Flat Hunter--Conclusion

Flat Hunter couldn’t let a bellyache stop him; though, because he was only mid-way through his journey across Saint Croix. They drove north and stopped at Columbus Cove, yep, you guessed it, at the beach where Christopher Columbus landed on his second voyage to the New World.

Then they drove further north to Christiansted, the larger town and capitol of Saint Croix. Flat Hunter walks on stone streets past many old buildings and shops. He walks to the boardwalk and gets a great view of the harbor, the ships anchored there and the historic fort. Flat Hunter tours Fort Christian that was built to protect the town from enemies like pirates.

From Christiansted, Flat Hunter and his aunt and uncle (they left Chuck at home after the rain forest ride) drove East. They drove and drove and the land became less green and they began to see cactus. The east end of Saint Croix is a desert and does not look like what one thinks of as a tropical island. At the very end of the island is Point Udall, the easternmost point of the United States. Standing on the tip of America, Flat Hunter sees only miles and miles of ocean in front of him.

Flat Hunter’s journey across Saint Croix has come to an end. He thinks about his amazing trip. He has traveled from a rain forest to a desert in one day. He has seen new and strange fish and animals. He has eaten many (too many) delicious foods.

And best of all he was swimming and sunning at the beach in November!!

Only now he has to leave, (sigh). A bit disappointed by farewell, he says “cheese and bread.”

The blog is back

Nearly a month that included Thanksgiving, a multi-state trip and technical difficulties have kept me offline for far too long. A brief update of our travels and the two part conclusion to Flat Hunter (I know you all are on pins and needles) will be forthcoming this week.

In addition, I intend to chronicle the Christmas Carnivale that takes place on St. Croix from Christmas to Three Kings Day. Tramps, horse races, masked balls and lots of to-doing that I cannot wait to witness.

Seasons Greetings to you all.

As always 85 degrees and mostly sunny.

Flat Hunter part 2

Okay I'm having issues adding phots, but here's the blog. I will include my delightful photographs which are shameless promotions of my pets soon.

Flat Hunter jumped in his aunt and uncle’s jeep and they left Fredriksted and began a drive through the rain forest. The rain forest is home to many large trees, waterfalls and streams and plants so thick that one cannot see very far from the road.

The rain forest roads can be rough and the jeep bounced and chugged as it drove up and over the mountains. Chuck, the dog, loves to go 4-wheeling and got so excited that he drooled on Flat Hunter and his aunt. “Chuck, dog drool! Cheese and Bread,” they said.

While driving through the rain forest, Flat Hunter saw many animals. He saw a tortoise, a very large bird called a heron, wild horses and mongooses. Mongooses are originally from India and were brought to Saint Croix to kill rats and snakes. A mongoose is the only animal that can fight and kill a cobra snake (cobras are found in India, not Saint Croix).

Other animals that Flat Hunter saw everywhere were geckos. These little lizards come in all sizes from teeny tiny to as big as man’s hand and live all around his aunt and uncle's house. A few of them have gotten in the house, but their cat, Gus, is very good at catching them.

Flat Hunter and Gus start the hunt by looking on the back porch where they found one suspended from the ceiling. (photo 2)

After snorkeling, riding through the rain forest and catching gekos, Flat Hunter was getting hungry. His aunt and uncle wanted to take him further across the island to taste local food. Flat Hunter tasted salt fish, a dish of fish dried in salt then cooked with spices. Crucians may eat salt fish for breakfast, dinner or supper. Flat Hunter likes salty things and thought it was good. Flat Hunter tasted seafood: kingfish and wahoo, both local fishes; spiny lobster; and conch fritters, a kind of hushpuppie made from the animal that lives inside a conch shell. All yummy!

For side dishes Flat Hunter ate seasoned rice and beans, potato salad that was different from potato salad at home, and man soup.

Man soup is a thick seafood soup that is supposed to be hearty enough for a grown man.
In the first spoon full of man soup, Flat Hunter got tasty fish.
In the second spoon full of man soup, Flat Hunter got tasty vegetables.
In the third spoon full of man soup, Flat Hunter got a fish jaw bone with teeth in it.
He decided that maybe he was not yet man enough for man soup and did not eat anymore.

Then his aunt and uncle took Flat Hunter to the La Reine (say rain) Chicken Shack, sometimes called, “The Dirty Chicken” for delicious roast chicken and Johnny cakes.

What are Johnny cakes? A sweet bread something like a cross between cornbread and a doughnut. Flat Hunter thought they were VERY delicious. He ate Johnny cake after Johnny cake, in fact he ate so many that he got a terrible bellyache. “Uhhh,” he moaned. “Cheese and Bread.”

Flat Hunter: Intro and snorkeling

My nephew's class read Flat Stanley a story about a boy who is flattend then travels via postal mail to far away places. My nephew's class drew flat versions of themselves and then mailed them to friends and family. 'Flat Hunter' visited us on St. Croix. This project is long, so I've split it over a few posts.


Good Morning or Good Afternoon, Miss Haynes’ class, whichever time it may be there. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, one says Good Morning or Good Afternoon to every person one meets: it would be rude not to do so. Flat Hunter learned this when he traveled to meet his uncle and aunt.

Where are the U.S. Virgin Islands? Well, Flat Hunter was not so sure he knew either, but the post office helped him out. The U.S. Virgin Islands are about half way down the chain of islands known as the West Indies that begins just south of Florida and extends to Venezuela, in South America.

The Virgin Islands were named by Christopher Columbus, but we will talk about him later. Three islands make up the U.S. Virgin Islands: Saint Thomas, Saint John and the biggest island where Flat Hunter visited, Saint Croix (pronounced Croy like he words ‘crow’ and ‘boy’ put together). Saint Croix is French for ‘Holy Cross’ because at one time Saint Croix was a French island. Flat Hunter learned that flags of seven countries have flown over Saint Croix: Spain, England, Holland, France, Malta, Denmark and America. America bought the island from Denmark in 1917. Saint Croix is bordered by the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean to the East.

The people in Saint Croix are Americans and speak English. Flat Hunter learned that people from Saint Croix, called Crucians (Say Crew-shuns) have lots of different sayings. If you drop something on your foot or your mother scolds you about cleaning up your room, you might say “shoot” or “ darn” but in Saint Croix, if you’re upset you say, “cheese and bread.”

The children in Saint Croix go to school just like Flat Hunter, but they start earlier and get out of school earlier. Children walk to school, take the school bus or might take a taxi van. Taxi vans travel the island and pick people up all along the road. Cars in St. Croix drive on the left side of the road. People get off and on the taxi van at different places and pay a fee to ride. School children wear uniforms. The boys wear polo shirts and pants while the girls wear white blouses and plaid skirts. Different schools wear different colors.

Now that Flat Hunter knows a little bit about the island and the people on the island, he is ready to explore.
Saint Croix is shaped like a shoe. Flat Hunter began his journey across Saint Croix at the heel in the town of Frederiksted. Saint Croix has two towns (yes, only two) and Frederiksted is the smaller of the two, but it has a long pier where the cruise ships can dock. Flat Hunter walked out on the pier. Many people fish off the pier in Frederiksted. While Flat Hunter was walking on the pier he spied many fish in the water. His uncle suggested they see the fish up close and go snorkeling at the beach park in Frederiksted.
Flat Hunter put on his special mask and snorkel. (photo 1)

He waded out in the ocean, put his face in the water and was amazed at what he saw. He saw many fish: purple and yellow, black and yellow striped like bumble bees, very small blue fish, lots of silver fish, black fish, white fish and red-striped fish.
He saw coral reefs, which are living things and must not be touched. He saw sea fans; an underwater plant that sways in the ocean waves. He saw spiny urchins that are black prickly beings that sting. He saw squid and crabs. And when he swam over a rock two big fish, as long as Flat Hunter’s arm swam out and the fish and Flat Hunter were both surprised! “Cheese and Bread!!” they all said and each swam quickly away from the other.

Veteran's Day: Virgin Islands

On Saturday, November 11, the U.S. Virgin Island celebrated Veteran’s Day with a parade through downtown Christiansted to the sea.

Representatives from all the branches of military present in the Virgin Islands marched along Company Street accompanied by members of the American Legion and Auxiliary, groups of scouts, ROTC from local schools and kids from the elementary school where the parade kicked off. The route wound through town to the grounds next to historic Fort Christian where a ceremony featuring distinguished speakers and the Cruzan Brass Band marked the occasion.

The Virgin Islands became a U.S. territory in 1917. During World War II islanders were exempt from the draft, but petitioned to join Americans in defending their country. Virgin Islanders have served in all major U.S. conflicts and currently have units stationed in Iraq.

A few years ago I met a native of Jamaica who immigrated to the United States and worked in public relations for a well-known luxury hotel. I questioned her about the island: where to stay other than an all-inclusive resort. You see, I’m a Europe through the Back Door type traveler not a tour group/all activities planned/chain hotel type traveler. I wanted to know if she had any suggestions on visiting the authentic Jamaica rather than the pre-packaged one.

She rolled her eyes dismissively. “You don’t want to see the real Jamaica,” she assured me. “It’s not paradise for the people who live there.”

While I haven’t encountered such a dark description of life in the Virgin Islands, locals stress that living here does not equate to a permanent vacation. The worries of the economy, jobs, education, affordable housing, gas prices (currently a low of $2.29/gallon) exist here. And on this Veteran’s Day they share the worry for the safe return of family members in Iraq. Perhaps next Veteran’s Day will find us a nation at peace.

Carambola beach

Flash floods subsided, sunshine returns. October and it is 85 degrees. For us, this seems a long, lingering summer. Weekend days spent, where else, the ocean.

St. Croix beaches are public, unlike St. Thomas, for example, which only has one public beach and all others require usage fees.

One beautiful beach sun seekers may visit is Carambola beach home to the Carambola beach resort. Named for the locally grown five-sided fruit, the carambola (or known state-side as star fruit), this stretch of beach lies on the sparsely populated northwest coast. At the end of a curvy, mountainside road Carambola beach forms a semicircular cove of quiet sand among the rocky cliffs. Bordered by lush tropical forests and mountains, Carambola beach creates the illusion of island isolation. (photo 1)

Bathers enter the beach on the far west end near the base of a mountain to avoid spiny urchins hiding amongst the reefs. Note the lack of fellow swimmers: discounted rates and reduced traffic are two bonuses to traveling during the off season. (photo 2)

Although maybe not the best place on island to snorkel, the beach chairs, hammocks, and beautifully manicured resort make a day at Carambola a perfectly lovely day at the beach. (That’s what Chuck says, anyway, photo 3)

While I cannot attest to the lodging at Carambola, I can confirm that the menu features a mighty tasty conch fritter with coconut sauce. Weekend nights feature sumptuous buffets with live entertainment. To find out more, visit Carambola Beach Resort.

Stranded Part 3--Goats on the Loose

No power this morning. The electricity ceased sometime early this morning before our alarm sounded at 6:30 p.m. The rains create swells to yesterday’s levels, so the main road was passable. Good thing, because I had to visit the Department of Revenue located mid-island to complete some business related to our move.

While taking our dog, Chuck, out for his morning walk, I learned from neighbors that the water was out now, too. A generator keeps the water pumps working once the current goes. The transmission in said generator burned up more than likely from overuse during the pass couple of days. “You can use water from the pool (located in the center of the condo complex) to flush,” a neighbor yelled.

About six hours later and after I’d decided a dip in the pool was all the bath I would get today, the power and water returned. I jumped in the shower and readied to visit the Department of Revenue. On the way the rains picked up and roadways filled. I made to the office, located behind the Sunny Isles shopping center (see yesterday’s post).

In the lobby a crowd was gathered opposite the door. A herd of brown and tan goats, wet and shaking, had gathered under the eaves of the Department of Revenue and huddled against the south facing glass wall.

From the upstairs waiting/cashier area, I could see the loading dock area of K-mart where a pond was beginning to form. One lone goat was attempting to cross the lawn toward the others.

I filed my paper work and hurried downstairs with the plan to call animal control about the wet and frightened goats. Once outside, the goats were no where to be found. With water rising and herds of goats disappearing, I decided I needed to get home quick.

Later that evening as the drizzle continued, I relayed the story of the goats to a St. Croix native. He explained that the shopping center and government offices had been pastureland before development, “in their defense, the goats were there first.”

Others navigating the storm: photo 1, man in golf cart is sideways on underwater service road, note flooded golf course behind him; photo 2, gekos usually stay at bug level on our back porch, this one scrambled to the ceiling to avoid water; photo 3, white heron thrilled that this maintenance compound is flooded creating a new feeding ground for him.

Stranded--part 2

Day 2 Flash floods and no power

Power ceased early this morning as a torrential downpour and thunderstorm boomed outside. We readied by hurricane lamp unaware of the storm damage.

Our driveway out of the neighborhood where we live was flooded this a.m. and we were not able to exit to the main road. A deluge of rainwater covered the roadway, eroding the shoulder and spilling over into a usually tranquil pond. Any car attempting to cross the road risked floating away into the now swirling pond. (photo 1--driveway the day before when still passable)

A bottleneck developed as residents attempting to go to work debated the flooded crossing. A gentleman in a gleaming Excursion generously offered that if my husband and I would go first in our Jeep Wrangler that if stuck, he would pull us out. Rather than end up as fodder for dummy of the day on the evening news, we decided instead to back track.

Eventually we made it out of the complex on a service road used by maintenance men and the garbage truck. The little paved drive was completely covered by water and had become the bedrock for a rushing stream, but not too deep to be passable.

En route to work my husband mused that we were probably just overwhelmed because we are new residents. Blasé locals would snicker at us. Then we noticed a local man video taping the storm damage. This was not, we learned, typical.

I have no Internet service at home (not available) so I take advantage of a hot spot at a café just up the hill. The night manager there said she’s lived her entire life on St. Croix, She’s lived through hurricanes and never experience such flooding. Roadways becoming rivers with tree limbs, coconuts, chunks of asphalt—all swept away.

It’s not a tropical storm; it’s a low pressure system that has settled. In short, a rain cloud is squatting over the island and shows no sign of departing. (photo 2--brief lull in storm)

Stranded--part 1

If one lives on a tropical isle, one should be prepared to be stranded. . .

The longest power outage yet, (again I’ve only been on island a month an a half) occurred yesterday. Previous power outages lasted only an hour or so; however, yesterday’s lights out stretched from 1 p.m. on Tuesday to about ten minutes after 9 a.m. on Wednesday.

Besides the inconvenience of having an electric stove and worrying about overheating milk in the refrigerator, the greatest torment results from lack of circulating air when ceiling fans are silenced. St. Croix experiences two seasons: wet and dry. October is part of the wet season complete with humidity and mugginess. (see minor flooding on golf course near our home photo 1)

Our temporary lodging is located in a valley and does not reap the full benefits of trade winds that residences in higher elevations do. While we refrain from using the air conditioning, since electrical costs are exorbitant, ceiling fans are a must have to remain comfortable.

The outage affected only a small area, lucky us, so we were able to buy a supper of kingfish and stewed chicken at a local West Indian restaurant. We mulled over the idea of seeing a movie at the Sunny Isle shopping center, the local retail heartbeat and general traffic snarl of the island, but decided instead to return home and light the hurricane lamps. (photo 2)

A generator is a necessity here. Short-term outages occur with some frequency, I’ve been told. Should a hurricane make land fall, one may be without power for some time. A local resident told us that post Hugo she was without power for 6 months.

I am surprised that the island has not invested in either wind or solar power or both because of the high cost of traditional power. However, I do not know how wind turbines or solar panels fair in tropical storms. I’ll be curious to learn if any other islands use these methods.

Introduction

What is life really like on a tropical isle? Azure beaches, palm trees, sun, sand and surf…the consummate daydream.

A scant month ago, I gained the opportunity to live that dream.

An occupational transfer prompted our relocation from urban America to an island in the Caribbean. My husband and I, dog, Chuck, and cat, Gus, moved from the heart of Washington, DC to St. Croix, twice the land mass of the District of Columbia and a little more than one-tenth the population.

Welcome, to a new continental’s (a common reference to state-siders) perspective on life in “America’s Paradise.”

St. Croix is the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands with two main towns: Christiansted on the northeast and Fredericksted on the west coast. Farther south than the other Virgin Islands, (U.S. and British) St. Croix lies about two-thirds of the way down the archipelago. The chain of islands begins with the Bahamas at the north and ends with Trinidad at the south, just off the coast of Venezuela.

Before moving to St. Croix, I visited neither the Caribbean nor any other island destination and, thus, have no frame of reference for comparison. We consulted guide books and questioned friends and family about experiences in the Caribbean.

I learned the following observations (with more to come) do not apply to St. Croix.

Overrun with cruise ships and tourists
St. Croix, known as the “Quiet Virgin” fulfils that moniker when it comes to tourists. I have been to the beach when we were the only swimmers for a mile of sandy shore. Yes, certain areas of the island are busy and traffic jams do occur, but only in the commercial, day-to-day business sectors of the island that would never be destination spots for visitors.

Accosted by people pushing you into shops
The pushy shop people are known as “barkers” and illegal in St. Croix. The profession is legal on St. Thomas and originated to encourage tourists to leave the main street and visit shops in side-streets and alleys.

Accosted by hair braiders
I haven’t had one person even attempt to braid my hair. I haven’t notice an extraordinary amount of braided hair among locals. This must be some other Caribbean island’s hallmark or just a ruse to take tourist’s money. I did however get a dynamite haircut (one of the best I’ve ever had) from Trinidadian-born Petal of Petal’s Beauty Studio.

Besides a great stylist (which as you know ladies is no small feat), I’ve found a beautiful, rich, diverse new temporary home. The flora and fauna (photos and descriptions upcoming) continue to amaze. With some frequency, heavy rainstorms gather, descend, abruptly dissipate and the power goes out--like right now (thank goodness for batteries).

The pace of life is slower, but then one is forced to relax. My intention is to make the most of this sojourn.