Roseau, Dominica - Day 1

In our first port! Roseau, Dominica!! I've had an amazing first day and it's crazy how similar it looks to Hawaii! Ashley and I woke up early at 6 to see us come into Roseau and watch us dock. The sun was rising then and it kind of looks like the Big Island, but the houses are more colorful and they are VERY close together. After breakfast, and after we cleared customs, we we're able to get off, but I was on a tour for BumpiingTours at 9:30 with a bunch of other SAS students. So for $42 a person we went on a 6+ hour tour to 4 different places around Roseau! With our own personal guide that literally knew EVERYTHING. I think we had the best guide out of all 3 groups. Our guide, Kelvin (Calvin?) knew the history of Roseau, as well as how every herb and plant is used for medicinal or practice uses. He was telling us about how some plants are used for soap because they become sudsy when broken up and dipped in water. There is a chocolate tea that is apparently "better than Viagra." Those are not our words, he literally said that and when people advertised Chocolate tea they had the quote "better than Viagra." Hahahaha it was hilarious! He also showed us lemongrass, bayleaf, and many others. He would just tell Asher, our driver, to stop on our way somewhere and he would get out of the van and just pick it from the side of the road. I learned a lot about the history of Dominica as well! A lot of people don't know about it or have even heard about it. Btw, it's said "Doh-mee-ni-kah" The island is mostly Catholic (about 45-50%), the rest is Anglican and others. Dominica is independent (I can't remember the year >_< I'm terrible with years!). All students are required to wear full uniforms (and we think it sucks to wear uniform shirts for public school). Scientists in Roseau are actually testing a fruit that is in Dominica to be a possible cure for HIV/AIDs. Dominica has two med schools too! Dominica is also known for their longevity. People in Dominica live a lot longer than the average. There was a woman who passed away and she was 128! Currently, in Dominica, the oldest person is a 111 yr old woman! I believe it was because of their knowledge and use of organic food and use of herbs for medicinal uses. I learned a lot more, but I seriously can't remember right now cause I'm tired.

We went through the botanical garden and everyone was amazed at the sausage tree and banyan tree. haha and we have that in KOHALA! lol The flora and fauna was really similar to Big Island and it made me miss home! It is totally weird to walk around and watch out the van, because it seriously feels like I'm driving on the way to Hilo. Oh! And the vans here and the Bahamas are way different! They have fold down seats in the aisles and sit about 15 people, so there is literally no extra room. We went to Champagne Reef and when you swim you swim through the coral reef there are bubbles coming from the reef that is caused by volcano. We then went to Titou Gorge which is where a part of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed. Google it and you'll see how beautiful it is! My pictures definitely don't do it justice! Trafalgar Falls was the next stop  in which there are two huge waterfalls that are called Papa and Mama and below there are hot springs! So when we got there we went and played in the lake beneath the Mama waterfall and then jumped in the hot springs! The guide said that if you stay in the hot springs long enough "your skin will feel like a baby's bottom" and I think it worked! lol There were tiny waterfalls in the hot springs so you could just sit beneath it and have a massage! The whole experience could not have been so amazing without our tour guide. He definitely stopped at least a dozen times to show us cool little things! He could be a medicine man if he wanted to! It was all so amazing and today I TRULY realized what SAS alumni meant when they said that these 4 months will be the best times of your life! I was sitting at the base of the Mama Trafalgar waterfall and feeling like the luckiest person in the world to have this opportunity! In my head I was just thinking, "Wow, am I really here looking at this?!" the entire time today. I promised to myself that I will soak in EVERYTHING that I can! I feel like I have done it so far, but I'm so scared I'm gonna forget some things. I want to remember it as if it were a few minutes ago! We're all sad to leave Dominica tomorrow night, but then it's to the Amazon and Manaus, Brazil!

Miho

PS. I'm not posting pictures this time when I actually have wifi, because the wifi currently isn't the greatest.