Dominica (which is not DOM-in-ica btw, it's DOM-in-EEKA, which I learned by saying the former and being corrected) was beautiful! It was not a favorite of some, but it was one of our favorites, it was so relaxed and had an amazing diverse landscape. We took a tour to Trafalgar Falls and the Emerald pools, with a few stops along the way. We had the most amazing tour guide, that knew thousands of facts about the island, its history, animal & plant life, and everything else!
Trafalgar Falls, as we were hiking up to the falls, a monsoon rainstorm hit out of nowhere!
Our tour guide, and a land crab.
This was a brand new bus that had been delivered to the island and then crushed by a tree the next day, during a hurricane.
The oldest tree on Dominica, 108 years!
Dominica was used during the slave trade and much of the infrastructure that was built during that time is still there, in the photo above this was the building where the slaves were held, and below is where they were auctioned.
This was one of our stops along the way Mr. Nice's fruit stand, here we sampled a variety of fresh fruit, including coconut, pineapple, mango, and cocoa beans (below) which were really interesting; gooey and sweet, for those of you that are interested.
Words to live by...
The Emerald Pools are named after the way the light comes down through the canopy of trees.
This was also our first formal night, Mike's favorite ;)
Okay so I know I've called the past four islands all beautiful, but they are and this one almost tops the list, hell even Oprah vacations here, it's so pretty. Okay so I was a little naive when I booked the shore excursion here, but when it said "The world's only drive-in volcano," I imagined driving in this mysterious vehicle through the jungle to tippy top of the mouth of volcano where magma and lava ooze and boil. It wasn't. don't get me wrong it was cool, but if you've been to Yellostone, which I have, it's doesn't seem quite so impressive. Maybe it was the gusts of rotten egg swallows your breath, so disgusting that you can taste it through your nose AND your mouth. Yes it really was that bad, but beautiful!
We stopped for a photo op at a look out point and this amazing basket weaver was there selling baskets, he sold all of them and in my traditional form of waiting until the last minute, as the van was leaving I asked him how long it would take to make another basket. Before the words had come out of my mouth, he was already weaving, and I'm not kidding, he answered with, "Don't you worry baby, this basket will be finished before your tour leaves, and if they try I will hop on and walk back after I finish." Within minutes my basket was finished! It was truly amazing, and an awesome souvenir, which by the way I had to sneak through security... oops.
Sulphur Springs, the water was not nearly as stinky as the collapse volcano with oozing nauseous gases and it's supposed to be really great for your skin, the problem was it was about 100 degrees and too hot for me. This guy was one of 3 to get all the way in from our group.
This was the last stop on the tour, and for $5 who could resist this?! Fresh off the grill chicken, seasoned crab cakes, and fried sweet bread... mmmm... my mouth is watering...
