A car with TOO much character and our hike to hell and back!

Brian, Josh, Brandon, Lauren, Sarah

Part I:

Firstly, we have had such a fun break so far with Josh's college buddies. Brian left us on Sunday(tear) but not before we had a blast. One of these adventures included our trek to the 2nd largest boiling lake in the world. The trail head to the boiling lake is located about 30 minutes from Roseau or about an hour and a half from us. From the trail head, we were told the hike would take anywhere from 2 1/2 hours to 4 hours each way... crazy. Surprisingly enough, the length of trip was not the most daunting part...the 3 hours of stair climbing each way was the real challenge. We began our journey around 10:30am. It was pouring down rain and quite chilly. Everyone was instantly soaked and wondering if we made the right decision. But we pressed forward. The first hour of the hike was pretty enjoyable. We splashed through water and enjoyed the beautiful rain forest. The first set of stairs we came to lead us down to the base of a mountain where we passed a local guide. He informed us that we still had two hours left. (Ugh) This is where the stairs from hell began. For the next hour and a half we climbed thousands of endless grueling leg numbing stairs. This agony took us to the top of a beautiful mountain. We could spot several steaming hot springs in the distance but the trail took us even further. Next, we climbed completely down the mountain we had just tackled into the "Valley of Desolation".

From here, we continued down a river, up more stairs, down some stairs, and up some rocks until we finally made it to the boiling lake. Everyone found the nearest boulder and rested before rummaging for their cameras. To be quite honest, after such an exhausting and taxing hike, I wished the lake was a bit "cooler". I was just happy to rest my legs, eat a granola bar, and shed a few tears thinking about the hike back. Needless to say, it was quite an adventure. I was definitely not mentally prepared for this trek. But we had a really fun time and we all definitely felt a huge sense of accomplishment after completing a very difficult hike.

The lake

This hike was my Everest. All of us have literally been wobbling around because our legs are still so sore. I think we should make shirts that say, "I made it to the boiling lake and I only have this crappy shirt to show for it!" :)

Part II:

The second adventure of this week dealt with the cars in our life. The red car I previously blogged about turns out to have a bit too much character for our liking. The car recently decided to no longer start or go into 2nd gear and reverse. It was tolerable until I got stuck sideways on a hill. I asked some locals to help me push the car back because my car wouldn't go into reverse. Of course the one guy "had" to try reverse for himself. So after his failed attempt, he turned the ignition off....... oh crap. "Sir, my car doesn't start either". So after this local literally ditched me (not before he offered me a rental car... jerk!), I decided to recruit some new students to help me! These two very nice boys graciously accepted my invitation. They helped me push the car to flat ground then push the car while I attempted to jump start the engine. Unfortunately after three failed attempts, largely due to my inability to jump start the engine in 2nd gear, I pushed the car into a parking spot, thanked the boys for their help, and left. I was so very frustrated and upset mostly because our friends left us this car as a favor and now it is falling apart. Not to mention, while our friends are here, we were somewhat relying on this car to take us around the island. Luckily, our local friend Ren recommended a great mechanic named Nicu who sounds very knowledgeable about vehicles and who is extremely inexpensive. He said that the clutch is about to fail which is why the car is no longer shifting properly. So to replace the clutch entirely, he will charge us $190 EC for labor and around $100-150 EC for the new clutch.... anyone do the calculation? That is 340 EC = 130 US. I challenge anyone to find a mechanic who will replace your clutch in your car for 130 dollars.

I will save the other car story for my next blog... I am keeping you hooked!