Yesterday was our first day at the beach and we
had so much fun! We didn’t leave until
about 1 PM, so the morning was very mellow.
I talked to Aaron because it was our one year anniversary and did
homework; Dr. Hansen and Ursula went to the Catholic Church in Gros Islet;
Griffin and Emily went to the shopping center at Rodney Bay; and Lekei stressed
out about her homework. At about 11:30,
Rianna came and knocked on my door already ready in her swim suit. She was ready for the beach! We started getting our things around and
changed into out swim suits. Janna was
busy cooking our picnic lunch and Lekei decided to stay home to do homework, so
Richardson drove Mary, Griffin, Emily, me, and Rianna (because she just couldn’t
wait any longer) to the beach on the first trip. Unfortunately, Emily got a call from the
doctor who was giving her a ride back to Vieux Fort, so when Richardson came
back with Janna, Kijahna, and their neighbors he had to leave again to take
her to meet her ride. Hopefully we’ll
get a chance to go to the beach with her on Thursday or Friday when we’re back
in Vieux Fort.
The beach is only five minutes away from the Leon’s
house and it is beautiful! It is on a
point of land that juts out between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean,
one on the north side and one on the south.
The Atlantic Ocean was much rougher than the Caribbean and had a very
rocky shore. Richardson told us that the
rocks were placed there to break the waves because the peninsula was man
made. In fact, the far end had
originally been an island called Pigeon Island and had been used as a fort by
the British forces in the 1800s. The
south side of the peninsula, on the other hand, was a lovely white sand beach
with just enough waves to be fun. We got
some chairs and umbrellas and settled in for a nice day at the beach.
We spent about four hours just laying around. Kijahna and I swam out a ways and played in
the waves while Griffin and Rianna played on the shore. When Richardson got back, he and Kijahna
practiced doing flips out of the water. Rianna didn't understand what sunscreen was or why we kept having to put it on. The most frustrating part for her was that we couldn't get in the water until we had let it soak in! Then
it was lunch time! Janna had prepared the
national dish: green figs and salt fish.
The dish was basically a stewed cod that had been preserved in salt
mixed with cabbage and onions. Boiled
green bananas are also added to the dish.
The green bananas were good, kind of like potatoes, but the salt fish
was SO salty. It was alright, but not my
favorite. We also had salad and an
avocado on the side. Then we played in
the sand! We dug a big hole for Rianna to sit in and gave her a mermaid
tail. I covered my own legs up while I
was sitting cross legged and Kijahna tried to turn them into a whale tail, but
I think they just look like pointy stubs.
At about 4 o’clock we packed up Richardson’s car
and went into the Pigeon Island National Park to hike up to the old fort. There are two big hills, but I think only one
of them has any buildings left on them. It
was a steep climb, but short, and the view was amazing! You could see the whole north end of the
island, all the way to the Pitons to the south, and you could even see the
shadow of Martinique in the ocean. At
the very top there was the outline of the fort and a basement you could climb
into and look out of through small windows.
There were also two cannons. The
sun was starting to set and it was a very nice way to end a wonderful day at
the beach. We climbed back down and made
our way home. Griffin and I had an
Icicle (basically the Saint Lucian equivalent of Mr. Freezies – you know frozen
flavored water in the plastic tubes?) with Rianna and then we settled down in
our room for the night.
This morning taught me that there are Mondays
everywhere you go in the world. Even if
you are in a tropical paradise waking up at 6:30 in the morning to get ready for
a day of work still sucks. To make
matters worse it was rainy and dreary all morning. We went to the health ministry and waited for
Mary Anna, who picked Griffin and I up.
We drove with her husband to the La Clary Clinic a little ways out of
town. He did have some awesome Caribbean
and Saint Lucian Christmas music playing on the way, though, so that brightened
our morning. At the clinic we listened
to Mary Anna give a talk to several pregnant women about the importance of breastfeeding
their babies. The talk was certainly
informative for me, I learned a lot about breastfeeding, but the women didn’t
look so interested. They got lectured by
the doctor there about not paying enough attention.
Then we spent the rest of the morning sitting and
talking with Mary Anna while we waited for her clients to show up. She is a nutritionist so she has meetings
with many of the people with diabetes, hypertension, obesity, etc. in order to
help them lose weight and control their diseases. Unfortunately, no one showed up. She said that is very common when it rains in
Saint Lucia. People don’t want to leave
their houses. So we caught the bus back
to Castries and grabbed some lunch at the super market before heading back to
Mary Anna’s office in the Castries Health Clinic. We waited a little longer; I aced a crossword
puzzle activity about bananas and helped Mary Anna staple papers together
before a customer arrived. Finally. She was a new client of and is suffering from
high blood pressure, so we observed while Mary Anna asked her about her diet
and gave suggestions.
Finally, after a long and uneventful day, Lucius
and the others picked us up outside of the health clinic and took us back to
our apartment. So far the evening has
been fairly relaxed. I finished my book
and started writing this blog. Janna
surprised us by bringing up a plate of food she made for us. It had fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, a
twice baked potato, and some green banana salad on it and was delicious. She’s really too nice to us. In a minute we are going to venture down to
Dr. Hansen’s room to try some of the banana cakes that Mary Anna made for each
of us. Then it’s homework for me! Only two more days until our presentation at
the Ministry and I still have to put everything together. Don’t worry, it will get done. I miss you all and I hope everyone is staying
safe and warm!
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