15.06.07

where do the people who live at vacation destinations go for their vacations? i mean, we live in Antigua now. so where do Antiguans go on holidays?

after polling many Antiguans, we discovered that a very popular spot people love to travel to is the beautiful island of Dominica (dom-in-EEK-ka). what's that? never heard of it? not surprising. while it is physically larger than Antigua, it flies under the radar. in fact, only twin prop airplanes can land on the island. so access is quite limited.

we've been told it is the only island that would be recognizeable if christopher colombus were float by, today. we were told it is a nature lover's paradise. we were told it is stunningly beautiful, pristine, untouched, a must see of the caribbean... so we had to see it for ourselves. to our surprise, it was even more beautiful than everyone described.

we packed our bags and hopped on a small plane for a 4-day getaway. ché didn't get to see his flight to Antigua because it was late at night, so the trip in the small airplane was worth every cent. the flight was short, since Dominica is only 2 islands south of Antigua. imagine scooting between lush, tropical, 3000 ft mountains to land on a short runway that ends at the ocean.

after a crazy trip cross-island, we spent 20 minutes zig zagging up through the jungle up Giraudel mountain, outside Dominica's capital: Roseau. back and forth we trekked up the steep incline. Dominica has the narrowest roads i had ever driven. In many places you have to pull over when meeting oncoming traffic. and when you are on the edge of a cliff, it really tests your nerves.

we arrived at our accommodations thanks to pepper (one of Dominica's many ambassadors) and settled into our mountainside cottage owned by proprietor, marvlyn robinson. what a gem of a spot. the cottage Chez Fie Doudou, is simple and with all the amenities we needed. the 2-bdrm cottage would be our home for the next 4 days. read more about Chez Fie Doudou from the rave review lois wrote and posted on tripadvisor.com.

there were some serious parallels here. this place reminded me so much of my parent's B&B in owen sound, complete with the gorgeous cottage on the edge of the property, surrounded by gardens, and flora that was breathtaking. on her 3 acres she grows pineapples, cocoa (for chocolate), mangoes, papaya, coconuts and numerous flowers and foliage. marvlyn's grounds are actually an occasional stop for tourists and her gardens are celebrated in the annual flower festival.

marvlyn was a wonderful host who introduced us to the neighbourhood children (ché was in heaven), took us to the farmer's market in Roseau and introduced us to a number of welcoming, Dominicans. i have never met such a proud, content, generous people in my life. all were very friendly. one fellow was an artisan and carved from fern trees. the wood is a unique texture unlike any wood i have ever seen. one young lady sophonie was this adorable, brilliant 9 yr-old who had emigrated from haiti. she loved willow and played with ché. all the children were polite, friendly & surprisingly well travelled.

in fact, i have discovered that people from small places seem better travelled than those from larger ones. the Dominicans i met were quite articulate with world politics. i had a few discussions with some very interesting and knowledgeable folk.

our first exploration was to small mountain town called wotten waven. from there we hiked to trafalgar falls. the jungle was so thick and green it was incredible. in Antigua there are 365 beaches. in Dominica they say there are 365 rivers. trafalgar falls was just one spectacular example...

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