Dominica - "This is school!!!"

So lets see....we docked in Dominica on Sunday morning around 7:30am. We have to swipe our ID cards when we get on and off the ship. The gangway was on the fifth deck during this port and so we had to walk down this super long metal staircase and down a pier. Dominica is kind of like Nassau, but even poorer and the Taxi drivers do everything to try and get you into their taxis....minus actually throwing you in their taxis. So this really legit, and sincere looking Taxi driver came up to our group which ended up joining with two more girls that had split from another group (total of 7 of us). He offered us a ride for $20/person and he would take us to all of the sites, waterfalls, and beach. We bargained it down to $15/person and hopped into his van. Our tour guide's name was Shwaly. He ended up being SO COOL! He took us on these windy roads (outside Roseau there are no speed limits=scaryness!) towards our first stop which was these two waterfalls....which of course I can't re
 member the name of....but they're on a postcard I'm sending....but probably in Brazil since I didnt fill them out! haha Anyways...back to my story. So Shwaly stopped along the way to the waterfall to show us a cinnamon tree, cocoa bean tree, avocado tree, bananas, and lemon grass. He told us about how cinnamon was made and how the lemon grass makes you feel better. Apparently most people use herbs as medicine and dont go to the doctor. So we finally made it to the waterfall which was a 15 minute hike. But then of course we wanted to SWIM in the waterfall....hello we dont want to just LOOK at it!! So then we started climbing on these ginormous rocks that were all slippery and hard to grip. And Shwaly helped us all the way....he was climbing around like a monkey on the rocks. We kept on saying how if our mothers heard about this they would kill us. So we got to the top and got to swim under the waterfall which is SO refreshing! And then we clambered back down and climbed to the other waterfall which is warm water. There were natural hot springs that we sat in which were so refreshing and according to local stories the springs make you feel 10 years younger...which seemed pretty accurate! After that we went to the van and he took us through these villages that were so run down and there were lots of buildings made from shipping containers. It made you really appreciate America. We passed this guy who found this boa constrictor and he charges a buck to have your picture with him. I did not get anywhere close to that thing but a bunch of the girls did. So after that we went up this mountain where we stopped and we looked down on Roseau and could see the ship, and the national futbol stadium. We also saw a mini boiling lake....theres a bigger one in the middle of Dominica. It smelled like sulphur...yucky. Lastly we went snorkeling in Champagne Reef. It's named that because it's supposed to look like your swimming through a glass of champagne. (Thats kind of an overstatement) Lets just say....I suck at snorkeling. I can't get the whole breathing through my mouth thing down...so of course I swallowed all sorts of ocean water. Yummm. It was SO cool though. The ocean is so crazy....you dont realize how deep it is until your looking at it. We saw lots of Finding Nemo fishies....eels, pufferfish, and of course bubbles! Then we had some Rum Punch which was unbelievably strong and I honestly couldnt drink it...yuck! We ended the tour in town which is really kind of sad. It was a sunday first of all so there was NOTHING open and they opened a bar just for SAS. There are lots of homeless people walking around. We talked to a kid on a bike for a while who was 14 years old. He was telling us about his ex girlfriend that was mean to him and how he loves to walk to school. They have computers at the schools but not all kids use them. I snagged some internet time at a cafe and got on facebook for a few minutes to say hi. At night I went
 to the bar that opened for us, but only for about 15 minutes. It was a super small bar and PACKED. So then I came back to the ship and ran into my roommate and a few of her friends. We played cards out by the pool for a while and a ton of kids were just hanging out there.

I woke up on Monday morning to the captain telling the crew to go to their muster stations for a "crew only" emergency practice....not a fun wake up call. I headed out by myself after that....hoping to find a travel buddy. As soon as I was on the pier a girl asked me if I was alone and we ended up walking around town together. We went to breakfast at Cartwheel Cafe where tons of other SAS kids ate too. It was yummy! Then we went around finding postcards and I found a Dominican flag....which is kind of a lot different than the one I got in the bahamas but still cool! So then it was time for lunch and we went back to the ship where I ended up eating with two other girls that were going river tubing which was an SAS trip. We got into vans and the company that took us tubing was called Wacky Rollers. First we went to Emerald Pool which is a waterfall that has a natural pool at the bottom to sleep in and the water looks like a deep emerald color because of the reflection of all the greenery around us. It
  was really cold but so fun! And then we walked back to the vans which took us to the riverside where we got into tubes....literally like a tube that you would go tubing with. We got helmets, a paddle, and lifejacket and went for two miles down Dominica's longest river. (Dominica has 365 rivers) It was beautiful and there were some rapids which was fun. At the end we had fresh fruits including pineapple, grapefruit, oranges, and coconut. I HATE coconut but fresh coconut is absolutely DELICIOUS! By that time it was time to head to the ship and get onboard. I quickly got to the room and showered before my roommates got there.....SO NICE to have some peace in our rooms! Dinner...which consisted of chicken stirfry and mexican linguini...which was actually delicious...was on the deck looking at the rainbow. Someone brought their Bose and we were listening to awesome music too. And the juice for dinner tonight was some pineapple concoction which was outstanding and a nice change from water every night.

And now I'm here....looking back on my awesome time in Dominica. I'm sure getting to ports will become more routine but its really exciting. Im wondering where homework fits into this whole thing? So hopefully I'll get some done tonight and tomorrow!

Thanks for all the comments on my blog....keep them coming! They're awesome to read!!! Unfortunately I can't reply back to comments but I'll try and remember to answer questions in blog posts!