Adventuretime: middleham, titou and screws

Our day began at 9 am, packed into a bus, as we headed into the more "jungley" areas of the island.  The roads in Dominica are WINDY. I'm not one to get car sick, but wow that ride made me woozy.  After 1.5 hrs in the bus, we arrived to the bottom of our hiking destination at Middleham falls. The hike up was a fun one, it was mostly shaded by palms and awesome fern-gully looking trees.  After about 45-1 hr of hiking we arrived at the waterfall and jumped in for a swim and some cliff jumping, which naturally I had no part of. At the end of the hike back, I realized that the name of the peaks on my water bottle was the same as the mountain we were on!! Can you imagine being in the Evian peaks or the Arrowhead spring with the designated water bottle? Then we traveled to Titou Gorge which is some sort of cave, with a small waterfall at the end of it. The water was so deep, and there wasn't anywhere you could sit if you got tired until the waterfall.

After a day of hiking, we all agreed it would be best if we ventured over to Screws Spa, which is a series of natural hot springs of all different temperatures.  Max and I had been here before,but it definitely is an island hot spot.  After all this, we were starving, so we ordered $510 of Pizza Hut. There is 1 pizza hut on the island which is located in Roseau, near to where we were.

Genny, Max, Will, John and I had reservations at iguana cafe that night- not because it was busy, but because there wouldn't be any food for us to order otherwise! The restaurant is a tiny shack on the beach complete with Dominican trinkets and homemade decorations. Since this cafe is right on the beach, all the lobster and fish dishes were caught that day. This meant yummy lobster and tuna for everyone, except me. But I did try the tuna caprecio covered in lemon sauce which I liked.

It was a long, fun day for me, and a long, but not so fun day for Max who was studying the brain all day. Can't wait to check out some more hiking spots with the group soon!

Mom and Petes wedding day!

The day started out with almost the worst news a bride can get: rain rain and even more rain!! The massive deck of the suite from the w (that has graced the pages of mags such as elle!!) was no longer an option.  So it was held next to the lobby in one of the restaurants.  The ceremony was great and Mom seemed so happy! My speech did not go as well as i had planned, but thats ok, im sure noone remembered it anyways :) The wedding decor was beautiful! So many candles, hot pink hydrangeas and roses, and wine from cakebread cellars- so good. After dinner and dancing, we decided to bring the party back to the suite to play thumper and eat some more wedding cake.  Congratulations to Mom and Pete!

DOM->JFK

FOOD
Sept 8 was our first time back in America since April for Max and July for myself.  Poor Max had a whirlwind trip leaving Friday and returning Monday.  We both ate like kings and drank like.. well, how we drink when we celebrate.  We ate at this amazing steakhouse in the city called Palm Too, which is part of the Palm restaurant. Delicious steak, potatoes au gratin, lobster...yummy. We also had NYC bagels at H+H and 3 am NYC pizza.  We went out with some of the new fam to Midtown 1015 and met up with Maxs college roomie, Pete, which was really fun.Did I mention we had CRuMBS cupcakes?? ahhh!

LIVING
We stayed at Grandma and Grandpas apt in the city which is beautiful and reminds me of the vanderwoodsens house in gossip girl.  It was so good to see them! uncle michael, amy and ava were also amazing hosts who also have a to-die-for apartment *drool*.  Ava is getting so big and so grown-up, shes a little princess-doll!!

SHOPPING
 One of the highlights of that trip for me was Fashions night out at bloomies and saks.  I also bought a pair of heels for $20 off (in celebration of FNO) at steve madden. Anyway, back at bloomies, uncle michael bought me the most beautiful DVF dress and gold jewelry to wear to the wedding.  Thank you to Michael and amy- they have always been the most crazy-generous people! We then enjoyed some watermelon martinis and saw the very-leggy live models strutting some new fall fashions. LOVED seeing some over-the-knee boots finally! (its not exactly fall on the island). For some reason HandM wasnt as impressive as it once was..the store was messier than usual and it gave me mad anxiety! Everything was overly picked through *sigh* Next, Grandma and grandpa kindly took me on the most amazing Lulu shopping spree.  I bought a few of my favorite power y tanks and some run fast-and-frees and finally, the wunder-under crops in purple. LOVE!  Ali, mom and I had fun getting ready for the wedding at chanel and lancome at saks. I hadnt seen a mall in literally MONTHS. I was dying.  We bought some new fall color shadow compacts, lip glosses and of course, one of my ABSOLuTELY-MuST(!!!)HAVE for Dominica Items--> my waterproof lancome mascara! =).

(to be continued...)

A who's who of Dominica

So now that we've been deserted on a tiny island long enough, we've developed our own Dominican family. Since you (fam and friends of AZ and CO) have not met our Dominican fam yet, I'd like to include this "Page 6" of Who's who in Dom for your reference :)

Cody: our neighbor from Texas who has crazy stories from the ROTC (?) army at Texas A&M. He always has a smile on his face. Medicine enthusiast and musician alike, Cody sings, plays and writes his own music on his acoustic guitar. Cody's pretty talented!! Did I mention he makes an awesome grilled cheese?? Mmmm.

Will: Will is a service animal-companion-spouse like me to Genny. We like to go on adventures, find free food, and cool hiking spots. He is a Risk chanpion and a master of the GRE...Will is very intelligent. Congrats to him for heading to grad school soon!! Will is one of our closest friends who loves rum and we know it's a good night if the T-Rex arms make an appearance! I'm lucky that Will is here "spousing" with me.

Sandwiches: Dubbed "Sandwiches" by Joe, this black and white feline loves to make appearances at Flamboyant mid afternoon each day. She is literally starving ( :( ), and stands on her hind limbs when I serve her food. It's always satisfying to watch her finish her fancy feast! But Beware: this determined stray will dart into your house if the door is cracked, with intentions of hiding under your bed and not leaving. Shes very friendly though and I hope someone adopts her soon. Sandwiches has been known to eat the heart of birds and swallow live geckos, so don't let her furry cute demeanor fool you. She's a feisty survivor of the harsh rains, intense heats, freaky locals and most importantly, the evils of Nemesis. Nemesis is one who I only know of by word of mouth. He is a cat-monster who lurks in the shadows and can be heard screeching and screaming at the highest pitches. He hisses at humans and attacks cats, dogs and creatures alike. Meow.

MAX'S POWER GROUP:
Max always says he probably wouldn't be succeeding here without the help from the following:

Genny: Genny is my best girl friend that I've made here. She was Maxs neighbor in the Viceroy house from MERP in the Bahamas last winter. We share clothes, views on having babies, gym routines, nail polish and similar Dominican trials and tribunes. It would suck here without her! She's one of those smart and pretty girls who are actually funny and down to earth too. She also made up the delicious cocktail called the Dominican tap water containing vodka, lemon juice, iced tea, and some other ingredient that I seem to have forgotten. Delicious!!

John: John is a superhuman. He is pretty much good at everything. Why they call him the Korean Lionel richie though, I don't know, because I've only heard him sing once, and let's just say it wasn't impressive as his ab routine in the gym. Johns laugh is one that will light up a dreary study trailer and I know Max is happy to have him here. Uncle John will also secretly buy me candy without Max knowing at IGA. We also made up the red-and-white gummy-bears-soaked-in-white-wine drink. John is awesome because he will always drink a chilled glass of Pinot with me. Yummy.

Mahir: another superhuman, Mahir didn't eat or drink water during the day for a whole month during medical school! And still made the grades. Wow. Talk about self control! I'm not sure I know anyone else that can do that. Mad respect to him. Mahir is a great friend and host: he is very welcoming and extremely friendly. Mahir also will eat anything I cook and act like he likes it, even when it is a disaster! Mahir is the teacher and master of the white board for the group. His voice is that of a seasoned professor as he teaches lectures he just learned that day! He's also snack chair. Chips and mangoes..yum!

Joe: Joe is a cartoon. He is hilarious and kind to everyone he meets. He is the social butterfly and "connector" of the group. He knows pretty much everybody, local and student alike, on the island. He can relate to anyone and make immediate best friends with a room full of strangers. He has a contagious smile and is a great friend to Max. I think of him as Max's twin: they're pretty much the same besides their tastes in girls (Joe prefers exotic Colombians like his pretty gf Yetri). They have the same haircut, same diet, and can always be spotted in matching blue T shirts. It's always a good day when Joe stops by our place to say Hi
!

Photos to follow!