Trafalgar Falls trip

The trip to Roseau did not yield any photos. Nissan bus (minivan) filled with 17 people, at least 2 suitcases, laptop bag, purses, two shopping plastic bags. Driver was furious about some passengers inability to pay for the trip until next week, so listened to him yelling about poor financial situation, starving children, and any other insults that could be thrown the way on the hapless dude that had no funds. One driver tried to bilk us by charging EC$100 for trip when it should, by law, only be EC$45. Andrew then called Travis, our friend in Trafalgar, who arranged for a taxi to pick us up and bring us here. Ride up was similar to Spesh farm trip only paved. Impossible to describe how steep the mountain roads are along with the straightest segments lasting approximately 45 inches. 45 inches because that's the distance between potholes. It really is a lovely experience, though, and we're having fun doing it. There is a ton of work to try to figure things out, where stuff is, etc. I'm (Lyndle typing now...Lanelle has access to composing, so will try to keep it clear...after next week, I'll prolly be pretty scarce though) feeling very comfortable in our community now. I still wouldn't want to go out alone at night, but several of us together last night to Iguana Cafe was no problem. The "supermarket" Tina's is just down the street about 5 blocks....what's that? That's right, most of the streets are as winding as the cow trail they likely replaced and absolutely no such thing as street names, etc. No organization whatsoever to where the streets go except they avoid the houses and the sea. It gives a nice feel once you're used to it though, just difficult to expand your horizons beyond the immediate community. Back to the drive down to Roseau along the coast....there are some beautiful scenes, just impossible to photograph due to rough road. I told Brian to try to get a 30 second video clip just to emphasize the movement of the camera...don't know that he could change his camera to video mode....fact is, don't know if he even saw his camera although he was holding it the entire time. There is a cruise ship docked in Roseau now, so town has a scattering of lost looking white folk...kinda like we looked, I'm sure. Very nice little diesel Nissan minivan took us to Travis and Sasha's. They have 5 children, though Sasha and 3 are back in Alaska now trying to find work. Trenton and Taleah (not sure of spelling) are hear and near our boy's ages, so before long every lizard withing 100 feet was cringing at the top of the palm trees hurling coconuts in protest. They, the lizards, still sound upset about it long after dark. My boys have turned their attention to each other and fighting over how much covers the other one is hogging, not realizing that covers aren't necessary. But, hey, it's something to fight about. Travis had some leftover chicken and potatoes with rice as a side dish that we had for supper. Their "mothers helper" had fixed it...very delisch. Travis had this ghostly look of despair on his face at the arrival of 6 people at supper time and basically turned Lanelle and I loose in their kitchen. Hope Sasha finds all her dishes on her return. We really just kinda jumped in there and made ourselves at home, opened 3 cans of tuna, mixed in mayo, set on bread and leftovers, and promptly ate ourselves silly. Travis found this place, it's like an 8 bedroom bed and breakfast, by chance when some guy was about to lose it to the bank. Industrious as he is, they now have an 8 bedroom estate with a view of Trafalgar Falls, hot sulpher springs a 13 minute walk, and all the fresh tropical fruit in their backyard that you can possibly immagine. If any Rossies are following this, let me know and I'll hook you up. They, though remote, have good internet service, thus the blog update. Travis has some rooms rented out on the bottom floor, but the whole upper floor is theirs. We're glad to be here and able to have meeting in the morning. Maybe tomorrow afternoon will yield a trip to the hot springs for a little splash around. That usually ranks pretty high on Logan and Ethan's to do list. Aside, when we went to Prince Rupert Bay beach this morning, they were finding sand crabs. I hooted at watching the boys trying to "stomp" them. Those little dudes can scat now, and sideways to boot with their little claws angrily gesticulating their displeasure. And they only have 2 fingers to begin with! The would remind you of a spider at first glance, but much faster. They're about an inch across including legs, cute as a button. I almost caught one, but it skittered into its hole just in time. Their holes are interesting...they're in the sand that is wet from the waves coming ashore, are about a half inch in diameter and who knows how deep. We tried to dig one out, but at a foot depth we gave up and let it have its rest. I could just picture it at the bottom of the hole, match in hand above keg of dynamite, declaring to itself that it would, after all, have the last laugh if things got rough enough. Cooking...we came to the apartment and discovered that the propane bottle, located under the sink in the kitchen, was empty. Apparently, there must be a shortage of propane (gas in the local lingo) on the island, so haven't found any to cook with. Don't know what the Dominicans did to tick off Chavez down thar in Venzy, but it musta worked. Note to USA: find out! Anyway, I'm eyeing any dead timber laying around in case we have to start a bonfire in the street. I would be curious to find out what the cooking fuel is for the BBQ grills that we see scattered around. It smokes like the dickens, but smells good...prolly hashish or something. Never mind the electric bill, honey, I'm lit up enough as it is. They tell us that electricity will be tolerable on the finances as long as the a/c or a microwave is not running. So far, no need for a/c, but they say it gets worse. I'm already looking at ways to waterproof our bed and stand it up in the shower stall. Either that or harness a local goat to a generating treadmill. Not sure what the carrot at the end of the string will be...maybe leftover hashish. Just be glad you weren't on the BBQ there goaty boy. Market this morning.....prolly got jipped right out the chute on the tomatoes that I bought at EC24 for 2 bags containing about 15 tomatoes. Makes me sorry I didn't save more of ours from the Oklahoma garden. I'm thinking liquid nitrogen frozen tomatoes launched from Key West in water balloon slingshots might be a viable business. Where's Michael Phelps when you need him. Anyway, bananas are cheap, EC2 for a bunch similar in size to ones in Walmart at home. Plantains, carrots, and mangos are cheap. Didn't find any fish, but may have not walked close enough to the water, either that or the local fishermen suddenly went catch and release on us. Spesh's brother is a fisherman and Spesh said he'd hook us up...tuna and several others he mentioned. The vegetable sellers like to hawk the fact that their produce is organic. It's amazing that the American buzzword is known here, yet they haven't a clue about Roundup, Treflan, and other farm chemicals we call normal. Does anyone know what is wrong with this? This has truly been eye opening from several different levels. Organic yet littered, simple yet scarce....wowzer. Will sign off now to catch a little shut eye.