Back in the swing of things and loving it

Second Semester has officially started! I can't believe it. It is nice to be back on the island and back in the swing of things. This semester is starting off very different from first semester. I am loving it! For starters I feel settled in here and familiar with life on the island. Stephen and I came back to the island to find out that there is a major lice out break among the kids at the prep school. It is starting to get under control but I won't be surprised if I am posting about our lice experiences here on the island in the near future. Lets hope not though. Besides already being settled on the island there have been some changes with my work schedule which is actually turning out great.
I am no longer doing the same job I did before. It sort of fell through on me at the end of the semester which at the time was really stressful and very unfortunate. I am hoping to still be able to work with Jack doing the same job in the afternoons from 3:00 to 5:00 starting mid semester. Hopefully it works out. I really have enjoyed working with him. Now that I am no longer working mornings I have a ton of free time though. I have to admit I have absolutely loved having my mornings off. My mood has improved so much not working in the classroom that Jack was in. I love working with Jack and his classmates are adorable, but his teacher at the prep school was really difficult to worth with. I came home very stressed and angry quite often after listening to how she teaches. I will just mention this one time and be done with the subject but if I had children here I would not allow them to go to the prep school. They would be home schooled! I know that is probably easier said than done but I don't agree at all how those kids are being taught there. But that is all I will say on the subject.
Having my mornings free this semester I will be able to do so many more spouse activities that I missed out on before. This week I was able to go to the orientation that welcomes all the new and old spouses back for another semester. I was also able to go to the spouses opening social which was a lot of fun. There are so many fun ladies that live here and I am so excited to become better friends with them. My number one goal this semester is to do a lot of hiking.
One thing I have been stressing a little bit about is not having the income I had last semester from working. It was really nice being able to live on what I made instead of using loan money. This week however I was able to find two new jobs! I must be doing something right because I was offered a last minute job working as a standardized patient. Basically I act out certain symptoms or problems pretending to be a real patient for the med students and they have to diagnose what is wrong with me. I think it will be a really fun job. I was also put on the sub list for the aftercare program at the prep school just until I start working with Jack again.
To end the week Stephen and I signed up to do whale watching. The school will take students every semester for a really good price. We were signed up to go last semester but sold our tickets last minute because Stephen had an EMT meeting. That day the group that went without us saw about 10 whales super up close to the boat. So we tried it out this time. We saw two birds and one flying fish but not one whale. The flying fish I have to admit was pretty awesome but overall a little anticlimactic. Maybe next semester we will be luckier. It was still a fun boat ride.

The only whales we saw were these little ones kept on the boat.

We have about 15 Parrots living in the trees by our house! You can see and hear them in the mornings and afternoons when they come out to eat. I can't get over how amazing and beautiful they are.

The Valley of Desolation Boiling Lake Trail

Boiling Lake is the toughest hike I have ever done. The trail climbs and descends through mountains, sulfur springs, and through gorges. It is 8 miles round trip and 90% of it is wood steps. This hike has been on my Dominican bucket list since moving here. It is the third most challenging trail on the island. Stephen and I decided to get the hike over with now when we both had a chance to go on it together. There was a group of 11 of us and we all had such an amazing time! As we started the trail it was pouring rain and our guide almost had us turn back because there can be flash floods. About ten minutes later it stopping pouring and we were able to continue. What is most challenging about this hike is that you are either going up or down pretty steep stairs throughout most of it, and it was incredibly muddy. Some of the hike involves a little bit of rock climbing and in a couple places the stairs are so steep they turn into ladders more than steps. We made it to the valley of desolation after two hours and were able to hard boil some eggs in one of the boiling streams which was super cool! Then we made face masks from the warm clay that's all around. Once we passed the valley all of the rivers we started crossing were warm and some of them pretty hot because of the hot springs. By far the most amazing part of the hike is how beautiful everything is. It has a very unique beauty to it and it is by far my favorite thing I have done on the island. We were dead tired after finishing the hike 7 hours later and it took a good 5 days to fully recover from it. Our legs were completely dead for about 2 or 3 days. Stairs were just impossible. It was pretty funny, while we were at fort young the weekend after one of the employees saw me struggling down the stairs and gave us a weird look. All Stephen told him was "boiling lake" and he just started laughing at us. Stephen decided right away that he would do this hike again but I am still undecided. I can say I am extremely glad I did it at least once though.

Description of the hike...
This is a six hour round trip hike over challenging terrain, the Boiling Lake ranks as one of Dominica's most demanding trails. This well-maintained trail begins at approximately 1,600 ft, where a level stretch of rocky pathway blends with wooden steps. Although this is a strenuous trail, the trip is among the best ways to experience the rain forest of the Caribbean's Nature Island. The first hour of the trail crosses wet rain forest and rises gradually from 1,771 ft to 2,260 ft before dropping 100 ft toward the Trois Pitons River. Known as the Breakfast River where we took our first break. Then the path follows a ridge, gradually moving from rain forest to montane forest. After an hour you'll arrive at the highest point, 2,950 ft, with panoramic views across the central zone of the park. Next you keep going and finally enter the Valley of Desolation. Once a lush forested area, it now appears to be devoid of life. The floor of the valley, however, is covered in a dense mat of mosses and lichens. From here, your final destination, the Boiling Lake, is only an hour away. The world's largest boiling lake, it appears like a cauldron of bubbling grayish-blue water that is usually enveloped in a cloud of vapor. The Boiling Lake is actually a flooded fumarole, a crack through which gases escape from the molten lava below, rather than a volcanic crater. It is 200 ft across and its present depth is unknown. The sides of the lake are a mixture of clay, pumice, and small stones. The natural basin of Boiling Lake collects the rainfall from the surrounding hills and from two small streams. The water seeps through the porous bottom to the hot lava below where it is trapped and heated to boiling point. This is the most spectacular trail in Dominica, and it is only for the experienced hiker accompanied by a local guide.

We took all of these awesome pictures with our brand new go pro!! Our new favorite toy.

Before Picture! We are pumped and ready!

It rained quite a bit.

Hard boiling some eggs.

Two hours in and one more to go to get to the lake.

Valley of Desolation

It's tradition to put warm clay on your face in the Valley of Desolation.

Finally made it to the Boiling Lake!

Heading back.

We be getting pretty tired.

The stairs NEVER end!!!

Going a little crazy that the trail just keeps going.

The after picture!

We survived!

Bring on the new year, Its gonna be good

Well its a new year! I am really excited about 2014. It is going to be a pretty crazy year. We will be living on the island for almost all of it. Right before Christmas is when we will be moving back to the states. I have to admit that we have started off the new year pretty great. We celebrated new years eve and day with Stephens family. Then a couple days later we headed back to our beautiful home in Dominica. 

It was a great week off before school started back up. As much as I thought I wouldn't say it, I actually looked forward to coming back to Dominica. I definitely miss friends and family and just living in the US, but Dominica is our home for now and it feels comfortable to us. This week we did a ton of stuff starting off with going to see the cold sulfur pots and Bwa Nef Falls which was awesome. The cold sulfur pots were actually bubbling with cold sulfur. We of course couldn't resist touching it. The hike to Bwa Nef Falls was quick and really fun. The trail was mostly through the river and then ended at this really pretty waterfall. Pictures don't do it justice. It really is an awesome waterfall. The most adventurous thing we did over the week was hike to boiling lake. That hike is on my Dominican bucket list so it deserves its own blog post that will be coming after this one. 

Over the weekend we were able to rent a car for a couple days and headed to the Fort Young Hotel again which is always a fun time. We went snorkeling at Champagne Reef and visited coco cottages where you can see how chocolate is made here on the island. Champagne Reef has been by far our favorite snorkeling spot yet. What is so cool about it is that there are underwater geothermal spring vent gasses that are in the form of thousands of warm bubbles! Plus the water was so clear and we saw some huge super colorful fish. It is pretty amazing! Our favorite food this week was a little French bakery that is part of the French embassy in Roseau. The pastries we got the first day were so good that we had to go back the next day and eat some delicious pizza with goat cheese.

It has been such a great first break from school. Christmas and going home to be with family was so amazing and I can't say enough of how grateful we are to my brother for flying us home. Once we got back to the island it was so nice having a week with just the two of us to play and have fun before semester two starts up. I feel like we did just enough during the break that we are ready to start up again with positive attitudes. Bring on semester two and the new year!

Happy New Year!

Welcomed back to Dominica with a beautiful rainbow!

Cold sulfur springs!

Le Petit Paris Bakery

Champagne Reef