Around the Island

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend. The last week was adventurous and exciting. We had a pretty normal work week, though we did get stuck in a huge torrential downpour one morning that left us with soaking wet shoes and damp clothing (ah, the wonders of hurricane season). We also expanded our cooking horizons and made jerk chicken, lentils, and bolognese one night. We'll post a blog in the next few days about our culinary adventures both in and out of our kitchen.

The main event of this weekend was the "safari" on Saturday. Deborah, one of the CEHI employees, knew that we had not seen much of the island because of our car-less existence, so she organized an island tour for us and any other CEHI employee and friends. On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and headed to Caribbean Cinemas where we were supposed to meet everyone else and the safari vehicles. Well, as we have learned, Lucians live in a different time zone, which causes them to often arrive much later than discussed. Instead of the 7:30 a.m. departure time we left about an hour or so later.

The safari vehicle!

The safari vehicles were open-top Land Rovers with little safety measures. Because many CEHI employees canceled we squeezed into one vehicle with Avril (a CEHI employee), her daughter and nieces, and Deborah and a lot of youth from her church. We first drove through Anse Le Ray (the location of the Fish Friday we previously wrote about). We stopped to snap a few photos and then continued on to a cassava bakery (http://www.plaskassav.com/).

Cassava is a root that is cultivated in many tropical regions and used to make many dishes but is commonly made into a sort of bread. Cassava is also known as tapioca (i.e., tapioca pudding). The bakery was divided into two sections. Production happened in a large room where the cassava root is soaked and prepared to be grinded and cooked. It is very important and essential to soak and cook cassava because it has toxic cyanide in it. The process in preparing the bread is a very long and complex process but the results are delicious. There were many flavors including: banana, chocolate, cinnamon, cherry & raisin, mixed fruit, saltfish, herring, original (salt, coconut), and coconut. We opted for cinnamon, cherry & raisin, and original.

The bread was very doughy, our favorite was definitely original but we also had a sampling of saltfish, which was surprisingly good. After stopping for this snack we continued on our adventure. We passed through many towns including Canaries, where a few people jumped off to buy fresh bread from the bakery. The bread was also delectable as it was very warm and soft. We also had the thrilling opportunity to hold a snake! The snake was a little heavy and definitely friendly as it wrapped itself around each of us.

From left to right: Original (coconut & salt), Cinnamon, and Cherry & Raisin

As we drove more south we learned a couple of things about the island. We learned more about Hurricane Thomas and heard people's personal experiences. In very few words it can be summed up as scary. Some of the other people on the safari are college students who were at school and had lost contact with their family. Thomas was certainly devastating and Avril and Deborah said that if there was another Thomas there would certainly be even more severe consequences.

Our first major stop in Soufriere was Tet Paul, a nature trail(http://soufrierefoundation.org/tet-paul-nature-trail). We got to see a restored antique house from around 100 years ago, as well as an organic farm. Tet Paul is located in the small farming community of Chateau Belair. We were able to see some beautiful views of the Pitons and even entered the "gateway to heaven." After the nature trail we had lunch. We had packed a simple lunch but were offered more delicious chicken and mac & cheese. Following lunch we headed to the beach. Unfortunately we were unable to go to the Sulphur Springs or water falls because of prices and time.

Our beach trip was delayed at first because the road was actually missing. During Thomas the road had been destroyed so it simply just dropped off. This is a common site in a St. Lucia as much of the infrastructure was damaged during the storm. After witnessing such damage it's hard to doubt water's power. When we finally got to the beach it was around 4. The beach was wavy and certainly refreshing. We mingled with some of the other youth. One of the girls is studying computer science in Taiwan! We were both very impressed with this.

On the way back to Castries we heard about some of the politics in St. Lucia. There seems to be a lot of corruption and even though some of the people are very upset, revolution/activism is not an option. There is a lack of motivation to try and change the political environment because their is a lack of confidence in change actually being possible.

When we returned to Castries we took the bus home and then headed to the Bay Gardens Resort for our second stay. Yesterday, we spent a lazy Sunday lounging in the sun and recharging for the coming week. It's hard to believe but our time here is ending. Elektra has only 11 days left and Maddie has another 18! Time has passed us by but we have been having the time of our lives. The next 2 weeks are going to be filled with even more adventures as we plan on attending an ex-Pat get-together, going ziplining, and attending a pre-Carnival fete and Carnival.

P.S. Funny moment of the weekend. Whenever we told Lucians our age they were surprised to find out we were 19. When asked what age we looked like we got the following ages: 21-22, 24-25, and the best of all, 28-29. While we thought everyone here looks younger than their age, we apparently look older...much older.