Middleham Falls and Titou Gorge

Yesterday I went to Middleham Falls and Titou Gorge. I went with the Ross's Spouse's Organization. We left around 8:30am on the hour and half trek to the state park where Middleham Falls is located. They are the tallest falls in Dominica, a little over 300 ft high. It was a pretty basic hike to the falls, it took about 45 minutes one way. Along the way we found raspberries growing so we made sure we ate at least a handful!! We also came across these flowers that look and feel just like wax, I told you it was the land of make believe... They call the flowers bluewax.

Some photos of the hike to the falls...

You can hear the water from the falls about 5 minutes before you actually get there. When we came up on the falls, there is a platform built off the side of the mountain so you can enjoy the falls without climbing down the rocks. Me and two other spouses of course climbed down the rocks and swam in the pool under the falls. The water is fresh water and was SO COLD!! I mean seriously, I am not sure if I have ever swam in that cold of water. Half way from the rocks to the falls, my chest literally felt so tight, I couldn't take a deep breath. I ended up sitting on a rock after that. Turns out everyone that did it experienced the same thing, the water was just too cold. We ate lunch at the falls and before heading back to the "van" we ate lunch/snack, while we were eating a good amount of people, actually the most Americans I have seen in the middle of the rainforest ever came up to the falls. We all looked at each other a little confused as to why so many and why are they all dressed in white shoes in the rainforest (lots of mud!!!) we soon realized the Carnival Cruise docks in Roseau (the capital) every tuesday year-round. When we came out of the woods it was like a circus, vendors selling snacks and baskets and whatever else you can try to sell to tourist in the middle of the rainforest. I felt like it was a Saturday at the market... there were a number of vendors. It is actually kind of sad how much the prices go up on things when the cruise ship is here. Another spouse asked how much for the bottle of coke? The lady said $2, that usually means EC (locals don't use US and we are considered "local" since we are not visiting). So she pulled out her two EC and the women was like NO! U.S.! the spouse immediatly put the coke back, that is like a $6 mark up in EC. These people are making TONS of money off these poor people. Everywhere we went the rest of the day they gave us prices in US, and we all kept putting the stuff back. Finally one vendor said, "why you don't want that? Only $7..." We said we are from Ross. She immediatley said "Ok, I give you it for $6 EC" That just went from $7 US ( roughly $19EC) to $6 EC.... big difference!!!

This was the Bamboo part of our walk...

It was to tall to fit in the picture... the second one is the swimming hole we had to climb to get in at the bottom.. FREEZING COLD!!!

Since there was small group of us we decided to go to Titou Gorge as well. When I went on my boiling lake trip, I took the pictures of this pool of water at the base of the trail, this is Titou Gorge. The water is a bit chilly but not nearly as bad as Middleham. It was more like Lake water, you could adjust pretty fast. When you get in, you swim between what look likes a crack in the mountains. What it is like caves, rock walls surrounding you as you swim. When you look up you can see the rainforest above you and the sun shines in the water at some parts. It was an experience of a lifetime!! The walls are only close together at certain parts of the swim, but still wide enough to get a kayak through if you wanted. Once you get to the end of the gorge there is a small but powerful waterfall, about 5 feet of gushing water. There is a ledge that you can stand on under the falls but only if you can fight the current. Luckily there was this nice young fella from Louisiana that helped pull us on the ledge (he was on the cruise ship). It was such an experience and am bringing Mark back after his next test!! I will add pictures of Titou Gorge in the next few days, due to the fact we needed waterproof camera, only one girl has pics.