Waking Up In Dingley dell (3 January 2011)

Apologies to Charles Dickens but when we woke up in the Papillotte Wilderness Retreat, high up in the rainforest at the head of the Roseau Valley, we thought we were in Dingley Dell. The whole place is owned and run by an an American lady who first started it off as a remote bar in the late 60's. It was completely destroyed in the hurricane of 1979 and she has lovingly restored (for that read, eccentrically restored.....) it into the charming place that it is today. Design touches are abundant, holes in the mozzie nets, mismatched furniture, slightly mouldy bathroom tiles, you get the drift? We had booked the Breadfruit Suite, a two bedroom suite at treetop level. Ok, it has two bedrooms, but sadly all that is missing is the wall between the two.... But it did have its own private pool. Yes, I know you are thinking, private pool, nice, blue..... This was indeed private but is a rather metallic red...... Built in stone it is actually fed by the hot sulphur springs so abundant on this island, so was wonderfully hot. The whole place is set in a fantasy garden, with the butterfly as the motif. Little paths wind through and you are surprised by more hot spring pools, peacocks, and vegetation almost too thick to walk through. There are little boughs and benches to rest on and fruit trees, flowers and painted walls. We are convinced we saw two fairies, but then we realised they were just the two blokes upstairs...... But we are in the rainforest and it rained, and rained and rained........ This also gives the place a dark, dripping, dank feel with that all pervading smell of damp that takes Gill straight back to damp, smelly pillows and sheets in Guatemala last year. But that’s what happens in the rainforest where it so far appears to rain continuously…. And they do get 340 inches of rain a year.

So what to do in the rain. Well it is now three days into 2011 and Ant is yet to have a shower, so his dip in yet another hot pool fed by a shower of hot spring water was quite welcome, to Gill at least. We were then directed down the hill to find another. Flip flops are not the easiest footwear to navigate a slippery slope but we made it to the sound of frogs and the sight of scuttling land crabs. And there was yet another hot pool where the water bubbling up from the earth's fissures was clear to be seen, rather like champagne bubbles. Next to it was a cool pool fed by the cascading waterfall above. Gill as usual wimped out, but Ant was doing his Adam impression and also being brave going from hot pool to cold with only a modicum of screeching..... Gill was the photographer. But the whole place really is amazing, just like losing yourself in the Garden of Eden. Pass me an apple quick ...... Ok the iPad will do.....
But we couldn't play Adam and Eve all day and it was still p*****g down so we had to repair to the restaurant for a spot of lunch and a rum punch.... After this of course Ant needed a nod.... But we stirred ourselves at 4pm to take the short walk to the Trafalgar Waterfalls, a must see site in Dominica. They were indeed impressive (as was the walk up a pretty steep but luckily short hill). Very impressive, but more impressive was Ant, starved of shops, who was moved to buy a bamboo recorder/flute type thing from the local one legged Rasta.... He still can't play it...

This is an eco resort, so the shower water is fed directly from the hot springs. Whilst we are sure (well at least Gill is, Ant hasn't bothered finding out.....) that the "eau de sulphur and metal" that stays on your skin after your shower is the local top fragrance, the red residue is not so good. Gill is now a "ginga" as her highlights have turned red....
And then to dinner. The food theme seems to be British food of the 50's, soup, salad some sort of meat with cold vegetables and a stodgy pudding..... But as you know, rum punches always help these things along. As does the diversion of low flying bats... But we are to be grateful for those apparently, they do something (either eat or scare) away the mosquitoes.... On balance though , I think we would prefer to brave a mozzie than a bat.....
But despite its oddities this really is a fabulous place. The surrounding scenery of a steep backdrop of rainforest, waterfalls, flowers and babbling streams, hot pools, cold pools are quite special. Dominica is shaping up to be our favourite island yet.