I am ranking the need for the vacation I recently returned from by this: I left behind my husband, 2 kids, one house on the market that was seeing a lot of action, another house that was requiring our much-needed attention as it was undergoing major renovations, and in the 7 days I was gone I called home...once. One time. For 10 minutes. My title as "wife" and "mother" should be revoked. However, when you enter the Land of Freedom the last thing you want to do is taint thy mind with the demands of the Land of Reality. And so I left all that to my husband. The poor soul! But he handled it amazingly. My kids were in one piece when I returned, he traveled out of town to check on the house undergoing renovations, and as of yesterday we have officially sold our home in Indy (pending closing)!! I am one lucky gal!
Now about the vacation...
After surviving the death trip from the airport in St. Lucia to our open-air villa at the Windjammer Landing, my emotions were somewhere between "I am lucky to be alive" and "I am going to need a lot of rum punches to survive the next 7 days."
You see...we failed to read the fine print of our accommodations' description which boasted a "true island experience." Aka, no air condition and we will be sharing our rooms with things that bite and chirp. Our bedrooms actually did have air condition, but the common area being the kitchen and family room did not. This would have been fine had it not been 90 degrees and God never created mosquitos, birds, insects, mice or lizards, and had it not been for the fact that we are women who might like to
look at the outdoors, but we certainly don't want to become one with it...at least not this woman.
Surprising as it may come to most, the 5 of us might have actually been able to survive the 7 days in these conditions. However, on day 2 we decided to just ASK if there was by CHANCE a villa that was entirely enclosed. There was (sort of.) And so we were moved. In this new villa the common area and bedrooms all had A/C, but the bathrooms were still open-air, therefore we were not rid of the insects, nor the rodents, as we soon found out. A mouse (I am more inclined to call it a rat) greeted us on the 1st afternoon in our enclosed kitchen. A mosquito is one thing, I can even forgive birds and lizards, but a RAT? No sir no way. So for the next couple of hours while the 5 of us sat atop chairs, tables and counters and a maintenance man with a broom came to address the issue, we decided enough was enough and kindly asked if there was a place that was entirely, 100% sealed. And there was. Third time's a charm...this villa was AMAZING! Truly the most breathtaking view of the Caribbean Sea you could ever imagine. Hello vacation...it's about time we meet!
The next couple of days were spent zip-lining through and on top of the rainforest (AWESOME!), sailing the Caribbean Sea by catamaran, hiking to the top of Pigeon Island, touring an active volcano in Soufriere, taking in the views of the Pitons, shopping the craft markets in downtown Castries, sipping banana daiquiris and rum punches on the beach, eating the most delicious fresh seafood in the entire world, and mingling with the native Saint Lucians...without a doubt the friendliest people I have ever encountered. Their motto, "No Pressure, No Problem", should go viral!
Now the trip did not go without a few moments of shock-and-awe. Let's start with the conditions of the roads...narrow, windy and hilly where parts of the road were completely missing. If the driver made one wrong move, the wooden barricades would be no match for our bus and we would all go toppling some 1,000 feet below. Had my eyes ever been opened during these excursions, my life would have flashed by at least 100 times.
We dined with cats at every meal, even in the nicest of restaurants. The living conditions were unimaginable...some of the poorest I have ever seen. It was not uncommon to see a naked man either bathing in a spring or on the front porch of his home, likely smoking some wacky tobacky.
One frightening (yet altogether humorous) moment came during a recommended trip to a street fest where we were assured other tourists would be. On our taxi ride there, our driver began to turn onto streets that had no lights (it was after dark) and were becoming more and more barren. Kelly decided to negotiate with the driver by telling him we have no good organs to harvest and to please not drive down to the docks. Luckily (or unluckily) he dropped us off at the street fest and we told him to come back to pick us up in 2 hours. Ten minutes later, we begged him to come back for us.
Was this trip everything I had imagined?
Not at all. Was it one of the best trips I have ever been on?
ABSOLUTELY!!!
Tom & Cindy...words cannot express my sincere gratitude!! Kelly, thank you for planning! Matt, thank you for volunteering your wife to go on this vacation! Carol, thank you for spending 4 days in Indy taking good care of my peanuts!
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| View of sunset from the balcony of our (3rd) villa |
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| Party cruise dance-off...we won! |
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| The mouse has been spotted! |
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| Zip-lining!! |
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| After completing all 12 lines! |
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| Jake and Vienna from The Bachelor frolicked in this sulphur spring! |
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| My new beer of choice - Piton. Too bad you can't get it in the states! |
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| The 5 of us ladies enjoying an evening out. |
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| Just one example of the fine entrees I was ordering. |
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| Our catamaran has arrived - off to Soufriere! |
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| No pressure, no problem! |
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| Our last night in St. Lucia was Caribbean night at our resort and the ladies of the Windjammer asked us to wear these head pieces. You should have seen what they really wanted us to wear! I told them I have a blog and it's rated PG. |
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| Court and I |
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| The fire eating crazy man. They tried to get me to eat fire. I refused. |
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| One of our favorite shuttle drivers, Terry! |
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| Our Ambassador, Lloyd! (Steph coined him Lloyd-licious.) |
