Well tonight is the very last night of our
vacation. We board the plane at Hewanorra
Airport late tomorrow afternoon. Of course, that means that we still have
plenty of time to get a little sunburnt by the pool tomorrow afternoon. Gotta bring some of that Lucian sun home with
us to Des Moines! I am not excited about
coming home to freezing rain, but I am ready to be home. I can’t wait to see Aaron and celebrate
Christmas with my family.
The last few days have been a lot of fun! Dinner
on Wednesday night at Silk was fantastic.
We shared a bottle of wine and ate family-style – eating off of everyone
else’s plates! Thursday we went on an all day tour of the island. I had seen a lot of the sites, but it was
nice for everyone else to get a chance to experience things. Our driver’s name was Richie, and he was a
lot of fun. We went up the east side of
the island first, because we had been up the west side to Soufriere twice already
this week. Our first stop was at Mandele
Lookout. This is the same lookout Cuthy
took the DMU crew to to on the way to Castries.
It has a really nice view of the town of Dennery, where Lucius took us
to the fish fry and I almost got eaten by a homeless woman.
Then we went up the coast and across the island to
the market at Castries. We went to a
part of the market I hadn’t been able to go to earlier, so there were some new
things to see. I got a few final
souvenirs, Dad got a t-shirt, and Mom and Abi did a lot of shopping. We saw a lot of really beautiful carvings
while we were there. Also, while dad and
I were waiting outside for Mom and Abi to finish, a man with coconut palm
fronds approached us. It took a long
time to convince him that we weren’t married, but eventually he realized we
weren’t pulling his leg. Mom and Abi
joined us and the man made an angel fish and a hummingbird out of the palm
fronds for Abi and I.
Next we headed south toward Soufriere. Unfortunately, this is the same route that
made me sick earlier in the trip.
Fortunately, although I felt a little nauseated, the trip was
alright. This may have been because we
made several stops during the drive.
First we stopped at the lookout over Marigot Bay and then we went to a rum
tasting at a the Saint Lucian distillery. As you can imagine, we had a lot of fun
there. The tasting was pretty much a
free-for-all. You went into the room and
walked up to a long counter with at least 12 different bottles of rum and small
plastic cups. You could try as many and
as much as you liked! I think between
the four of us we tried all of them.
Then the trouble started. You see
there is a store and the prices are too good to pass up. We left with seven bottles of different kinds
of rum and only spent about $80! Now we
just have to figure out how to get them home…
Finally, around 2 PM, it was lunch time. We stopped at The Beacon, the same restaurant
I had lunch at the last time I was in Soufriere. The food and the view was just
as good as the first time! After lunch,
we went to Toraille Waterfall. Again, this is the same waterfall I was at when
I went to Soufriere earlier in the trip.
However, this time I was prepared and had my swim suit with me! We got to swim in the waterfall, which was
VERY cold! But it was nice and refreshing.
Then we got to do a guided tour of the volcano before a trip to the mud
baths. The water in the bath is mineral
water that is heated by the springs coming out of the volcano. The mud is gathered from a bit farther
upstream and is rubbed on your skin allowed to dry. Apparently, both the mud and the water have
healing properties. All I know is that
it was a lot of fun to play in mud and my skin felt very smooth afterward.
Thursday was a long day and the amount of time in
the car wore on all of us, so we had a very mellow night in the hotel. This morning we got up to get ready for our
zip lining excursion and Mom was not feeling well, so we ended up leaving her
behind to rest. Dad, Abi, and I were in
a group with another family from just south of London. They were very nice, but
very awkward. Of course, it could just
be cultural differences. Perhaps we
seemed very brash to them. It’s not
unheard of when the three of us spend time together. Our driver’s name was Mark and he was a very
informative tour guide during the ride up to Soufriere.
The zip line was located on a cocoa plantation
near Soufriere. We were met at the gate
by a guide who took us through the plantation.
The first stop was at the gift shop, where we got complimentary
t-shirts. Then she showed us many
different types of plants (did you know there are 60-80 types of mangos in
Saint Lucia? I didn’t know there were that many in the whole WORLD), some
replicas of the old slave living quarters, and how they make the cocoa pods
into different products. Finally, we got
suited up in our harnesses, hair nets (!), big gloves, and helmets and learned
how to zip line.
Our guides during the zip lining portion of the
tour were Merle and Dalton. They were
both very friendly and very good at their job, which basically consisted of
getting clumsy, clueless tourists from tree to tree. Merle was very dry and monotone, probably
because she gives the same speech about 10 times per day, but she did relax and
joke with us a bit over time. The first
line was the highest, and everyone was getting accustomed to the technique, so
there were some troubles. I braked a bit
too early, but easily turned around and performed the proper self-rescue
technique (you just pull yourself in). After that Dad, Abi, and I mostly had it down.
Unfortunately, the British family was
significantly more cautious and less athletically inclined. They all got stuck multiple times and had a
very difficult time pulling themselves in.
After zip lining we got a very nice, albeit quick,
lunch at the plantation, did a little shopping at the gift shop, and got back
on the van. We made it back to the hotel
at about 2, but Mark was kind enough to take dad and me to St. Jude’s Hospital
so I could return the local cell phone I had borrowed. The hospital is only five minutes away from
the resort, so it wasn’t too far out of his way, but it was nice of him all the
same. While we were there I got to see
Cuthy one last time and say goodbye. We
spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool and getting ready for dinner. It’s almost time for our reservation, so I’m
going to post this blog. I’ll fill you
in on our travel adventures in a few days!
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