Day 2 in Antigua started out quite eventful. I had to leave for work very early, so the restaurant at the resort was not yet open for breakfast. Luckily, I had saved my dinner from Touloulou, the restaurant where we dined last night, and fried wahoo in red sauce over jasmine rice made for an incredible breakfast. If you ever come to Antigua, make sure you go there from dinner.
The driver from Crossroads met me at the resort so I could follow him to the program. I will just insert here that Antiguan drivers are, ahem, aggressive. On the drive to work, we passed a herd of cows seemingly herding themselves. It was obvious they knew exactly where they were going. A driver that I imagine was 19 and really had nowhere to go, nearly ran three of us off the road as he passed us at high speed around a curve only to narrowly avoid a head-on collision. After much ado, we arrived at Crossroads -- the entrance to which is a breathtaking drive down a lovely road with the Antiguan Caribbean Sea in full view.
I gave a training to the clinical staff of Crossroads who were INCREDIBLE! Such a dedicated, hard-working bunch. We had a great time and they were highly motivated to implement new information learned. After rounding out the work day, it was time for me to venture home...driving...by myself...with no guide. I am happy to say the trip went flawlessly! I passed the same herd of cows -- this time herded by a shepherd who had a wonderfully parental relationship with the cows. He fussed at them to get out of the road, they mooed back at him like stop harassing us. At one point, he yelled to me to drive closer to the cows as the only way to make them hurry up. Sure enough, as the car got closer, the cow gave me an irritated look, but proceeded to put a little pep in her step and get across the road. I was actually stopped long enough to take a picture...
After clearing the cows, I was driving along without incident until a rooster ran across the road. Of course I couldn't help but think of the age old joke. I couldn't find any particular reason why he had crossed.
The last adventure came in the form of a pack of wild dogs -- actually, I don't know if they were wild (they appeared extremely well fed) or just out for a stroll, but they were clearly enjoying life and not at all worried about the fact that I had somewhere to go that involved passing the road they were blocking. Eventually, they moved on (in their own due time) and I continued back to the resort.
One delicious dinner later and an exhausted me fell asleep for a long, overdue 11 hours.
Click here to see Antigua Day 2 Pictures.