I apologize for sending out the test e-mails and then not following up
sooner. The gremlins were chewing on the wires in the internet again,
and then life in a Caribbean paradise intervened after the Hurricane
Dean.
Things here have been going reasonably well. I made it through Mini 3
and then went on to take the final just before Hurricane Dean hit.
The final was on a Wednesday, and the Hurricane hit us on the
following Friday morning.
Since I am in the campus EMS organization, I volunteered to help with
the hurricane shelter Ross has for students. I wasn't really
impressed with how the preparations went for the hurricane, as the
campus waited until after all semesters had finished their exams to
prepare for the hurricane which meant we were in a big time crunch.
Becky and I helped pack up and hurricane proof the Health Center, and
then declined being in the hurricane shelter because Ross couldn't
make up their minds if we could bring the dogs or not, but were sure
that they would keep us there for 72 hours if we entered the shelter.
Opting for staying at home during the hurricane I think was actually a
pretty good idea. When the hurricane's edge hit, it was about 12:30
a.m., and the power went out at 1 a.m. We got out of bed about 2:30
a.m. to finish the ice cream we had in the freezer because it would be
a shame to let that go to waste. After that we went to bed til about
7:30 a.m. We found that our cell phone still worked, so we called a
few people in the US to find out where the hurricane was in relation
to us, because we wanted to know how long it would last. The
hurricane ended up keeping one of its long arms over us for a while,
so it was well into the evening that we had wind, clouds, and rain.
During the hurricane, we played some cards, and entertained ourselves
by trying to get the dogs to go outside and relieve themselves--quite
a challenge! Our dachshund, Gabby really didn't like the rain pelting
her, and didn't even think it was good enough when I was standing out
in the hurricane sheltering her with my body. We finally got her to
go when she found a nicely sheltered spot under a small palm in our
ditch outside the apartment.
We didn't have any flooding in our area, and no storm surge that I
could tell, so we weathered the storm well. Other parts of the island
were not so lucky, and I understand that the current banana crop on
Dominica is a total loss. Venezuela sent in troops on a relief
mission, but I haven't seen them in our area of the island.
After the hurricane, Becky and I rented a Jeep and commenced touring
the island. I don't have all of the pictures up, but there is some
truly amazing stuff here. We attempted to go to Fresh Water Lake and
Trafalgar Falls on our own, but couldn't quite get there because a
land slide in June had gone over the main road there, and the
rerouting that they were making could only be traversed in 4 low on
the Jeep. We were going well on that until we came to where the
workers were actively pouring cement, and I decided that it would be
better to turn around and try to see Scotts Head, where the Atlantic
and Caribbean meet, instead of getting the Jeep stuck in wet cement.
Unfortunately, the EU Development Commission had other plans, and we
couldn't make it to Scotts Head because there were road improvements
being done that stopped those plans. So Becky and I went home for the
day. The next day we attempted to go to Cold Soufriere springs which
is a cold sulfur spring on the north side of the island in an old
volcano's crater. This place was amazing, and more than a thousand
feet above sea level, so we could easily see Les Saintes and
Guadeloupe (I think).
Becky and I also spent some time going to Fort Shirley which was a
British base on the Island to protect their sugar investments on the
island. It is currently under renovation, but it overlooks both
Prince Rupert Bay and Douglas Bay. I'm not sure how old Fort Shirley
is, but it is well over 200 years old, and quite possibly over 300.
The walls on the buildings are 4-5 feet thick in most places and I
simply can't imagine trying to build something like that in the
tropical sun here. After it was built, I'm certain the only more
comfortable area to be would be in the water, but it was built to shed
cannonballs instead of protect from heat.
We had some friends visit Guadeloupe for a week, and we watched over
their two dogs while we were doing this which made scheduling
everything entertaining, and also meant no overnight trips. It would
have been nice to have an overnight trip somewhere, but with the way
you have to drive over here, we're not sad we didn't get to do an
overnight trip--but we will at some point soon.
After we had the Jeep for a 4 days, we asked one of the local guides
to take us on the Boiling Lake/Valley of Desolation hike. This is
about a 6-7 hour hike into the interior of Dominica. We went on this
hike with 2 other couples. When you start the hike, it is at Titou
Gorge. You can hop into the water there and swim up to some
waterfalls, but usually people save that for afterward. Then you hike
up and down a couple of mountains to get to the Valley of Desolation.
Of course, the hiking isn't something that should be glossed very
much. The trail we were told was still "Officially Closed" and our
safety was our own concern, not the governments. But, we bravely went
on the trail, and gladly so. As we were hiking up and down, there
were several trees down over parts of the trail, and a couple of areas
where landslides had completely taken out the trail, but none of our
diversions around these were more than 30 meters or so. But, the
trail is definitely more vertical travel than horizontal travel, and
certainly not a straight line to the lake or the valley. And
everywhere, you could see evidence of recent landslides, uprooted
trees, and broken bamboo. Birds and insects were out, but we were
high enough that none of the insects were the biting kind which was
very nice.
As we got to the highest peak on the hike, we could both see and smell
the sulfur springs that are both the Valley of Desolation and the
Boiling Lake. Looking over at them, I had a realization (one of many
here) of the differences in scale between the US and here. The Valley
of Desolation is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 mile long and maybe 150
meters wide at its widest. I was expecting to see some sort of huge
Death Valley type of thing, but it was actually quite small. The
Boiling Lake was on a sort of diminutive scale, too--being the size of
many farm ponds I've seen, but apparently it is quite deep. And, it
boils, oh my does it boil. We were at the overlook, 40 or so feet
over the top, and there was a stiff breeze blowing. We were at about
3000 feet, so the breeze was fairly cooling, but when the breeze would
take the vapor off of the lake over us, it was quite stifling. One of
the people in our group hiked down to the lake and decided to drag his
fingers through to see if it was really hot at the edge. He got some
good video of doing this--and he found out that it is still really hot
there, too.
On the hike back, we stopped at some hot springs to recover a little
before we went on for another 2 hours. Becky didn't partake, but I
thought they were quite amazing mid-way through the hike. We also
intended on washing the sweat off in Titou Gorge. But, about 45
minutes or so before we got back, the heavens opened up with a mighty
rain. By the time we got to Titou Gorge, the level had risen a couple
of feet, and it was rushing much more quickly than we were willing to
brave, so we washed the mud off of our feet, and stood in the rain to
get the sweat off. Then, on the way back to Portsmouth, we stopped in
Rouseau for ice cream. That was definitely some of the most
hard-earned ice cream I've had. I highly suggest anyone who visits
here to do both the Boiling Lake hike and then go for ice cream after.
Between all of this hilarity, Becky and I have also had several
friends over for grilled chicken and burgers, and pasta, found some
time to have a good meal at a little restaurant close, and even spent
a couple of afternoons at the beach. The snorkeling is still
amazing--but the sea urchins that used to nearly infest the sea floor
seem to have not survived the hurricane well. Almost everything else
is back to normal, though.
But, Monday, I start semester 2 of medical school, so things will be
back to work for me, and back to dog sitting for Becky.
Make sure you check out our picture site at
http://picasaweb.google.com
just put up are quite amazing.
Happy Labor Day!
-j
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