My trip to Dominica in bullet points (with some added description if necessary), just as I wrote them down in my journal so that I wouldn’t forget to write about them later!

12/29

• Propellers, Pirates, Poinesettias, Driving on the LEFT! (first impressions of the flight and the drive from the airport to the school; Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3 were filmed extensively on the island in the lush rainforests; poinsettia bushes growing wild in a tropical climate; they drive on the left, took some getting used to).
• No Baby Turtles Were Harmed (a sign outside our beach cabin asking to keep the outside lights off because they confused the baby sea turtles, and they’re trying to protect the species).
• Rainstorm, Rat, Nothing on the menu, black sand-volcanic (it rained very hard overnight on our first night, and every night we were there; there was a rat in our first cabin..we were moved promptly; the menu in the restaurant was extensive, but they didn’t have half of what was on it-theories included limited supplies due to the holidays, and that they just didn’t feel like cooking much that night)

12/30

• Fruit Markets and eggs (we had plentiful eggs for breakfast, but no seasonal fruit because the markets were closed for the holidays, and that’s how the restaurant got its fruit supplies).
• Adil’s phone numbers
• Green Home Apartments (Adil’s apartment complex…it’s bright green)
• Other people’s phone numbers
• Swam in the Caribbean Sea! (just outside our front door)
• Chinese food (good, second dinner on the island)
• Grocery Store (had everything we could have asked for, although apparently you should get things while they’re there, because when they run out, it could be months before they get more).

12/31

• Snorkeling, reefs and rocks, boxes and customs (the beach where we went snorkeling was rocky, and Dad and Adil didn’t have to pay outrageous customs on the boxes we shipped, but they did have to drive 45 minutes to get them from a different city)
• Fish and Crab (a funny sight while snorkeling, a crab was on the bottom of the sea, skittering around, and this one silvery blue fish wouldn’t leave it alone. Every time the crab moved away, the fish came after it…I could have watched them all day, hilarious).
• Perky’s Pizza (yummy pizza, third dinner on the island, a taste of home)
• Online (I was able to get online for about 10 minutes, mostly to clear out my inbox so I wouldn’t have massive amounts of email waiting for me when I got home).
• KU Game (we did not get to watch the Insight Bowl because it was on the NFL network. What? So we followed it online and caught the end score. Rock Chalk!).

1/1/09

• Happy New Year!
• Northern Link, Cabrits (the tour we took that day)
• Amazing views!
• Goats and Yams (we saw little goats just standing on the side of the mountains, right near the road, everywhere, just eating; yam-like root growing near the sulfur springs).
• Atlantic v. Caribbean (the Atlantic coast was rocky and the waves were much more intense than on the Caribbean side, which was calm; in the 1700s, the only threat of invasion was from the Caribbrean side, because no one would dare attack from the Atlantic side, it was too dangerous.
• Swimming in the Caribbean, part 2 (we swam again…yay!).
• Kitty! More groceries (an adorable kitty kept trying to get into Adil’s apartment, and succeeded twice, but we had to kick her out because she was a stray..sort of..and because the landlord doesn’t allow animals; we went to the store again, to get anything else we might have needed).

1/2

• 65% population Roman Catholi, population around 72,000 (explaining the number of Catholic churches everywhere; the small population of the island, about half of which lives in the capitol city of Roseau..pronounced “rose-oh”).
• Hurricane David, 1979 (right after gaining independence, the country suffered a devastating hurricane, and much of the damage is still there as other projects just grew around it).
• Botanical Gardens (yay flowers!)
• KFC, Fruit, Souveniers, Burgers (We ate at KFC, something I never do at home, which was quite the experience; we bought fresh fruit from the market, which was yum; souveniers were purchased en masse; the island burgers at the hotel restaurant were awesome, fifth island dinner).

1/3

• Muddy trail, hiking, waterfall, cross the river 2x! (we hiked a muddy trail for almost an hour to get to a spectacular waterfall, Syndicate Falls…the hike was well worth the effort, even if my pants got soaked..whoops. We crossed the same river twice to find the easiest trail up to the falls…relatively anyways).
• Fruit off the tree (on our way back from the falls, we were able to eat fruit right off the tree, especially starfruit and grapefruit. So yummy!).
• Taxi service number
• High Waves! (due to a storm off the shores of the island, the waves were ridiculously high on Saturday. We were afraid to swim again, so we just watched and listened to the thundery crashing).
• KU v. Tennessee-WOOT! (we got to watch the game on ESPN..yay!)
• Perky’s Pizza w/ People (I had a “going away” party for myself with the friends I had made on the island).
• Fusion (the tiki bar kind of place where we went after pizza..the main hang out for all the students it seemed…I miss the social life in school!).

1/4

• San Juan (we flew back to San Juan).
• Infection (one of my many bug bites got infected, which hurt pretty bad when it first happened, but thanks to antibiotics and a long shower, the worst was over before it began. Thankfully.

1/5

• First class/business class!!! (I was very excited about this, having never flown like that before…very nice!).
• Last flight-delayed! (we made it almost all the way through the trip without any delays except for the flight between Dallas and Wichita. Oh well.
• HOME! (speaks for itself)

[Photo links here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2300101&l=ead95&id=16800153, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2300117&l=df229&id=16800153]