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Published: August 8th 2008
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As I'm walking into town this morning I meet a taxi coming up the hill. The taxi's here are all little Nissan pickups with railings and a canvas tarp roof over the bed. As it passes by a boy in the back yells out "hey, remember me? From the other day?" It's one of the boys from Paget Farm that was there when the lighning hit. He's about fourteen with a big white smile. "Yah, I remember, Paget Farm-Lightning" He flashes that smile and opens his eyes as wide as possible and make his best lightning/thunder imitation. We share a good laugh as the taxi rolls around the hill. The whole scene lasts only a few seconds, but it makes my day.
By the time I reach Port Elizabeth I'm really hot, so I stop at the Gingerbread for a swim off their dock. I swim 8 laps to the Whaleboner dock and back which going by my time I think is around a mile. Afterwards I lay on the dock to dry out. The sun comes up around 5:45 here, so by 9:00 it already feels like mid morning.
After answering some mail and posting the blog (I
NEED MORE MAIL! Corresponding with you back home is the highlight of my morning-notice I didn't say the highlight of my day) I make another run at finding the high point over spring bay that I "thought" I found one day last week. But Allison tells me that if I didn't see the "Castle house" or the yellow house, that I didn't go the right way.
Before I start the climb up to Spring Top I stop at spring bay for a cool dip. Spring is very shallow and has a lot of seaweed growing in the sand just under the surface. So it's beautiful to look at, but not the best for swimming. Maybe that's why its mostly deserted. There's one family there. A dad who looks to be from India or Pakistan, a very white mom who sounds British, and a teenage son and daughter. We exchange hello's. About 2:30 I start the climb. When I reach the point at the top where I thought I was taking the highest road I turn left instead of right and low and behold there's the "Castle house" Up and up and up some more and there's the yellow house.
Just past the yellow house is an open field with a large stone standing on its end. Ah, I have arrived. I swear it must be 1000 feet of climbing, but when I get back to the villa office and check one of the nautical maps I see the elevation is 263 feet. You got to be kidding me.
The difficult climb and the heat of the day have zapped me, so I sit at the summit and rest while I take in the view. From here you can see nearly all the the island as well as all the way across the Bequia channel to St Vincent (nine miles). On the way back down I decide that I'm in desperate need of some water. When I reach Spring Bay again, the family I had shared the beach with earlier is just on their way back to town. I ask "do you have any water you can spare" I feel like I'm just crossed the desert. "Oh yes," the mom responds with a thick British accent, "but its only tap water". "Tap water would be great". She pours me about a cup and and a half and I say
"woh! that's plenty, thank you".
As I walk ahead I see a group of kids walking together and an impromptu sprint erupts. (no doubt inspired by the upcoming Olympic games) I congratulate the winner as he passes by and harass the losers for letting him win.
When evening comes I've decided to treat myself to dinner out. Thursday is the "jump up" at the Frangipani hotel and restaurant. There's a buffet dinner and live steel pan music. The music is great, but the steak was not at all like what I've gotten used to at the wonderful Paul's Place Steakhouse. After dinner I make my way downtown and there's a gospel crusade going on under the almond tree. The preaching is good old fashion loud fire-and-brimstone. After listening for a bit I find a taxi driver to take me home. His name is Rudy and he tells me his son is getting married on Saturday in St Vincent. He's a very pleasant man and drives at a surprisingly slow pace for this island. Its a beautiful evening and the ride is very pleasant.
The end of another beautiful day in Bequia,
Yah mon,
David
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terry
non-member comment
Day 10
Things are going well and you are getting to see so many neat things. The pic of St. Vincent across the channel is beautiful! Keep up the great blogs. We can enjoy this island through you, David.