I woke up a 0645 this morning to the sight of green, rainforest-covered mountains outside my window. It was one of those views you see in photos and know it just has to have been photoshopped. Nothing is actually that lush, and vivid, and pristine in real life. But there it was, right outside my window. I ran up to the top deck of the ship to watch as we pulled into port. Sailing into our first port was an experience I am sure I will never forget. The jaw-dropping beauty of it all was something that could only have come out of a dream. If you want to know what Dominica looks like, watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2 or 3. All those scenes that take place in the tropical rainforests? Those were filmed on this island. That was not just a hollywood set.
I met up with my roommate and several of our friends for breakfast while we waited for the ship to clear customs. We made plans to meet up during various parts of the day since we all had FDPs at different times. Trying to coordinate things without the convenience of a quick text or phone call has been a learning experience. What did we ever do before cell phones?
As soon as we were off the ship we were bombarded by taxi cab drivers. At our pre-port meeting last night we had been informed that we are not docking at the dock in town, but rather a ways out of town, and thus were under the impressions that we would in fact need a cab. The $15 ride we were offered seemed like a steal until we reached downtown less than five minutes later. In fact several students who had decided to walk arrived at the same time as us. Thanks for deceiving us pre-port meeting; no more taxi cabs.
The city of Roseau is everything you would expect from the capital of a tiny caribbean island. It is bright and colorful and bursting with life. Even better, it still thrives with the energy of its local people and customs. Despite being a port city, it has not been overtaken and developed into a disneyland of sorts by the tourist industry. Yes, there are little markets with locals who sell their souvenirs, and there are a fair amount of tourists milling about, but that is the extent of it. This place is untouched.
We spent the morning exploring the city, weaving our way in and out of various streets and side roads. We walked around a local cemetery, observed groups of school children, and perused a few of the markets. There was a large fruit market where we bought mangos and bananas, nothing like those you would find back home. Bananas used to be a major export of Dominica before they had to start competing with Chiquita. It really is a shame, the bananas here are like nothing you've ever tasted before.
Around lunch time we found a man on the street with a hot dog stand and quite a crowd of locals surrounding him. We had decided that all we really wanted was street food and so ordered an array of hotdogs, and what he claimed was swordfish for a dollar apiece. I'm still not exactly sure that is was swordfish, it tasted like barbecue, but it was delicious.
At 1300 we headed back to the ship because I had a trip to catch for my Anthropology of Food class. We walked the way back and I just barely made it in time. Our professor loaded us onto the two waiting vans and we proceeded across town, and up the winding mountains. Imagine off-roading in a van. Imagine off-roading straight uphill through a rainforest in a van. That's basically what we did. I mean yes, there were roads, but they were narrow, and steep, and unpaved, and might as well have not been there at all. We drove a long ways through the jungle until we came to a stop out in the middle of nowhere quite high up in the dense forest. We were quickly ushered back onto the vans while our drivers apologized for bringing us to the wrong spot. So we backtracked, back down the mountain a mile or so, until we came to our farm.
When I say farm you probably picture a big red barn and fields of corn and dairy cows. This was quite the opposite. It was still jungle, just an ever-so-slightly more cultivated patch of jungle. Out in the middle of all this jungle was a picnic table where the old native who worked there had set out all of his fruits and herbs for us to see. This man who worked there was the kindest, gentlest person I have ever met. He told us about how he started growing organically after college in 1974 and has been doing so ever since. He was able to start his own farm in 2002 and that is where we were. He calmly explained in his soft-spoken way about each and every fruit and herb and all of its medicinal uses. We walked around his gardens for a while, sampling various herbs and edible flowers. Afterwards he served us tea and bananas. The tea he made us was the best tea I have ever had, and I have had my fair share of tea. It was very obviously something he had brewed from scratch, and I tried to ask him how he made it, but all I got was that it was from some sort of cinnamon and basil.
Our two vans divided us up into a group going back to the ship, and a group going into town. I opted for town and we spent the ride down the mountain asking our tour person for the best things to do. She directed the bus driver to drop us off at a certain spot and the eight of us ended up at the top of a hill overlooking all of Roseau. The view was spectacular, like everything here, and after a multitude of pictures were snapped, we began the hike down.
We stopped for dinner at a little local place, and ordered the best fish and chips I have ever had. After dinner we walked back to the ship, and here I am now, bathed in aloe vera because I forgot to put on sunscreen.
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