Emerald Pool

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Saturday July 21 - I got out of bed around 8:30am and headed down to breakfast. Shelly and Ben were there, which was nice to see. I had a huge bowl of porridge, labeled with my name for the first time, but labeled as Jenni, which I hate. I picked up my laundry and then got ready to go into town, a bit later than expected, which in itself, is expected. We were supposed to go to Boiling Lake today, but Rob canceled that so he could go to the doctor, so the new place was to go to town.

As we walked to the river, Jackie got a call from Charlotte, and all of a sudden we were not going to town. Only Jackie and Shelly could go. We continued to the river to tell Meagan, who had already crossed, and by then, none of us were going. Charlotte had something come up with the flight of the kids who were leaving the island today, and couldn't come back to pick us up. So we started walking back to camp, Meagan and I a little depressed and deflated. We had first been looking forward to Boiling Lake and then to wifi, since it's been a while, but both were canceled in a short period of time. I decided to ask if the others wanted to go to Emerald Pool, and they agreed. We got a lift with Erin and Lisa. They left around noon to check out some possible net sites, and Emerald Pool was on the way. Shelly, Meagan and Ben came, and they are the ones I get along with the best, so it was a good group. We used the OpWall permit to get into the site, swam in the pool below the waterfall, got rained on, and had a good chat.

From there we went to Ronnie's fruit stand, a place where Shelly spends a lot of time when possible. Ronnie is a former model and runs the popular fruit stand, where everyone around this part of the island goes for their fruit. Fruit is a hot commodity since the hurricane, and he is good at finding it. He also has the best little cat, so I spent a lot of time petting her. We stayed for a while, and had a cacao tea, like the one I had in St. Lucia, but this had turmeric in it. Meagan spilled a little on her shirt and has bright yellow stains. Hopefully they wash out. Ben and Shelly bought coconuts to drink/eat, and they shared the fruit. Others stopped by with their students on the way back to camp - Ian, Emma and Holly, Tricia. Charlotte had to help ferry Tricia's kids back, as their car had a problem, so she came and picked up Shelly to take back to camp first, to get ready for the lecture of the night. She came back afterward and picked up the rest of us after she had a decent chat with Ronnie. It was actually quite cool in that spot and I started to feel cold. Weird for Dominica.

Back at camp we had about half an hour before dinner, and it was the fried chicken again. So. Good. I had been hoping for that all day. Next I tried to figure out who would be driving me back from whale watching tomorrow, since the others were heading out to a site called Stinking Hole to catch bats. It sounds like something I should be into but I'm not interested in a repeat of last weekend's extracurricular bat netting. It feels more like a spectacle. And I'd really like to be back before dark. That might be possible if Shelly comes to get me, but I think I first have to get a lift to Stinking Hole and she'll pick me up there. It seems crappy to ask her to do it, but worse to stay until 10pm and then come home. I'll find out at breakfast, I think. Then it was quiz night and Meagan read the bat questions and I went over the answers at the end. I decided to call it a night early on, and went up to my room around 9pm for a shower and to read. Tomorrow is an early start, with the whale watching tour. Here's to seeing my first sperm whales.

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