Tour de Serg

We love Serg; he is genuine, reliable, kind, and he loves Jesus...so I trust him. The wonderful part about Christian folk is that I know who they work for- so its easier to know what to expect from them as humans. 

An understanding, if you will.

Alright- So before we begin, allow me to introduce you to Serg... 

 Here he is cutting coconuts for us. Also provided, was a straw! 

Ummm... Yeah, quite the novelty 'round here.

For 5EC we got 5 grapefruits, 1 papaya, and a bunch of bananas. 

That is about $1.85USD...WOW, right?

The original plan for the day was to goto a beach called "Batibou" but Serg had other plans for us...So, we ended up at #1 Beach. Come to find out the locals call the beaches different things- 

Basically, we have no effing clue what we are talking about 

They do!

This is their home... 

We just go with it and love every second. 

Did I mention that Serg is "our" driver? Yeah, I guess you may have been wondering who the hell this guy was... at this point he may just be a professional coconut cutter, hmm... my bad.

Here is a photo journal of our brilliant day, a day spent celebrating the completion of Russ' midterm... he has one test and a final left for the remainder of the semester. 

Time is certainly flying. 

Friends!

Lovers!

Cave Monster #1

Cave Monster #2

Random Hedge-Hog on the beach- Had to pet him.

Island Strength

Uhhhh... dang.

Rock Star (too easy, had to say it) 

Surf in the Atlantic Ocean 

Delicious Enchiladas (and vegan, too)

Unfortunately, there is no mexican cuisine on this dang 'ol island. 

I love mexican food! The thing about it though,  its usually jam packed with cheese and animal-gizzard juice. In the states you go for mexican and you eat a pound of chips and a quart of salsa, drink a beer the size of a newborn baby, and THEN get your cheesy, greasy, beefy entreezy... without a doubt you are basically waddling out to the car with a very distorted buzz- its like "yeah, I am kinda drunk, but I am so damn full" and typically pass out the minute you arrive home. 

Yes, I have a point. A positive one - A RECIPE. This is my first recipe as an island slicker- hope you use it and love it:

"Vegan" Black bean Enchiladas

serves 2 hungry people

You will need:

2 hands (one would work)

Intuition

1 can black beans

a handfull of diced green peppers and a separate hand full of diced onions

a tiny can of tomato paste

olive oil

chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, & salt

flour

4 small flour tortillas

-First, rinse your beans and then squish them a little -

-Heat olive oil and saute the pepper and onion

-Throw in the squished beans- and just let that cook together on low-med. heat

-Next, heat some more olive oil - maybe 1/4 cup and add a handful of flour and chili powder

almost equal parts of flour and chili powder

-Whisk this mixture, making sure not to let the flour burn (ew! stinky) and you will have a rue

-add the tomato paste and briefly stir - you will notice it becomes very thick so start adding water- stirring, adding, stirring, adding

-you want it to be thin because it will thicken when you bake it.

-So, allow that to simmer and at last add cumin, garlic powder, and salt

-Taste, add, taste, add, and taste

- use intuition with proportions.

-Put on very low heat

- microwave your tortillas so they are easy to manipulate

-spread squished beans onto tortillas

-roll into whatever you think an enchilada should look like

-place in a casserole dish - pour sauce all over

-bake for as long as it takes you to make some rice

unless of course it takes you longer than 10-14 minutes

Boom! Done. 

Really simple and extremely delicious and healthy! I went to the pool after I ate- a good sign of not feeling like a complete fat ass after eating mexican food. 

I don't have any photographic evidence that I ever prepared this 

 It's because my camera is sub-par and so are my eating utensils- I want you to actually try this recipe and the pictures may have been a bit of a deterrent.

 However, I will share some random pictures.

this is where the magic happens

Steve of the Jungle

When is the last time you hiked off road to find tree roots that looked like shitake mushrooms,

a gentle flowing river with rocks big enough to use as chairs,

a natural hot spring at the bottom of a mountain,

and- of course

3 local dudes in their underpants smoking weed?

When we first arrived at the spring we were weary of the strangers in their underwear so we just perched on a few rocks and relaxed. After about 45 minutes I became pretty antsy and I wanted to see and feel the hot spring... so I walked over and confidently introduced myself. 

Steve and I had a connection right away, well because, you know- he is a Libra and I am Sagittarius 

and those two signs, well, they go together. 

Here are a couple great quotes from Steve:

"Ladies, sneak Steve a call"

"Your husbands love you? Steve loves you."

Eventually, we all made it in the spring and were able to experience the amazingness of volcano produced hot water. It wasn't boiling but it was definitely quite a few degrees above "luke warm"

 (hotter than any shower I have had in Dominica).

We weren't able to lounge out in our bathing suits and really let loose because 5 nearly nude women in the jungle with Steve just isn't the brightest idea. There is a fine line between appreciating and trusting humans from a different culture- and- taking your clothes off in front of them.

We left with an outstanding experience, a couple new friends, and a second hand high. 

It is starting to feel like the Island life was made for me. 

 Steve is in the middle... Can you get any smoother??? 

Is that Lil' Wayne on the right? 

Caribbean Yoga

The Yoga scene on the island is pretty fantastic!

 There is not a single Yoga studio here, yet, there is a class offered almost everyday of the week.

Hatha Yoga, Cardio Yoga, Yoga for Beginners, Vinyasa Yoga, Dynamic Flow and Yoga for Stress

 I teach on Tuesday evenings and each week I am reminded of my purpose here in Dominica. 

It is really easy to become discouraged about whether I am making the most of myself living here

and certainly doubt can easily overcome me if I don't focus on the big picture... which is:

Growing in my Yoga Practice, developing as an individual, and of course- 

supporting the love of my life.

For one hour every week I have the opportunity to help Medical Students not only exercise their body and raise their heart rates- I help them relax, to center themselves, organize their thoughts and to refocus their hearts on their purpose. My students also include the brilliant spouses of the Med Students. Although many people assume that we (the spouses) are simply on vacation - it is quite the opposite. There is no such thing as a lazy spouse- these women (and men) work so hard to develop a functioning schedule- one that caters to their hardworking medical student husband (or wife) and one that fulfills them as a unique and insanely important individual. 

Simply put-

I am truly blessed.

Completely grateful that I have something that I will hold on to for the rest of my life

 meditation

 Downdog Splits

 Warrior 1

Modified Camel

Iguana Cafe

A brilliant shack on the water! Walking past Iguana Cafe you would never know it was a restaurant. When you walk in through the door there is a small cooking area to the left and two tables to the right. In order to dine here you have to call ahead, I've heard that they only open if they know ahead of time that people will be coming. The menu is 3 pages long with an array of seafood options. 

Lobster, Fish of the Day, Octopus, Conch, Crayfish, Tuna. 

There is a single woman and what I have assumed to be her lover that run the show... that is it! So, he takes the order while she cooks. All the seafood is fresh from the day- if the local fisherman didn't catch it, it is unavailable- another good reason to call ahead... in case you're craving something. 

Side items and sauces are the outstanding aspects of the menu- 

Choose between cous.cous or rice; alongside that you have a slaw, a stewed ground provision (breadfruit, plantains, dasheen) and a perfect serving of cabbage. 

The sauces you choose from are: Pumpkin, Butter, or coconut. I would let the chef choose for you. And don't ask for all the sauces on the side so you can choose- that is annoying and just won't happen.

The same applies at Iguana Cafe as it does at Blue Bay and basically all of the local restaurants 

- Come with an open mind! Leave your pampered, conditioned attitude at the door- 

 You are given bread with an amazing dish of butter and garlic and a separate dish of honey- incredible

Russ ordered the fish of the day- Jack Crevalle (would not recommend) with all the previously mentioned side items.

I had the Seafood Pasta with Lobster only- incredible, exactly what I wanted.

There are no pictures of our food because even after we discussed making sure to photograph our dishes we did not wait a second to start eating and after we were half way done we remembered.

So, it just looked too good and smelled too good to wait.

View of the cooking area "kitchen" 

Front door - where you leave your american snarl 

Bar Stools facing the water

Me and the Beautiful Chef