Many of the Caribbean island nations have colorful flags. Here is Dominica's.
I'm not sure if the parrot shown in the center has a special meaning for Dominicans. Maybe it's their national bird, although when we toured the island, not a single one of these vivid creatures flew by. In fact there are more wild parrots noticeable in the Hyde Park area on the south side of Chicago, near the Museum of Science and Industry. How they got there is another story.

As the country's emblem, a parrot does not quite project the bold, inspiring image that nations seem to prefer, a la the American eagle. You can't seriously picture a platoon of Dominican soldiers marching bravely into battle under the banner of the happy parrot. But then imagining Dominica at war isn't easy either, with St. Kitts? Martinique(France)? over bananas? tourist attractions? For the record, a symbolic force of Dominican troops was sent in support of the U.S. invasion of neighboring Grenada back in 1983. In appreciation, the United States increased its foreign aid to Dominica which helped build the fine paved roads all over the island.

Dominica's gentle flag could be a good thing though, toning down the usual aggressive, nationalistic tendencies and replacing them with an unpretentious, let's-enjoy-the-moment island attitude. Besides, parrots are not only attractive birds but no doubt feisty as well as renown for their verbal talents, compatibility and unexpected intelligence. Not a bad national mascot after all.



We spent about a week and a half on the island of Dominica, most of it anchored at the northern town of Portsmouth, and just one night at the capital city of Roseau. We took an island tour with another couple, Bill and Sue from Unchained, given by one of the tour guides named Alexis. He was a good guide, took us to the Emerald Pool, over to the Atlantic side of the
island, through the Carib territory, and back. The tour was set up by the other couple; we would use a different tour guide, probably Martin on Providence if we had to do it over - Alexis was good, but he tried to overcharge us at the end. The quoted price before the trip, to Bill and Sue, was $135 US, and at the end he wanted $200 US - pretty sleazy way to give himself a $70 tip. We talked him down to $140 total.
We did enjoy Dominica very much, including the open-air vegetable market in Portsmouth on Saturday morning, and the fish and vegetable market in Roseau. Dominica is a significantly poorer country than others we have seen in the eastern Caribbean, but the people are friendly and the public buses are efficient and cheap.
Now we are in Martinique as we make our way south for hurricane season.