The Daily Poem

PHOTO OP

My picture's on the fridge

Of this Caribbean isle;

I think I'll stay a while.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 369

Epigram

Marigot, Dominica

Lat: 15.54, Long: -61.27

JOURNAL: Rashawna's House

Breakfast at Rosalie Bay Resort.  Said our farewells and took a group photo with the restaurant staff Melissa, Maudrina, Leoma, Seraphine, and Amelia.  Paid our final bill and said goodbye to Jan, the hotel manager.  What an amazing place!  It's definitely the coolest spot we've seen in the Lesser Antilles. Off the grid and gorgeous, with a wind turbine on the hill providing 70% of the electricity. 22 acres of Caribbean paradise. If you ever come to Doiminica you must spend at least a couple nights at Rosalie Bay. The rooms are spacious with every ammenity you could want. The restaurant menu is close-your-eyes-and-point delicious. And everyone we met whether at the main office, the restaurant, the spa, or on the grounds was cheerful and friendly, obviously as happy as to be there as we were. Rosalie Bay is the place to stay!  Marvin, who is in charge of purchasing at Rosalie Bay, drove us to Rashawna's house in Marigot.  He drove West up past the World Heritage Site to Pont Casse, a major junction that the locals call "the roundabout".  From there he turned North through the Central Forest Reserve down into Carib Territory, through Salybia and Bataka to Pagua Bay and on up to Marigot.  A funny thing happened on the way.  About 20 minutes from town a lady flagged us down for a ride.  Marvin hesitated since we were paying for the ride, but I told him it was OK with us if he picked her up.  Her name was Zilma, and was a teacher.

"What grades?"  Mimi asked.

"Primary." she said.

"The primary school in Marigot?" asked Mimi

"Yes."

"Do you know Rashawna?"

"Rashawna! Yes!  You are Rashawna's mother?! Zilma laughed delightedly.

How strange to have picked up a random person by the side of the road who knew Rashawna.  There was supposed to be a pageant at the Will Strathmore Steven's Primary School, where six grade school girls would be competing to be the school's princess for Carnival.  So we took the 30-minute walk along the coast to the school.  Along the way Rashawna was greeted by many locals, and introduced us as her parents.  Everyone was so pleased to meet us.  On the way we stopped by Marcus and Stacey's house.  He's a Peace Corp Volunteer and she's his finance.  Stacey invited us in and showed us the rabbit in the bathtub.  Marcus was out back building a hutch for it.  We went out back to meet Marcus and he showed us around his extensive garden: cabbage, oregano, parsley, bananas, cucumbers, tomatos, lettuce, and more.  He said he'd never grown anything before coming to Dominica.  "Things grow easily here." he said.  Rashawna showed us around her library.  The pageant was running late so we decided to walk back home and eat, then come back later.  We had some Mac&Cheese, but wanted to celebrate Rashawna's birthday somehow, and walked down to the Pagua Bay Bar & Grill for coffee and cheese cake.  We met  the owners Rick & Alicia Davison who came to Dominica for a 4-day trip and ended up staying.  They've been here how for five years.  They have a delightfully American Bar & Grill and are in the process of building a small hotel.  Nice people.

By the time we left it was after nine, and we decided to skip the pageant and go home to bed.  We took hot showers and climbed into the blue sheets under a mosquito net canopy.

~ The Daily Poet