A Day At The Beach

Today was yet another busy day on the Nature Island. We woke up at 7:00 again and jumped in Shirley's car and drove down to the School building to finish putting up the decorations for the Children's Choral Contest, a singing contest where the different school's sing songs to bring awareness to preserving bird habitats. Phil, the UD communications major in our group, was selected to be the celebrity judge of the contest. However, we had a meeting with the vice president of the Manufacturers Association and the cottage industry coconut cheese producers we are working with, and were late to the show. The meeting ran long (probably because it was in a cool air conditioned room, so people were hesitant to leave) and we missed the first half of the children's performance. When we finally arrived, we watched the remaining kids preform their songs, which were accompanied with surprisingly good interpretive dances. However, since the organizers were disappointed that we missed the first half of the performance, they made all the acts we missed re-preform their songs. Upon hearing this news, the children all made disgruntled faces, as our presence delayed the post competition snack time by another 30 minutes... I guess I won't be making any friends among the young children for the next couple days...

After the choral contest, we wandered the city and sampled different coconut cheeses from local street vendors. It is amazing the amount of variety there can be for the same confectionery good, with each cheese being as unique as it is delicious. We then met up with Eardly, where we sat and watched the hustling traffic of the town from his balcony at work. He then took us on a bus to the beach.  The bus was a large van, packed like sardines with people of all ages. The drive itself was very hectic, as Dominica has many blind sharp turns and not many road laws. But we made it to the black sand beach in one piece.

Once at the beach, we dove in the water, skipped stones, and belly surfed the waves until our tongue's were riddled with salt water and our skins cooked a merry shade of pink. We then proceeded to chit chat (and avoid being sold overpriced souvenirs) with the locals and some of Eardly's relatives on the beach. We sat beneath a Tropical Almond tree, and ate from the nuts that fell to the ground, which were surprisingly good, however difficult to eat, as they were encased in a strong otter shell. Several stray dogs and chickens joined us for our chat, and looked to us for any spare food or affection we 

had to offer them. 

One Beach on the Rocks

 Exploring the Beach

Dogs and a Chicken

PUPPY

Overall I am beginning to learn the ropes of Dominica more and more. I am slowly learning to navigate the town, circumvent spurratic traffic, and smile and nod whenever I cannot understand someones accent. Tomorrow we are waking up early to go on a birdwatching expedition, and I will update when after I spot some of my aviary friends. 

Goodnight from Dominica!

-Michael Stewart