Dominica boasts hills and tropical foliage, but I was surprised to see how poverty stricken so much of the island appeared to be in contrast to other things that we had seen. We had an excursion scheduled at 11:45am so we left the ship at 10 and explored a bit of the town. After handing out a bit in the town, we discovered a little dive called Ruin Rock Cafe. It literally looks like a Ruin, in which this great bar sits in the middle. We sat down and grabbed a beer... 
Kabuli is the national beer of choice in Dominica. Tasty, too! Initially we thought it could be fun to try their rum punch but after checking out the surroundings we felt safer with the beer. As we waited for the beer we noticed the varieties of rums that they made, sitting and marinating on the counter. On the far right, after looking and then doing a double take, we realized that there was a SNAKE. Yes, a SNAKE.
Marinating in the rum. We now know what snake rum is... and we didn't DARE drink it! Our new friend, Albert,
(Albert, mon), chatted with us for a while, telling us about places to go and things to do. We left after dodging Albert trying to convince Ben to take a shot of some "aphrodisiac" rum... we left shortly afterwards. We headed down the road, dodging numerous Dominican women who were bidding to braid my hair. We fought our way through the crowd and found an adorable restaurant. Our server, Cathy - otherwise known by her customers as Pumpkin - hooked us up with some Rum Punch for me and a Kabuli for Ben. 
That rum punch was STRONG. I didn't dare drink more than a few sips! Topped off with nutmeg, we told us that the punch is a 1-2-3 down drink. One you are okay, two you're tipsy and three you're DOWN. Scary!We met up with our friends, Rusty and Jen, and Ben told them about the snake rum. Of course, Rusty wanted to try it... the four of us headed back to the Ruin Rock Cafe and Albert greeted us at the door. Ben told him we were there for snake rum... after hearing the the group at the counter speaking in a whole other language, we decided to change direction and try the aphrodisiac rum... quite tasty, but no effects akin to the description! We headed out to meet our tour navigator and then we were headed out to zip line across the Dominican jungle!
Let me just say that as I journaled this experience, I was a battered and bruised woman. Normally Ben is the less graceful of the two of us... this time, not so much. In Costa Rica, Ben and I did the zip lines... very fun, very painless... In Dominica, not the same!
We started out climbing a very high ladder and maneuvering across a variety of ropes courses.
We zipped,
we zagged, we struggled to maintain balance. On one line we had to go step by step across a section of huge logs... 
but we were stepping across the diameter, not the length. VERY SCARY. We continued on along a variety of ropes courses and zip lines. Finally, we arrived at... THE TARZAN JUMP.Out of a group of 10, I think that 6 or 7 opted to do the Tarzan rather than the safer, easier route. As soon as the gentleman assisting us asked if we had upper body strength I should have known. TURN AROUND. But no! I am invincible! Although it looks intimidating you have no idea what is in store for you. Picture this...you walk across a tight rope wire with only a long rope to hold on to at your side, sliding along with you so not providing very ample support... you get across the role, then you come to a platform... you are strapped onto a ROPE. You then step OFF the platform and swing through the air like a bird in flight (without the grace) and you HOPE that you can grab the net across the way and climb up to the top.
So I'm on the rope course heading towards Tarzan and I see a young woman flying through the air... then getting her FOOT stuck in the net and hanging upside down until finding a way to pull herself up. (tremble). Then our group started going. Rusty, Jen P, no issues... Dan slices his finger in the rope so he slows down the line. Not only is this uncomfortable for him, it creates a wait and we have to see for a longer period of time exactly HOW FAR DOWN the ground is from the platform we stood on in the tree. Jen H is in front of me and I hear the panic in her voice. She hesitates, then finally steps off the edge, shrieking along the way. She swings, the net comes, she misses. Swings again, this time she grabs on and manages to climb up.
Now it's my turn.
I get clipped in and get into position, staring down at the ground ... what seemed to be billions of feet below. I started to step, then panicked and stepped back. Then I held my breath and WHOOP! OFF the platform. I swing and I SCREAM like a squealing pig.
And I miss the net.
So I swing again... at this point, I'm cracking up at the fact that I'm swinging back and forth like a pendulum. I head towards the net... I grab on... and don't hold on so BACK into a swing I go. At this point I'm saying bad words and giggling non-stop. The net comes back at me one more time and I hear everyone scream, HOLD ON!!! I held on. It's really deceiving fow much strength you really need to not only hold on to but to then move up the net. I can honestly say that climbing that net was one of the hardest things physically that I have ever done! Now, had I have been smart and grabbed the net the first time I would have grabbed the net up high and had a short climb. However, I had grabbed the net down low due to the swings getting shorter each time... so I had to climb from near the bottom to the very top and over the net. (To gauge the strength, they use a similar net in American Gladiators in the final challenge!) OH MY GOSH it hurt. I had to find strength in me that I didn't know existed. I made it to the top and they pulled me to the side to put OINTMENT on the MASSIVE ROPE BURN
on my arm. It's pretty. It's my war wound and I'm proud. After this my knees were knocking and my arms were shaking for a good hour later. But man, was it COOL!We got to the ship and went to our room to clean up a bit, then joined some folks poolside for a pina colada, sunshine and good company. (And yes, Janet and BA, I was slathered in sunscreen). We finished up at the pool and went inside for sushi. Not bad, but not really all that good. However the sunset was worthy of a million moments to gaze at.
We went down later for dinner and the sea was ROUGH. I had had an appetizer, my soup and my salad, but by then the rocking of the boat really affected me. Between the rocking of the boat and the smell of the risotto in front of me, I had to leave the dining room. :( I felt so bad leaving the festivities but I really didn't want to hurl in public. So I went to my room. Took some Dramamine and all was well. BA, I don't know if you'd be able to handle a cruise if it affected me so much! There was one night we had ten people at the dinner table and 5 left due to the boat moving so much!
I slept the remainder of the night, which was nice because I was well rested for the wedding the next day.
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