Lazy Days in the Caribbean

Friday, January 12, 2018 The last several days have been wonderfully relaxing days, luxuriating in the 80 degree weather, reading, and occasionally glancing at the lousy weather back home. Wednesday morning our ship ship docked in St. Lucia. In the morning we took a break from the busy work of relaxing to walk about the town of Castries, the capital of St. Lucia. The market was a short walk from our pier and was a typical market with a mix of souvenirs and food stalls. The food stalls were of interest as there were a wide variety of fruits with which we were not acquainted.

We did have an interesting encounter with a clerk at the post office. Tim asked for a stamp to mail a post card and was told it would be 80 cents. He handed the clerk 3 quarters and a nickel which the clerk handed back saying they only accepted West Caribbean dollars. Tim explained that he had no West Caribbean dollars at which point the clerk handed Tim the stamps and said it was okay. Rob - would a clerk at a U.S. Post Office be as generous with a visiting foreigner?

View from Stoney Hill

In the afternoon we took a two and a half hour tour of the island. The tour included a visit to a place called Stoney Hill. This was a private residence high on a hill that had a beautifully commanding view of the Caribbean as well as gardens around the house that were much more impressive then the botanical gardens we had visited in St. Kitts. There was also a small orchid house on the property that had a small but stunning collection of these lovely flowers. The owner of Stoney Hill, a proper Englishman, personally welcomed us to his home. We were offered punch and a kind of fish cake that is local delicacy. Bananas are a major crop in St. Lucia, so when we were offered Banana Catsup to put on our fish cake it would have been rude not to accept. It was actually quite delicious. While enjoying our snack, we were serenaded by a young man playing a steel drum. It was actually a steel pan according to our host but sure looked and sounded like a steel drum to us. If it walks like a duck.....etc., etc. The fact that it rained the whole time we were at Stoney Hill did nothing to diminish the beauty of the home and surrounding gardens. The rest of the tour was a scenic drive around the island with frequent stops to point out fruit trees. We know that sounds a bit boring but was, in fact, quite interesting.

Orchid House

Thursday we were in Bridgetown, Barbados. We had booked a morning tour of Bridgetown and surrounding area that Tim hoped would include a drive by of Sandy Lane, an exclusive golf resort where Tiger Woods wedding with Elin Nordegon took place. However, Tim was not feeling well Thursday morning (he may not have needed the extra glass of wine or the Tiramisu dessert the night before) so we skipped the tour. In the afternoon, with Tim feeling more up to speed, we took a taxi from the pier into Bridgetown. Bridgetown, at least the part we walked about, was not particularly attractive. There seemed to be few shops of interest although we did venture into an art gallery where a painting caught our eye, but not enough to buy it. Wrong color of blue! It did not help that the temperature was 86 and very humid. As we write today's blog we are in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe is a Department of France, which means it comes under the direct rule of France, probably having a Governor General that oversees the government in Guadeloupe. It also means Guadeloupe is a member of the European Union and the Euro is the official currency. We took a tour this afternoon that took us through the city center of Pointe-a-Pitre, a truly ugly city center, out to the eastern end of the island. The first stop was St. Francois, an ocean-side resort town according to our guide. We would disagree. The purpose of our stop was a city market. This was a market for the tourists, unlike the city markets we like to visit where you see many locals. It had the usual touristy stuff: jewelry, clothing, crafty stuff. Evidently, we were the last bus of the day because, as we left, vendors were already taking down their booths.

City Market

Next stop was Pointe des Chateaux at the very eastern tip of the island. There was a castle nearby and a cross stood at the top of a hill overlooking the ocean. This is where Columbus landed in 1493. Apparently he stayed about a year and there were no other visitors for nearly 200 years. Again here the original settlers were Indians from South America who arrived by canoe before Christ. Beautiful scenery and a beautiful beach. Our last stop was Pointe a Cabrits, another beautiful beach, this one with a bar. Then it was back to the boat. The guide told us that there is a Club Med and a Scandals resort on the island. From our perspective, the beautiful beaches are the best thing to recommend about Guadeloupe.

Pointe des Chateaux, Guadeloupe