11/04/12
Hello! It's been awhile since I updated, but I've been crazy busy here! I had an exam this past Thursday over immunology and talk about a lot to memorize! The exam went okay I think--it's really hard for me to judge my performance on exams though, so I guess I'll have to wait and see. It was interesting because the stuff I knew? I knew really well. The stuff that I didn't however...complete guesses. The nature of the material was just so memorization intensive that I think the same held for many people; it definitely was one of the tougher exams we've had.
But it was pretty great because the exam was on a Thursday, meaning we only had new lectures on Friday, so it gave me an opportunity to take most of the weekend off! It's a special weekend here as well, Dominican Independence Day so we have Monday off of classes as well! Definitely nice to have a bit of time off; I've decided to study Friday's material and start prepping for the final this afternoon and Monday afternoon but besides that I'm on vacation!
One of the goals of a little time off was to get some actual relaxing in. This past week, whether due to anxiety or how hot it's been or whatever, I've been unable to sleep through the night. Yesterday after my hike, finally got that worked out! As some of you know too I've been thinking about not returning to medical school following this semester. A good day off to not think about school, ponder some other alternatives, and just get my frustrations out was definitely necessary!
(Google Images)
When there are no Master bones available to grind into a pulp (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) hiking is a fantastic outlet! Yesterday, one of my best friends here and about 31 other people took a hike up to the famous boiling lake (yes, it actually is boiling; second largest one in the world!), through the Valley of Desolation (best name ever), through to Ti Tou (I think?) Gorge.
The hike started in the relative interior of the island. We had to drive a bit over an hour (on incredibly twisty roads; to any hikers who want to do this trail--I definitely recommend some dramamine or something for the drive! I was okay on the way there (wide eyed and ready to go!) the way home was entirely a different story) along the coast for a bit and then into the rainforest! Definitely beautiful stepping off of the bus!
And so it began! The hike is about 8 miles but incredibly steep with many, many stairs. The first 1/4 of the hike was the worst in my opinion--literally hundreds of stairs just going up. Maybe one or two segments of down but it was virtually all uphill. My friend and I were kind of in the middle of the group at this point--between the faster group led by my pharmacology professor (he's one of my favorite professors, and a serious hiker! he's done this particular trip 6 or 7 times!) and the other group following behind with our Dominican guide Victor. (You definitely want to hire a guide if you do this hike! He was amazing--apparently it's quite common for him to carry people down who get too tired to continue...he did have to yesterday and wasn't even breathing hard at the end!) It was actually really fun, my friend and I had a really good time talking. It was sweet too--we were trying to catch up to the fast group and apparently a guy ahead of us said he
had heard us laughing so he figured we were doing okay....
that really meant so much to me. It's kind of sad but I feel like I laugh out loud so infrequently here. And if I do it's in my apartment watching the Big Bang Theory or something...especially with an exam and a world of stress this week. Barely recognized my own laugh!
We did end up catching up with the fast group and sticking with them the whole trip! Something that's never happened to me before! It really was beautiful scenery--this was still in the first 1/4 of the trip. Very rainforesty in appearance.
Clouds over the mountains.
So beautiful here!
These are some of the hills visible just starting the second quarter of the hike. This part of the trail leads into the Valley of Desolation.
The Valley of Desolation! Named as such because of the steam vents, sulphur pools, and hot rivers and pools scattered throughout the area. The group was extremely unstable--in areas we had to climb we found the face of the rocks were incredibly soft. The ground too--the rocks would constantly break underneath you, and the ground was quite soft. People can get seriously injured in here--if you jump down the earth can crumble to reveal burning hot water.
View of the cliffs from the Valley.
More of the Valley. The water was almost opaque because of the sulfur I believe (I don't remember my NZ geology well enough, chloride pool, sulfur pool...but our guide did say sulfur, so let's go with that. It definitely smelled like rotten eggs!)
This area was incredibly cool--beautiful view, but you could actually hear boiling in the water just under the surface of the ground. I wish I had a way to have recorded it, but it really sounded like a helicopter to me! It was so loud!
This was looking around the area where you could hear the boiling through the ground.
Many of these streams weren't actually that hot, many were warm, but I still wouldn't stick my foot in unsuspecting!
After about a 3 or 3 and 1/2 hour trip we were at the Boiling Lake! It is the second largest one in the world and one of the wildest things I've ever seen.
Our first view of the boiling lake!!
When we first got there, the lake was totally fogged over. But if you just sat and waited for a while it would clear off completely! It was so gorgeous--you could see the lake, mountains, and the ocean in the background!
Can you see the bubbling in the lake??
One of the bigger bubbles visible! It was so crazy that it was actually boiling! I don't know if I was expecting little bubbles or what, but it was almost unbelievable! There is a place on the island you can go snorkeling and there are tons of bubbles in the water because of vents underneath. Champagne Reef! I definitely need to get there sometime!
Another view of the lake!
Time to head home! At some point we had to turn around and come back the way we came. Hiking home was a lot easier. My knee was killing me because of all the downhill but it was a lot easier. There was a bit more climbing--hand over foot style--but it was much easier.
This is one of the spots we had to climb hang over foot style, following the lead of our intrepid guide. I just liked it because, as he pointed out, the rocks kind of look like those Easter Island statues (you know the ones...)
(Google Images)
These ones! Maybe you had to be there, haha.
Super beautiful hiking home!!
Hiking back up through the Valley of Desolation. There was actually quite a bit of rock scrambling in here that you can't necessarily see from pictures.
Valley of Desolation.
Looking back one more time on the Valley.
Heading back up into the mountains!
Lots of climbing to do here! Some more pictures of me climbing over on my facebook page, courtesy of my friend! In addition to hiking buddies and friends, we're also photo buddies!
This part of the trail was pretty brutal. So many stairs up. It always looked like we were so close to the first quarter mark...but there were always more stairs!
Jungley first part of the trail!
Lots of pretty rainforest trees through here!
And at the end there was a cold pool to swim in! (Nothing on the cold pool we stopped at in NZ though, that is for sure!) It felt so nice! And between the rocks you can see a little cave. We swam back in there to see a little waterfall. It was so beautiful, looking up through the rocks you could see trees peeking over the top, it was amazing!
Some of our group swimming back out! I didn't want to risk my camera swimming in with it. (It already took one trip through the ocean!) It was quite deep water, about 20 feet I guess, with virtually nowhere to hang on. Yay swim team training!
All in all it was a fabulous hike. Took our group about 6 hours roundtrip plus a bit of swimming. After we got home my friend and I stopped in to get some ice cream! It was actually really good; I'm not sure if that's because I've forgotten how good US ice cream is or it actually is really good...but either way! Definitely nice to get away from campus and even though it was difficult, I really did feel good the whole way. Definitely have to make more time for fun stuff like this! And since I've still got some time off, I'm going to take advantage of the time to relax!
This morning my friends and I had breakfast together at my apartment! Pancakes, bagels, bacon, eggs, and mimosas! This is what I call living!
Only about 36 more days until I will be coming home!
