Dominica did not deceive us with a luxurious vegetation, an incredible number of rivers (365 !), many waterfalls and its really cool Dominican people. It’s been good to change of environment, be back to the adventure, face unexpected situations, make discoveries and unforgettable encounters who turned this trip into happiness, day after day.
Everything began with Pascal and Madelon, a french couple really nice who took us from the Saintes to Dominica on the sail boat they rent for 2 months. What a great sailing! I’ve been stoked to steer a boat again and feel it heeling on its side. After a yummy lunch ended with a homemade camembert whose taste was incredibily good, (hey frenchies!), we arrived in Portsmouth where we celebrated our new adventure with one of the best Pina Colada I’ve ever tasted !
The day after, we took the local bus to go to the Rain Forest in 3 Rivers lodge, stopped in Calibishie, a nice village, then finally decided to go to Roseau first, the capital, to buy some groceries before being lost in the middle of nowhere in the country side.We made a compulsory stop in the market to buy fruits and veggies and had lots of fun with the local kids.
Welcome to the Rain Forest! What an unforgettable stay in this eco lodge… back to the roots with bunkers built in the middle of the bush, a basic kitchen, shower in the river with a natural soap, candles at night, and the terrible mosquitos, really greedy there!
How much rain we got and humidity too, it goes without saying, making it impossible for clothes to dry... Anyway, we still enjoyed the peace of this place, the sounds of the jungle at night and the best of it all, life in community.
Get rid of television, radio, music, comfort and everybody will gather around the table to have a chat, get to know each other, exchange opinions and experiences… we spent so many good moments with people from totally different backgrounds! There was definitely a special energy in this place and I found again the harmony that existed in the house of my friends from the Dominican Republic, Caty and Manu… a real human share, generosity, respect, interest, lots of funs, conversations close to intimacy and email addresses exchanged to keep in touch with Francesca, Jonathan and Sylvain, Leizu and Jessica.
We benefited from a weather window to discover the Cyrique river, a really nice walk where Richard showed us local plants and trees. After going down a cliff thanks to a rope, a little bit tricky as it was really wet and slippery, we discovered a nice waterfall falling into the sea. The bravest of us went to have a swim in the waves which were quite massive… going back up was easier, along with Cyril, an awesome rasta man we met on the beach who opened us a coconut to our greatest pleasure. The rain made its comeback on the way up and we stopped just in time under a shelter : there, Jean No, dressed by Mademoiselle Berangere made a one man show……
The sun came back at last on the last day and it was hard for us to say good back to our new friends… we shared moments so strong together than we were all a little bit sad to leave... but once friends, friends forever, we know we’ll keep in touch with these guys …
On the road again, back to the adventure…. It was not easy to go back to Roseau on this holy Friday... no bus and not many cars…. I even managed to make a clash in the group, as I wanted to hitch hike and walk at the same time whereas my friends just wanted to wait on the side of the road… but everything fell back into place and a pick up stopped to give us a lift with 2 other dominican guys. Then we waited again for what seemed to be forever, distracting ourselves with taking stupid pictures of us three... we arrived at destination at night time, enjoying an awesome sunset on the back of a pick up.
Luck was still with us the day after, and we met an extraordinary person. We were hitch hiking for quite some time when Gisele arrived and began to chat with us: she was coming back from the market, and also trying to get a lift to go back home to Laudat... where we planned to go to. As nobody stopped for us, she ended up calling a friend who drove us to her place!
There, bad news, there was no vacancy at the only hotel of the town, which was in addition a really expensive place!... The generosity of some people will always surprise me : we stayed at her place for 2 days and Gilles, her son, came with us to show us the local walks there.
We first went to theTitou gorge, where you can access to a nice waterfall by swimming in between high cliffs.
The water was so cold that I ended up totally frozen. By chance, it was sunny outside and I warmed up under a waterfall whose water was a little bit warm! Berangere and I could not help pretending to be stars…
We decided to take advantage of the sun to discover another place and have a warm bath. We began to walk up the mountain on a water pipe and finished under the rain (the sun did not last long !) to arrive in a really surprising place : 3 water pipes on the side of the road where the water was coming out really hot!
No need to say it took us time to get out of here as it was pouring outside and we decided to wait for the rain to be acceptable to go back home at dusk. We came back totally wet, had a nice hot shower and enjoyed a great local meal prepared by a dominican girl... life is good bro !
The day after, we got up really early to go to the Boiling Lake. A beautiful walk in the Rain Forest which reminded me that of New Zealand... not a surprise when you know Dominica is the only place in the world with New Zealand where you can find a lake whose water is so hot it is boiling! Once again, it rained and there was unfortunately not much visibility to admire the lake to its best… still, we could see the bubbles it was making. We’ve been told that a tourist fell into the lake, getting burnt badly... got too close bro!
On the way down, we relaxed in a hot pool where the purple color was surprising and made a nice contrast with the environment. The sun appeared later on for the rest of the hike and we could appreciate at last the look out on the mountain and the Rain Forest!
Bye Bye the Rain Forest, we came back to Portsmouth, after a last stop in Roseau, deserted on Easter Monday. While waiting to find a boat to take us back home, we enjoyed the charms of Portsmouth, a really nice and quiet town, where we rent a small local house on the beach.
After 2 days spent there, we got to know all the local rasta men, and I even ended up enjoying the local beer, the Kubuli, surprising for me who don’t like beer !
Back home then, 10 days later. We finally got a lift on a catamaran on Wednesday the 26th thanks to Nicolas who was chartering the boat and took us back to Pointe a Pitre with his guests on board. The day was long as we left at 6:00 am, had a few squalls on the way, then had to walk, take 2 different buses, and the ferry to go back to Terre de Haut where the sun was shining again... I must admit that even if I love travelling, it’s always good to be back home and have a rest!
What a beautiful trip it’s been ! Dominica, country of Mother Nature and of Rasta men seduced us and also brought us closer together.
Our friendship is even stronger after this great adventure we shared together.
Jean No, Berangere, I love you guys !
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