A Sneak Preview of the Jazz Venue


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Published: May 4th 2013
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Just as the sun began to rise, the night chorus stopped … and the alarm went off! Peeking out onto my balcony, I could see that the sky was already a bright blue and suspected that it was already warm outside.

After a cooling shower, I dressed and made my way to breakfast. Watermelon, fresh pineapple and melon were followed by a cheese and onion omelette cooked by Christopher, the morning chef. He looked hot, standing in the open air, cooking over a flat plate. At least, I had the fresh orange juice to cool me down, although the coffee probably warmed me up again!

Breakfast over, I went across to the supermarket to buy my packed lunch – garlic pitta bread grabbed my attention and making friends was probably not going to be an option today.

Exactly at 09h00, I was collected and the taxi took me back through the capital, Castries, onto the Cul de Sac plateau and over the Barre de l’Isle to the Fond d’Or estate. This is one of the host sites of the Jazz Festival, but for now, it was the start of my day’s walk (VIEW ROUTE).

Greeting Paul, my guide,
Heading into the rainforestHeading into the rainforestHeading into the rainforest

This road was badly affected by the recent hurricanes, and a number of landslides cleared the forest and produced areas where sunlight could once again reach the ground. Nature is beginning the reclamation.
we set off into the Bois Joli, looking for birds and plants. Water damage from recent hurricanes was evident as we climbed through the juvenile rainforest up to La Croix Fort. Already the mercury has hitting 34°C, and it was only 10h15.

The view across the former sugarcane plantation and mangroves to the ocean was stunning. Lines of coconut palms clearly showed the various high tides, towering above the mangroves like linear sentinels. Out in the water, two rocks sat just offshore. The larger, farthest away rock appeared to have facial features, whilst the smaller rock looked like a lion. Petroglyphs seem to indicate that the Amerindians worshipped at these rocks.

Walking back down the hill, we met a local bee-keeper. This was the first time I’d met a Rastafarian apiarist, his dreadlocks tucked neatly into a yellow, black and green protective mesh hood. He and Paul exchanged pleasantries in Creole before the elderly bee-keeper continued pushing his mountain bike up the hill and out of sight.

Back at the Fond d’Or estate there was just time to grab some cold water before we made our way through the preparations for the jazz and down to the stage. There, Paul showed me the ruins of an old pump, explaining that this was used in the process to heat the molasses. The ruins were now being reclaimed by nature and strangler figs were tightening their grip on the remains of the green-painted walls.

Moving through the building we stopped at another stage which had been constructed from the foundation of a cattle mill. This basically was a wheel to which cattle were tethered, and they walked round and round. I can imagine the bovine conversation … “oh look, a tree, oh look, a tree, etc.”

At the top of the hill, the remains of a windmill were losing the battle against the strangler fig. Here, the cool(er) Atlantic breeze blew in from the beach and up the hill powering the windmill. This, in turn, powered the presses, which extracted the liquid sugar from the cane.

Behind the ruins, we located a little path which dropped rather steeply into mangroves. Here, coconuts were laying around and little holes in the ground were where land crabs called home. Paul explained that the green coconuts contained coconut water, but as the husks dried, the flesh matured. Finding a dry husk, Paul took out the nut using his machete and, on opening it, showed me the the pure white coconut flesh steeped in coconut water so familiar. He then surprised me by saying that the locals go one step further in that they place these (unopened) nuts on their tin roofs and allow the sun to bake them. He found another nut which, when once opened, exhibited silvery white flesh. This too was rather delicious, though lacked coconut water.

Continuing through the mangroves, Paul led me onto the beach. Sadly, this bay seemed to collect flotsam and jetsam, in addition to rubbish brought downstream by the rains. Although the beach was cleared every six months or so, the little fires didn’t appear to be having much of an impact. In addition, the water was far too rough for swimming.

At the far end of the beach, Paul found a coconut palm bearing fresh fruit. Grabbing a long piece of bamboo, he successfully managed to dislodge one and, on slicing it open, handed me a fresh drink … just as nature intended.

Despite the heat, another climb came next but the reward, after a final push to
Arawak Focus of Worship Arawak Focus of Worship Arawak Focus of Worship

The taller rock appears to have facial features, whilst the near of the two is leonine
the main road, was the sight of a little bar. Two bottles of local Piton helped the garlic pitta bread down … and the banana! The beer also helped my temperature to go down, although, in truth, I was sat in the shade though you should understand that the cold beer was taken solely for the benefit of my health!

After lunch, Paul took me up through some shacks, passed a number of chicken coops and onto the headland overlooking Dennery. Here, we descended down through more shacks, some clearly not having been rebuilt since the last hurricane, and down into the harbour.

Although the town is renowned for its fish, the harbour was not the hive of activity I was expecting. The fish racks were empty and it only remained for one solitary tuna to be gutted.

With that, I thanked Paul for his insight and headed back to Rodney Bay.

Later that evening, after a disappointing steak, I headed off to the Jazz Lounge where Amanda (the owner) informed me that tonight was Salsa Night. Oh well, the beer was cool and, like the weather, the dancing hot!


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6th May 2013

Nice hike
If you want additional Caribbean hiking and waterfalls you might consider going to Dominica. It is called the Garden Isle and is amazing.

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