Baby Bananas and Rainbows

These big red blossoms hanging from the bottom of this plant, turn into tiny little bananas. Just above the tiny yellow bananas are larger, more mature bananas, that still have three weeks until they are ready to be peeled and eaten.

Tropical rain showers came and went today, followed by sunshine, We saw five or six magnificent rainbows as a result.

The Pitons of St. Lucia

Today we travelled south down harrowing heights and hairpin turns to reach the Piton Mountains. They are volcanic plugs. Volcanic plugs are created when molten lava hardens in a vent. The photo below is a classic tourist pose and was taken from Tet Paul, nature reserve. We saw pineapples, mangos, bananas, coffee, cocoa, passion fruit, cashew trees, papaya, apricot, prickly pear, sugar cane, nutmeg, and a multitude of flowers. Our guide, MaGyver, was very knowledgable and funny. He was a great guide.

On the way home we stopped and bought casava bread on the side of the road. We are having it tonight with our goat stew for dinner. Casava bread is made from the casava shrub's roots, and is a food staple, throughout the Caribbean Basin.

Sunday Horse Races on the Beach

Sunday afternoon on the beach in St Lucia is the time for boys ages 8 to 18 to race their horses, bareback! Watching bare-back riders gallop at full speed down this half mile beach was thrilling. There were cricket and soccer games going on as well,  on the same beach. Everyone got out of the way as the horses thundered by.

Plantains for Breakfast

We are staying in St Lucia for a much-needed winter get-away. Inspired by a New York Times food article, our travel partner, James McGlynn recreated this delicious breakfast sandwich out of local ingredients we happened to have on hand. The recipe called for plantains, avocado, chorizo (we used bacon ends,) and an egg. The results were delicious! Thank you James and Mr. Hernandez!

Does Latitude Effect Tide Levels?

We notice that the tides do not change the water level as much as they do on Nantucket. We guessed that since we are so close to the equator, it must have some affect. We looked up “Do tide levels vary with latitude?” and this is what we found. 

“Yes, near the equator tidal influence is the lowest. This is related to the geometry of the moon's orbit in relation to earth, and the tilt of the earths axis. 

Consider the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun as a fixed plane. This is known as the ecliptic. The earth's axis is on a tilt of 23.5 degrees to this plane, which is the tilt that produces the seasons. Also because of this tilted axis of rotation, there is a more pronounced effect of both the sun and the moon's tidal force at middle and higher latitudes.”

This morning we walk along the spine of the mountain we are staying on. The views of the Caribbean are breathtaking. The paths and roads are very steep, with deep gullies on either side. 

  

Beautiful flowers in vibrant, almost neon hues, grow all around us. 

We’ve been warned to watch for snakes called Fer-de-lance, which means ‘iron spear’ in French. I really hope I don’t run into one of those! This is our dear friend Jim McGlynn. 

We all grew up together in Montclair, N.J. 

Green Lemons

These green lemons and grapefruit grow outside the house we are staying in. Jerk chicken is cooking in the oven filling the house up with a most wonderful aroma. It seems like this vacation is so much about learning about great food. We found a bottle of banana ketchup in the refrigerator which looks interesting. We’ve also heard about something called green sauce. I hope to find some in the market tomorrow. The photo below shows lime trees in the lower portion of the scene below.

Drive-In Volcano

The drive from the airport to Marigot Bay was a little scary. The road twisted and turned and was very narrow. Our driver, who seemed to know what he was doing, passed many cars and trucks. I had to close my eyes because it was too scary to see if there was an oncoming car.

St Lucia is a volcanic, mountainous, island.  The highest mountain is Mount Gimie, at 3,120 feet above sea level. The most famous mountains are the Pitons. There is a volcano you can drive into. It’s the only one like it in the Caribbean.

This is Marigot Bay. Parts of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed here.

In Miami on the way to St Lucia. Miami is a delicious melting pot of cultures. Besides having the best Cuban black beans and rice this side of Havana, we found a BBQ place that reminded us of Carolina BBQ.

Hey Uncle Jimmy, you've been holding out on us!