The Rainforest

When I was in 2nd grade we had to do a project on the rainforest. I was assigned to research the sloth and that's when I decided that I wanted to live in the rainforest when I grew up. As I got older, I learned about all the snakes, bugs, and poisonous things, so I changed my mind. We spent the morning on a rainforest hike, and I'm pretty confident I that I could live there.

So we did a rainforest hike today, with a heavy emphasis on the RAIN. It poured. I don't have any pictures from the beginning of the hike because it was raining so hard. The rain water gathered and flowed down the trail, so we were walking in a slippery stream the whole time.

The hike was a really great time. Our guide was fantastic; her father was from Nevis originally, so she was very knowledgable. She told us all sorts of legends of Nevis, like the jumbies, which are mythical trouble causing spirits, similar to our trolls or gnomes. They look like men with red eyes. When identifying jumbies, you have to look at their feet because jumbies don't walk, jumbies float above the ground. But the jumbies spirits are blamed for problems or sicknesses, so people often wear jumbie bracelets to keep them away. We also learned about Obeah, which is the folk magic and sorcery practiced in the area, similar to hoodoo or voodoo. A lot of the practice is just herbal medicine, but it's associated with charms and magic as well.

Our guide also pulled all sorts of exotic fruit off of plants and taught us how to eat them. The mangoes were so fantastic, but my favorite was soursop, which was a spiny looking green fruit. It was delicious. I also got to try wild cinnamon, which was really strong.

Kevin and the soursop

We found some coconuts along the trail and stopped to smash them with large rocks to get them out of the husk. That was a minor disaster, as we ended up with two people bleeding. But once we got the coconuts out it was just a matter of cutting into them and drinking the coconut water. Then we opened them and had the coconut. They weren't nearly as sweet as I had expected, but it was still really good.

David and a big rock vs. the coconut

Overall the hike today was a lot of fun. I learned a ton and got to try new things. We didn't see any animals besides a few spiders and bugs. But the trees and plant life were incredible. Our guide also taught us how to catch lizards, so I'll let you know if that works out.

Me and the defeated coconut

Yesterday we walked to Mansa's, this restaurant down the road, for some fantastic ribs. The barbecue sauce was amazing. I also bought some star fruit, which is really good. Last night my roommates and I got dressed up to go out. It was a fun time and we were looking good.

Me and the roomies

This was the only completely free weekend we had, and unfortunately the weather was terrible. It rained almost the whole weekend. Still, I had a lot of fun. I can't believe I only have two more weekends here!