, I finish putting up my clothes from the four loads of laundry I did yesterday, sat and watched the rain for a bit, and then decided in the midst of a break in the rain that I was going to go for a walk/jog. The walk/jog killed about an hour (just over 3 miles) when otherwise I probably would've been inside watching tv. Others were out and about, playing in the sea, fishing, and chatting to their neighbors (when is the last time you just chatted with your neighbor?) even though there was a slight rain off and on (exercising in the rain is actually quite enjoyable). Came back home (still no power) but was thoroughly hot and soaked so I took a cold shower (still no power remember), which can actually be quite enjoyable once you get over the initial shock. Then finished reading a book that I had started a while back. Right at the end of my book (around 3:15pm) the power came back on. So after I finished my book I turned on the tv and caught the end of the gymnastics championships.

Now, not once today was I upset that I had no power. It's actually quite liberating to have this happen once in a while (luckily they always turn it back on before it gets dark, but I have candles and flashlights just in case). So, in the end, I challenge all of you (back in the states and leading your cushy lives with technology surrounding you) to go a whole day (let's say from the time you wake up until 5pm) without electricity (no tv, computer, internet, etc) and see what you can get out of it and if you actually enjoy going back to the "olden days." Peace out!!

New sports

This past weekend I had my first experience with cricket and actually I was pleasantly surprised. Since Dominica used to be occupied by the British at one point, it's no surprise that cricket is one of the two main sports here (obviously futbol, aka soccer, is the other). Now, I previously lived in Australia for about 6 months, at which time I went without being drawn into the cricket thing. I got exposed to "footy" (which I think EVERYONE needs to get into because that has to be the toughest, manliest sport in the world!), but always steered clear of cricket. This partly because cricket seems to get a bad rep for being extremely boring, but once you get it explained to you it isn't that bad (it's definitely better than baseball). The game or "test" I went to was a ODI (one day international) test between the West Indies (Windies) and South Africa. This is only the second time they've played in Dominica (I think our stadium has only been built for 2 years). There was a game on Friday that I didn't go to, and then one on Sunday (obviously I attended that one). Cricket is an all day thing (on the 5 day tests, they actually stop for tea!), so the test started at 9:30am and didn't finish until 6pm (there was a 45 min. break in there for lunch). The thing with cricket is that one entire team goes "up to bat" first to try to score as many runs as possible, then the other team will bat and see if they can beat that number of runs (as opposed to baseball where they keep trading off). Since it was a one day match, there were only 50 "overs" allowed per team (an over is 6 balls or pitches, aka bowls), so for the baseball inclined a team has 300 pitches to get as many runs as possible. Now I'll go ahead and tell you the final score for each team was over 300. So, I know you're scratching your head and saying, "How exactly does that work?" Well, if the batter hits the ball, he can get anywhere from 0 runs to 6 runs. Obviously if he hits the ball and doesn't run it's a 0, otherwise if he hits the ball he and his partner run to the opposite of the pitch to score a run~ as many times as possible before the other team gets the ball back to the wickets (that I'll explain later). There is also a large rope around the field. If the ball passes this rope (after it has touched the ground) it's an automatic 4 runs, while if the batter hits the ball over the rope before it touches the ground it counts as 6 runs (think of a grand slam in baseball). This way it's possible for a guy to score more than one run everyone he hits the ball. So I enjoyed and cheered the whole morning while the Windies were at bat~ we scored 303 runs!! In the afternoon when South Africa was batting I actually took a nap for quite a while (hehe, it was crazy hot and I had a headache) but then cheered the last 20 overs. Talk about a close but exciting game. It literally came down to the last ball...the score was tied at 303...and unfortunately the guy fumbled on the last chance and South Africa pulled out a win 304/3-303/6 (as it is reported, SA won by 7 wickets~ think of a wicket as an out and there are 10 outs in cricket). Anyway, a lot was learned and I would definitely go again. I think losing to the #2 team in the world (for ODIs) by one measly run isn't too bad. I think next year we play India!!! Until next time...

The people you meet...

One of the great things about living on a caribbean island is having a lot "outsiders" coming to visit. I've been hanging out with the owner of the dive shop in the Portsmouth area who just happens to also own a cafe which just happens to be on my way home from work. Most convenient for a glass of wine while watching the sun set over the caribbean ocean after a long day's work. (Insert all your sighs and jealous faces and eye rolls here.) This is also the location of a bay (Prince Rupert Bay, to be exact) that a lot of boats, yachts as they are called here, anchor for how ever long their stay is. Yachts mean mostly sailboats, single hulls over catamarans mainly, to the un-marine versed. These are yachts from all locales and crews from all walks of life. Some yachts are owned privately (including this crazy mega yacht "A" that stopped by for a brief afternoon~~you've got to google that boat!), while others are chartered out for different amounts of time. There are the frequent visitors, of which this blog will be expanding on, and those who just pass through. People from UK, New Zealand, France, Canada, US (I even met another North Carolinian), Swiss, other caribbean isles, etc. So it is always an interesting afternoon at the cafe because you never know who you're going to meet (and yes, I've definitely met a few hotties- mostly UK- to flirt with for a time).

Anyway, where is this going..well on Saturday, my friend Orla and I spent a lovely afternoon on a british lady named Susie's boat, "Spirited Lady of Fowley." Susie is one of those frequent visitors. She's been living on a boat and sailing the caribbean for the past 7 or 8 years. Her current boat is a beautiful 54 ft. single hull, which she also races. She rotates crew a lot and I might try to crew for her at some point, maybe as soon as August for a week or so. It just seems like it'd be a fun thing to do and I'd love to learn to sail! Susie is the owner of the dive shop's friend. I think I may have met Susie briefly on one of her prior trips. She's a lot of fun and Orla and I had a grand time just hanging out on her boat, doing some snorkeling off the bow, snacking on yummy caribbean treats, and spoiling her dog Shubie with love and attention (this is whom I'm pictured with). Without hanging out "with the locals" in a spot frequented by "yachties," I would've never met Susie, or the others that I have met and befriended. Hopefully there will be many more friends made and adventures to be had while I'm hanging out in Dominica. My advice to all is to "go native!"