Tuesday, February 3, 2009

More Company & Health Matters

It's been awhile since I’ve written. We were away for several weeks at Christmas and we’ve had a lot of company. In fact, we will have company non stop from January to March 20th with more expected in April or May. A little scary when you think of it but we still enjoy hosting our friends and family.

Our first guests when we got back were Bob and Carm. We had a great time showing them around. They did the usual things we recommend such as the day long catamaran trip down the coast to Soufriere with all the rum punch and beer you can drink, as well as the morning of zip lining through the rain forest where you obviously do not drink rum punch until after you are done. We live close to Reduit Beach, the main tourist beach on the Island. They walked to the beach every day and in between took dips in our pool.


While visiting Cas En Bas Beach on the North of the Island, Norm and Bob were asked by a couple of locals to join them for a game of dominoes. It’s quite an honor to be asked. St. Lucians take their dominos very seriously and it’s fun to watch them play. They slam each domino onto the table as hard as they can when it’s their turn. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re really into the game or whether it’s a way to intimidate the competition. The games can go on for a long time. You have to win six straight rounds in order to win the game. That can take awhile and sometimes doesn’t happen at all.








We decided to dress up for an evening out at the Rainforest Hideaway. It’s a 5 star restaurant that is a little pricey but that we like to treat ourselves to once in a awhile.
The food was very good as usual.





We had an interesting experience while having lunch at one of the spots I like to bring visitors to. It’s the Wharf Restaurant. The prices are good and it’s right on the ocean so you can sit on the balcony and watch the waves crashing on the rocks below.
As we sipped our beer and ate our crab backs and fish cakes, an old man carrying a handful of huge pieces of aloe vera walked buy. He noticed a tourist from Britain who appeared to be swollen and red. He dropped his aloe vera and said with authority “Sir I can help you’’. He gently took one of the man’s legs and rubbed it all over with aloe vera. Then while he massaged his feet using reflexology techniques, he accurately diagnosed several of the man’s health problems. As it turns out the tourist is having serious kidney problems that need attention as soon as he return home. It was interesting because the old man, who seemed poor and uneducated, obviously had some kind of medical knowledge that he was able to use to comfort the tourist. I’m not sure how much they paid the man but I think he was well rewarded for his troubles.

When we’re at the market, we’ll often ask whether a new vegetable or fruit we see is good. Quite often, the answer will be “Ah yes, it’s good for high blood pressure, for stomach problems, etc’’. But when we ask if it’s good to eat, they’ll say “Well a little bitter but it’s really good for you”. They believe many of their foods have medicinal qualities. With all their supposed expertise however, you have to wonder why St. Lucia has one of the highest diabetes rates in the world. 28.1 percent of St. Lucians have abnormal blood glucose or high blood sugar and 8.1 percent of the population is diabetic. Experts believe new rates of diabetes will double every four years. Most of the people affected are women in the lower socio-economic bracket. It’s not unusual to see people who had to have a limb amputated because of the illness. It’s a serious health issue in a poor country that is already struggling to provide health care to its citizens.



And sticking with the health beat… one of the things the vendors try to sell tourists at the market is sulphur soap. It’s soap made from the mud in the sulphur springs that flow from the volcano in the south of the Island. The soap is supposed to get rid of acne, warts, eczema and many other skin conditions. It’s also supposed to be good for arthritis, although whoever did the label on the bar of soap we bought had a problem with spelling. It said the soap is good to treat arthuritis. So if any of you have any Arthurs that need treatment, let me know and I’ll bring you back a bar.