Before I left Dallas I promised to start a blog to keep everyone up-to-date on our island adventure. That was six months ago and a lot has happened. I won't try to fill you in on every detail but rather I will start with the last few weeks. On Monday, Feb. 8, Scott took his first mini exam of the semester. Before Christmas break we decided to plan a trip off-island after Mini 1 because Monday, Feb. 15 was a holiday in Dominica. Most businesses, including Ross University, were closed so that locals could celebrate Carnival; which gave students a 3-day weekend. We planned the trip last minute and got a great deal on a room at Coco Palm in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. So Thursday afternoon we packed up and headed to St. Lucia for 4 days and 4 nights.
The fact that we made it to St. Lucia was nothing short of a miracle. We arrived at the airport an hour and a half before our flight only to find out that most flights were currently delayed. A dome exploded over a volcano in Montserrat (a small island north of Dominica) sending a wall of volcanic ash into the air. The ash was so heavy over Antigua that no flights could travel in that direction. While we were checking into our flight Scott said "It's a good thing we're not going to Antigua, we should be fine." To which the Liat clerk replied "Don't count on it." Apparently the plane that was supposed to take us to our first stop, Barbados, was stuck in Antigua. We sat in the terminal and anxiously waited to find out if we would be able to leave Dominica that night. Two flights were canceled, one to Antigua and one to Puerto Rico, leaving many passengers stranded...and angry. Liat decided to re-route a plane destined to Antigua back to Barbados. We both breathed a sigh of relief as we boarded our first plane of the night. We landed in Barbados with only 20 minutes until our connecting flight to St. Lucia. We rushed off the plane and raced across the tarmac. We nervously waited in security wondering why they appeared to be in no hurry. Once we were screened we rushed to our gate to catch the next plane. We got to the gate with minutes to spare and waited...and waited...and finally grabbed a seat and waited for another 2 hours. We arrived at our hotel in St. Lucia at 10:30 p.m (3 hours late...not too bad). We were tired and hungry and grateful to be there. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, took lukewarm showers, and slept for 12 hours. The next 4 days were spent sleeping, eating and watching the Olympics. It was a much needed and very relaxing break. One of the highlights for me was visiting a real supermarket. It seems like forever since I visited a store where I could buy produce, meat, and specialty pastries. Of course I was completely overwhelmed by the number of choices. For example, Scott wanted some disposable razors. We didn't see any when we walked through the aisles so he asked the clerk when we were checking out. She told us what aisle they were on and he asked me to go pick some out while she was ringing up the rest of our items. When I arrived at the appropriate aisle I could not help but stare. There was a "huge" selection of disposable razors...at least 10 different types. I know this doesn't sound like much but one day I went to 7-11 (grocery store in Dominica) looking for disposable razors for Scott and there were 2 packages of Bic razors...so this was big. I don't know how long I stood there staring at razors completely confused and overwhelmed, but when I returned to the check out line Scott had already paid and the lady had just finished checking out someone else.
Another highlight was that we ate some really good food that weekend. The second night we went to Big Chef Steakhouse. It was such a treat to have USDA beef because it is very difficult to find in Dominica. We savored our steaks and loaded baked potatoes and then went to a little shop down the street for gelato. The third night we ate at a new Sport's Bar called Tequila Joe's. We were both craving Tex-Mex and decided to give this place a try. I ordered chicken quesadillas and Scott ordered fajitas and we both had a frozen margarita. The food was good but definitely did not quench the Tex-Mex craving. We then proceeded down the street to the gelato shop. For Valentine's Day we made dinner reservations at Fire Grill. This restaurant is special because it is where we celebrated our engagement after Scott proposed on May 1, 2009.
We reminisced about our previous visit and enjoyed a yummy seafood dinner. I sometimes wonder why we own a camera because we did not take a single photo on this trip. I have included a photo taken during our first meal at Fire Grill. After dinner that night we once again returned to the gelato shop. Our trip back to Dominica on Monday was uneventful and Scott hit the books bright and early Tuesday morning. That is all for now. Please stay tuned as we have some big events coming up, including a move back to the states at the end of April.
