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Name: St. Lucia Pronunciation: Saint LOOSH-a Size: 238 Sq. Mi. Population: 180,000 Capital: Castries Affiliation: English (drive on the left) Independence: 1979 |
Twelve+ hours of sleep later we’re feeling a bit more human. Breakfast is a buffet so it’s a bit easier to navigate, although there’s an omelet bar that required some discovery about how that process worked. The sun is out, the view is great. Let the real trip begin.
We are ‘at leisure’ today. Marion enjoyed sitting in the sun on the balcony. And I took a walk up and down the beach. There are a lot of old people here (including us but we are on the younger side of old compared to most). And everybody (except the staff) is white. The water is very warm. Not Zanzibar or Australia warm but very pleasant. There are folks selling things (trinkets and tours and what not) but they aren’t pushy or in your face like in Zanzibar or Puerto Vallarta.
When I got back, Marion and I went down for a dip in the ocean. We figured out how to get beach towels and found ourselves a chair. The water was really nice. Just a small swell. No real waves. We bobbed for a bit. It was very relaxing. There was just enough ocean movement to require a bit of exercise to stay above water.
Lunch was not provided today so I suggested we head into town and find something. We made yet another rookie mistake and wandered off without a clear idea of which way to head. Just a vague ‘that way’ from the hotel staff. And really, it was just down the street a ways. But for some reason the person told us we needed to take a left. Which we (or at least I) tried to do but it all came back around to the same road anyway. It was just enough information to cause confusion and a little anxiety that we were headed off in the wrong direction.
First stop, a bank, where Marion got some local currency. This allowed her to relax about being able to buy trinkets and what not that we come across (a favorite pastime). The exchange rate is $2.70 to the US dollar. That makes the math a bit tricky. But we just divided everything by 3 and that was close enough. It’s always fun to see what other country’s money looks like. And being British it’s got pictures of the Queen. Nothing with Charles yet, at least that we got.
We found a nice bar/restaurant and had ‘fish burgers’. There was some question as to whether it was fish or beef when it arrived. I’m convinced that it was fish. Marion wasn’t so sure. It was a very ‘meaty’ fish. But good. The wait staff started off rather gruff but warmed to us. Our driver yesterday told us St. Lucia was famous for its friendly people. That has generally been true. The waiter commented as he poured Marion’s coke that this was a ‘special service only for the most beautiful women’, and thus *I* would not be getting the same service. I agreed with him that Marion was worthy.
After lunch we wandered a bit more into town and found a very large shopping mall. Nothing we needed to buy but there was a grocery store so we went in to look for ‘treats’ and smaller bottled water bottles to take on our excursions. We like to see what other countries have in their grocery stores. This one was pretty ‘americanized’ as it turned out. We have been disappointed in the pastry selections so far. But it’s early yet.
We headed back to the hotel for a nap. The first ‘cocktail party’ is tonight where we get to meet the other folks on the tour. At least those on the ‘pre-tour’.
It turns out there are 36 of us on the pre-tour (out of 140 total). We met a new couple while there – Paul and Sylvia from Chicago. We also re-met Scott and Susan, the couple we had met at the airport. They are quite the world travelers. They had joined this tour from visiting Puerto Rico. But told us over drinks they had spent 6 weeks in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam) last year, and were going to Spain and some other place I can’t remember in the fall. And, they were planning a month in India. I’m curious now to know what he (or they) did for a living that allows them to do this. I will investigate.
We didn’t interact much with anyone else. But at least we’ll recognize some faces. Our first actual ‘tour’ is tomorrow.
Back to the same restaurant for dinner. It took even longer than last night, and we didn’t even wait for dessert. The tour lady told us we shouldn’t be getting a bill (we did last night). So we just got up and left when we were done. It’s all been very confusing what we’re supposed to do. Hopefully things will be a bit more together on the boat. Actually the ‘ship’. It’s not a boat. They’re touchy about that sort of thing.
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