My Low Key Weekend

It was a low key weekend for me, but even an uneventful weekend here is still wonderful. I had plenty of time for basics such as housecleaning, bucket laundry, Sunday morning services at our Catholic church (even though I'm not Catholic, I have been attending regularly), internet chats with friends and family, and general research work. I also listened to the WVU Mountaineer basketball games each night. Best of all, I spent time this afternoon at our beach, as shown below.

We got an early start on the weekend, because some heavy rains on Friday afternoon led to an early dismissal at our school. After Tropical Storm Erika (and Grace, to a lesser extent), Dominicans are still a bit antsy about heavy rains. Here is the view of the playing field from the upper floor of our school—it ended up getting a little worse than this before the water started draining off.

On Saturday afternoon, one of the soccer teams in Dominica comprised only of women came to our village for a scrimmage. Thankfully, the sun had dried the field enough for them to play. In the picture below, you can see them going through drills, with our school in the background. They were pretty talented!

Later Saturday, the local youth group sponsored a health walk over the ridge to the bus stop on the main road. Along the way, the kids introduced me to a new food called “glu-glu.” This is a palm tree that has long, skinny thorns, which keeps the kids from trying to climb it. Instead of coconuts, it has small green fruits, as shown in the first picture. You remove the tough skin, and can eat the flesh underneath (as seen in the second picture). Most interesting, though, is the small seed in the middle. You can eat it, and it is white inside and tastes the same as the meat of a coconut (I forgot to take a picture of the seed before we ate it).

We eventually made it to the main road and the bus stop there. Here is a picture of the signpost there. The mileage shown may seem like we are pretty close to some of these places, but when you consider the condition of the roads, it takes longer than you might think to get anywhere.

Here is a view of the intersection where my road (the upper road) meets the main road. Our road runs up the hill, and once you cross the ridge and start down the other side, you are rewarded with a beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean.

I put the first picture I took at the beach today at the top of this story. After snapping this picture and spending some time in the shade of the palms, I decided to explore some of the rock overhangs within the hill to the right side of that picture above. Below is a picture looking back towards the beach area, showing both of our local fishing boats. You can also see a Suzuki SUV where a family drove down to the beach for a Sunday picnic.

Below is a panoramic view of L'islet (the peninsula dividing our two beach areas, which I've written about before).

Here is a normal view, showing more of the “cave” roof (none of these recesses in the hillside go very deep).

Below are two pictures showing the tidal flats at low tide stretching beyond where I could safely climb (these are not the same tidal pools where I ruined my camera). It was fun watching the crabs, fish, sea urchins, etc. Best of all, though, was simply enjoying the sights and sounds of the waves, as I climbed around the rocky wall.

Even a low key weekend down here is pretty cool!