St. Lucia |March 2012|

Last year, about this time, Brad and I started researching places to go for our 10th anniversary.  We wanted a hot, relaxing, small, french speaking, safe island in the caribbean.  We went through many options and eventually settled on St. Lucia.  

We left our house Friday Morning at 3:20am to drive to Portland.  We flew out of portland into JFK (1 hour) and then straight through from JFK to St. Lucia (4 hours)  We landed in St. Lucia at 2:30 in the afternoon.  

St. Lucia was just what I expected.  Only the islanders were even nicer than I imagined.  Our resort was exactly what we thought it would be.  Small, personal, private.  We took a couple of days to settle into the slower pace, and made the most of our time by alternating between relaxing on the beach, eating heavenly food, and exploring the island of St. Lucia.  After a lot of research we discovered that the most affordable, and most appealing way to see the island was to hire a driver.  Kimbert drove us all over the island.  He would drop us off, wait for us, and take us to the next spot.  On the way he stopped at scenic viewpoints, taught us how to eat local fruit and find it on the trees, and taught us about the historical background of the island.  He became our friend.  Brad broadened his French and Haitian by picking up bits of their creole. The locals thought it was pretty funny and enjoyed the white guy speaking their dialect. Here is a list of things I would like to remember:

1. Zip lining.  12 lines, the longest in the Caribbean.  The longest line: 800ft.  The fastest: 25mph.  Both Brad's and My favorite activity.  It was amazing.  On the last line, I literally felt like I was flying over the rainforest like peter pan.

2. Picking fruit by the side of the road.  Eating the jelly out of the cocoa pods.

3. Swimming under a waterfall

4. Hiking up Pigeon island.  Racing Brad to the top.

5. Visiting a stinky, stinky volcano and touching the stream that came from it (85 degree), and another hot spring(112 degrees)

6. Ocean Kayaking

7. Talking with the Rasta men

8. Dancing and playing the drums at a street party/Fish fry.

9. Visiting the Botanical Gardens and diamond falls.

10.  Sitting in the sun

11. Enjoying the food, breadfruit, and fresh fish.

12. Talking to the man who swam miles along the ocean coast fishing for octopus.

13. Meeting Snake man

14. Having a bird fly into our room every morning. 

15. almost stepping on a boa constrictor.

16. Snorkeling. (getting stung by hundreds of tiny jelly fish in the water, seeing a giant lobster.)

17. An oceanside, chocolate oil massage.

18. Walking up and down over 150 steps to our beach.

19. Eating a jelly coconut and drinking its juice through a straw.
20. Eating Tamarind.  Sour, tangy, and sweet.
21. Eating Casava bread.  Cherry and raisin.
22. Kimbert teaching us all of the medicinal purposes of the local fruits.
23.  The women at the market joking that they were Brad's Mom and Grandmother.
24. Making friends.
25. Being Lucky.

20. Learning to relax like a St. Lucian.  And loving the St. Lucian people.