Dominica

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

We were in Dominica (Dom-in-EE-kuh) today. The port talks keep telling us that facilities/transport will not be up to the standard to which we are accustomed: vehicles will not be air conditioned/sanitary conditions will not be what we expect/people will be reserved and not willing to share/talk. I think it is an interesting way to go – stressing the negative – but I have adjusted my expectations. And then my expectations have been exceeded. I guess it is a good way to go.

We set off to go on a river rowboat ride this morning in a 12 passenger, air-conditioned van. Keith and I were in the back row. Whooops. Biggest people probably shouldn’t be stuffed into the smallest area. Keith thought it was fine, until I pointed out that the bench across the back was going to be for three, not two, people. Oh. We shifted around (the wheel well coming up and taking up my floor space was a bit tricky) and made it work. We started off through Roseau and the driver said that the ride would be about an hour and a quarter.

What now?

The whole island is only 29 miles by 16 miles so how were we going to drive for that long? I soon found out. Domenica is a volcanic island (9 volcanos) and is very hilly. VERY HILLY. We squiggled along UP and DOWN. It turned out that I preferred the drive to the boat ride. I found it fascinating to actually see a large number of towns – many just hugging the sides of hills that seemed really precarious. I liked seeing what kind of cars were out there, what houses out of the downtown cruise port looked like. I thought the mountain and ocean views were lovely. I was literally smashed against the window, so I couldn’t take a picture – but pictures out the window are always lousy anyway. One of the things that I found very interesting was the garbage. When we were in Oahu last year, we drove along the west side of the island. The sides of the road were covered in garbage. Regular “litter” as well as discarded furniture and household items. Obviously, regular disposal of these items is too expensive for the locals, so they just dump. Today I saw cement structures about 10x6x4ft – open on top – that people were obviously expected to use for trash. A lot of the trash was garbage bags full, but some was just discarded stuff. I also saw some dumpsters. What I didn’t see what any trash along the road outside of those areas. Keith got moved up next to the driver on the way back and my seat companion said he wouldn’t have come if he’d known the drive was going to be so long. I said I really liked it. He said I was crazy. Maybe…

Using the restroom before getting on the boat was akin to yesterday’s adventure. There were three stalls, but no paper at all. We all delved into our supplies of tissues and shared. I grabbed the dish soap bottle on the counter to wash my hands. It had been watered down a little and doused my hand in soap. I made a LOT of bubbles, then turned on the tap. Mmmm. I don’t know how to adequately explain the size of the stream of water that came out. A tablespoon/30 seconds. I warned the others and they bubbled carefully. I spent more than 5 minutes trying to get de-soaped.

I stepped out of the bathroom and it was raining. SERIOUSLY, I could have just come outside to wash my hands off. Everyone was crowded into a little gazebo, trying to stay dry. The workers said it is a rainforest and it rains all the time – liquid sunshine. They said you should always have a rain coat/umbrella. Mmmm. I think Viking could have given us that tip. They come here regularly. It was oddly cold – the wind was blowing and it really did not look like it was going to be fun to ride down the river in an open boat. I lead an exceptionally charmed life. Weather is usually on my side – or, I just don’t notice if it is not. I optimistically looked around for blue skies coming from some direction. Nope. I was not convinced. I thought If we just waited….a….bit….it would be okay.

And it was. By the time we loaded the boats, the sun was out. And it stayed out for the rest of the day. Getting on the boats was tricky for old people. Luckily, we were not the oldest people, so focus did not remain on us after we heaviest were seated in the middle. I had a moment of panic when we set off and there were no life jackets that we were going to swamp the boat and Keith was going to sink. The river was 1-2meters deep, so I prayed that if we went over it would be in a don’t-drown-stand-up area.

The Pirates of the Caribbean movie with Calypso was filmed on this river and we went by her cabin (built for the movie – she did not really live there). We could have purchased coconut water and rum there. We did not. Our guide/boatman rowed nine of us up the river about half a mile. We saw several different herons, lots of silvery fish, and Keith was the champion crab spotter. He got MUCH better at explaining where they were (THERE’S ONE wasn’t helping me much). We un-boated and went for a rum punch. I sipped it and it was the WORST THING ever. I thought it tasted like vomit. I, in turn, almost vomited. I gave it back to Keith. He drank it. He loved it. Gahhhhhhh.

Then we boated back and drove back and were HUNGRY. We went to the pool grill again and had Viking burgers – bacon, BBQ, onion remoulade. Nice. I had 4 little fruit tarts, because they were very small, but then I was reallllly full.

Back down the dock to our afternoon activity (so much for nothing to do). We went on a city tour. Hurricane Dave in 1979 and Hurricane Marie in 2017 both just wrecked Dominica. Wow. Just wow. The traffic is unbelievable in the city. Not in the usual there are too many cars way (although there were a lot of cars for the space available), but in the random drive-on-whatever-side-of-the-road-you-want way, the fact that pedestrians literally cross the street without any apparent care (drivers’ job not to hit, not pedestrians’ job to not be hit), cars double park everywhere…I can’t even explain it, other than DO NOT DRIVE in Dominica. We went up a mountain and looked down. We ate a fruit from a tree – Keith said it was sweet. I did not like it. We saw two guys juggling four balls in a park. I really wanted to run over and tell them that Benjamin qualified eight rings recently (apparently, all you have to do is try it…). I petted a kitty (I WANTED the kitty), I almost touched a caterpillar that turns into the largest moth in the world, and I saw baby chickens that were so peepy that I thought there must be a LOT more somewhere.

I needed a nap (so much doing!) and we missed sail away. Oh well. We went to the buffet for dinner, because I was still full from lunch. There was a breaded chicken breast available! WooHoo. Then we went to trivia. There was a GAME!! Extra woohoo. I told Keith while we were eating that there was no chance we were going to do well, because every single person we have talked to on this ship has been to 137+ countries (ish) and that well traveled people know lots of stuff. We asked the people next to us to be on a team with us, because four brains is better than two. Most teams had six players, but there were a couple twos, too.

Play along:

1. In the Three Little Pigs, what was the strongest house built out of?
2. Which email service is owned by Microsoft?
3. What is the emergency number in Australia?*
4. How many lines are in a Shakespeare sonnet?
5. What is an alumna?
6. What is a group of camels called?
7. Which country music star was kidnapped in 1978?*
8. What is considered the largest micro continent?*
9. What animal is credited with planting thousands of trees every year across the United States.
10. Who lives in a Pineapple under the sea?
11. What was the largest empire in history?*
12. What bean is chocolate made from?
13. What is the largest organ in the body?
14. What chain was originally called Pete’s Super Submarines?
15. What is the longest river in South America?

The ones with the * are the ones we got wrong. We were content with our 11/15, but sure it was not a win. Until it was a win. Huuuuuuuuh. Did NOT see that coming. Sadly, the prize was a mimosa – which they brought and we drank, but a Viking magnet or bottle opener would have been far more exciting. Keith pulled out the answer to #6 at the last minute for the win. It was a good game – several we didn’t know, several we could talk about, and everyone contributed something. Okay, I looked back. Our teammates actually didn’t contribute any correct answers. I would have gotten #11 without them (because I didn’t think of Kathy’s answer – which I liked better than my own).

Then there was ANOTHER activity! There was a show with a guitar player and his singer girlfriend. He was terrific. He played songs from all different famous guitar players. The audience seemed to know all of the music – I did not – but found out I like famous guitar solos. We randomly sat next to some people from NY and Regina and I chatted (she is a retired Speech/Lang. Path and so am I. I am just waaaaay more retired). After the show they gave us their room number so we could get together. We made friends!!

I’m all blurry in the mirror again and I look terrific. I’ve got a little color in my cheeks from the sun – always makes you look better 😊 Keith is practicing and the boat is rocking just the right amount to lull us to sleep. The snow doesn’t seem to be falling as much as they thought at home, so I am no longer so sad that I am missing it.