To all the ladies who give a damn, I hope you enjoyed your Valentine's Day. To the rest of you, I hope your Sunday was pleasant and those couples who were making eyes at each other didn't make you gag too much.
Kedar and I spent the day on what can probably be described as a double date, since we went out with his friend, Brian, and Krystal, Brian's wife. We took a road trip to and around Blanchisseuse. As far as I know, it's in the northern part of the island, since we passed through Maracas to get there. I'm directionally challenged, so all I can offer in the way of exact location is Google Maps.
We all piled into Brian's SUV and braved the bad roads to a beach that only the adventurous know about. We got sandwiches and pies in Maracas and headed down/ across/ whatever. As we passed the villages in Blanchisseuse, I got some laughs at the "Bonafide Fishermen Only. No Loitering.," sign and at some point we stopped off in a restaurant to get breakfast. It was good, save for the waitress, who could certainly do with some hospitality training - the old man who runs the place was really nice.
As we delved further into the forest, we met muddy roads that tested the SUV's 4WD and passed too many balisiers for my liking. There were also some wild chaconias along the way. We saw 2 swallows passing over. I took no pictures along the way because I was defending my head against the window as we shook in all sorts of directions to get through the road. Eventually, we had to stop, get out and start walking along a short trail to the first beach, Paria Bay. It was so beautiful. We took loads of pictures and got our feet wet in the shallow areas. I heard of a 2+ hour hiking/ walking trail to said bay and thanked my lucky stars that we could actually drive it.
After we washed our sandy feet off, we set out to the 2nd beach of the day. There were two guys there when we arrived. I took a few pictures here and then we jumped in with boogie boards and excitement for clear blue water. We forgot sunblock, so I'm hoping like heck that no part of my face peels. I can't pull off moulting. I just can't.We then headed to the swing bridge. The first time I went to this suspension bridge, I didn't think it was anything of importance until my cousin visiting from NY said she wanted to go to the swing bridge in her visit.
Personally, I prefer the stablilty of a regular, supporting-post-in-the-middle bridge cause this sucker shook and vibrated and gave me a case of the frightened mouse, what with my lack of balance and fear of falling. This time though, there were no cars passing when I was on it, and the people hanging around there didn't laugh at my nervousness.
We then took a drive Blanchisseuse beach where there were 63894753467647 people parked up and bathing. We rented over-priced kyacks (TT$60/1/2 hour? Insane) and paddled through the river. Kedar and I only crashed into a tree once and twice on the river-bank. I blame the large moss/ algae deposits growing in the water that hooked all over the paddle, making it heavy and dripping with gross. We passed under the bridge and then tried to navigate through the moss/ algae/ nasty back to the kyacking hub.We then went Pop's Waterfall stop, parked outside of their yard to avoid paying a toll, and took a 15 or so minute hike to Marianne Waterfalls. I went there with the UWI Hiking Club last August but we didn't stay long. Today we didn't stay long either, since it was 5:15p.m. when we got there and the sun was going to go down around 6. I cannot help but mention that on our way, we passed a group that had 3 men in Speedos. I could hardly stifle my laugh at the man in the bright blue one and the pot belly. I'm mean, I know.
We ate our sandwiches/ now-soggy pies while we waited for the current group of visitors to vacate the scene. 
The water in the pool was fricking freezing, but it washed off the salty beach water and the nasty from the kyacking water. My camera was doing crazy low-battery things like not working properly, so my pictures from that location are mostly going to make it in the Recycle Bin.All in all, it was an enjoyable day. I sorted through my photos already and I shall start editing tomorrow. All I want to do right now is sleep. I'm too tired to forage.
EDIT: PICTURES ADDED! Click on any shown to see more.
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