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Cows, goats, pigs,
chickens, dogs all running free or tied up to trees on the side of the
road. On our ride from the airport to our resort we saw a pickup truck
that had 2 goats and a pig tied up to the back of the truck. None of the
animals move because they had got themselves all tangled up.
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Many of the houses (if you have the
money to do so) are built on stilts. This is because the farther you
are off the ground, the more air circulation / wind thus the more breeze
and the cooler it is.
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No air-conditioning in most houses.
The temperatures don’t vary by too much from Winter to Summer. It’s
usually in the 80’s but can get into the 90’s.
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On the side of the
road there are an abundance of open bars. When I say open, I mean its
just a bar with no front wall and sometimes no back wall to it. Many of
the restaurants are also mostly outside or totally open.
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Prostitutes – We
noticed quite a few of these. In fact, leaving the airport for our
resort, there was a bunch of girls hanging outside the airport gate trying
to get some business.
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“Taxi Drivers” – At
the airport as well as outside of many other places you try to find a
taxi, there are people trying to get your business that may not be true
taxi drivers. But they will pick up your luggage and try to get you to
come with them – and a lot of people do. In St. Lucia, we found out that
there are certain license plates that the certified taxi drivers have (red
with “St. Lucia – Helen of the West Indies” on it)
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There was a Mosquito
Net over our bed at our villa. It was funny because our bed was a King
Size but when you use the Mosquito Net, it became a twin from where the
net came down and then trying not to touch it since the mosquito’s would
then be able to get to you.
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Every country’s water
is treated differently so we drank bottled water the entire time we were
there. The one difference we noticed, especially in the shower, was their
water has a distinct sulfur smell. This would be due to the fact that the
island was built by a volcano. Water is considered a scarcity in St.
Lucia.
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There is a public dump
within every village. These consist of dumpsters that everyone takes
their garbage to.
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Scarce commodities
that we wouldn’t dream of. Andrew (our taxi driver) couldn’t find eggs
for his wife. He took us on an island tour and every village we went
through, he would stop and try to find eggs to no avail. Bernie (the
administrator at the resort) also had a problem finding eggs. He told us
that for some reason, at least once a year, it’s like the chickens go on
strike or something… Our resort also ran out of eggs – no French toast,
pancakes, eggs, omelets, etc for breakfast.
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Houses in the
different villages we went through we no better than shacks. Many were no
bigger than our garage – if that big. They were very close together –
basically right on top of one another – with tin roofs. Many of the
houses were very colorful both on the inside as well as the outside.
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Women and men carried
stuff on top of their heads. A lot of it looked to be pretty heavy and
some never even used their hands to keep it steady.
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On the side of the
rode, we saw pigs hanging and being skinned, a guy walking down the street
with a few goats’ skins in his hand that looked to be fresh with blood.
One night, on the way back to our villa from dinner, I saw a man with a
machete in his hand that looked like he was about to kill a bull that had
been tied up to the side of the road. The bull was already lying down so
I’m not sure if it was already dead or what but it was not looking good
for the bull.
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For Christmas many of
the people – both native and European tourists – said “Happy Christmas” or
“Blessed Christmas”.
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Driving – They drive
UK style so all cars are built accordingly with driver on right side and
passenger doors on vans etc on left. Also honking is a big thing. You
honk for any and every reason – because you know someone, because your
going around a sharp bend, to pass, to let someone pass you, because other
driver is an idiot, cute girl.
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Everyone speaks French Creole (with
an accent) and mostly speak English.
