Tuesday 31 July 2007

Victoria Falls and la Riviére Blanche

The first time we tried to reach the Victoria Falls, we didn’t even make it to the first river crossing. And driving up from Grand Bay, towards the village of Delices it is far from obvious where the entrance to the falls is.

We drove back and forth a couple of times and finally decided to ask a couple of young boys hanging out by the bus stop on the main road. “Just here”, they immediately shouted, and pointed towards a small gravel road, leading inland. It all made sense, but as we are experienced and not too easily fooled we knew better. Wouldn’t rely on just one opinion. A couple of hundred meters inland, we met another group of boys. They all confirmed: We were on the right track. “But it is quite far”, they added, with big Dominican smiles on their faces, and made a detailed description on how to get there. The road got narrower, steeper, but no sight of the big tree or bay rum factory they mentioned. After a while what is left of the road made a sharp turn, started going downhill and all of a sudden we found ourselves back on the main road again. Going back down again, towards Grand Bay, we drove pass what now had turned into a large group of kids, all laughing and giggling.

Instead, we stopped and asked a couple of young women, on their way to Mass, no risk of them lying, Sunday and everything, but by the time we found the Riviére Blanche, or White River, where the trail starts, we were hungry, decided to have picnic already, then threw some pebbles in the river and decided to return soon, now that we knew where it is.

Several months passed, but this Sunday we easily make it back to the entrance, turn where the signs to the Pichelin-Delices trail stands, just south of Delices, long before the unfortunate bus stop, and leave the car on the “security parking”, are excused from the five US fee and set off, determined to make it this time.

To get from the parking to the actual waterfall, you have to make five river crossings, and although the hike is not extremely difficult, it is best to avoid it when it is raining, as dangerous flashfloods can appear surprisingly fast and unexpected. With a 25 pound almost two years old on your back, it is definitely not recommended.

But today the sun is shining and the water never gets more than knee-high, sometimes up to the thighs, in any of the crossings.

And there is nothing wrong with the trail. Once you find it after each crossing it is easy. The trouble is finding it. And also knowing exactly when and where to cross the river. There are absolutely no signs and I am absolutely convinced the local, most likely self-appointed, so called guides are eager to keep it that way.

Half way through the first river crossing a man conveniently appears, offers us his guide services. And the truth is, we probably wouldn’t have made it all the way to the waterfall without him. At least, it would have taken several hours longer, and plenty of discussions on how dangerous or not dangerous this or that crossing or rock-climbing is, especially with a baby on the back.

With our guide we move along fast, cross the river five times, walk the trails on each side and finally, after the last and deepest crossing, do some basic climbing over a few rocks.


Here we can already get glimpses of the waterfall and it is impressing. It is not the tallest in Dominica, with its 100 feet it makes the forth or fifth, after the Middleham Falls 200 ft, River Jack Falls 150 ft, also found on the Pichelin-Delices trail, and the Trafalgar Falls with its approximately 120 ft. But it is definitely one of the most impressing.

Below the falls there is a huge pool, and as the water cascades into it, you get quite a shower, blowing strongly in your face when you stand on the shore, wetting you almost completely. It is like a super-version of the Emerald Pool. We stay for a while to absorb the beauty and strength, but decide to have our lunch by one of the many turquoise-white pools we passed on our way up. The water in the Victoria Falls and the White River, all come from the Boiling Lake in the mountains high above, the reason for its milky mineral rich water.

The way back is easier, we know our way and it is easier to slide down the rocks to get back to the last crossing, at least for me who don’t carry a baby on my back. Beware of little feet that shouldn’t get stuck between rocks!

After three crossings, about halfway back, we find a perfect enough pool, with a small sandy beach full of pebbles, say good bye and thank you to our guide and sit down on the soft and warm rocks, contemplating the river, listening to the birds, having lunch.

Later in the afternoon, on our way back to the car and just before the last crossing, we swim in the bigger pool, the one just where the trail starts. It is definitely refreshing, almost cool, but extremely relaxing. To let the stream bring you down-river looking up at the scattered clouds and trees hanging over, makes you forget about everything but the moment.





We will soon be back, if only to have a swim, make a couple of crossings and sit by the river. And now that we know the way, it wouldn’t be that hard to make it all the way to the falls on our own either.

How to get there: From Roseau, head for Grand Bay (that is south to Loubiere where you turn left to cross the southern tip of the island) and then continue up north along the Atlantic coast, on a wonderful and beautiful, breathtaking and sufficiently winding road, up and down the hills abruptly descending into the roaring ocean. Then, just before (!) the small village of Delices, turn left when you see the sign for the Pichelin-Delices trail. It is about an hour’s drive from Roseau. Finally, it is a short drive downhill until the road ends, where there is a “security parking”, obviously on private land. This time, a small reception center was under construction, the men working there promised us we would be able to get cool Kubuli next time.

If it is your first time, I would really recommend a guide. The trail itself isn’t hard, but it is hard to find it after each crossing and it is also hard to know exactly when and where to cross. Two or three times the trail also splits in two, and it is not always obvious which to take.

Four or five small signs along the trail would do it, but that would, of course, mean no more need for guides. I can understand the low priority given to this…

Monday 23 July 2007

DiveFest!

We are late, very late and as we wind up and down the road heading almost as far south as you can get I am getting a little concerned we already have missed the DiveFest grand finale event, the annual canoe race in dugout Carib canoes, held in Soufriere, in the middle of the Scotts Head Soufriere Marine Reserve.

But, as my husband keeps reminding me, this is Dominica, we are on the island, island time rules, not clock time, relax, no problem. When we reach Soufriere and park the car, finally finds a spot close to the old catholic stone church where there are also some natural ocean hot springs, the first thing we see are three soaked racers, water dripping from everywhere, coming from the complete opposite direction from where the actual race is held. “I think our captain was a little drunk”, one of the girls says, “the boat capsized before we even got started”. It is probably true, but how they managed to get that far from the race track remains a question.


On the beach in the middle of the village the party is already going on, has been going on for a while, Kubulis are sold in a continuous flow. Chicken is on the grill, fish too. The racing, it has just started.

Almost immediately someone grabs my husbands arm, starts to convince him to form a team with a couple of other guys. He finally agrees and our friend is off to register. We continue down to the shore, try to make our way out on one of the overcrowded old piers, but are forced to turn after a short while. Our son is not interested in anything but to jump straight into the water, with clothes and shoes and everything. No hard grip around his fist is going to work much longer.

Every now and then three or four canoes are off, racing, back and forth to a certain point out in the ocean, several other boats surrounding them, trying to make sure rules are followed, trying to give support, or just make fun of and annoy the serious and not to serious participants.





Every July, Dominica's diver community gathers forces and presents the annual Dive Fest. And it is one intensive week of activities and fun for divers and others interested in Dominica's marine life. Dive Fest saw its first lights fourteen years ago, and was created by the Dominica Watersports Association to give local Dominicans a chance to learn more about scuba diving. Education about the marine environment has always been an important part of Dive Fest, and there are plenty of opportunities for all to try scuba diving or snorkeling. More recently other more advanced activities have been added, like treasure hunt and photo contests for the more experienced divers. Today it is a great festival where tourists and Dominicans together enjoy the island’s great under water and marine life.

Back on the beach again, our son is doing his best to get rid of his clothes, to get into the water, actively hindered by his parents, knowing that it would just be a matter of time before a runaway canoe with a drunk captain aboard would hit him hard. Then our friend is back, annoyed. There will be no racing he says, “and you know why. Well, four fishermen have gathered to race one canoe. Four fishermen!”. As I don’t really understand the problem he vividly describes how they of course would win, “I mean, come on, four fishermen”, thereby making it meaningless to race, no chance of winning the price, the cage of Kubuli beer. And the honor.

So, we head for food, get dried fish and plantain, some fig pudding and of course chicken. Eventually, our son forgets about the missed opportunity for a swim with canoes, and Dive Fest is going towards its end for this year. For us at least. For many others, there are still a couple of hours left, to discuss race techniques and drink more beer.

And, maybe I am stupid, but I think it would have been fun to race the fishermen. Next year, definitely.

More info: The 2007 Dive Fest was held from July 6th to 15th, more info and a complete schedule of the events is available from avirtualDominica's special Dive Fest site. This year the festival are also proud to present its own blog: http://divefest.wordpress.com/
Finally, the official name of the race is of course the Kubuli Carib Canoe Race, what else could it be…

Friday 20 July 2007

Dominican facts, from those who know...

The people of Dominica is the forth happiest in the world. At least that’s what the latest results from the Happy Planet Index lets us know. How to measure happiness is of course widely debated, and who can actually tell what happiness really is? But, living in Dominica, you don’t really have to worry about wars, violence (the crime level being one of the lowest in the entire Caribbean), drought, famine or bloody coup d'état, not really either how to be able to afford health care or education for your child. Despite the yearly hurricane season, and a tiny risk for volcanic activity, Dominica is a safer place than many others, and that helps to make you fell happy.

To get some true, real and completely objective information and statistics on Dominica, is probably just as impossible as everywhere else. It all depends on who you are asking and what the purpose is or have been. But still, some institutions seem to never get enough of collecting statistics and writing reports on those objective facts.

The UNDP Human Development Index sometimes serves as quite a good guide. It is based on adult literacy, school enrolment, life expectancy at birth and per capita GDP. According to the 2006 Report 2006, Dominica is ranked 68 among 177 countries, placing it just above countries like Brazil, Colombia and St Lucia, and among the top five of countries considered “medium developed”. Dominica have, in fact, met almost all of the UN Millennium Development Goals.


But, even though Dominica was ranked 95th in the 2004 report, and the jump to no 68 may seem like a really good shape-up, everything is not perfect, not even in Dominica.

The recent and quite severe economic crisis has led to a rise in poverty and unemployment. The poverty and unemployment levels are quite high, with an estimated 39% of the population being poor and 15% indigent; and an unemployment rate of around 25% nationwide and 40% among the poor. As so often, poverty is concentrated mainly in the rural areas and is particularly severe in the Carib Territory, where the majority of the indigenous Kalinago people live. The high level of rural poverty has its roots mainly in the ongoing decline in agriculture which has long been the mainstay of Dominica’s economy. Today, the Government does what is standard in the Caribbean: doing its best to increase tourism as a main source of income for the country.

Unemployment is one of several reasons why the emigration from Dominica continues to increase. From 1990 it has almost doubled. 1990 about 1% of the population emigrated, while as in 2003 about 2% decided to leave the country. The main destinations for migrants are Antigua and British Virgin Islands, as well at UK, USA and Canada. Today Dominica has a population of about 70.000. I have been told that there are about the same number of Dominicans living abroad. The loss of skilled labour force is a great challenge to the island and its future economic development.

Then what about those who come, at least to visit? (although some of us can’t help but to stay…) In 1994 Dominica counted a total of 56,600 stay-over guests, increased by almost 50% ten years later: In 2004 80,000 stay-over tourists visited the island. Today that number has risen slightly more, to about 83,000. However, more than half of them, about 50,000, originate from other Caribbean countries, only about 20,000 travel from US and Canada, about 10,000 from Europe, and only about 40% use paid accommodations. A great part of the people visiting Dominica seem to belong to the fastest growing segment of today’s traveller; those who travel to visit friends and family. Of course, they are also tourists, but doesn’t contribute economically in the same way as those who actually use the hotels and restaurants.

While the cruise shippers outnumber the stay-over visitors by five – almost 400,000 cruise shippers visit every year, with high season days with four or five ships docking in Roseau and Portsmouth (don’t forget to avoid places like Trafalgar Falls and the Emerald Pool these days, at least until you hear the sound of the ships horn in the afternoon), they only account for about 20% of all spending. It is not hard to see why the Governments newly approved Tourism Policy clearly focuses on stay-over guests.

GDP per person averages around USD 5.500 per person and... that’s enough... enough from all these experts who adore hard facts, statistics and everything that is “objectively” measurable. Let’s go back to where we started and concentrate on what really matters:

Dominica is the fourth happiest country in the entire world.

I really think that’s enough to know. And, although I haven’t counted, I am sure a Dominican smiles about a hundred times more a day than the average Swede, German or Canadian.

More hard facts and stats on Dominica: Can be found in the UNDP Human Development Report and Index, in country reports etc. on Dominica, i.e. at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, the Caribbean Development Bank, and, last but not least, in the Happy Planet Index.
According to them, if you are curious, the only countries considered happier than Dominica are, in order of major happiness, Vanuatu, Colombia and Costa Rica.

Tuesday 10 July 2007

Trafalgar Falls and Hot Springs

I don’t know anymore, how many times we have visited the Trafalgar Falls. I still remember the first time we came there, though. We were new on the island, hadn’t even got our own transport yet (yes, in Dominica you say transport, but it means car, or bus, or any kind of means of transport). We used to rent one and drive around like crazy, not being able to stop the demand of beautiful views and experiences. Then we came to Trafalgar, one Sunday afternoon, late enough for the crowd of the day to be on their way back home, greeting them along the trail. We got the hot springs and the waterfall views all for ourselves. We stayed until it got dark.

It is just a ten minutes drive from Roseau, you basically just take the Valley Road out of Roseau and drive until the road ends. But first it splits in two, where the right turn would take you to Wotten Waven, you take the left. Then it splits in two again, where the left would take you to Laudat, to the Freshwater Lake, the Boeri Lake, the Titou Gorge, the Rainforest Arial Tram and all that, even to the Boiling Lake if you continue long enough. You turn right and just goes straight, although through a lot of curves, until the road ends.

The walk up to the view platform is short and easy, not more than ten minutes, but just as you take your first steps on the path towards it you get the feeling of being in the middle of the rainforest. The green is lush, intense, the air is moist, full of oxygen, birds and insects fill the air with their peeps and chirps, humming and buzzing. The ground is soft and the giant ferns the path is made up of lets you walk on almost dry surface, its not slippery and you don’t get wet, the little streams crossing the path are easy to jump across. Almost anyone can make it to the platform.

We still come here a couple of times a month, and we still stay on the platform for a while, to catch our breath and to watch the two waterfalls cascade down the mountains, the left one, the Father and the larger (about 120 ft or 30 m.), the right one, the Mother. And to admire the immense, green mountain or enormous rock between them, where high up our son is convinced Totoro, the Lord of the Forest, lives.

The father fall has hot springs at its base, and to get down to them there is another ten, or maybe five, minutes of climbing down the rocks, the sign says “on your own risk”, but we have never really felt any risk, not even with a small boy jumping down the rocks. We just keep a steady grip around his waist.

Down there, the view of the mother waterfall from the big bold rocks is stunning, you can climb really close to it and jump around the rocks. I don’t know why, but I always feel like a strange figure in a cartoon, it is all to unreal maybe. In the beginning we always went down to jump around, nowadays we normally just get changed and soak our bodies in the hot water of any of the natural pools. Our favorite is the highest one, where the water is warmest, and where there also is a great little back massage waterfall coming down. The pools are as great for grown-ups as for little kids.

Last Friday we took another visiting friend up, and as always, we try to stay as late as possible, just a little later than you should.

I have difficulties finding all my clothes in the dusk, but finally get it and set off back, climbing the rocky path uphill with an almost-two clung to my waist. When we reach the platform again it is almost, almost dark. We sit down for a while, have a banana snack and wait just a little longer.

The trail back to the entrance and office building is dark, and there they are! We see a couple of them, then more, then more and all of a sudden – what we have been waiting for. The forest is filled up with thousands and thousands, if not millions, of fireflies. They are everywhere and the bush looks like a twinkling starry sky, it’s like rainforest’s New Years Eve, and we stop, just look, try to absorb it all.

Nowhere I have seen anything like this, it is fairy tail beauty, almost unreal. I have seen it several times now, but I don’t stop being totally amazed, feeling swept away into a dream.

If you ever get to the Trafalgar Falls, go late in the afternoon. That way you don’t have to share the place with the cruise ship crowd (no offence cruise shippers), and maybe, if you stay late enough, you get to see the fireflies parade.


How to get there: Head inland on the Valley Road towards Laudat, passing the Botanical Gardens. Don’t turn right towards Wotten Waven, just continue straight. Next time the road splits, turn right (to not end up in Laudat). You have to pass the little village of Trafalgar, do some turns and finally pass the Papillotte Wilderness Retreat (a great place for a Kubuli beer and sandwich after the falls) and the hydro-electric plants, and there you are!

Friday 6 July 2007

Jungle Weekend in la Plaine

“The bridge is broken, we have to cross the river by foot” my friend tells me, for I don’t know what time in order. We are going to her place in la Plaine for the weekend and are checking the last little things. We’ve got sheets packed? Yes. And quiche ready-made for dinner, something for breakfast, wine, beer, rum, mosquito repellant, swimsuits, cameras, sunglasses… Yes, everything is there and we are off.

We leave Roseau, turn toward Pont Casse in Canefield. Half an hour later we pass the entrance to the Emerald Pool and head south east, toward the Atlantic coast. The one and a half hour drive – I really dont think it is possible to get any farther, the island may be mountainous, but it is still small – is pleasant, as always. Up on the cool plain after Pont Casse it is raining, as always, the Morne Trois Piton looks down at us, somewhat gloomy. We stop at the usual spring water tap, fill up a couple of bottles with some of the best water on the island, straight from the spring, and continue. Music is on and it is a perfect day for a jungle adventure.

When we reach the coast we pass the Rosalie Bay Beach and I wonder if some little turtle hatchlings may be on their way down to the sea right now. La Plaine then, is a nice and slow village on Dominica’s southeast coast. It sits on a wide slope of hardened lava once emitted from the volcanoes in the Grand Soufrière Hills behind the plain, and has ha population of a little less than 1500. Today we are going to turn before we reach the village.




We stop at the Bout Sable Bay and its little beach and do some redistribution. Girls and kids and all stuff get squeezed into one car, the one with four wheel drive, and the boys get the other. Two different dirt roads will take us to the house, one somewhat less bumpy but ending farther away, with a short hike through the bush following the car ride. Machete stays in boys car, we get the bumpy road.

I turn on the four wheel drive and we head inland, uphill, and the scenery is completely wonderful. Straight ahead we have Trois Piton and all around us hills and valleys, all green, green, green. Here and there a cow, some banana plantations, and when the curves are sharp we see the Atlantic ocean, far down the valley now, but still there. We drive up one hill, then serpentine back down into the valley, cross a river – this one has a bridge – and make our way back up next hill, we are almost there. Just one more steep downhill drive, breaks work fine, and we reach the next river, park the car under a small lime tree.

Out of the car comes bags and boxes, food and drinks, a huge mattress and several kids. We take everything down to the river and soon after the boys appear from the other side.

The bridge is broken. We have to cross the river by foot.

I still have no idea where the house is, but it is just there my friend assures, on the other side of the river, just behind those huge mango trees, making it impossible to get even the tiniest glimpse of it. But there it is, just there. Carrying all kind of stuff, kids, the mattress we reach the house. It is a small gingerbread house, built from wood from the land, with a huge veranda. As so often, no glass in windows, just hurricane shields, in case of. The sound of the river, a lot of birds, the breeze are the only sounds. We are deep into the forest.

So, then, what to do in a small one-room gingerbread house without electricity, running water, close by bars, internet connection?

We relax. My friend is working on the garden, that is, what is supposed to be a garden, keeping up with fast growing jungle plants is not the easiest thing in the world, but it is beautiful in all of its wildness, flowers are everywhere, wild banana – or heliconia, red ginger, different types of hibiscus, oleander, jasmine, pink frangipani and lots of others I don’t know the name of or don’t even recognize. The boys are off crayfish hunting in the river, funny walking in the shallow water with special equipment, the little ones jumping up and down on the river rocks, throwing pebbles into the water, they are all in flow. Later we all have a swim, meanwhile I lay down in the hammock on the veranda. And so we eat, and eat again, drink wine and at seven it gets dark. About an hour later everyone is asleep. One family downstairs, the other in the small loft. Someone in the hammock.

The best thing, I think, with escaping to the jungle for the weekend is waking up. Waking up by dawn, just when it starts to get bright, when every bird in the entire forest is up and singing, when everything is still fresh, cool from the nights rainfall. And while everyone else is still asleep. The river keeps flowing down from the mountain, the garden as beautiful as yesterday, and I am far, far, far away from any visual contamination and information overload of every day life. I want to stay.

But we can’t, after breakfast we have to leave, we have commitments, have to have lunch in Bagatelle, attend a meeting in Grand Bay. We have to leave, we cross the river, walking. We will be back soon.

How to get there & how to do this: Well, to get to la Plaine is not really that complicated. It is the second largest village in the Saint Patrick Parish (that is the southeastern part of Dominica), after Grand Bay, and can be found on every descent map. Then, to do this you need someone who agrees to rent or lend you a little house deep in the forest, ask around the village, or maybe my friend could rent you hers…

Tuesday 3 July 2007

Caribbean as it used to be?

Walking the streets of Roseau – preferably early in the morning, when the streets and the town comes to life, street vendors arrange their selections, shop owners open up their shops, people rush back and forth on their way to work, or, if not, later in the afternoon, when the sun is lower, the heat bearable – is really a great way to loose a couple of hours. The town is full of old buildings, remainings from the colonial era, which really did not end until 1978 when Dominica became an independent state, after almost two hundred years of British ruling. Two-story building with large verandas hanging out over the streets, some transferred to cafes or restaurants, the majority still private homes, lines the streets of King George V, the one that takes you from the old market, towards the Botanical Gardens, or the Independence street, one of the main streets, the one that leads into town from the bridge, from Goodwill and the northern parts of the island.

Roseau is a town that still hasn’t suffered from hardcore, development aid funded, well paid restaurateurs who have transformed the buildings to dollhouses, the streets to artificial tourist shopping streets, the town to a museum, to a so called “export-ready” heritage site. Roseau is still alive, full or real people, running real errands, living in real houses. I really don’t know how the Caribbean used to be, but I get the feeling Roseau is quite a bit as it used to be. Maybe with more cars.


The other day we were having lunch at the Fort Young Hotel. Up on the second floor veranda we started talking to the people at the table next to ours. Visiting from St Martin for the weekend they wanted tips on where to go for a couple of day tours. We talk about Trafalgar Falls, Soufriere hot springs, going snorkeling at Champagne or Scots Head, and more. And then come to ask them how they like it so far. “Oh”, says the young woman, “its great, it remains me of Saint Martin twenty years ago. I really, really hope it can remain this way.” Dominica’s population is about 70.000, compared with same size Martinique’s 450.000 or St Marten with the same amount of inhabitants, on 15% the size of Dominica. As soon as you leave Roseau, there is a more or less total absence of large development projects, the little villages remains little villages where life remain rural and slow, just as it always have used to be.

The absence of international hotel chains, charter tourists, golf courses and international airport helps, of course, to contribute to all this. And Dominica’s newly approved Tourism Policy states that “Dominicas extraordinary tourism resources cannot be experienced without exploring the country” and that all tourism should benefit the local communities. However, both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Tourism seem interested in playing golf, and change is, always, inevitable. And definitely not always bad.

This month the EU-funded 6 million euro “Eco-Tourism Development Programme” just finished. The programme has enabled for the upgrade of more than 20 tourist sites, shape-ups of certain areas in Roseau, training and awareness building on the importance of tourism for local communities and a lot more. The work constantly carried out by S.H.A.P.E., the society for heritage architecture preservation and enhancement, have resulted in a greater awareness of the beauty of many of the historical buildings, and in the importance of preserving this heritage and its memories, to progress slowly and with care.

Dominica is an island with many nicknames. The most common must be “the Nature Island of the Caribbean”, or, as the official website now states, just “the Nature Island”. Dominica’s nature is incredible, and it is worth visiting just for experiencing all the different shades of green, I still cant believe there are so many, but Dominica has even more to offer than nature. The ride through narrow, winding roads, short breaks at small hilltop villages, a fruit juice or cup of bush tea, a kubuli and some fish and provision at the very local restaurant or little café, the warmth of the people. These are the real experiences. It is Caribbean as it used to be. Or maybe it is Dominica - Caribbean just the way it is.



Monday 25 June 2007

Indigo Art Café and Tree Cottage

The sign to Indigo is tiny, but there is something about it, something telling you, you should go check the place out. We saw the sign the first time we passed, on our way from Portsmouth to the small village of Paix Bouche in northeastern Dominica, and decided to visit, next time. Next time, it happened, my husband passed by on his own and he did go check the place out. Today, Indigo is one of our absolute favorite spots on the island.

Some restaurants and hotels just sell a meal or a room. Some others try to sell you an experience, they sell eco or luxury, or maybe the unspoilt or even the true and authentic. Indigo, I think, just gives away a little space in time, a brief moment to breathe and to spare.
It looks like nothing else, it looks like the visualization of a dream.

The place is run by the Dominican-French couple Marie and Clem Frederick, Marie being a “roots” artist with a truly own expressionist style and Clem more of a sculptor, responsible for the construction of the buildings, carved directly out of the remote, forested mountainside. And for all the organic, almost alive, wooden furniture.

For our wedding anniversary, we decide to spend the night at Indigos tree cottage guest room. It is the only room, and for dinner, we are the only guests. When we arrive in the afternoon, Marie is already busy, preparing for everything. We sit down in the garden. Sipping on fresh passionfruit and ginger-lime juices, we exchange latest news from our villages and try to find out who we actually are talking about, mixing everything and everyone up. We pet the puppies that have grown a lot, just since our last visit, Marie has got a problem with her computer, my husband promises to come back during the week, on his way from work, to have a look.

The tree cottage is full of fresh flowers, from the garden and surroundings. As it only have three walls, birds fly in and out, waiting for us to prepare the do it yourself welcome rum punch. Grapefruits and mango, brown sugar, a little bottle of rum and glasses have been carefully placed on an old metal tray. The coconut mobile is specially made for pieces of fruit left over, for the small black and yellow banana quit, for the black and red bullfinch, and for all the other birds I don’t know the names of. The rum punch is excellent, and the one we have later, just before dinner, even better.

For dinner Marie serves crab terrine with beets and tomato salad and later pasta with freshwater crayfish, the catch of the day from a nearby river. We have some of Marie’s wonderful bread, a lot more for breakfast next day, and we have bush tea and the best candied ginger I have had for years. We don’t have no space in our stomachs for dessert. I would have loved one of the homemade sorbets or ice creams.

Later, we walk up the stairs and the short path that takes us from the main building to the cottage with a lantern leading our way. The cottage has no electricity but there are plenty of candles, all different kinds of candleholders, and a large oil lamp that lights up the entire cottage. The breeze comes in from the mountains, there are no mosquitoes, we sleep without a mosquito net. It feels like we are in heaven.

At Indigo, there are so many details, so much sense for details, so many efforts made to help you rest all your senses. Nothing disturbs you, everything seem to be in harmony. The air smells of fresh flowers and herbs, the jazz music is low enough not to compete with the birds singing and the whole place is art, not only the many pieces of art work. Even the food is art. And the shower. And the toilet. There I read a National Geographic from 1979. I thought so much had changed since then. In the world, very little have changed since then.

Oh, there is one thing about the toilet. And actually about the cottage as well. And maybe about the open space that serves as restaurant, gallery, bar, a little bit of everything, too. Everyone on the island seem to know that Indigo turned out to be some kind of favorite spot or hang out for the “Pirates of the Caribbean”, for Johnny Depp and those, while filming the second and third of the Pirates films in Dominica. I am glad, of course, they discovered the place, but I could actually manage without pictures of them here and there, or with plasticized extracts on Orlando Blooms experience, placed on the table and in the cottage. But. To know that something is perfect, you need something to compare with. These tiny, tiny sources of irritation are probably placed there for you to remember that few things come closer to perfection than Indigo.


When you enter, there is this sign. It says “No photos. Memories are in your mind”. It is great. We put back our digital cameras and enjoy the moment as it is. The place is full of Clem’s wisdom and in the open space that serves as restaurant, café and gallery, there is another. It says

Nothing makes man happy. Happiness is in your mind.






On the web: Amongst Marie’s paintings, there are some photos on the tree cottage on the website. If you cant wait until you get there, have a look:
http://indigo.wetpaint.com/page/Tree+Cottage

How to get there: From Portsmouth, take the road that leads you towards Melville Hall Airport and Marigot. It is about a fifteen minutes drive, and you will see a small sign on the left hand side, just after a sharp curve, just before the village of Bornes.

Friday 22 June 2007

Island Time: Meetings

Island Time. Whether you like it or not, if you are in Dominica, you will experience it. Especially if you come from a society where everything comes and leaves on time and punctuality is the norm and the beauty, like in Japan, North America or Germany, it may be tough to adopt to the concept of time on the island.

A meeting never starts on time. From my experience at work, I can just say that if there is ever a meeting, it is great. There is always a big possibility that the meeting will be canceled, due to any kind of reason, such as weather, stomach ache, transportation break down, or by simply being forgotten. Soon you learn, reconfirmation is mandatory.

Let's say there is finally going to be a meeting. How late will it start? Again, from my observations at work, it is about 30 to 40 minutes. This morning we had a meeting, supposed to start at 9:00 a.m., and actually, it started at 9:40. Of course there is nobody there at 9:00 a.m. In Central America, where my previous experience is from, the delay was normally 15 to 20 minutes, so Dominica is even more "flexible" than that.

Another thing is about how a meeting is called and how everyone is informed. And for how long in advance. This, I think, is another challenge for non-islanders. Again, the meeting this morning, I was informed about 2 minutes before it started. My boss said "oh, I think I did not tell you, but can you come to the meeting now?". Fortunately I did not have to do anything, just sit there.

It is not that easy to schedule anything in advance on the island. If someone want to have a meeting with you, he or she may say "I will look you up sometime next week". Then he will probably specify more later, like "early next week". Well, that can be Monday, Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. All you can do is hold the uncertainty. Because next week, he will say "how about Tuesday? How about Tuesday mid-morning?". That probably means 10:00, or 10:30, or 11:00. Eventually the meeting will take place around that time.

For many Dominicans it does not feel good, and it does not seem "appropriate" to make an appointment like in Western society. A normal phrase for me, like "let's have a meeting Thursday July 5th at 10:45 a.m." just doesn’t work here.

So if you want to be on this island and you are punctual person, you have to prepare yourself. Bus comes when it comes, air plane leaves when it leaves. And I am not kidding. Just don't hassle islanders with questions like "when is the bus coming? At what time? It is already late! I can not miss the flight. I have another appointment!" You just have to disconnect from the busy developed world. "When? What time?" are almost taboo questions here.

On the island, bus comes when it comes, air plane leaves when it leaves.
.

Thursday 21 June 2007

Toucarie Bay

Toucarie is a really small village, more or less one road along the beautiful Toucarie Bay, about fifteen minutes north of Portsmouth and Cabrits. If it wasn’t because we have friends living in the village, I am not sure we would have discovered it. That would would definitely have been a pity.

The small bay is normally really calm, calmer than most other beaches on the island. It is excellent for swimming, the water some of the warmest I have experienced on the island, and a lot of fun for both adults and children. Once our one and a half year old has got his arm floaters on and he is in, it is hardly impossible to get him out of the water. So we take turns. One of us keeps an eye of the little one, while the goes off with the snorkel. Because snorkeling and diving, is even better. All along the left side there is plenty of fish and coral, as well as straight out, although that might be harder to find on one’s own. But, any of the locals hanging out on or around the beach, most probably in any of the little snackettes, will be able to help pointing out the best places. However, don’t ever try to put your foot down while snorkeling, as there are plenty of beautiful but ay so stingy sea urchins, with ten to twenty centimeter long and extremely sharp black spines. If you accidentally touch them, once they are in they are hardly impossible to take out. You will just have to stand the pain for some time. A local advice given to us was to put the foot over a candle, the heat will melt the spines, we were explained. We never understood what would happen to the flesh around the wound, maybe to the entire foot, though, and never tried. Needles and tweezers wont do it either, though, so, just keep swimming.

For some great underwater photos and videos from Toucarie Bay, and other dive sites around Dominica, take some time to look at LiquidGuru’s really nice pictures.


Toucarie is a great place for an afternoon of hanging out in a small village, and the beach is definitely still worth a visit. But, as so often, everything is not perfect. Beach erosion is a serious problem, and the habit of taking sand from the island’s few beaches for construction and other work does not make it better. There is rarely a day we visit when we don’t see people coming down to the beach with shovels and empty sandbags, filling up as many as possible. Hurricanes and tropical storms are other factors that continuously threatens Dominica’s beaches. From 1990 to 1999 the number of hurricane days and the number of category 3, 4 and 5 hurricanes quadrupled. Little can be done, at least locally, to prevent the rising number of hurricanes. But this, in combination with local practices, have resulted in the Toucarie Bay beach loosing 30% of its extension during the last twenty years. Unesco
has more information on beach erosion.

How to dive there: The Cabrits diveshop in Portsmouth, located just after the huge Ross University building, can arrange dive tours to Toucarie, as probably most other dive shops in the area or around the island. See
http://www.cabritsdive.com/

How to get there: From Portsmouth it is not more than ten or fifteen minutes. You pass the town, the Prince Ruperts Bay and head towards Cabrits. In the first real junction you make a right and continue on that road until you reach the forest and another junction. Turning right will take you to the small village of Guillet, turning right will take you to the Toucarie Bay. First you have to go up and then down again, passing through some beautiful but sharp curves on the way down. But as it is completely impossible to go anything other than very slow, and the habit of beeping loudly when approaching a curve is almost obligatory, there is really no danger.

Wednesday 20 June 2007

Rainbow Yoga

The air in the Dominica Club is always cool, and while the yoga teacher sweeps the floor the air fills with the refreshing smell of Bay Leaf oil, well known for its antibacterial and healthy qualities, and great for mixing with the soap water. After an afternoon running errands in the hot and humid, noisy and chaotic village Roseau is, this smell together with greetings and a brief chat with more or less the same group of women and few men have a true meditative effect on me. When the class starts, every time exactly on the minute, possibly the only event on the entire island not captured by island time, I am already relaxed.

If you are in or around Roseau, there is rarely a day you won’t be able to enjoy a class of yoga. Of course, several of the larger hotels and lodges offers yoga classes, but a Rainbow Yoga class at the ancient Dominica Club, the walls full of memories from great and glorious days, is definitely much funnier.

The class lasts for an hour and a half and is mainly a flowing series of yoga exercises designed to work all parts of the body, combined with some Pilates’ movements and plenty of stretching. The final relaxation is thorough, but it always seems like the final quiet moment when we are supposed to visualize a beautiful rainbow, or a beautiful green, or a beautiful sunset in the mind’s eye, is too short. It is one of the few moments a week I get to not think of anything; not concentrating, not making the least of an effort, much less thinking about rainbows or sunsets or colors, my entire body completely relaxed, me, just being.

The roof is really high and the building a typically old colonial one. Except for a large veranda, it consists of not much more than one giant room. Apart from the yoga it is being used for steel drum classes and carnival rehearsals, and behind it there are a couple of tennis courts, even though they seem in quite some need for a bit of restoration. This summer the Dominica Club will also host the first ever Irie Eco Summer School. There is yoga on the schedule every day, our son is already enrolled!

I usually take the five o’clock class, and as there is a half an hour gap between the classes, there is also plenty of time for some more chatting and information sharing after class. As in every small community, which Dominica as a country, as definitely Roseau as a capital is, information travels not so much through official channels as through the grapevines. Announcements are made; there is a hike up the Morne Diablotin on Saturday, you should go to Harlem Plaza for lunch this week, they have a lot of activities going on for the African Liberation Day, there is an art exhibition at the Community Center in Newtown, cooking classes at Aliance Francaise have started again or just information on why X or Y is not attending class today: her son is visiting or she went to Martinique, will be back on Sunday. Someone brings free mangoes, someone else sells a cookbook.

How to do this: For latest information on hours and classes, see Rainbow Yoga’s homepage
, but mainly it is Monday and Wednesday, at five and seven p.m. and at Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10.00 a.m. Yoga mats are available but be sure to bring insect repellent and maybe a cloth to cover you feet with, for final relaxation. Sometimes the mosquitoes hit hard.

How to get there: The Dominica Club, or Legion Hall, is at the corner of Legion and High street in Roseau. Coming from the town center the easiest way is to pass the Fort Young Hotel and Public Library, then take the next street to the left, just after the pink Congress building. That is High Street and the Dominica Club is the last house on the left hand side, however the main entrance is found around the corner, on Legion Street.

Friday 15 June 2007

Rainforest Mushrooms

When we first come to Brother Mathew Luke and his wife Christine’s small mushroom farm and café, it is for a yoga retreat organized by Rainbow Yoga.

On the right, just after the Pond Cassé junction, on your way to the Melville Hall airport, coming from Roseau, you see the sign. And the place – it is hard to tell if it is a café, a mushroom farm, an art studio or their home, all of it wonderfully mixed up, I think – is just like the colorful and flourishing sign: Welcoming, friendly and homemade.

At the outdoor veranda we are served a delicious fruit juice and have some time to chat with the other participants in this “Yoga in the Rainforest” retreat. Including our son, who just turned one and just learned to walk, there are six of us from Roseau, and another four or five from Ross University in Portsmouth.

During a brief tour through the Mushroom farm, the only one in the Caribbean, we learn a great deal on growing mushrooms. Which turn out being more of a science than farming. And as I immediately understand I can not do this at home, I concentrate on the surroundings, on the sounds and the smells, on the intense beauty of this fully organic “production site”, in the middle of the rainforest. And on when we get to taste those indigenous gourmet oyster mushrooms that grow everywhere and in all different sizes, in the “greenhouse”. We do, of course, and there is little comparison.


The mushrooms are cultured first out of spawn and then multiplied in sawdust or grain. Today the majority of the mushrooms are cultivated in bagasse (pressed sugar cane from the rum industry) mixed with sawdust and coffee husks. After inoculation the mix is put in sterile containers and left in the dark for ten days before being put in strong light and high humidity conditions. Harvesting can then start after another ten days, in ten-day-intervals. The mushrooms we get to taste directly from the cultivations are the oyster mushrooms, and they are exquisite, juicy and soft, full of flavor, perfect in texture. One of the participants tells us she got sick when she first discovered the Rainforest Mushroom farm. Not because of the mushrooms, she explains, but because “I just couldn’t stop eating.”

One of the reasons for our visit is to do a yoga class in the middle of the forest. So we find our spots and the strongest memory is when it towards the end of the class starts to rain. It takes, of course, a while for the raindrops to trickle their way down to us on the ground. But standing in the middle of the forest, looking up towards the treetops and seeing the perfectly shaped drops slowly, slowly – at least that is what it feels like – fall down towards you, and finally land on your cheeks or forehead, is amazing. Now, this look up at raindrop thing can be done almost everywhere, as Dominica is almost completely covered with easy accessible, lush rainforest, and a day seldom passes by without a little rain.

Brother Mathew’s lunch is outstanding. It is local, it is organic, it is vegetarian and full of mushrooms, it is abundant and it is delicious. If you want to come, to be on the safe side, making a reservation is highly recommended.

The oyster mushroom also grow wild on Dominica, and mushroom gathering has long been a tradition. Eating the islands mushrooms is said to be one of the reasons the island can boast of a higher percentage of centenarians than any other country on earth.

Behind the café veranda is the arts and music studio. One by one we all enter, wander along, look at completed and not so completed art works. Incense, oils, crafts, hand painted t-shirts, paintings, posters, musical instruments, bush teas and more are carefully arranged in a chaotically esthetic disorder, all for sale. Then, the music is turned on and the instruments are taken out, both the ones we brought and the ones in the house. Guitar, drums, thumb piano, maracas, hand clapping, wonderful singing and a whole lot of laughing is mixed with the reggae beats from the music equipment. Brother Mathew is a great dancer.

How to do this: For info on the Rainforest Mushrooms café, on lunches and guided farm tours, see their web page. For info on Rainbow Yoga retreats, see their web page.

How to get there:
While coming from Roseau, you drive towards Marigot and Melville Hall airport, Just when you pass the Fond Cassé junction, look out to your right. There you see the sign. Get of the bus or park your car and walk the short path to the place.

Thursday 14 June 2007

Sea turtles at Rosalie Beach

Three of the world’s seven types of sea turtles come to nest at the beaches of Dominica every year. Last Saturday we went to Rosalie beach to see the largest of them, the Leatherback turtle, laying her eggs.

From Roseau, it is about an hours drive across the island, to the small Rosalie beach, soon to be surrounded by the Rosalie Bay Resort. But as the beach itself is public it is still ok to get in there, even to put up our small tent under the coconut palms. Between May and August, sea turtles come up to nest almost every night, so it is great to try to pick a full moon night, as we did.

In June it gets dark around seven, and as it takes a little for the moon to come out, we put up the tent and had our picnic dinner early. Luckily our one and a half year old son was really tired, and fell asleep soon after. So did we, and we all got a couple of hours of sleep. Later on, more and more people started to arrive, until a small party was going around the tent.

Some nights as many as ten or twenty turtles come to nest, but this night was quite windy and the waves somewhat rough. The turtle also need dry sand to be able to dig the whole for the eggs, and when the first turtle came ashore she could not find that, and decided to go back, without nesting.

A couple of hours later, a second turtle reached the shore and at the critical moment when she starts digging the hole and is easily distracted, guides from the local sea turtle initiative, RoSTI, make sure no curious people, like us and the rest of the crowd, come to close. The sea turtles have existed for over 600 million years, and nested on the beaches when the dinosaurs where still around. Today they are what scientists call critically endangered, basically meaning they are extremely close to permanent extinction. In Dominica, as in many other countries where the giant turtles nest, they have been hunted for their shell and their meet, and for the eggs. The belief that eating turtle eggs is good aphrodisiac is of course nothing but a belief, and completely incorrect. The work done by RoSTI have highly risen the awareness of the importance of protecting the sea turtles, and the killing has gradually diminished, though far from completely. In Laplaine, more than six turtles have been killed during this month. Although there is no law in Dominica preventing people from eating turlte meat, the law says that when a turtle is on the beach it is in its nesting activity and must not be touched.

Once the turtle start laying her eggs, she goes into a kind of "trance", and will not stop the process until the eggs have been laid and the nest is completely covered. Good, I think, as once the eggs are safe in the hole and the covering up process starts, the party also start again. The RoSTI guides move on along the beach, in search for more turtles who may need some protection while trying to make their way up, and "our" turtle is left alone, with us and about twenty more people. Even though the moon is out flashlights are used, to check the face and the eyes closely, camera flashes goes off constantly and every now and then the bravest of the young men jump up on the turtles back, do a few moves and jump off. Finally, nest covering is completed, and the very, very tired turtle crawls back, with a young man riding on her back until he falls of when she reaches the first waves and disappears into the ocean.

But – no eggs are taken, neither are there any suggestions on killing the turtle, just curiosity of who she is and what she looks like. The Coral Reef Alliance have guidelines for turtle watching, if you click here, and it is probably much calmer if you come during the week.


If they make it through the first critical years, a sea turtle lives for an average of 50 to 70 years, but it takes at least 30 years before they can lay any eggs. By clicking
here, you can actually track two of the lady turtles who made it to Rosalie beach this year.

We are already planning on when to go back to see the hatchlings make it to the deep blue. And to philosophize on how many of them will make it back again, in 30 years time or so.



Some more facts: Except for the Leatherback turtle, also the Hawksbill and the Green Turtle come to nest at Dominica’s beaches. The Leatherback is by far the largest of all sea turtles, and may reach a length of about 8 feet (2.4 meters), and weigh nearly half a ton while nesting. They have a span of nearly 10 feet (3 meters) from the tip of one front flipper to the tip of the other, and can dive to nearly 4.000 feet in a single dive.

How to get there: From Roseau you cross the island, making a right when you reach the Pont Cassé junction. Before you get to the Rosalie village, just after crossing a small bridge, you turn left and actually pass the entrance to the construction site of the Rosalie Bay Resort. From there you see the beach.

Tuesday 12 June 2007

Welcome

to a blog about Dominica. About nature, culture, arts and other things you may not find on other pages about the island.
Enjoy.