Greetings from Dominica!

We got into Dominica this morning- On the south side of the island in a place called Rosea. It’s a pretty poor island- the poorest we’ve seen. Just about everyone on the ship except for The Kleins and one Anfinson went on an excursion. So SPencer and I set off to go explore on our own- Well, I only lasted about 2 hours. We ended up in one ofthe most dense rainforests……in a botanical garden that breeds andraises wild parrots. We walked for about 10 minutes on a trail thatwas supposedly leading up to a waterfall, and I went off the path togo to the bathroom- and looked down- HUGE black and whitesnake!!!…….yikes!! I ran……back down the hill to the little town. 🙂 and Spencer’s still up there hiking around. 🙂 I was morescared because of the fact I had flip flops on- and those littleankles of mine probably look like quite a piece of meat to bite into.I walked around the town of Rosea….but only lasted an hour. Unfortunatley I felt pretty unsafe by myself so I headed back to ourmonstrous cruise ship, with my head down.

Yesteday we were in Antigua- We LOVED that island!….and not onlybecause it’s primarily a VEGAN island!!!…can you believe it? I guess most of the people are of the Rastafarian faith, and they don’teat animals, or their products. SO that meant that there were littlejuice bars and vegan cafes everywhere….ANd after 4 days on the ship and no soymilk, or anyhting besides lettuce, cucumbers and peanutbutter sandwiches- we were pretty excited for some REAL veggie food!Especially after begin on a catamaran/ booze cruise all day. All 26family members went on this little excursion- and it was a good one. WE got to go to the other side of the island, to a private island andexplore for a bit. SPencer and I decided to swim around theisland!….WHEW! (After we’d been drinking the rum punches for hoursin the sun. The water surrounding Antigua is some of the most turquoise water I’ve ever seen-

Puerto Rico was ok- but pretty Americanized. You get off the ship,and there are Starbucks, Burger Kings, McDonalds, Marshals!!!, andeven a SAms CLub. Pretty classic. But Old San Juan was cute- All the colors of the buildings were nice to the eye. There is a cemetarythere that is RIGHT on the ocean- I cant believe that the waterhasn’t taken it away throughout the years. It was pretty spectacular.

The ship is a lot nicer than I thought it would be and it’s funbecause all 26 of us are in the same area…..I’m sure the peoplethat are NOT part of our group really love us- We’re not exactly thequietest of groups! 🙂

Many of us have had a hard time figuring our how to sleep at nightwhen the boat is going through storms and crashing waves….. It’s aweird sensation to be laying in bed, swaying and swishing back and forth to the sound of waves crashing against the boat. The first twonights I didn’t sleep at all.

Being that this is through Semester at Sea and University ofVirginia, there are a lot of classes and seminars…we’ve learned how to swing dance, and taken some classes on the history of he islands.There are also yoga and pilates classes. Have you ever tried doingyoga on a moving ship?? Now that’s a good workout of your practicingyour balance!!

We’re off to Trinidad tomorrow, followed by Aruba & Jamaica. If anyone has been to any of these places and has any suggestions or “must sees” let me know!!Feliz Ano Nuevo!