Mark's Break

After our interesting trip to Guadeloupe we kept it simple for the rest of Mark's break. We took mason to the beach where she discovered she likes to swim when the island dogs are with her and also that she likes coconuts.

Mason attacking the coconut.

We checked out a restaurant we haven't been to on break as well. It is on the Pagua Bay and creatively enough called Pagua Bay. (so original these people I tell you, would have never thought of it!) They have amazing food and an even better view. Check it out...

The guys don't get to go out much during the semester so we dragged them to Roseau (the capital) to go shopping and for lunch for a day. Most of the time the guys just hung out and did their best at doing nothing. We did make our Friday night rib night at Peter's BBQ. This guy cooks some mean ribs (riblets) and they are only 10EC for a plate (that is $3.60) which is soooo cheap. After ribs one night the four guys that we were with lined up for a picture, I think I should send it to AT&T for the next commercial... (how many bar's do you have?)...

The last trip of the break we went to Red Rock Haven, I have mentioned this wonderful place before. We were not able to go in the water since we has a Tropical Storm coming but watching the waves was pretty incredible. They were coming from all directions and you could see it raining in all around the island. Pretty fun...

Le Sainte = Guadeloupe!

So here's how the story goes. Emily, Margo and I decided to plan a little trip to another island over the break for the husbands. We decided on a small french island off the coast of Guadeloupe called Le Saintes. Their are ferry's that leave from Dominica that go to the neighboring islands for much cheaper than flying there. We planned to take the ferry from Portsmouth (Dominica) to Guadeloupe then another ferry from Guadeloupe to Les Saintes. When making the reservations at the hotel that we spent a good 3 weeks picking out we called the ferry company and asked them for literally the 20Th time if there was indeed a ferry leaving from Guadeloupe to Le Saintes on the day we had planned. The company reassured us there was a ferry that leaves every hour to Les Saintes since it is so close. So when the day comes we are all excited!! We take the ferry ride to Guadeloupe and we stopped in Marie Galante on the way to pick up some more people. Upon arriving in Guadeloupe we struggled to find someone that spoke English to ask where the ferry left from. There was a gentleman that worked for a different ferry company that actually grew up in Dominica and told us that the ferry we were asking about stopped service 10 years earlier. GREAT! We were extremely angry with the company and even more so that we could not communicate with them to ask how we can get there. The young man from Dominica decided he was going to help us and we found out we could not leave until the next afternoon which meant we were stuck in Guadeloupe with no hotel, no idea where to go, and hardly anyone that speaks English. Then we are approached by some slimy ( I really mean slimy, greasy) gypsy cab driver smoking a cigar telling us that he can take us wherever we want on the island and pointed to his van with no windows. (can I say, um no!) The guy from Dominica got us a cab driver that he said would take us where we needed to go, which was well, heck I have no idea. So we all got in this cab and just asked the guy from Dominica to tell him to take us to a hotel. In the meantime, I am calling our friend Anna that is watching mason and having her look up hotels in Guadeloupe. After some research work from Anna we decided to go to the closest tourist area which we now had to write down on paper in french (which Anna had to look up on the computer) to tell the cab driver what we wanted to do.

Although we never really quite communicated with the cab driver he was very patient and friendly with us. After checking out 4 hotels we decided on the last one we saw, La Creole! After seeing some run down hotels with no view, no beach, and dirty rooms and not being able to get to le Saintes, we thought this vacation was going to turn into quite the nightmare. As soon as we walked in this hotel, we knew it was the one. It was gorgeous. The girl at the front spoke English (JACKPOT!) and we sang her our sad song about our experience so far and she gave us the local rate for the hotel which knocked off quite a few dollars or should I say euros. The six of us decided that we were going to stay in the hotel for our whole trip instead of making our way to le saintes, we had enough adventure at that point! The trip turned out to be great. We did struggle with communicating since all the workers besides the front desk spoke french. I was extremely good at pointing and putting up how many I wanted of something with my fingers. It was an interesting trip, one I will not soon forget. I will tell you all someday about the massage our friend Dave received while at the hotel, let's just say the french do it a bit different!

Here are some pics:

The crew waiting in the customs line to board the ferry!

Emily, Margo and I before dinner

The hotel we ended up at and the view from the pool.

Mark and I on the beach in Guadeloupe.

Time to Catch up!

Ok. I know it has been quite awhile since I have put up a post. I have been pretty busy this last month. Mark went on break and I had finals. So for the last two weeks in august Mark was studying every waking hour, then the first two weeks of September I was studying and writing for my finals. Mark ended his first semester with 2 A's and 3 B's.... Awesome

During Mark's break we went to Guadeloupe (I will make a post for that) and moved up a floor in our building. We now have a view of the mountains and the ocean. Can't beat that! This apartment is much bigger. In the original one we only had 3 window, 2 in the kitchen and one out the back end of the apartment. The new place we have 2 in the kitchen and 7 in the bedroom (we have a bay window 3 sets with 2 windows a piece). It is so nice at night to catch the breeze but we bake a little bit during the day in the sun!! Just outside our window is a breadfruit tree (mark's favorite). They are a fruit but are starchy like a potato. You can boil them, fry them, even make them into a dough and stuff them. They are just out of our reach through the window and its driving Mark nuts, he keeps trying to come up with some sort of scheme to get them.

We are both doing well and I will try to catch up the posts in the next few days!

Centipedes, Flour Bugs, and Rotten Eggs

OK. No pictures for this post. I thought maybe I should let you know some of the things that are not so glamorous about this island. Let's start with me trying to make Mark chocolate chip cookies and opening the bag of flour to find that there are little brown bugs burying themselves like little sand crabs in the flour. It was slightly disturbing considering that we had just used that flour yesterday. I guess I will just have to chalk that one up to protein intake! {side note- CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!!! so exciting, you don't get those around here...they were a treat!}

Centipedes. They are in season or what my friend Margo would say,"those things must be in heat! they are everywhere!" Now I don't know much about the mating rituals of centipedes but I am almost positive they do not go into heat. However they are EVERYWHERE. why is this such a problem you ask??? They bite and they hurt like, well, kids might read this so I will leave the descriptive language out, let's just say they hurt. Depending on the size of the centipede, the area where they bit you can go numb for a few hours. The scariest part, as if that isn't scary enough, if you are allergic to them it gets worse, much worse. It's like a war zone walking down the street at night, those suckers are FAST!

As for the Rotten Eggs... I went on a shopping trip with some of the spouses today to Roseau. I found out today that I am supposed to be smelling my eggs before I purchase them and if I don't I should check them in a cup of water to see if they float. If they float I am not to break the shell. One of the spouses I was with had a horrible tale about things she found in eggs last week. I really can't say much except, that is just gross.

So the shopping trip is great. We hire a driver to drop us off in front of each store in Roseau and meet us outside in an hour. This allows us to stock up! There are a few grocery stores and they carry American brands in some of them. I got Jiff peanut butter today!!!! That was the highlight of my day. It is amazing how much you really do have everything at your fingertips back home. One of the girls took pictures of us packed in the van with all our stuff. I will post them soon.

Enjoy your bugless flour and your sinking eggs.

Red Rock Haven.... PARADISE!!

RED ROCK.... The view from my chair :)


The girls and I decided to have a girls day since the boys are studying for the last exam. We went last Thursday and spent the day at RedRock. I couldn't have asked for anything more. This place was unbelievable. It is on the Atlantic Ocean side of the island so the water was a bit more rough and had quite the undertow... you have to understand, the Caribbean ocean doesn't have an pull to it at all... very calm. The are huge red rocks (hence the name) all over so you have to be careful when you swim. Off in the distance there are two HUGE rocks that are side by side and have an arch that is half underwater, this is what the locals call the gates of hell. You can swim through the arch but it is too far from the shore.


The trip to RedRock is only about 30 minutes but the roads are so twisty and curvy it can be a bad experience motion sickness wise. Most of us were okay that day due to our trusty Dramamine. When we arrived, we all sat on the beach for a few hours then grabbed lunch at the escape bar. The bar is a restaurant and bar all outside. (this is where we went for Sarah's bday dinner) We had some drinks on the beach and swam and just totally relaxed all day. It really was a great day.

The owners of Red Rock are from the Seattle area. This is a hotel that you can stay in when coming to Dominica. Gina,the owner, showed us around the property. When i saw the two bedroom villa, I realized my house is going to be just like it. I seriously could move there and never leave. You would have to come see me because I really wouldn't leave. The shower has a door and you step down into a hot pool. There is a HUGE patio with hammocks that overlook the ocean and the pool. There is a wade pool that has seats along the edge. Gina is building her website, I can't wait for you to see it!


Here are some pictures.... You have to come see for yourself!!!







Me and Emily


The girls and the girls with Nigel ( our bartender)

Victoria Falls.

On Tuesday, I went to Victoria Falls with the RSO (Ross spouse organization). This was the first trip in a few weeks due to all the rain on the island. The ride to the start of the hike was much longer than the hike itself. The ride was roughly 2 hours on windy roads in the terrorist van to hike the 45 intense minutes to the Falls. Victoria Falls is not a long hike but a physical one and pretty dangerous if there is lots of rushing water from the mountains. So, the hike literally criss-crossed the same river, some spots were shallow, maybe to my knees and others at least to my waist. We had to climb rocks, which isn't so bad but presents a whole new challenge when you are soaking wet. Your foot just is never steady enough. We had quite a few girls fall into the river- it was humorous- the screaming from the shock but then realizing that you just stand up. When on these hikes you bond with the spouses whether you want to or not... there is nothing like bonding like having to help your fellow spouse up the rocks by grabbing their butt and pushing them up! It was kind of like an adventure course that the bad kids get sent to in high school to learn how to play well with other... not that I went, I just heard :)

I think I may say this often, but this spot may have taken a top place on favorites of the island. Swimming in the water was incredible and to know that the water is rushing from the boiling lake ( the volcano) is even crazier! The groups that you go on these little adventures with are a blessed bunch. There are days that are stressful here but I truly am experiencing things that most people will never get the chance to see. This island is amazing.

Some of the group after crossing the river.

Some photos on hike to the falls...

Victoria Falls... we went swimming in the pool under the falls... it was so great!

The girls at the Falls...

Sarah's Birthday and a Cricket game

So this past weekend end was quite jammed packed. Friday night was the booze cruise, Saturday was Sarah's birthday and Sunday was cricket of course, what else do you do on a Sunday?

We went to Sarah's birthday dinner at RedRock. We hired out a driver and took 15 people up to the restaurant and ate the best food we have had on the island so far. We had some drinks, great conversation... I can't say enough about this place, it is literally paradise.

We had a tree lined "roof" the restaurant is outside on the sand.. Just wonderful!

So cricket... it was the first international cricket game played in Dominica in over 30 years. They played Bangladesh. About 8 of us headed out early Sunday morning. The game started at 9am but we didn't make it down until 10am, it was in Roseau which is about an hour with these roads. Anywhere you go around here you have to take a transport but all of them seemed to be packed due to the game, it's like the whole island shut down. So on the way down me, mark and 3 of our friends hopped into a VERY small pick up and hit the road. Junior (the delivery driver from my job) drove us down. I had to sit on Mark's lap in the front with my feet on the dash, it wasn't safe but we got there! When we got there the first thing on the agenda, figure out what the heck cricket is. It took quite a bit of time for us to even get somewhat of a clue of what we were watching. There are only 2 guys from one team on the field that are "batting" and they stay out there until they get out. (this is seriously ridiculous if you ask me.) The one guy was at bat for 192 minutes, I mean really, is that necessary!! Anyway, we soon came to the realization that everyone on the team bats and the game isn't over until both teams bat.... hello... can you say an ALL DAY event.... I really wish someone would have told me sooner. We sat in the stands that the republic of china so kindly built for the folks of Dominica to use and I have no idea how long it took for this match to actually come here compared to when it was built, for 6 hours before we called it quits. The stadium was impressive for this island but I have to be honest, every single one of you reading this in the states would have something to say about a professional sport being played in a "high school "stadium. All the vendors were out selling chicken and roasted plantains (our favorite!). I have over a year left on the island and I already miss roasted plantains and being able to pull over on the side of the road and buy one from a lady with her 5 kids using a grill made out of a bucket sitting under a kubuli umbrella. (side note: kubuli is a local beer on the island, pretty tasty.) Ok, sorry, back to cricket. The game ended up finishing after nine hours of play. We bailed after 6 of them. It was an experience but I am not certain I will be an avid cricket watcher. However I did find myself stopping on the cricket channel last night. I can say Australia and England are more exciting to watch then Bangladesh and West Indies. Getting home was an experience in itself. It took a good amount of time trying to find a transport that was running. Mark finally saw a driver that the school uses to bus the students to and from an annex building and convinced him to let us ride back with him. It was a long day!

List of Random things to do:

1. attend a cricket match (check)