Blooms & citrus

It's supposed to be the dry season in St. Lucia but so far we’ve been getting a fair amount of rain every day. It doesn’t last long but it is helping to keep all of the beautiful flowers in bloom and the plants lush. We’ve been seeing a lot of poinsettia, both red and white. They are more like a tree than the plants we are used to back home. Often they are in a hedge in a yard or hanging over a fence. The make a stunning show.

We did a bit more exploring with Gisele and Allen over the past couple of weeks. We spent one Sunday on the Eastern side of the Island where there are stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s much rougher than the Caribbean Sea on the Western Side. The huge waves and beautiful sandy beaches are tempting but it’s very dangerous to swim there. The undertow is vicious and many people have drowned. This view of the Atlantic was taken from the site of an old sugar plantation we visited.

The plantation ruins have been developed as Fond D’Or Nature Reserve and Historical Park. It’s one of several old sugar plantations on the Island. Sugar cane used to be a big crop here before it was replaced by bananas. St. Lucia still produces a lot of rum but the molasses from the sugar cane is now imported from Antigua. The photo you see is one of the old buildings on the sugar plantation. It was impressive to see the massive tree growing through it.

Travelling further south on the Eastern side of the Island we passed places with the interesting names of Malgretoute (despite all) Patience and Mon Repos (my rest). We toured Mamiku Gardens, a newer tropical garden. It’s set on 12 acres of land surrounding an old estate house. The garden specializes in orchids. They were growing in gardens but they were also growing in the crooks of trees. There was also an herb garden with plants that could cure anything from headaches to menstrual cramps and gall bladder problems, etc etc.

We’ve talked about how much we enjoy the fruit on the Island. Sometimes it’s hard to identify the fruit, even if it’s one we’re quite familiar with. In this case, Norm is holding a lemon. It’s the size of a regular grapefruit at home. It’s no surprise though considering the grapefruit we get is the size of a cantelope. We’ve had more than our share of grapefruit lately. Our cleaning lady offered Carl some grapefruit as log as he could pick them up. She comes by bus and didn’t want to carry them all the way here. Carl didn’t tell anyone about this because there’s a bit of competition going on between him and Norm over who can get the most grapefruit for the best price. Norm had been winning the competition up until now because his grapefruit lady at the market continues to give him good prices and some freebies every week. We went to the market and bought our regular five or six grapefruit only to discover when we returned that Carl had a bag with sixty grapefruits to share with the household. Needless to say, we’re getting our share of citrus these days.

And I’ve taken a fair share of ribbing over my new retired status. I officially retired from the CBC on December 31st. Allen and Carl insisted I join them at this spot in the market in Castries for a photo. It’s where the retired folks meet up to drink beer and play dominos.