Gosh, its kind of hard to decide what story to tell. There are so many random "only in Dominica" moments that happen every day, but these events are now the norm, so I usually think "wow, thats strange" while its happening, then go on with my life.
Yesterday I walked to school with a guy carrying marijuana plants. Shortly after I left my apartment I said "good morning" like everyone does here, to a guy that was standing on the corner holding two plants in each hand, with the look that he had just pulled them out of the ground. He said good morning back to me, then asked if I was walking to campus. I said yes, and he asked if he could walk with me, so I said sure. While we were walking, he explained to me that he sees people like me all the time early in the morning, but not dressed like I was (I was wearing shorts and a tshirt). When I ask exactly what he means, he says he sees the whitees running around like crazy that early in the morning all the time, but they never ask him to run with them. He explains that he would like to run with a whitee. He asks me if I was going to go running and if I would take him with me, and I said that no, I was going to campus. So, after he talks about "the whitees" a little bit more, I change the subject...to the plants he is carrying, all that I can really think of to talk to him about. He explains that they are "feel good" plants and that he was delivering them to a friend. He tells me all about planting them and caring for them and offers to show me sometime. When we get to the Annex, about a little over halfway through my walk to campus, he says that he is turning down one of the roads, and tries to hail me a transport, because he is worried about me walking by myself (which I do all the time, multiple times a day and am fine). Right away a transport stops and I explain that I don't have money for the transport, and I convince the guy that I'm fine, while hes trying to convince the driver to let me ride for free, I say goodbye to my new friend Mark. Only in Dominica will you walk down the street and meet a nice, although somewhat high, man carrying marijuana plants like its no big deal, and have him worry about your personal safety after a 5-minute conversation. Only in Dominica.
No comments:
Post a Comment