Note from Erica: We have been enjoying time together with visitors from the states the last few weeks.  I am posting this from the Bahamas, where we arrived yesterday.  It is so different and we look forward to the weeks ahead, but we have left a part of our hearts in the Caribbean…  I hope you enjoy continuing to read about our amazing time in Waitikibuli.  DOMINICA!

Day 6

It’s Saturday, which is Market Day!  When we last left you, I was dancing the night away at the “Friday Night Street Party” with Titus, Ken G, and friends.   If I hadn’t been out partying half the night, we probably would have made it to the open air market in town at an earlier hour.  But we headed in after all the “very responsible and well-rested” cruisers were already marinating their vegetables for that night’s dinner.

Not to worry.  The fishermen still had their catch lined up on the docks and the market ladies were still harassing people as they walked by to buy their tomatoes, pumpkin, and plantains.  We ran into Titus.  He hooked us up with some fresh coconut water, which helped to rehydrate the system.  We wandered around, buying one or two items from as many ladies as we could.  We were stocking up for Patronus, but we were also getting ready for our Caribbean Feast.

 

 

That night, we got together with Virginia Dare and Anything Goes and each of us brought some authentic Caribbean fare to share.  While we were cooking, the kids played with Al, who is Eddison’s nephew.  The kids played on the beach, collected more mini-clams, and kayaked around the harbor with Al close by, paddling away on his ancient surfboard.

We enjoyed a wonderful night together, sampling foods like boiled bananas, grilled plantains, fresh salad (with all those market veggies), jerk chicken, guacamole, sorrel juice, and coconut-infused mashed sweet potatoes *not the US kind), cristophene, and breadfruit.  The kids were proud to add their steamed clams to the feast.

 

 

 

Day 7

The next morning, Titus, who was surprising us with his boundless energy, woke up and roasted a breadfruit for us for breakfast.  Let me repeat that.  By 0730, he woke up, picked a breadfruit, made a fire, roasted a breadfruit, and delivered it to our boat.  We enjoyed a delicious breakfast with the addition of the grapefruit and guava he brought us as well.  Later, Chris speared his first lionfish!

 

 

 

 

It’s a good thing we started the day off with a breakfast of champions, because we needed every ounce of energy for the famous Sunday Night PAYS BBQ.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the PAYS organization ensures that the local boat boys and guides get a fair share of the clients/boaters who come to Portsmouth.  PAYS also raises money with their barbeques to pay for a security boat to patrol the harbor all night long, giving an additional layer of peace to the cruisers.  It is a system that is working so well that the PAYS President has been asked to present the business model to other Caribbean islands.

Okay, with that business taken care of, let’s move on to the real point.  This barbecue isn’t your typical, run of the mill, laid back affair.  As we approached the dinghy dock in the dark, we saw that it was jam-packed with dinghies.  PAYS guys were there helping everyone to secure their boats.  We headed up to the beach and were served rum punch while the kids immediately ran off to meet and play with the other cruising kids.  We didn’t see them again until dinner was served.  After a bit of a cocktail hour, the PAYS President gave a short welcome and we all had a wonderful dinner of barbecued chicken, fish, salad, and rice.  The PAYS guys themselves cooked and served everything.  It is truly a team effort.

I was thinking that that was it.  But as soon as the last salty old dog finished his last scoop of rice, the PAYS guys swooped in and took away all the tables and chairs.  A DJ appeared out of nowhere and reggae music started to play.  Everyone enjoyed dancing, especially the kids.  Wendy was whisked away by some local guy who danced with her until she told him she was married.  Then he disappeared.  We all danced with Eddison, who is a spectacular dancer.  When even the guys started dancing, we started to suspect that the rum punch was a bit stronger than we thought.  A walk down the beach in the dark allowed some to partake in additional island-grown fare….

No one is sure what time we got back to our boats.  Or how.  But suffice it to say that my Day 8 Log Entry is curiously empty…

Day 9, 1/22/13

On Tuesday, we headed to St. John’s school for our tour.  We were excited to have our kids see how a Caribbean school is run.  We enjoyed the tour and met all the children from Kindergarten through sixth grade.

 

The third graders were especially enthusiastic about our visit and had lots of questions for us.  They also wanted to tell us all about themselves.  A few of them had been to the United States or were born there and they all had something to say about Carnival, which was coming up.  We were there for several hours and really enjoyed it.

The differences that stand out compared to our school at home were minor compared to the similarities in the children, who were curious, polite, shy, and adorable.  They didn’t have lights in their classroom but they had the same stack of Dora and SpongeBob lunch boxes in the corner.  They didn’t have SmartBoards with instant access to the internet, but they had inspirational quotes painted on the sides of the concrete block building.  Their moms picked them up at the end of the day and some stopped by the lady who sat on the corner, selling afterschool treats.  When we left, we hoped that the children would remember us as lovingly as we will remember them.

After lunch and a rest, we headed out for a tour of Fort Shirley, which is built on the north end of the harbor.  I could ramble on and bore you about all the historical details, but I won’t, so you’re welcome.  The kids had a fabulous time running around, climbing on the cannons, exploring the various buildings, and playing guns or war or something that I tried to ignore.  We adults enjoyed the gorgeous views of the harbor, the beautifully restored historical buildings, and the well -kept grounds.

Third up on what was turning out to be quite an eventful day was an awesome boatschooling lesson.  Wendy put together a fantastic hands-on experience for the kids so that they could learn all about the cacao bean and the long and amazing journey it must take to become chocolate.  The kids were spellbound.  They loved doing school together and took turns reading from the handouts Wendy created.

She taught them about where cacao is grown in the world (like Dominica!), how it is harvested and how it is processed.  She had them draw the cacao pod that Eddison picked for us on our farm tour.  Then we cut it open and they drew the inside after tasting the sweet, gooey seeds.  They then learned about the differences between milk chocolate and dark chocolate and tasted several different varieties.  It’s a tough job being a teacher, but someone has to do it….  The information they learned about chocolate that day has stayed with them.  Months later (yes, I’m that far behind on our website), Porter will still ask me the percentage of cacao content in chocolate before he eats it.  He prefers 60%, you see.

That night, Titus and Eddison invited us to the beach to barbecue some fish for dinner.  It was an impromptu thing that ended up being an all night affair, with laughter, delicious fish eaten right off banana leaves, and too many painkillers!  The kids enjoyed roasting marshmallows on the open barbecue pit.  When the guys found out that our anniversary was the next night, they invited us for another fish barbecue to celebrate.

 

Our anniversary barbeque

The next day, we worked on school and did some work around the boat.  That night, we enjoyed another wonderful evening with our friends.  Titus showed us how he marinated the lionfish and Wendy baked us a delicious cake!  Chris surprised me by giving me the necklace I had admired but didn’t buy in Les Saintes, and I gave him a machete, which was a crowd-pleaser, to say the least.  It has proven to be an excellent “coconut opener”.