Goodbye St. Lucia...Hello St. Kitts!

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It’s hard to believe we’ve already spent 3 weeks in beautiful St. Lucia!

Our time in St. Lucia is rapidly drawing to a close. We’ll be leaving on Saturday for St. Kitts, our home for the next two years. They gave us our ‘island assignments’ on Monday, and tomorrow we’ll find out flight details…we’re all hoping that the no carry-on restrictions in Europe aren’t in effect here, because when packing for two years one takes full advantage of the one carry-on and one personal item rule! 

It’s hard to even think now what to write about, as it has been so long since we’ve had a chance. So many times I’ve thought of things I wanted to type for the website…if only I could bring them all back to mind now! We’re staying with a lovely couple who are in their 70’s in a small settlement outside a coastal village. They are truly wonderful and take excellent care of us. Our Peace Corps group of 72 that left Washington, D.C. is now down to 69 people. Nine other than us will be going to St. Kitts, and 3 more to its sister island whose name rhymes with Beavis! (quick glance at a map and you’ll figure that one out) We’ve had a really nice time here. Lots of time spent in training activities, but most of it has been pretty enjoyable. They’ve gone to a ‘field-training’ method as much as possible, so there were days spent in the classroom intermixed with days visiting current community development projects in surrounding villages, as well as quite colorful local speakers who came in to talk about history of the islands and to give different views on many aspects of island life and culture, etc. Dr. Lennox Honeychurch (a very well known historian, anthropologist, author, etc. from Dominica) took us on a tour of an old plantation as well as some other important sites on the south side of the island—it’s been fun since then to see some of his books in local stores!

Things that have surprised me since we’ve been here:
-the cost of living is gigantic! Nearly all products in the supermarket are imported from the US or Europe, but mostly from the U.S. So think of the ‘off-brand’ products sold in US supermarkets, then raise the prices to that of ‘premium products’ and add another few dollars and you have the prices of products here. (To get an idea, $1 U.S.= about $2.5 E.C.) A bottle of contact solution at the grocery store I’ve been to here in St. Lucia is about $44 E.C.(about $18 U.S.) A small bottle of Suave or Herbal Essence conditioner is $17-$22 E.C. (about $8 U.S.) A box of 4 Boca Burgers (which I must say I was pleasantly AMAZED to see here!…until I realized the cost) is about $19 E.C….yepper, that’s nearly $8.00 U.S. Enough with prices, you get the picture. It seems that most people must survive mainly on home-grown fruits, etc., because the per capita income couldn’t support a couple, much less a family if one was buying all their food at the grocery store. I’m told it’s even worse in St. Kitts, so we may have to figure out how to have a big garden!! (which would be fun anyhow, though maybe difficult since we’ll be living on the outskirts of a city…we’ll just have to wait and see)
-I’m told that all cars entering the country (which would include every car that’s here) are subject to a tax of over 100% upon entering St. Lucia. My immediate question was “what do you mean??”, and the response was “well, if a car is worth $20,000, once it gets here it will cost you about $45,000.” Holy cow. That’s a whole lotta money for a car, especially when the average amount a person makes per year is MUCH MUCH less than in the states. Most people don’t have cars, and it’s very clear to see why.

KIDS’ CAMP:
The past two days our training “hub group” (we were divided into 3 groups for part of training) held a camp for the kids in the community we’ve been living in, as kind of a ‘thank you’ before we head out. We had quite a good time, the culminating point being our re-written version if “This Land is Your Land” being sung at top volume by 50 kids (and doing the newly created actions tambien)! Just for kicks, here’s the E.C. 76 version…(go Dan and Reggie, the song re-writers!) “This land is your land, this land is my land, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the Caribbean. From the mangrove forests, to the Piton Mountains, this land was made for you and me.”

“CASTRO IS THE GREATEST”:
So, one night we were sitting on the porch chatting with our host family shortly after the news about Castro’s declining health had been announced, and we decided to ask them how they felt about Castro. Our host dad’s response? After remaining pensively silent for a few moments he says “Well… I think that Castro’s the greatest!” At first we weren’t sure if he was being serious, but he was! He went on to explain that among other things, Castro has withstood the extreme pressure from over 40 years of U.S. presidents. I’d never thought about it like that, but it is pretty intense when you consider all the trade bans, etc., etc. they have been subjected to over the years. Anyhow, over the next few weeks “Castro’s the greatest” became a running joke….we’d talk about something entirely unrelated and it would end up coming to “well, in Castro’s country that wouldn’t happen” or something of the sort. Maybe it doesn’t seem funny reading it, I don’t know…if not, it’s kind of sad, because it was really quite funny!

HOST FAMILY, Cont’d:
Another funny bit is that our host family thinks it’s hysterical that we eat peanut butter (YES! They DO have it here- hooray!) on bananas. We’ve made him promise that he’ll try it sometime, but now that we’re down to 1 full day left here I asked when he was going to try it…and he said he would have to wait until we’re gone in case he makes a terrible face, so he won’t offend us! But our host mom has promised to let us know what he thinks of it when he tries!

Another host family note, the first night we were here, someone mentioned that there were changes in the Lebanon / Israel conflict and we asked if they knew what was happening, and they replied that we could watch the news later. Then our host dad came in and said, “So, are we watching proper news then?” “Proper news as opposed to what?” we asked. “As opposed to American news, of course!” This was just the start of really quite amusing cracks about American this and American that, all in good taste and never meant to be unkind at all, just quite comical! Our host parents lived and worked in England for about 10 years, so some of their sayings, food preferences, etc. seem to still be a bit effected by that, which is a fun twist in addition to the colourful Caribbean culture. (already picking up their version of spelling…I’ll be a mess when I get home!)

One more thing I must mention, then I should let Matt type anything else before this becomes the longest blog entry ever…the first time we went to the grocery store it was just us and our host dad, and he had been instructed to find things for ‘vegetarian meals’ for me. Fortunately, there is a quite tasty (and thank goodness less expensive than Boca burger) Trinidadian version of veggie burgers. I naturally assumed that these might be cooked occasionally on the side for me when everyone else was having a meat-heavy dinner. But the next night when we got to the dinner table, the whole box had been cooked and topped with this wonderful home-made sauce, there for everyone to eat together! I just never would have expected them to eat it too, and it seemed really cool that they tried it! After that most of the time I would be the only one eating such things, but it was still super cool that everyone tried it. And I must admit I feel very spoiled here in general. They have taken such good care of us, with meals that are probably the most balanced and healthy and tasty I’ve eaten in years! We’ve been able to try lots of very unique local dishes as well as some back-home favorites, like mashed potatoes with cheese! (I’m told that the availability of veggie burgers and canned veggie dogs in neighboring larger cities—like where we went to the grocery store—is thanks to the “Rastas,” many of whom do not eat meat!)

Okay, so Matt just looked at how long this is and says he couldn’t possibly have anything else to add! So, until next time, “mwen cai weou pli ta!” (That’s Creole for “talk to you later!)

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Photos

View from the Porch
This is a view from the back of our host family's house! It was quite nice to lounge in one of the chairs and enjoy the breeze and the views of the garden and the ocean in the distance.

Out to Eat with our Host Parents
Here we are eating out with our host parents at a restaurant by the beach. We were very fortunate to be matched with such lovely people :)

Soufrierre
This is a panoramic view of Soufrierre, which was briefly the St. Lucian capital under the French. The geologic formation of this area is quite interesting...where you see the town was once a volcano!

Gros Piton
This is the bigger of the two Pitons, St. Lucia's famous mountains literally shoots straight out of the ocean. The mountains are pictured on everything from the Eastern Caribbean dollar to the locally brewed beer.

Jamaican Ackee
The fruit from a Jamaican Ackee goes nicely with saltfish...our host family has a tree in their garden.

Sulfer Springs
These are the sulfer springs near Soufrierre. The look pretty cool, but they don't smell so nice :)

The Beach
Some locals enjoying a protected cove on the Atlantic Coast of St. Lucia.

Coastal Village
The main street of one of the near-by coastal villages, where we spent some time learning about their current community development project.

Approaching St. Kitts
Here is an aerial view of our approach by plane to St. Kitts...our first view of our home for the next two years.

St. Kitts Flag
The St. Kitts flag painted onto the side of the wall that goes encircles the new cricket stadium.

Stacia
A view of St. Eustacia, more commonly known as "Stacia," a popular island for daytrips.

Matt walking up Brimstone Hill
If you look elosely, you can see me walking along some of the remains of Brimstone Hill, a restored British fort.

View of Brimstone Hill
View of the Carribean through a section of Brimstone Hill

Lauren on Brimstone Hill
Lauren sitting on the backside of Brimstone Hill looking toward Basseterre

Drummers at Camp
A local drum instructor came to a summer camp that we were helping with. Here are some of the kids playing.

Ferry
Here is the view looking backwards toward Nevis on our way back toward St. Kitts.

Little Man
We aren't supposed to name locals on our web blogs, and in this case I actually don't know the child's name whom I am holding on my lap anyway. He walked to summer camp all by himself everyday, and none of the other kids knew his name (and he still isn't talking except for imitating what I say to him...) I started calling him "Little Man" since he seems to already be assuming adult responsibilities of getting himself where he needs to be and apparently choosing how he spends his own day.

Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo with Little Man

Kids from Camp
Lauren with kids from the summer camp

Comments

[Trish Monroe]

You are in your element!!!
Hi Matt and Lauren...I've just now been able to view these pix and it's after Christmas. Hope you've had a wonderful holiday. Things are well at Westlake but we miss you so. Yvonne and I are working for Debbie AM and around the building (SSC and Library) for the remainder. When I saw the pix of Matt with "Little Man" I started to cry. You are so in your element for these children. Damani has become my new project since we lost Katherine. I'm making some strides and I adore him. Kudos to both of you for what you are doing. If you ever get a chance to email out catch me at "[e-mail]". Hope 2007 is wonderful for you!!! Trish Monroe Special Ed Para Westlake Elementary