Trust me though- I’ve missed writing as much as anyone has missed reading (except my mom). Unfortunately I ruined the second computer I had in Dominica (which was so generously sponsored by Ben) so I have been waiting to borrow a computer. I think the worst part of this all is that there was only one post by guest blogger Ben-jammin’.
I’m going to back it up and start by telling you about the rest of Ben’s trip. It was awesome.
In a testament to both the friendliness of Dominicans and Ben I still get asked where Ben is by people I have never seen before when I walk down the road. At least one child-a-day asks me where Ben-ten is (because I’m called Miss Air-een a lot of the students call him Mr. Air-een which I love and don’t correct). My favorite is Po-po (Ben met when Po-po saw him having a drink at a rum shop and invited Ben to a pre-funeral party) who yells at me all this time about how much he misses Ben.
Ben made a splash (hilarious pun) on an international level too. Ben, another PCV Menke, my man friend and I decided to go sailing to a secret beach that you can only reach by boat. We arrived at the Hobie Cat rental place to find it completely closed. Menke called the guy who works there and he came to rent us a boat. He asked whether any of us knew how to sail to which we sheepishly looked at the ground and responded that Menke had been on a Hobie Cat here recently. Good enough.
He asked whether we wanted lifejackets or not. I can’t tell you whether or not we took them at risk of incriminating myself. We were off. Both the wind and the current were with us, Ben was casually lying back steering the boat as we all lay down in the sun congratulating ourselves.
We left the beach a while later to sail back to the rental place. Unfortunately our non-existent sailing skills prevented us from moving in the direction we wanted to go. We sat on the boat debating when to freak out while slowly drifting towards a large patch of sharp rocks. Ben jumped in the water and tried to push us back by kicking.
Finally we decided to flag down a large sail boat to get some “tips” on making it back. They only spoke French and decided to rescue us. My very brave man friend offered to stay on our boat and we all climbed into the other boat. Everything seemed to be going well until the French man jumped into the water with a snorkel and mask and asked his wife to pass him an enormous knife. She then handed Menke and I a camera and a video camera for “souvenirs”. We eventually solved the mysteries: the rope they tied to our boat got caught in their engine and she wanted us to take pictures of them saving us. Now we were all stuck out at sea.
A rasta man arrived in a small motor boat to offer them assistance. The rasta man and the French couple were communicating, if possible, even less clearly than we were.
Then our boat rental guy arrived in another motor boat and told us to get in his boat, untied us from the sailboat and sped off. We left the French people abandoned in the Caribbean as we sat in silent embarrassment on the way back to the shore. By the time we finished our de-stressing beer the Frenchies were on their way again. No harm no foul.
I hiked to Boiling Lake in sandals. An unplanned huge
achievement. Only Europeans and Dominicans do that.
When I was back in the States I loved hearing people refer to Dominicans I’ve written about as “characters”. I wanted to start sharing photos of some of these “characters”. Here are Velma and Norris in an American Gothic set in Dominica photo. Norris is the gentleman who lived in Toronto who makes a mean rum and coke, tells great jokes and loves country music. If you want to continue imagining the characters as you’ve pictured feel free to close your eyes!
Norris and Velma in front of their beautiful porch.
I’ll tell you all about the Grade 2 Princess Pageant tomorrow!
