Bamboo Palace

Dean is climbing the orange tree

Dominicans are friendly and helpful people. Fortunately, the world’s monetary system hasn't spoiled and corrupted them as much as the rest of us. If money wasn’t around, relationships would be established on a solid and true ground. When people offer you products and services, you don’t really know their true intentions. That is a dilemma for me when I meet locals in different countries.

The abundance of food and water in Dominica, makes it possible for some to detach from money, such as my friend Dean. His home is in an almond tree right on the beach. He built it with his own hands and lives there with his wife and three children. He has no electricity or running water and his fire pit is on 24/7, all year around. The Almond tree is always engulfed with a positive spirit. A couple of days ago, I showed Dean our broken oar and left it with him. The next day, the oar was repaired and it was stronger than ever! Dean would not accept anything form of payment, as matter of fact he never touches money or charges for things in a monetary way. He is very handy and helps/fixes anything in the neighborhood. He has been mentioning the “bamboo palace” that he wants to build on a segment of land up in the mountains that has been in his family for a long time. He, his friend Cruzan, Nico, and I left Portsmouth early morning on foot and hiked up the mountain towards the location.

Cruzan craved “Jelly for the Belly”. Dean found a coconut tree and in no time, had climbed barefoot and bare hands right to the top. The coconut juice and jelly didn’t have caffeine in them but worked perfect as an energy drink. Along the way, Dean climbed trees to get bread fruit, calabash, bananas, nutmeg, raspberries, and grapefruits for his family and us. He knows this area like the palm of his hand. He knows what fruits are in season, where the trees are, and who they belong to. Everybody that passes by in their cars, on foot, or bicycles, waved to us and knew Dean by name.

I have been looking for strong bamboo to make a trolling fishing pole and an LED light fixture. Up in the wilderness we found many bamboo trees. Dean cut some for his handy crafts he makes and for my projects. Bamboo can be used for many different purposes, such as furniture, houses, musical instruments (flute), rafts, swords, chalices, et cetera. I have a good feeling we will catch some fish with the new bamboo trolling pole! 

By the time we got to the “Zion” as they call it, our stomachs were growling. Cruzan and Dean went up to the field to get dasheen for lunch and to take home. It didn’t take long before the fire was going and the dasheen was boiling in the pot. Dasheen is a root vegetable, similar to potatoes. They can be much larger in size, more starchy and creamy, and therefore more filling.     

Dasheen served on a leaf

We got to a flat area in Zion located in a crater of an inactive volcano. Several hundred year old trees stand in the middle surrounded by many fruit trees that were planted by Dean’s ancestors and himself. During the stay in Zion, we let our imaginations take us freely away and we came up with tons of ideas for the future bamboo palace. In our minds, we built cabins by the waterfall, reconstructed the flow of water to run through the land, installed a turbine and solar panels for electricity, hung hammocks, build shelters, and so forth.
The sharp hill next to Zion takes you down to a river and a set of three water falls. There are no trails leading there hence we followed the sound of water. It’s absolutely breathtaking, stunning, and a well kept secret. We also brainstormed about having ropes and steps to take you down each waterfall and to its corresponding pool. I live to build and do these kinds of projects. I will visit Dominica one day for an longer, extended time and help construct the bamboo palace.         

If you are lost in your world and don’t know your purpose in life, come to Dominica and go into the wilderness alone, you will find enlightenment. This is why Dean and Cruzan are calling this location the Zion!

Love from the Bamboo Palace

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Fruitful Paradise

 This is a piece of land that looks like a pancake from a distance. Marie Galante is considered flat but still has an elevation between 300-600 feet in various places. It is densely green and the trees and bushes seem taller than other places. During the couple of hikes we did, many sugar fields were observed. Our guest, Nico, cut down  some sugar cane sticks, peeled away the hard skin, to chew and suck on the fibers full of sweet water, just like the locals do. In addition, we saw many fruit trees that had fruits ripened and ready to be picked. Fruit trees are everywhere and before picking any fruits, we always make sure it’s not on someone’s property. Here in Marie Galante we were lucky to find random lemon, banana, papaya, mango, and coconut trees and we collected many of them. 

In Marie Galante, you also see tons of pigs. Almost every mango tree has a pig tied up underneath. Then there are oxes and cows! We have not witnessed so many pigs, oxes, and cows in one single island. The pigs seem friendly and some of them walked toward us like they needed petting! We saw big and small pigs, white, black and spotted. Some of the sugar cane transportation on the island is still on ox carriages. Watch out and make sure you are not in the way because these ox are so big that they could crush anything in their path. Moreover, I found my bamboo stick that was misplaced last year. We use to have a stick that was used as an extension for the outboard handle and dinghy depth finder. Now we have attained a new one made in Marie Galante!

                                                  As a cruiser and traveller, you see the most beautiful beaches on these Caribbean Islands. Some of the islands are surrounded by long white beaches and some have very few beaches. In Basse Terre, which is the mountainous part of Guadeloupe the very few beaches have dark sand. In Marie Galante beaches are more white and soft and long. Based on experience, low elevated islands have beautiful long white beaches and higher elevated islands don’t have as many and they are smaller.  

I mentioned that it’s difficult to connect with locals in the French Islands if you don’t speak French. We finally got to connect with some locals through Nico. Apparently, Guadeloupe has a large Lebanese community. In Point a Pitre, many store fronts are owned by Lebanese that have been settled here for over 50 years. Nico got to talk to some of them in Arabic and we were able to socialize. After all, we are all the same and different languages and cultures should not separate us! Our differences should be attracting us to one another and this is the beautiful part of Earthlings!

Right now we are in Dominica and going to explore this attractive land for the next couple of weeks.

Love from a fruitful paradise

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