Birthday Bliss

Well I almost hate to say this but my 24th birthday here on the island was probably one of the best I have ever had. Not that I am discounting any other birthday spent back home with everyone but this was one to remember! But for some reason I am having a really hard time writing this post I have been staring at my computer for over and hour and I have deleted paragraphs and started over countless times. I think the problems its easy to write about what events happened on my birthday but infinitely harder to write how special the day was for me.

The night before my b-day I was feeling down, it was just hard to imagine not spending my birthday at home with my friends and family. If you know me you know how much I love holidays, even my own birthday (how vain is that!) and I was nervous that it wouldnt feel like a special day being so far away. But that couldn't be further from the truth! My amazing PC friends and this amazing island made this one of the best birthday ever!  I cant even begin to explain how much it meant to me that everyone here took time out of their crazy busy schedules and money out of their crazy empty pockets to come celebrate my birthday with me. Not to mention all the amazing friends back home who sent countless message, phone calls, skype message, and even a youtube video just for me! I am truly blessed to have all you guys as friends and this weekend was a huge reminder for me! Thank you all for being there for me and for making my 24th birthday a day I will never forget.

Woo, now that I have all that mushy stuff out of the way I can give you a quick rundown on what we did to celebrate: The entire day was spent at Coconut Beach here in Portsmouth, we pretty much played in the Caribbean Ocean from sun up to sun down! We brought tons of snacks and even had fun water toys to float around on, which was really nice after a great lunch and birthday cake! In the afternoon we rented some kayaks and a small little sailboat and went out to Secret Beach, more fun ensued there till we realized the sailboat was heading out to sea without any of us on it and then had a kayak chase! (We caught it in case you were wondering). We even got a bit of snorkeling in too! After a full day at the beach we all went out to dinner followed by drinks and great conversation! We ended up renting a beach cottage for the night so after dinner we all heading back to the cottage and chatted for most of the night out on the dock, then feel asleep to the sound of the waves outside and the blissful AC inside!!! The next morning, which I am still counting as my birthday, we took a swim (naturally) then all had breakfast before everyone had to head home.

It was an amazing day filled with great friends, countless stories, tons of sun and beach time and so many memories! Even though I wasnt at home and that was a little weird for me, my 24th birthday was one I will never forget and quite possibly the one of the best birthdays I have had. Thank you to everyone who made it a special day, who know who you are!

Check out the fun photos from the day and hopefully soon the video that everyone back home created for me!!!!

Adventures in Dominica with the Rents

Well I realize it has been a long time since I updated my blog last, but I have good reason! For the past few weeks I have been busy hanging out with my parents! Yep Mom and Dad made the long trip down here to Dominica, and rather then sit on a computer writing a blog entry I spent all my time hanging out with my parents and showing them this wonderful island. And can I just say we had an amazing time!

I cant not even being to tell you all the things we did on this island! We packed every minute full of new Dominican adventures! Ill list just a few so everyone can get an idea of the amazing things to do here in the Nature Island:

Emerald Pool:  Quite possibly one of my favorite stops on the island. Just a small walk to the pool that is full of the clearest fresh water with a beautiful waterfall filling it. We had a great time swimming around and even diving off the rocks. The best part was, there were theses two guys from Martinique who saw us diving and decided to give it a try ending in a spectacular belly flop! We all had a good laugh including him.  Oh and we saw a really cool stick bug!

Just Driving Around the Island: Thanks to Dad for taking on the roll of the driver for the trip! I really think most of our crazy adventures started with us driving somewhere new and finding millions things to stop and look at on the way. I think this is where the bulk of our photos came from too, we would see something cool, back up, snap a photo, then head down the road to the next great photo op. Dad was fitting right in on the road before they left, just like a regular Dominican driver! Way to go Daddy!

Carib Territory: Always a must do on the Island! Its a guided tour of a replica village from the native people here on Dominica, the Carib people (you learn that Carib is not a very nice term for the people they are actually the Kalinago people renamed Carib by Columbus cause he thought they were cannibals) Anyways its a great tour with amazing scenery. Two highlights from the trip: One we saw the two couples from Martinique again, they were on the same tour with us and dont speak a word of English. One lady farted on the trail right in front of us and tried to blame it on thunder never heard that one before! The best part is she had to ask the guide how to say thunder in English just so she could tell her joke to us! Funny!!! We ended up seeing them at least 3 more times all around the island! Second: There was a slight rain storm in the middle of the tour at the top of a very large hill so we took cover for a bit in one of the huts. After the rain we all headed down the trail to the bottom of the crazy hill and guess what we left the cooler up at the top in the hut. So guess who got to run up the hill to get it, yeah me and running was not a good idea! I am covered in sweat for all the remaining photos from that trip but I got the cooler, yay me!

Trying New Foods: Well I really tired to have Mom and Dad eat as much local food as we could along with going out to dinner cause that is something I dont do very much here. So we had a great balance. Dominica Foods Had: Mangos!!! Jelly Coconut, Coco Tea, Dynamite, Creole Lunch, Roadside Grilled Plantain, Dasheen, Bread Fruit, Kubuli and Carib Beer, Rum Punch, Bakes and Local Juice, Cassava Bread, Ribs, KFC :), Freshly Backed Bread, and more! Amazing Restaurants Had: steak and Shrimp Dinner at Fort Young, Amazing Pizza and Chicken Burrito at Red Rocks (SO SO GOOD), Sunset Dinner at De Champ, Beer and Pizza at Tomato (across from Georges) and many more! Best food story finding worms in out mangos twice and still eating around them. Now that is eating like a true Dominican!

Beach Days: Oh how I love the beach, and we had some great beach days! From the calm waters at Purple Turtle Beach to body surfing on the east coast beaches. We found some new beaches that I didnt even know existed all starting with crazy drives down the side of a mountain with noroad just a semi path! So fun and great adventures! Although I did get hit with a branch in the face on one drive lesson learned, when drive down said paths windows should remain up!

Rituals: After long active days we would come back to my apartment and cook dinner. Now when its already 90 outside and you are cooking with an open flame with three people in a tiny apartment, it gets pretty hot! The way to beat it coffee and cards at the coffee shop after! Quite a few times we would have dinner at home, wonderful home cooked meals cooked by mom (I now have more ideas for great dishes I can make here, thanks mom!) then head to the coffee shop and play Phase 10! I never won but we had fun anyways!

Horse Back Riding: Ok not the best trip but still an adventure that can all be summed up in one crazy horse for Mary that was suffering from Rain Rot that really didnt want to go on the trip, and two down trees blocking all paths we could take. So we got a mini 30-minute ride long enough for my crazy horse and me. I think he was about to try and get rid of me anyways!

Snorkeling: LOVE LOVE LOVE snorkeling! This trip was the first time I tried snorkeling and I love it so much! We tried Champagne Beach first. The water is famous for these tiny bubbles that come up out of the ocean floor making it look like champagne. We swam right over them the first time but caught them on the way back! Pretty neat, but the best trip was when we hired a guide that took us down to Scotts Head. It started with a great boat ride (I love boats!) Then into the water, it made such a difference with a guide, he showed us so much wildlife that we would have misses on our own. We saw all kinds of fish, cool string like animals that retract when you touch them, squid, a barracuda, and a frogfish! Apparently people come from all over the world to see this fish and hardly ever do, but we got to! Google it, its a cool little fish! We saw a bright green one! Snorkeling might have been one of my favorite things we did; its a whole different world under there, crazy!

Other great adventures include: Whale watching, Trafalgar Falls, Indian River, Bird Watching, Cabrits National Park, Sari Sari Falls :), Botanical Gardens, Local Bus Ride, Market Day, Souvenir Shopping, Driving in the South, trying to fit three people and all our stuff in my tiny apartment, Miracle Valley and our crazy guide, countless chats with locals, and many other crazy adventures!

Well I guess you can tell we had an amazing packed two weeks here in the Nature Island. But the best part was spending time with my parents. I missed them so much and after 5 months without seeing them we could have sat in the airport for two weeks and I would have been happy! Thanks again Mom and Dad for making the trip down here! Love you!

Oh and check out the photos there are a lot, but I whittled it down from about 900, which was not easy! Enjoy!