Location: Roseau, Dominica
Hiking over what to me were several mountains was . . . Strenuous, but I mean the views were some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Getting to and from the mountain was another story. I don’t think I will ever fully adjust to driving in the Caribbean. It’s like an otherworldly way of the road. A few of us were trying to figure out what the different car horn lengths meant.
But anyway, back to the hike.
There were people basically sprinting up and down the hills. Honestly, I was really impressed, and I have no idea how they did that for what is essentially a seven-hour hike at a normal pace. On our way there and on our way back, there were french tourists sprinting on the trail. I, on the other hand, struggled a bit. Okay, maybe more than a bit. I am really not looking forward to how sore my legs will be tomorrow, considering I had to use my arms to give my legs an extra nudge every time there was an incline on the way back. I did eventually make it to the boiling lake, which was amazing to see tons of steam. I am glad I made the walk there, and to be perfectly honest, I feel like the whole day was a great bonding experience for all of us. We shared in the struggle, the journey, and the ending result. Today was a great step for all of us, a step followed by another and another that eventually got us to the top of a mountain and one of nature’s wonders. Great day, great people, and an amazingly funny guide named Pancho, though we will all likely be extremely sore tomorrow cause that was the definition of a hike.
Our guide Pancho has hiked that trail over a thousand times, which is insane to me, but he was bragging about having legs of steel for part of the hike, “I’ve got legs of steel!” and “I’ve got legs like a tanker!” are just two quotes of his legs of steel rant. He also claims to have met Johnny Depp because Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed at the area up front where people can jump in the water from a ledge.
Pancho showed us all of the things we could do on our hike too. He boiled us eggs in the boiling steams on the way there, gave people mud for face masks, and showed us a spring we could swim in. I didn’t try the eggs or the face masks, but people were raving about them. I did go in the hot spring, though. It was PERFECT TIMING TOO! It was great for relaxing my tired legs, and the water felt so nice. I don’t know if I’ll be hiking again anytime soon, but I’m glad I did it this time, and I love how it brought us all together.
In the end, we wrapped up our day with a good lecture and a hilarious video about how poor communication can go at sea. It was literally of military ship telling a lighthouse to move out of its way. How does that even happen!
I also threw in a picture of how tired I was when I got to the lake 🙂