Saint Lucia Vacation 2017 (page 10 of 10)

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Greta's blog (Day 10, February 25th 2017):

The song “This must be just like living in paradise, but I don’t want to go home” keeps running through Greta’s head. It’s true to a point, but our little doggie is at home, so we do want to go back. The lake is there too although it’s still frozen so no more boating for a while.

We started the morning with egg salad made from the last of the eggs, plus hummus, a bit of chutney, OJ and milk – served on the last of the frozen croissants we baked up that morning. Then it was on to packing EVERYTHING. We have two rolling suitcases for our clothes, a large duffle for the dive stuff (it’s amazing how much that stuff weighs – wet suits, fins, snorkels, masks), Mike’s photography backpack and then a smaller backpack. We also packed the collapsible Heineken cooler we’d gotten for free in Aruba with a 1.5 liter bottle of water, 1.5 bottle of Crystal Lite, our last Piton and three ice bricks (made from 12 oz. plastic coke bottles). We called the shuttle to bring us down to the lobby for check out and then off we went.

We decided to head down the west side of the island – we hadn’t been that way, other than on our photography tour which went as far south as Marigot Bay. And this time we are heading all the way to the south end of the island. The further south we got, the more we understood why Google Maps did not recommend this direction upon our arrival – the roads aren’t in the greatest of shape and are very steep, narrow & winding. They are winding & steep on the north end too but most places are in extremely good shape with few potholes.

We drove all the way down to the Soufriere area. We stopped at an overlook where people pointed out the smoke from the not-quite-dormant volcano, which made the sky a bit hay. We then tried to follow the “suggested” Google route to Diamond Botanical Gardens; there were three routes of the same time range, but this was the most direct, which seemed suspect. With good reason… it was a basically a gravel cow-path through a neighborhood. It even got confused one time where we should go so we finally gave up and turned around as to not break the car. So we next took the ‘long’ route, which kept us on REAL PAVED ROADS, albeit on crowded, narrow city streets, including a detour. For a $7 entry fee, we were able to wander through the gardens for a bit, see a number of different flowers, overhear a guide describe a lot of them, and see a waterfall. The small river running through the gardens was grey as it run off from the volcano 2 miles away. You could also bathe in the sulfur springs if you wanted which explains why various places on the island also sell sulfur soap. It was a beautiful place to walk around and enjoy on our last day. We also picked up a little shot glass there – it’s fun to buy one each time we go on vacation. Then it was on to Tet Paul Nature Trail. This was a little further down the island and recommended as a way to see the Pitons w/o the grueling hike.

At the entrance, a teenager named Toriann met us and informed us she’d be our guide. She showed us where to buy the tickets and then off we went. She pointed out various plants along the way – most of the flowers we’d seen on the botanical tour, but she also pointed out crops that they were growing. This area was fully run by the locals – they grow their own food and sell it to make a living. This tour was another way they were able to support their area. She pointed out some pineapple plants & explained how they grew (cut off the top of the fruit after picking it & plant it). She also showed us tilled areas of land where onions, parsley, peppers and carrots were all growing. Bamboo also grows there and is used for multitude of purposes – it grows about 2 inches a day. At the first overlook point, we got a majestic view of Gros Piton (Big Peak) – Mike took some incredible pictures of the surrounding mountains (she named them all) and she took our picture as well. Up to the next viewing point, and now we were between Gros Piton and Petit Piton (small peak). The views were incredible from here. She even took a panoramic picture with Mike’s phone where we could be “in two places at once”! The path was set up very well the entire way. It was a steep climb at spots but very simple to navigate as the trail had been groomed by the locals. We were still careful going up & down the slopes, yet were passed by small children RUNNING down the path in fancy clothes (they looked like they were there for a special occasion) who were too young to be scared yet. Her tour was under an hour but extremely interested and she did a great job. She’ll definitely get a great review on TripAdvisor.

Then back to the car for the trip to the trip to the airport. We got near the airport early but couldn’t figure out why Google said “we’d arrived”, then realized it had dropped us at the end of the runway – not the spot where we would drive in. We struggled to find a lunch spot, and the place we stopped, Mc______ Family Restaurant was just a spot where you’d order at the counter & they’d take food (roti, pizza, sandwiches) from a heated area. We just got two chicken roti. The food was OK, but served probably in the local style, where whole chickens & potatoes are cooked in a curry sauce and then everything is chopped up (bones and all) and wrapped in the roti bread. So we had to keep picking out hunks of bone & gristle out of the food as we at. It was definitely not a tourist location! After leaving , we found the original spot we’d meant to eat at (but had appeared to be too far past the airport when in actuality it was just along the way) that was on the beach but this was probably a more ‘local’ experience.

We dropped off the car at the airport and headed in with our bags. In under 45 minutes, we’d checked our two roller bags, gone through immigration and security and were inside the 8-gate airport. The place was PACKED – people wall to wall and sitting in nearly every seat available. The A/C was working somewhat but was still warm. We did get a couple of Coke Lights from upstairs and later some ice cream cones in order to use up our Eastern Carribean cash. Greta then gate-checked the big duffle with all the diving gear which was great – no giant bag to lug around for the rest of the trip! The little collapsible cooler (from which we’d used up all the water on the drives & hikes down) now served as a handy carry-on. The flight took off on time, and landed in Atlanta a bit early.

Mike had MobilePass which meant we were able to do some of the customs check-in on-line via his phone and skip some of the long lines for that. It took about an hour from the time we got off the plane until we were all the way through customs, checking our bags back in after customs, and security - not too bad. We were some of the lasts people off of the plane but the very first people waiting for our bags, so we know it was definitely a time saver. It’s much more preferable to wait by an empty luggage carousel than to wait in a long, long snaking line with hundreds of other people.

We stopped at a place by our gate to get something for supper and then back on a plane back to MSP. We picked up our bags, and the shuttle back to the hotel was already there at midnight. That reason became clear because although we were the first people on the shuttle, soon about 7 more people showed up with all of their bags from our plane as well. A quick unload at the hotel and then we were headed home – we got there about 1:40 am (although we were still on AST time, so it felt like 3:40 am to us). The next morning revealed all items purchased, including the hot sauce, arrived in the same shape as when we’d packed them.

A wonderful trip all around but my, it is good to be home!

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