Day 10 - Journey to Laudat, where it's . . .cold? (I'm - Ron - Burgundy?)

Day 10

Dominica has cold places. We left Calibishie lodges this morning, and Chris and Linda were sad to see us go. No worry, we will see them again once before we leave, as we are heading back to calibishie before we leave – for one night. Today we made our way through a road which cuts diagonally across the south part of the island. Known simpy as the “jungle road” to us storytelling folk at Calibishi lodges, we have been looking forward to it. The road is narrow, even compared to the rest of the island, but the rain gutters are a minimum, and there is usually good visibility around turns. We made our way through the thick of the island foliage toward the town the capital of Roseau. We then left the busy one way streets of the capital up an even narrower steep mountain road to the jungle village of Laudat. We are staying at a place called Roxy’s mountain lodge. The lodge looks grimy from far away, much of the stucco having flaked off to reveal concrete beneath. This was a guise for the close up look. We walked up the steps to a roofed patio at the front of the building, lined with shiny tile and walled with stone on 2 sides. Tables made of one solid piece of tree trunk, with bark on either side matched the woven chairs nicely. Open doorways into the foyer welcomed us as visitors, where the tile continued beneath high ceilings. We were told later that this place had been absolutely decimated by the last hurricane, and so is being rebuilt out of solid concrete, as many of the upscale structures here are. We are now at around 1900 feet, and it is noticeable. The clouds that we have observed dragging themselves over and around the distant peaks now fly quickly over our heads, dumping unpredictable cargos of rain on us whenever the wind is right. The air is cooler here, and more of the thick trunked ferns dominate the landscape than the lazy palms of the lowlands. Our place is nestled between distant peaks which rise, densely wooded with no sign of cliffs (though we know they are in there) up to the sky. The sun shines as often as the rain falls here, and both often happen together. We took an evening walk up the steep mountain roads and were greeted with a fantastic display orange sunbeams fanning out from behind a low flying cloud as the sun set into the silver sea. This marks the beginning of the hiking portion of our adventure, which promises rain, mud, warm and cold pools, and refreshingly colder air.