This is my island in the sun - Day Three - Part One

[Guest]

Day Three - Part One– 22nd May 2017 - “That’s not me!” OR “Two soups!”

We start off the day with breakfast. Darrin checks his emails and deals with those that require it. I sit having my breakfast – corned beef hash this morning with a fried egg. I have brown sauce with it all.

We are on another day trip today. This time we are off to see the Pitons – the Islands geographical icons. In French piton means spike or peak. We start off in a taxi paid for by the tour company and he takes us through the centre of Castries and up the hill to the overlook point. This is where we join our actual bus. You can see the cruise ships down in the port.

We are pestered to death with locals trying to sell souvenirs and you just have to be firm but polite and say “No thank you!” If they persist then walk away.

Apart from Darrin and myself, the remaining dozen or so are Americans from one of the ships. For some reason I get sat up front with our driver, Elias (good name that – Walter Elias Disney) and the cool - box of drinks and Darrin is sat right at the back. It makes conversation somewhat difficult. We soon establish rapport with them and when they learn we have done 33 of their States we earn respect.

I become the official barman dispensing sodas and water and even bottles of the local Piton beer. Elias does the commentary and driving.

The first place we come to is the Governor General’s House.

It is here that Dame Calliopa Pearlette Louisy dispenses governorship of St. Lucia. She has recently been granted the “power” to create Knighthoods so we might just pop along one afternoon for tea and chat! “The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle might be nice, Calliopa dear - thank you. Mmm. These cucumber sandwiches are most refreshing.”

Dame Louisy:

I can dream!

We set off on the Western route and are soon to learn why you don’t use it from the airport. If anyone could add any more twists and turns to it they would be darn creative. We reach buildings that are ex military but are now the Sir Arthur Lewis Commnity College and remind me of the Presidio in San Francisco.

These days where the teenagers of Castries go.

Next to this is the TV station. Yeah right! I didn’t know you could send out signals through a giant rusty dustbin lid!

Onwards and upwards. It’s soon evident that the tour also consists of stops where we are expected to buy souvenirs. Some are quite cute like the dolls that have a Jamaican lady one way – tip it and it’s a St Lucia lady. I thought it would look good on a shelf somewhere. US $ 12 though! You have to remember that this is their income. It’s their job so obviously you get a bit of a hard sell. Like I said, just be polite with your no thank you. Likewise there are fruit stalls if you should want any.

We carry on towards Cul de Sac Bay (literally dead end) it’s quite beautiful as it lies between the promontories of Ciceron Point and Bananes Point.

The sun has decided to shine today which adds to the fun of it all. The banter between me, Darrin and the Americans is really good. At one point we discuss why restrooms are NOT toilets ! Great hilarity.
We continue on our merry way with amazing views:

We have a short stop at a fishing village – Anse La Raye – more shopping opportunities. Everybody wants the now agreed “Restrooms”.

The loos are at the end of the street. When we get there there is Ladies and Gents and outside are washing sinks where people do their laundry. In one sink is a chubby little girl, about 18months, naked and playing in the water. She had the most gorgeous grin and soon became the favourite with all the ladies in our group. Her mother beamed at the attention the child was getting.

I have to say the stalls in the street here would achieve far more sales, if 1) they took cards or 2) the place had an ATM. First world problem! Even if there had been a cash machine it would dispense Eastern Caribbean Dollars currently 2.69 to the US $ and roughly 3 to the pound. You do not want to have any in your wallet when you leave at the end of the holiday. The locals would rather have good old Uncle Sam money.

We continue literally winding our way down to Canaries and the Pitons beyond. Petit Piton and Grand Piton. They are actually 3 miles apart but visually they seem to be next to each other. The standard photo is stand with your arms above your head with your hands touching the top of each mountain. Lots of giggles because of the innuendo of what you are doing. We go for a more straightforward shot.

We pass the Sugar Bay resort where Oprah stays when she’s on the Island. We also pass THE Hotel Chocolat which is a hotel. It was a cocoa plantation and in parts still is. That’s where the name comes from. At the side of the road you can see cacao trees with their pods forming.

Inside are the rich beans which will eventually become cocoa for all sorts of use and the white flesh is the cocoa butter which you can also eat. Whilst we are innocently parked here at the side of the road and haven’t yet got out of the vehicle I see, through the windscreen, another mini bus heading straight for me. I brace myself for the impact. At the last minute he swerves but not before smacking the wing mirror on my side and completely shattering it. There are screams all round – the loudest being from me. Elias jumps out to challenge the other driver. Whether they exchanged insurance details I have no way of knowing. After that I need a beer and help myself to one out of the cool – box. We continue on the wayto Soufriere (in French it means sulphur). You soon find out why.

Elias stops the bus again. Thid time it is to show us acashew tree. Any idea how they grow? Like this. The nut is in the black crescent bit on top of the fruit.which gets shelled:

That is why they are expensive. One fruit = one nut.

The interpretation centre (free) has a little video to show what you will be walking on, how it formed and what is currently happening at this moment in time. You are standing on a dormant volcano’s caldera. Above ground it spouts hot water, steam and a vile rotten egg smelling vapour. It’s when you get a whiff of the rotten eggs odour that the guide says: “And that’s not me!” As long as you continue to smell that sulphurous tang you know you are safe. Should it not vent that steam and “perfume”, then is the time to worry.


The volcano that existed blew its top quite a while ago and then promptly collapsed in on itself forming what we call a caldera. (Yellowstone in America is a giant one). The rock is stained yellow by the sulphur brought up from below.

You can take a walking tour with a guide who explains about it all.

Beneath our feet at a depth of one and a bit miles lies a massive chamber of molten lava. As long as that pressure continues to release the Island. The cycle of eruptions is roughly around two hundred years and the last one was three hundred years ago so it’s a little overdue. The last one was lots of steam, chunks of rock and some lava. The local name for here is Calibou.

This illustrates what we are standing on:

It’s now you have a choice. You can either go for a volcanic mud bath, (which Darrin really wanted to do) or head for the waterfall and get soaked. The majority want the waterfall. Sorry Darrin. I had planned to sit and soak my feet in the cooling waters but apart from the stairs which are in constant use there was nowhere practical to park my backside. Darrin has a fun time however:

The waterfall appeared in one the Pirates of the Caribbean film.

I am ravenous and I spot a little place selling Lay’s chips (crisps). I just have to have a bag as my carb levels are seriously depleted. Breakfast was some four hours ago.

As we leave the waterfall, Elias has an arrangement where a lady lets you choose a piece of either banana bread or coconut bread. I have the coconut one. It is absolutely delicious.

We take a last look at the beautiful Pitons Petit Piton on the left and Gran Piton on the right. All they appear to be side by side , there is 3 miles between them:

Another Pirates of the Caribbean location – the lady’s slipper rock formation that is used as a cave:

We start to head back to Castries. The standard of driving we witnessed would make your hair stand on end. They tear past doing crazy speeds on bends, the likes of which, appear in a Will E. Coyote / Roadrunner cartoon.
We call first at the cruise port and all the Americans get off. There are hugs and goodbyes. They were a great bunch. Elias finally drops myself and Darrin back at our resort. I’m feeling weary and my feet are well swollen. Time to get my legs up – Ooooh! Missus.

Continued in Part Two

INDEX: https://DIBB.in/12539741

[jocat]

This brought back great memories Geoff, including the Piton beer that went down very well. It sounds like most of the tours follow a similar route, although we got to spend an hour on a small beach that looked directly up to the Pitons. We had to access it by boat.

The smell of that sulphur - I remember it well. We didn't do the mud bath or the waterfall - instead we did the guided tour.

How frightening for you to see a minibus head straight for you. Hope it didn't give you any further aches or pains.

[mick]

Sounds like a lovely trip with nice people

Joan

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Geoff. A nice trip, I would have liked that. Lots of history and lovely scenery. Pity about the vendors but I suppose employment opportunities are minimal there.
After losing the wing mirror I would have drunk all the beer in the box, not just one!

[Eeyore rocks]

Fab day...the scenery is amazing...so pleased you are enjoying it... well except the very near miss! 😲

[Melvin Pearce]

Looks like a good day

Shame that you and Darrin weren't sitting together on the bus.

Crazy driving

Looks like the waterfall was refreshing

Looking forward to part two.

Lesley and Melvin

[Guest]

Still working on the Knighthood. She hasn't rung me yet. Managed to get through 6 bananas in one day yesterday! I will reveal how in Day 5.

[EssexSue]

We managed to do the mud baths and the waterfall, only like you I didn't fancy the waterfall and stayed up the top and took photos.
We were on a boat trip and on the way back we stopped so people could swim from the boat. As we were moored there a boat pulled up along side with a couple of lookee lookee men appeared blowing on a Conch shell! Surreal!

[disney owl]

a great tour

[Disneycraft]

Well done resisting the temptation to buy something ,I wouldn't have been able to do that