Wednesday, April 09, 2008

St. Lucia

For our second port of call, St. Lucia, the whole family was supposed to go together to a beautiful beach for the day. Because of the sunburns we had received the day before, Andrew really did not want to go spend another day snorkeling in the sun. He had watched a show highlighting this island, and decided that he would much rather go see some of the islands attractions. So we ditched the family and went on our own long bus ride tour of the island.



Along the way, Andrew informed me that pictures are no fun to look at if they don't have people in them, so here is my concession to him, a picture of us overlooking the small fishing village, Anse La Raye. Every Friday, they shut down all the streets in this village and have a big party.














A banana plantation. They put these blue bags over the bananas to keep bugs out, rather than using pesticides.










One of the islands highlights is their "drive-in volcano" Basically the last time it erupted in the 1700's it left a huge caldera. This part of it is still active, it is like a mini-yellowstone. Complete with stinky gas and boiling mud pits.







The boiling water that comes out is very mineral rich and believed to have healing properties. They siphon part of it off to a pool where you can go bathing. The grey color of the water is not because of shadows, it really is a very dirty grey, like the sludge that comes out of my carpet cleaner. I was tempted to try putting one leg in, to test and see if it would heal the sunburn any better, but chickened out because of the intense pain I was already in, I didn't want to heat it up anymore.









The highlight of the tour was this waterfall where you could take a "natural shower" This is what Andrew most wanted to do. The water was very cool and refreshing. The force coming down sure beats the "low-flow" showerheads we have.
















This is the cove where parts of Dr. Dolittle were filmed. We got to see it from above, the rest of the family got to go in it on their taxi boat ride.






Along our tour we had to stop and look at trees. Apparently the driver is proud of these trees.



A coconut tree.











a coffee bean tree




and, finally a tree I would actually like to have in my yard, a mango tree.






If you ever decide to go visit St. Lucia, be sure to carry a little extra cash, in case you need to use the facilities.

1 comment:

Juli said...

Looks like you had fun without us. I agree with Andrew pictures always have to people in them. Rich is like you and likes scenery pictures.