St. Kitts & Nevis

For the most part, I don't particularly like 'reality' shows.
But, I admit, I do follow 'Survivor' from time to time. The concept of being away from everything for an extended period of time really intrigued me.
Now, I'm not saying that I would do well if I was on 'Survivor' (I would be so grumpy from lack of sleep I'm sure I would be one of the first to be voted off). But, I did experience a week where I had no contact with the outside world when I went to the island of Nevis last week. (pictured is the town of Charlestown with Mt. Nevis in the background)

My wife and I stayed at the Montpelier Inn (I'll put a link in My Favorites on the side). The Inn was a former sugar plantation nestled along side Mt. Nevis. We had no TV, no radio, no newspaper. It was truly a chance for us to get away and relax. I'm a news junkie so I had withdrawal symptoms. But, I learned, that I didn't need a Paris Hilton update everyday. As a matter of fact, I was a better person for NOT ever having a Paris Hilton update last week. It was the first time I ever missed a baseball All-Star game in my life (And, I'm talking about remember watching Pete Rose plowing into Ray Fosse to win a game). But, somehow, I survived. You learn that things that are very important for some are irrelavant for others. There is something to be said for that way of thinking.

Here are some of things I won't forget about my trip to St. Kitts & Nevis:

• The tropical breezes that cooled us off when we were sitting around the pool.



• The island of Nevis was discovered during Columbus' second trip to the New World in 1493 though Carib Indians lived there a thousand years before.



• Alexander Hamilton was born there and Lord Nelson married there (and there are two museums in Charlestown celebrating those facts.)



• Sunshine's, next to the Four Seasons' Resort, served one of the best BBQ ribs I ever tasted.



• I will miss not having Carib beer available to me. It is a great summertime beer to drink.



• I have two new 'friends', Rudder and Calypso. They are two Labador Retrievers that would lay on our front porch every morning and would sit with me as I read my book and looked out on the Caribbean having my first cup of coffee with them.



• Nevis is a wonderful, beautiful place to go but expensive to eat there.



• You must have a Death Wish if you are an American and rent a car there. First, they drive on the left side of the road (as they were a British colony). And, the roads are so narrow, hilly, bad with chickens, goats and cows running all around that I was nervous just being a passenger in the taxi.



• St. Kitts & Nevis (it is one country) gained its independence in 1983.



• There are 12,000 people on the island of Nevis.



• Fort Brimstone, on St. Kitts, is a World Heritage site, not to be missed. (see picture below).



• After spending 4 days on Nevis, we went to Basseterre (the capital of St. Kitts & Nevis) for the day. I know how one must feel when they go to New York City for the first time as Basseterre seemed so busy in comparison to Nevis.



• Much thanks to all our taxi drivers but especially to Sylvia, who gave us a 4-hour tour of Nevis and to TC who was originally a bus driver from Leeds, England but enjoys life being a taxi driver on the island now. (Also, her stories about how she is friends with Peter, Paul & Mary were wonderful.)



• Seeing the 'Monkey Xing' Signs and seeing the monkeys crossing the road!



• The many hummingbirds around our porch as we looked out onto the Caribbean.



• How good a Rum Punch can be.



• Our ferry going back and forth from Nevis to St. Kitts (a 45 minute ride).



• How warm and clear the Caribbean Sea is.



• How beautiful the 'Flamboyant' flower is.



• The mangoes that fell from the trees that were just laying on the side of the road. People would pay top dollar for those mangoes!



• The different plantations which are now inns and the history behind those places. Especially, the history of slavery there and where they were kept on those plantations. Very sad.



• They no longer grow sugar cane on St. Kitts & Nevis. (At least, for exporting). We saw some sugar cane fields but it is generally used on the islands for a 'cane drink' or bottling of Coca-Cola or Ting (a carbonated grapefruit drink).



• We had a 'traffic' jam on the way back to the inn one night because of some cows that were blocking the road. It beat the one hour traffic jam on the Schuykill Expressway after we landed into Philadelphia coming home on Friday night.

It is a long list but I will have a lot of great memories from this vacation.

(Notes on my running: Last week, I still had the cough from my illness. My wife said it was like honeymooning with Felix Unger. There really wasn't a place to run there so no miles while on vacation. We got back on Friday and I did run 6 miles around Lake Galena on Saturday. It was slow but didn't need to stop so that was encouraging. I ran another 6 miles around my neighborhood taking some walk breaks after going up hills. Again, encouraging. I was going to run a marathon the first weekend of October. Before I got sick, I was up to 9 miles. Can I catch up and get back on schedule for that marathon? )