Bequia 2007-2008, St. Barts 2008

Who's Reading? Want a vacation like this?

2008-07-13T03:39:00.000-07:00

Just curious who has been reading, is there anyone out there who doesn't know me, Suzanne or Paul? I would love to read your comments, the sign-in is disabled to please feel free to post anonomously! Also, believe it or not but vacations like my trips to St. Barts and Bequia are actually cheaper than hotel or resort vacations, and villa renting is more convenient than you may think. I rented Villa Finistere in Flamands, St. Barts, I mean St. Barth, and Blue Skies in Mount Pleasant, Bequia, and both exceeded my expectations. And for a non-resort-ish hotel/villa alternative, Tikaye Village in St. Lucia was fantastic. And oh yea, thanks to Kristi Comes, this fabulous home in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, my first experience with renting a home for a vacation, that was the one that kind of got me hooked. My sister Emily has recently started a business arranging trips like these to help take a lot of the guesswork out of the planning process. If you are planning to take a vacation and would like to make it out of the ordinary, send an email to iwantthatlife@rocketmail.com.

Oh yea, and one more thing, drivers and scooter peeps on St. Barts are crazy. Coming from a city of aggressive drivers, you would think I would be used to it, but not on those kinds of roads. They love to drive like 1 foot behind your car, even if you are going as fast as you can. We dubbed the female scooter peeps "scooter bitches" if that gives you any idea. Don't even think about renting one there unless you have no problem risking life and limb!

Alone Again, Naturally

2008-07-12T13:29:00.001-07:00

Ahh, there is something about being totally alone in paradise that is so satisfying. Yes, its a little lonely, I would love it if Pepper and Gem were with me, but that's really all I need, they entertain me to no end with their play fights.

Excuse the diversion, back to the story for today. I thought that if I showed up at Petite Colombe before 10 I would get my hands on a pain au chocolat, but alas, there were none left. I had to settle on - get this - a glazed croissant stuffed with chocolate and cream. So sad. Given that I had to fly out at 3:15 today, I wanted to top off the tan at Gouvener (or however you spell it) beach. Once I figured out how to get there, it was clear that we were totally on the wrong path when we tried to find it the other day. I had been there years ago and as soon as I started passing the "Private Property" signs I recognized it and started getting giddy. I wish I didn't have to pay attention to the road because I would have rather been able to gawk at the incredible estates in the hills that surround the beach. Holy crap. Fi had told us yesterday that a property across the street from our villa recently sold for 11 million euros - that's almost 17 million dollars. And it wasn't out of this world spectacular. But these were. So this is how those ultra rich people live. Huh. I cannot even imagine what the estate is like that has a big gate backing right up to the beach. Again, holy crap.

Here are some views:

This is actually a view from a hill on the way to St. Jean:

The beach was as breathtaking as I remember it (I HATE that I just used that word, but seriously, you walk down the path and can't help but say a four-letter word out loud when you get a glimpse). Even though I was alone, I still said one. Once again, pictures cannot convey, but here is a try:

I practically had the beach to myself, there were about 10 other people there. The major difference between this beach and Saline is the surf and the depth. At Saline, you could walk out pretty far and the water was very calm. Here, it got deep a little too quickly, and there was a constant influx of waves, but nothing major. By far 2 of the nicest beaches I have been to. Next: Thailand.

OK, enough daydreaming about my next adventure. I went home to pack up and made a quick stop at my favorite store in St. Jean, Glamour, to see if there were any last minute fashions calling my name. There was: the coolest belt ever. See how easy it is? Then a stop at Kiki et Mo for a panini and diet coke to go, a fill up at the gas station and then to the bench at the airstrip (you can't really call it an airport) to wait for my flight. I realized I still had some euros left so ran upstairs to the shop to dispense of them. To my surpise, the Winair guy came up there and said "Mademoiselle, ve are vaiting for you (insert french accent)" and escorted me to my private plane. Yep, this one was just for me and my 2 pilots. I am just loving my life of leisure. That was until I started sweating like a horse in the plane. It sure was hot in there.

So that's it, another getaway-a-la-Erin comes to an end. This time no hard feelings due to a freeloading duo of dufuses. I now sit here in Princess Juliana Airport in St. Martin waiting for my connection to San Juan where I will have dinner tonight with an old high school friend, Effie, who lives there. In the coming days I will post some do's and don'ts, faves and non-faves of the trip so stay tuned.

WAIT, ONE LAST THING:
I know you are all dying to see T.A. Well, since the trip is over, I thought I could add this. I thought that black and white would really capture the moment:

Paul's Last Day - Friday July 11

2008-07-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

We had already been scuba diving, snorkeling and boogie boarding, had good meals, spa treatments (oh wait, that was just me) and done some shopping, what was left to do today? I guess more eating and beaches. After a very late start and calling in his peeps, Paul arranged for a complimentary lunch for us at Nikki Beach. But first, some shopping in St. Jean, where I found another great St. Barts, I mean St. Barth, style item to add to my Chicago wardrobe. I have caught on that everyone looks so elegant here by wearing simple flowy items with great accessories like belts and necklaces. I'll see how I can incorporate that into my style at home, which may be hard since I don't own many simple flowy items but with my best friend Bluefly.com, I may own some of those and some glam belts and accessories very soon.

Nikki Beach is a celeb hot spot "in the season" (ha!) very close to Eden Rock and is just what I expected, an elegant beachfront restaurant where you have a great view of all of the beach activity. We had seen pictures of white canopied beds on the beach but didn't see any there today. Kind of reminded me of the setup at the Delano in South Beach, but without all the real estate. I would have to admit that I would love to have bottle service while hanging out on a canopied bed on the beach, but today was not my lucky day. Instead we feasted on sea scallops and chicken curry and dover sole, and for myself, a couple pina coladas. No celebrity spotting today but here are some nice pics of the people we saw actually doing activities while we stuffed ourselves:

After lunch, busting out of my top:
,

My artsy pic:

Then, on to the beach. I picked the beach in L'Orient because it is well known for its snorkeling and sightings of big sea turtles. It was just a quick drive past St. Jean and has a very easy-to-miss pedestrian entrance next to one of the many above-ground cemetaries on the island. After yesterday's wonderful surprise walking over the sand dune at Saline, I expected to once again hear angels sing when I crossed over from the path to the beach. Not so. This beach was much longer (wider? i mean from end to end) than Saline, but very narrow. It is also backed up to a couple of cute beach houses and some not so cute, dark and depressing ones - at least from the outside. I was super disappointed when I walked out to the water and instantly hoped I had brought some kind of beach shoes. It was very rocky but I managed, not gracefully I must add. Once in the water, I put on my mask and snorkel and found that the water was pretty murky today and that the fancy snorkel that Paul let me use was too complicated for me; I kept getting mouthfuls of salt water. Instead of a snorkeling day, it turned into a sun worshiping day, and a day of watching the guy next to us get in and out of the water. He was not so hard on the eyes, I must say.

Paul had to catch the 6:00 ferry back to St. Martin so that he could get his early flight to San Juan, so we came back to the house to clean up and grab his stuff. After I dropped him off at the ferry dock in Gustavia, I had aspirations of a big night in St. Barts, I mean St. Barth, on my own and spent about an hour deciding where to have dinner. I decided on Pipiri Palace, a restaurant I had been to when we moored here on a sailing trip several years ago. I then decided to take a quick nap, and proceeded to wake up at 11 p.m. Wow, I'm super fun. And here I sit writing my blog after eating the leftover pizza from last night, an ice cream cone and some pretzles and drinking the wine that Suzanne thought we would finish but of course never opened.......

Transition Day - Thursday July 10

2008-07-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

This morning was very confusing. Last night on our drive home from the O Corner incident, Suzanne and I had a bit of a disagreement on whether anyone I had dated recently and subjected my friends to (read: the jackass who I brought to Bequia) was as annoying as The Ambassador. I still think she wins the most annoying companion award but then again, its hard for me to be unbiased on that one. I thought I shielded the jackass-ness to the best of my ability in Bequia, but thinking back, the only reason it probably wasn't as painful was because there were more guests, so no one person other than me really had to deal with him. Anyhoo - although Suze had previously planned to change her flight arrangements to stay through the end of the week, she proclaimed when she walked in the door that she should just go home because she didn't want to cause any more trouble. She also proclaimed that we should drink the 2 bottles of wine that were in the fridge. Of course shortly after we arrived home, she went straight to sleep.

I wasn't sure how to approach the day when we all got up today - "Hey chickie, are you leaving? I need to know because I have a spa appointment" didn't seem appropriate so I just said nothing and ran across the street to find out what time my appointment was at Isle de France. When they said that I didn't have one (The Ambassador had made it for me), I was confused, although they told me to check back when the spa opened in 15 minutes. So I returned home for a snack, and as soon as Paul asked Suze "Are you staying?", a flurry of activity began at the Villa Finistere-turned-travel agency. Both she and Paul tried their hardest to rearrange their plans so that (1) Suzanne could stay until Saturday and (2) Paul could fly with me back to San Juan.

Sadly, neither of them succeeded. Apparently changing your flight plans isn't as easy as it once was and will cost you your first born. So back to the original plan it was and I thought I would try the spa again to see if a massage was in my immediate future. It in fact was, so I quickly ran back to say goodbye to Suzanne then back again to the spa for 90 minutes of heaven. This made the Le Toiny experience seem like kind of a joke. I began with a self-serve mud treatment in the steam room for 20 minutes, followed by a relaxing shower. Then on to the massage, which was fabulous. This massage was not in a hut, but in a real spa treatment room with all the fixins. When it was done, the masseuse actually told me it was done, she got extra points for that. She turned the massage table into a chair and sat me up, telling me to stay put and to wait for her to bring some refreshments. A few minutes later she arrived with a trio of sorbets and some cold water. That was a new one on me - loved it! That indulgence was followed by yet another rain shower and I cleaned up before having my 3 course lunch in the hotel restaurant (included with the price of the massage! only 95 euros - a steal!)

Paul joined me for lunch, and, as seems to be the trend here in July, we were two of only a few people there. I love it though, having it all to myself. If you can't relax like this you have serious issues.

Some pics of Isle de France:

casual area for drinks:

Pool 1:

Pool 2:

Paul being cool guy:

After lunch, the activity options were few: beach or shop. I know neither of those really appeal to most men, but I talked Paul into doing beach. We headed out to find Gouvenor (or however you spell it) beach, but after a wrong turn or 2, we ended up by Saline instead. Our detour took us to parts of the island I had not seen before and they were not very pretty or developed. It was just odd to have seen so much going on in other areas then suddenly it was barren, as well as some sort of swamp. There was a fine italian restaurant near saline (and the swamp) but I would be kind of scared to go there this time of year because there is nothing over there. Perhaps I should check it out again "in the season" as T.A. would say.

Saline, known for its nude sunbathers, required a short hike and once we made it over the sand dune I think I heard angels sing - it was a huge - repeat - huge - white, fine sand beach with water as clear as it gets. And once in the water, the sea floor was like walking on fine carpet, very soothing to the feet. Amazing. Pictures don't really convey, but here is a try:

I ventured to the left end of the beach and apparently that is where all the naked people are. Naked people who take very good care of their bodies. But I could have done without the guy in the cove of rocks at the end who was doing situps naked. What is that about?

Then the dinner selection: The Hideaway in St. Jean. Billed as one of the best values on the island with great pizza and a super casual atmosphere. I knew we had it casual when I heard "I Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore" in the background. At $100 for 2 beers, 2 salads, 2 pizzas, and one dessert, I guess it was a value for St. Barts, wait, St. Barth, standards. I wasn't loving it though. I guess I haven't been too impressed with either of our casual pizza choices (Le Bouchon and this place), don't get me wrong, the pizza is good (with Hideways being much better, less greasy) and super fresh, but I was getting kind of used to the super gourmet stuff we had been having elsewhere. I think you call that spoiled. And soon I would also be calling it "getting fat".

PS

2008-07-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

Seems I forgot to mention that when I came back to the villa to see if Paul was there, he in fact was, laying on the couch watching TV. Apparently he had quite a long and exhausting day, and while he was waiting for us outside O Corner, The Ambassador drove by and told him that he looked like a bum and can't dress like that for dinner in St. Barts (he was wearing cargo shorts and a polo shirt) and should go home and change, and promptly gave him directions. What a jerk. It all worked out for the best though, Paul needed some R&R after his day of being tour guide for Kevin in St. Martin. And by the way, he agreed that St. Martin is far from the ultimate vacation destination, and he didn't even see any floral bedspreads.

Work Day - Wednesday July 9

2008-07-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

Today Paul took Kevin to St. Martin to see him off on his 3-week sailing/diving trip. This will be Kevin's longest time away from his dad and it was kinda cute to see him get all nervous, but then super excited as soon as we got down to the dock where they were going to catch the Rapid Explorer ferry. Thankfully the water was very calm today so the trip would be smooth sailing.

At the ferry dock:

Ever see a moon in the sunlight?

Given that Suzanne and I (or at least I) have very few motherly instincts, I thought that after a quick hug it was OK for us to bolt out so we could get breakfast at La Creperie, which we did. One ham, egg and cheese and plate of bacon later, I was a very happy camper ready to do some power shopping before the conference call I had to take from the pool at noon. We had heard that the shops in St. Jean were better than in Gustavia (seriously, who really buys stuff at Christian Dior and Gucci other than sunglasses?) and they were definitely a little closer to my price range.

Both Suzanne and I spent the entire afternoon working /reading - Suzanne may have had a nap in there as well - then we had to get ready for our champagne sunset boat trip on the catamaran that we dove from yesterday. I put on my new St. Bart's wear and we headed out, and ended up getting to know some really great people on the boat, including a couple from L.A. on their honeymoon and of course Carol and Annette from yesterday. We sailed out to Columbier beach and settled in to watch the sunset while having snacks and sipping champagne. Nice. Not sure it was worth 80 euros per person though. We should have each also been provided with a hot frenchman to caress our backs while watching the sunset as well.

The Honeymooners:

Sunset, wishing for a hot frenchman:

Showing off my new fashions on the boat, I had to include this because it makes me laugh so very hard:

After having been directed by my sister to try as many of her recommended restaurants as possible, we chose O Corner in Gustavia, conveniently located for us after we docked. One would think that a place called O Corner would be an irish pub or some other casual place. Au contraire mon frere. Quite chic, again with the decor, the music, and as cheesy as I feel using this word - the "vibe". Paul was supposed to meet us there but was not there so I started to get worried and, while I headed back to the villa to see if he might be there and if he was joining us for dinner, Suzanne ran over to Le Strand to quickly meet The Ambassador. I gave her strict instructions that when I sent her a text stating "take a moment, say your goodbyes" she was to return to O Corner sans Ambassador. What do you think happened when we met back at the restaurant. Yes, he was right behind her.

In this blog I have restrained myself from the true descriptions of The Ambassador and his conversations - note I did not say "our" conversations, because he is the only one who talks - but let me try to sum it up here. While he is extremely nice, he thinks he is, um, the Bee's Knees of St. Barts. Or excuse me, St. Barth. But since we are not "in season" he is unable to show us how important and popular he really is. Yes, he does know a lot of people who work in the hospitality industry here, but wouldn't anyone after spending as much time here as he has? I feel kinda bad for him, he really wants people to like him and just goes about it the wrong way. And for me, it was really the wrong way. I get not so nice around people who irritate me and I'm pretty sure that became obvious when I told him at dinner to stop talking about himself and that I would rather sit in silence. I know it was totally rude but I just couldn't hear one more story about his belongings that are stranded in Bel-Air with his porsche at his ex-girlfriends house and how he practically owns the Beverly Hills Hotel, among other things. Anyhow, I think he felt bad because he ended up picking up our tab for another outstanding meal. Momentarily after the bill was paid, I bolted and could not get back to the villa fast enough......

A Day Full of Activity - Tuesday July 8

2008-07-09T06:15:00.000-07:00

Holy cow I haven't done this much in one day since, well, Saturday I guess. This was Kevin (my nephew)'s only full day on the island so we wanted to pack it all in. We packed a picnic lunch for the beach (consisting of 4 pb&j's and a roasted chicken with 2 forks), stopping at Petite Colombe to supplement our snacks with some fresh baked goods. Petite Colombe supplies baked goods to the restaurants and has wonderful pastries. One of our purchases was an assorted bag of croissants, including chocolate, which had a life outside the store of about 1 minute.

We settled on Shell Beach because it is in Gustavia which is where we needed to be for our 2pm scuba trip. It was kind of funny to find that "Shell" beach is just at the end of a small road and has 2 areas full of shells (see below) but the rest is regular sand. I'm not sure what I was expecting but the 2 patches of shells weren't it! Cute though, and small in comparison to St. Jean and Flamands.

Shell Beach:

At Shell Beach is Do Brazil, a restaurant that seems to be on everyone's "to do in St. Barts" list. At first I thought it was a simple beach bar but then realized that the upstairs is where the restaurant is, and its quite festive.

Kevin, Paul and Suzanne at the bar:

The restaurant upstairs:

Following a relaxing morning at the beach, we headed to the dive boat, which, not surprisingly, was the nicest dive boat I have ever seen. Frank and the divemaster were so incredibly nice and accommodating, doing pretty much everything for us other than the actual dive. Suzanne and one of the other women on the boat went snorkeling while we dove, and it seems that they saw better fish life than we did, including 2 sharks, a hammerhead and a reef shark. I saw lots of purple sponges and a baby sea turtle, very pretty but not nearly as exciting as a shark. I loved that when we surfaced once again Frank did all the work. The other 2 women who were traveling together invited us to do a champagne sunset cruise with them on the dive boat tomorrow night and, given the VIP status of the boat and crew, we of course accepted the invitation.

A slice of the harbor in Gustavia:

On to St. Jean again, we thought Kevin would enjoy watching the planes, but it turned out that the big attraction was actually the big waves and the boogie boarding. It didn't even look like the same beach as Sunday, and we were loving it.

Taken from the beach at the end of the runway, arriving flight:

Suzanne and Kevin waiting for some waves:

Kevin on the Boogie Board:

best paparazzi photo of the day:

At this point we were dying for cheeseburgers so we thought Le Select would be a great choice, unfortunately, they don't start serving food until 5:30 and it was only 4:45 and we were sadly turned away. Match in St. Jean, however, saved the day. After a quick $100 stop for some grilling essentials, Paul fired up the grill at the villa and made some fabulous cheeseburgers that actually rivaled those from LeSelect. It was shortly thereafter that I think I fell asleep for the evening. Nothing beats a 12-hour night of sleep on vacation.......Little did I know that while I was catching some Z's, The Ambassador showed up at our door wanting to take Suzanne out for a drink. Huh. I cannot recall in my pathetic 20 year history of dating anytime where a suitor actually showed up at my door offering to take me out. But do I want the surprise date? I will have to ponder.

Spa Day at Le Toiny

2008-07-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

During the low season in St. Barts several hotels offer some pretty good spa/lunch deals, one of which is at Le Toiny, a very exclusive hotel on the far southeast end of the island. The "journee spa" includes a 3-course lunch at Le Gaiac, pool access and a 90 minute spa treatment for 110 euros. After what we have seen so far this was an absolute steal! While I am trying so hard to add humor to this blog, it is just so difficult because there is nothing funny about this place or the service or the people (other than Suzanne and I, who are hillarious), it is ultra-elegant and classy and no matter who you are, you feel like a VIP. I hope that holds true for the rest of our trip. So far, I have been enjoying my new status.

Lunch poolside at Le Gaiac:

Chic decor:

The food of course was again outstanding, and probably one of the healthiest meals I have had in a very long time. We felt a bit odd being that we were the only people in the whole place, but then were glad about that fact when we found out that the "pool" that we could lounge at all day as part of our "journee spa" was right smack in front of the restaurant. Literally. It is actually part of the restaurant decor and is quite small. There were only 6 pool chairs available facing away from the pool toward the sea, but we later figured out why the accommodations seemed so short-handed: because each villa at the hotel has it own pool. I guess then there isn't really a reason to have a big community pool like at our fab hotel in St. Martin. If what we saw today was the lower end of VIP status I'll still take it.

Poolside:

I was a bit disappointed in the spa and the spa treatment for 2 reasons: (1) the spa was actually a small hut in the middle of a hill and (2) the facial didn't hold a candle, or even a match for that matter, to the ones given by Drita at Dita Day Spa in Chicago. I had expected a waiting area with fresh water, lounge chairs and incense but instead had to wait outside of the hut for the prior treatment to end. It was just odd. Then when my treatment was over, the woman never said anything and began packing up her things in the hut while I just laid there. Finally after 5-10 minutes I raised my head and said "um, excuse me, are you done?" and she said "oh yes" and had already filled out my bill. Maybe I should go to a spa in France to see if that is the protocol, but as far as I know, when your treatment is done they either tell you its done of give you some sort of signal like a pat on the head or something. I felt so violated....

I believe I failed to mention that while we were at Le Toiny, The Ambassador had agreed to arrange for transportation to the villa for my brother and nephew, who were arriving from St. Martin today via the Rapid Explorer Ferry. The ferry trip takes about an hour, compared to the 10 minute flight, but you don't have to deal with the airport hassle at Princess Juliana airport, so the extra time may be worth the lack of hassle, so long as there are no major swells that day. It was during my facial that it began to rain very, very, very hard (which sounded pretty darn cool on the tin roof of the hut) and while I was trying to relax, all I could think of was "oh great, they are on that ferry in the middle of this huge storm, they are either not going to make it or they will be so sea sick when they do". Apparently that thought was only a fleeting one because shortly thereafter I found that I had fallen asleep in the middle of my facial.

After my facial was done Suzanne informed me that The Ambassador had emailed and was already at the bar at Isle de France with my brother and nephew, waiting to take us out for dinner. We rushed home and threw on some non-poolwear and headed out for pizza at Le Bouchon, a casual locals hangout with a small outdoor dining area at a strip mall in L'Orient. I must say I was surprised at seeing a strip mall here, but its not like it was anchored by a TJMaxx or full of minivans in the parking lot.

On the drive over we saw lots of neat boutiques and shops in St. Jean that have made it to the top of our priority list for Wednesday. Its a much different feeling than Gustavia, which is full of the high-end french designer stores, I am very curious to see what they have to offer. The question now is, will Suzanne be joining me?? My brother, nephew and I left her with The Ambassador after dinner ........... (cue dramatic soap opera music here)

Recovery Sunday

2008-07-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

Notwithstanding our late night, we got up early to take on the beautiful day. Sorry, but in comparison to yesterday today is going to be pretty boring. First was a breakfast of fresh fruit and crepes at La Plage in St. Jean, followed by several hours of sun and beach time at St. Jean beach, which is located right at the end of the airport runway. Its kind of fun to lay in the water and watch the tiny planes take off literally right in front of you. To the right of us was Eden Rock, one of the nicest hotel properties on the island.

La Plage:

St. Jean Beach:

Eden Rock:

After a lazy morning, we headed back to the pool at the villa for more lounge time and naps.

Relaxing at our private pool in our Finistere robes and celebrity sized sunglasses (Suzanne refuses to have her picture taken so I guess its just me):

After an even lazier afternoon, we headed out for dinner, looking to find any place that was open on a Sunday evening. The task was not an easy one, but finally we came upon La Mandala in Gustavia, which has Thai-French fusion food. We walked in to a stunning atmosphere scented with the perfect combination of incense and food, and were seated at a candle-lit table overlooking the moon slice and the harbor. Too bad Suzanne and I are not dating because it was probably one of the most romantic places I had ever been, and the food of course, was amazing. We ate WAY too much and came home and crashed.

From Frommers:
"This is one of the most exciting restaurants on St. Barts. It occupies a house on the steepest street in Gustavia, high above the harbor, with a dining deck overlooking a swimming pool. The owners and chefs are partners Kiki and Boubou (Christophe Barjetta and Olivier Megnin), whose nicknames belie their formidable training at some of the grandest restaurants of France."

First 18 Hours in St. Barts

2008-07-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday started out to what most people may describe as a bit of a disaster, but Suzanne and I seem to have found quite a bit of humor in it. We arrived at Princess Julianna Airport at 10:15 a.m., an hour before our inter-island flight to St. Barts, and were immediately informed upon check-in of Winn-Air's new luggage policy of one checked bag (max 21kg) and one carry on (max 3kg). As we scrambled to figure out which unread periodicals (e.g., People, Us, Life & Style) would make the trip, we were informed that we could check a bag standby for $40. Whew! We not so quickly prioritized our items into 2 categories and repacked our bags on the floor near the check in desk, while getting very many dirty looks. In the process, we observed a very angry Frenchman who was informed of the same policy and who insisted that his rollaboard only weighed 3kg. When he was proven wrong, he screamed “FAAAK” and started pacing in a panic. “Bot I am onlvy goving to Sant Baats” (French accent) “I vill pay vatever, I yust need to go”. It was quite the spectacle.

We then checked in with a smile and ventured to the security line only to hear our names being paged to proceed to our gate immediately. We asked if we could skip ahead of everyone but the security chick wasn’t buying it given that another (very snobby) woman did the same thing at the same time and tried to even skip in front of us. Thus the security chick asked if we asked every single person in line if they approved, so I turned around and shouted out “hey everyone, is it OK that we skipped you?” and got a resounding “YES” from the crowd. Another “whew” from our side. We then ran to the gate (after Suzanne got held up again at the second security checkpoint by snobby woman) where the Winn-air staff was waiting for us. They escorted us via bus to our plane, and we were a bit surprised to see our pilot standing outside waiting for us with the door open. Remember when I said I only like to travel to destinations that are a little hard to get to? This is the kind of transportation you must be prepared for:

Suzanne and I immediately both fell madly in love with our pilot, whom we shall call Andy, looking somewhat dapper in his pilot uniform and aviators, asking us if we would like a nice view for our flight. He opened the door for us and as we climbed in to the teeny plane, we turned around to find 3 other passengers, one of which was the angry frenchman. We actually had quite a pleasant 15-minute flight to St. Barts without incident, even with the scary landing strip that I had heard so much about. We arrived to 2 little girls at the end of the runway on the beach waving at us. So cute.

Andy, before takeoff and after a fab landing:

a selection of nice views from the plane:

After a quick stop at Match right across from the airport for some snacking essentials, we found our way to Villa Finestere in Flamands, literally a stone’s throw from Hotel St. Barth Isle de France. Fi, the housekeeper was there to greet us with a smile and she had made us some snacks (including a wonderfully seasoned whole chicken!) and supplied some beverages for us. This is my fourth experience with an online villa/apartment rental and this one surely did not disappoint. I have yet to have a bad experience with this kind of vacation accommodation and this is the ONLY way to go, trust me. The villa has everything we need and more, including a private pool and a guest house, and is stocked with every pool and beach toy one could possibly need.

We ventured to Isle de France for lunch and some beach time. I’m sure I will say this over and over but the food was excellent (chicken salad – but not the American fatty kind swimming in mayo, the fresh French kind, with fresh thinly sliced chicken among tons of fresh fruit and vegetables), although not cheap. Lunch for the 2 of us with a glass of wine was about $100 US. I know it could be worse but for those of you reading this who want real numbers about cost there it is. The perk, however is that if you have lunch there, you can use their beach chairs and beach service. We took advantage and treated ourselves to some pina coladas on the beach, each of which was almost as much as our lunch entrees…. but so so good!

The right side of the beach, more beautiful pictures of the hotel to come:

One would think by now that after our day of travel, lunch and beach time, we would be ready for some R&R. We at this point we thought we would just run out for a casual dinner and come home and crash. We opted for LeSelect in Gustavia, home of the famed “Cheeseburger in Paradise”. Given that we were going to a pretty casual spot I opted for a cute outfit from my new favorite UK mail order catalog, Boden. This is relevant later, just so you know.
Le Select has a great, super casual (the only plastic chairs I have seen on the island thus far) outdoor patio with no waitstaff, part of the charm is that you order your food and drink from the grill and the bar directly and pick it up when it is ready. The bacon cheeseburger was out of this world, I could have actually had 2 of them…

Yes, the story continues:

We chatted it up with one of the semi-locals who told us we should go to Le Strand for an after dinner drink . We were both kinda tired but I said to Suzanne “come on, we are in St. Bart, lets just check it out.” So we did, only to find that it was very much on the opposite end of the spectrum from LeSelect, with everything from dim lighting, velvet curtains and chandeliers to sexy house music and couchside bottle service. I immediately regretted my outfit choice, knowing there was no way to pull of hip and chic in that “cute” ensemble. Lucky for me Suzanne was wearing a colorful strapless number from Old Navy that managed to attract some local talent. This is where the evening took an unexpected turn. After having an unproductive conversation with the young Frenchman sitting next to me, an American who is working down here came over to talk to us, we shall refer to him from here on out as “The Ambassador”.

Although his southern accent was somewhat painful at times (as a Midwestern gal I do not like southern accents on men, even if its Matthew McConneghey - or however you spell it - sorry, but its true) he was quite entertaining and suggested after buying us some more wine that we head down to Casa Nikki, which is right underneath Le Strand and has a great club atmosphere. I believe it was there that the champagne bottles began to flow tableside, only to continue later at the Yacht Club. I am not quite sure how or when the evening ended but I do know that The Ambassador made sure we made it home safely, probably due to his ulterior motive to spend some more time with Suzanne…………..

We gave The Ambassador a tour of the villa and could not find the lights to the pool area, but walked out there anyway – you know where this is going, right? Yea, I fell in the pool in my stupid outfit. It turned into a bit of a teenage pool party for a while until we gave up and went to sleep around 5-ish. If the rest of the trip is going to be like this I don’t think I am going to make it!

Short Stint in St. Martin

2008-07-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

I’m sure there are areas of St. Martin that would make a wonderful vacation but the Sonesta Maho Beach Hotel is not in one of them. Our journey on the island began with a less than friendly cab driver who huffed and puffed when we told her where we were headed. She said to herself like a 5-year old “but I don’t want to go that way! I just went that way and I want to go the OTHER way!” and stared at the cab attendant as if to ask if she could ditch us. She then refused to help with our luggage until I got a bit hostile with her. After our 5 minute ride through what reminded me of Spring Break, I was inclined not to tip on the $9 tab but I didn’t want any bad karma coming back to me.

The line at the check in desk at the hotel at 11pm was longer than we had hoped it would be, and it overlooked one of the many bars full of loud drunk tourists. Apparently there are such bars all over this massive hotel campus because as I type this I am listening to the “boom boom boom” of the music coming from at least one of them. This, together with floral bedspreads and curtains, is exactly why I choose not to vacation in places to which one can easily get and ones that have large resorts and casinos. Sorry to those of you reading this who like that kind of stuff, you have no idea what you are missing. Hopefully the descriptions in the days to come will shed some light as to why I prefer the harder-to-get-to places.

See floral bedspread and curtains:

see bathroom:

Post Script about Friendships

2008-01-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

Some of you have asked me what my comment about learning bad things about friendships was all about. I know that I might live to regret posting this but the character of certain people has just disappointed me so much that I feel the need to share it. Prior to this trip I had successfully recovered financially and emotionally from being significantly taken advantage of and hurt by someone who I really loved and trusted. I had finally moved on and opened up again to my friends, family and to someone who I thought I might be able to pursue a relationship with. I can't help but be upset with myself for allowing myself to be vulnerable and then getting screwed again, but I guess that's the way to becoming a stronger person. At least it only took a few days instead of years to find this one out. While I am upset that these guys are trying to screw me out of a few hundred dollars, what's most upsetting is the fact that people actually think its acceptable to treat others the way I am being treated. Obviously there is more to it than you will read here, but suffice it to say these guys are being huge jerks. You read the blog, the vacation was amazing. I continue to be baffled.

Allow me to share some correspondence I received from 2 of the "guests" after I sent them a bill for their accommodations, totaling just over $600 - yes, that's the TOTAL for 5 days, 2 people at that amazing villa:

From the Friend of the Friend who was supposed to be our private chef for 5 days, but instead only cooked 2 dinners and left the kitchen in a disastrous state on a daily basis. He volunteered to sleep on the couch rather than sleep with a guy he didn't know. Note how he refers to our accommodations as a hostel:

Joe, Here is a recap of the food bills for the house. Looks like 402.42. Then there is the 75.02 for the first night. I paid cash for everything else and picked up Erin and Noels dinner on the hill. I am happy to pay Erin for the flight obviously, please pay her and I will pay you when I see you. I think she comes out ahead with their food vs. my couch. I would have happily traded anyone $500.00 for a bed and a bathroom. I feel shitty quarrelling over this, but most hostels are between 10-15.00 a night, and you get a bed. P.S. Don’t do this to me again. b

01/04/2008
M P* THE FRIENDSHIP ROSE 01/03M P* THE E. Car Doll596.46 X 0.3719948 (EXCHG RTE) + 6.65 (EXCHG RTE ADJ)
$228.53

01/03/2008
M P* DORIS FRESH FOOD BE 01/02M P* DORI E. Car Doll135.45 X 0.3720192 (EXCHG RTE) + 1.51 (EXCHG RTE ADJ)
$51.90

01/02/2008
M P* CAPTAIN MACKS BAR K 12/31M P* CAPT E. Car Doll195.80 X 0.3720123 (EXCHG RTE) + 2.18 (EXCHG RTE ADJ)
$75.02

01/02/2008
M P* DORIS FRESH FOOD BE 12/31M P* DORI E. Car Doll318.40 X 0.3719849 (EXCHG RTE) + 3.55 (EXCHG RTE ADJ)
$121.99

From the Friend who I thought I could date, but obviously that didn't work out. Please note that there was never an "agreement":

Erin,Our agreement never included me paying for the villa or the rental car. Things didn't go so well for us so I feel you're trying to make me pay for it after the fact. I will pay you for the airfare. I feel like I've done plenty for you and that's that.You knew my situation before I got there and I spent plenty on the group. Brians' deal was to pay for food and cook. You never once told him that he was to pay for the villa. We discussed this beforehand. It's taken me a while to get back to you on this because this just cinched it for me. I don't understand your approach at all.I was going to itemize crap out but decided I'm not going to sink to that level. PS I received your message today. I'll put all of your stuff in a bag and drop it off to you w/ the check.

In a later email he called me a "puss" and threatened to send out pictures of me that he thinks would embarrass me. PS - it takes a lot to embarrass me, any pictures he has would not fall in that category. If anyone out there knows a mature single man who doesn't take advantage of people and knows how to have a good time without complaining about everything, please let me know!!!!

Saturday January 5

2008-01-05T17:51:00.000-08:00

Departure Day from Bequia

Today is the day that Suzanne, Erik and I started the journey back home through St. Vincent and Barbados. As much as everyone in Bequia tried to convince us to skip St. Vincent and extend our stay and just book a cheap apartment, we frankly were too lazy to change our plans and didn't follow the advice. Now that we are in St. Vincent we understand why Bequia is clearly the better choice, no matter where you stay. The magic of the islands doesn't exist in St. Vincent. At least not where we are. I cried today when we went to town to say goodbye to various friends I had made and I vowed to return.

As we drove to the ferry, we passed through a post-funeral gathering at the cemetery on Back Street and the sense of community was amazing. It seems as if black pants and white shirts are the clothes that people wear to demonstrate their respect, and no one made a fuss about the cars passing through, depsite the fact that the crowd was huge. As strange as it may sound, it was one of the neatest things that I saw on the island that demontstrated the culture of respect that its inhabitants have, not just among themselves, but among everyone here.

To those of my friends in Bequia who are reading this who I didn't get to say goodbye to, thank you for your kindness and generosity and for making me feel so welcome. This trip has changed me - for the better - and I have learned a lot about myself and about friendships, both good and bad. The most important thing I learned is that I am just as fun and immature as I always wished I could be, and I hope that never changes!!!!

Friday January 4

2008-01-05T17:20:00.000-08:00

OK sorry that the days got a little messed up there, wrong order, but right descriptions of the days. Blog posting issue. Anyhow, we took Jan. 1 off as a recovery/beach day (no post) and I really, really wish we could have just skipped January 4th entirely. After a day like yesterday, a recovery day is inevitable, but we all kind of felt like we had gotten our butts kicked (at least I did), not to mention that I had to deal with the fact that I've almost lost half of my big toe. With the lack of medical assistance / first aid supplies on this island, I must admit I am a little scared of what might happen to it, especially since I have heard that living without a big toe is very difficult.

I can't believe that the time has already come for Joe, Brian and Jill to leave, they had to catch the 6:30 a.m. ferry to start making their trek back to the good old U.S. of A. I hopped in the cab with Jill at 6 a.m. so I could go pick up the TOT that was left down by our departure location from yesterday's festivities. I am pleased to say that the kindness of the Bequians (is that the right word??) once again was evident, as all of the items that I seemed to have been missing as a result of Thursday's activities were kindly placed on top of the spare tire of the TOT. Not sure who placed them there, but thank you :) You see, once people get to know you here, they know what car you are driving. Would make it hard to sneak around here to the extent that you had a reason to sneak around. I can't imagine one but just thought I would point that out.

Although I was scheduled for another dive at 9 a.m., I elected not to risk having to be airlifted off the island to the nearest hyperbaric chamber and decided get some much-needed rest instead. Suzanne and I then determined that the best course of treatment for our current state was detoxifying massages down at Jack's on Princess Margaret beach. That was pretty much the activity of the day, and the rest was spent drinking lots of H2O. As much as we had previously talked up a big Friday night farewell dinner at the Devil's Table followed by drinks at the Frangi, we couldn't muster up the energy and insted enjoyed leftovers from Mac's pizza (which was our lunch), some macaroni and cheese and reruns of Law and Order. Kind of like my usual Friday nights in Chicago. I am getting very sad to leave, and have the feeling that to the extent last night was my last appearance, I may have left a lasting impression ...... Like I mentioned earlier, I always like to go out on a good note...............................

Wednesday January 2

2008-01-04T17:22:00.001-08:00

Cocktail Party Day

About a week ago I decided that I needed a way to show my appreciation to all of my new Bequia friends and planned a little happy hour at our place. I wasn’t really sure if anyone would show up because of 2 problems: (1) I am so Mary Tyler Moore when it comes to throwing parties – this is pathetic to admit but I have been known to throw a party or plan a book club meeting (well, let’s be honest, it was a magazine club) and have no one show up and (2) the problem I told you earlier – you can never really remember what day it is here because it is like Groundhog Day, every day is the same: sun, sand, food and drink. Sleep. Repeat. Maybe that is why they have the Thursday night Jump Ups at the Frangi - it helps everyone keep track of what day it is! In any event, most of the people I invited did remember to come by and I’m pleased to say it was a success. I love that its not socially unacceptable here for one to throw a party while still in beach wear and to serve chips and salsa and oreos. Below is a picture with a few of my island friends. And also a picture of the storm that rolled in for a short visit.

King King, the gals with Chris (I can't remember their names!), Lisa, Chris, Noel, Suzanne and Emmett

We followed up the party with another great local dinner, this time at Sugar Hill right down the road. All of the Christmas lights from the lighting competition were up and our perfect view of them from the patio made for a beautiful scene.

\I had the lobster and luckily it wasn’t served the way it sometimes is where you have to wear a bib. Not that I’m against wearing a bib when necessary but I still would have felt a little goofy. I’ll throw a party in a bathing suit but would feel goofy wearing a bib. Odd.

Back to the story. It wasn’t until we were walking out that we discovered our old friend Frosty was part of the display, so we had to stop and get a photo. The grinch was also present but it wasn’t so easy to get to him….

Noel, Suzanne, Frosty, Erin and Jill

Thursday January 3

2008-01-04T17:20:00.000-08:00

Day at Isle a Quatre with Michael Tours

Today was the last full day for Joe, Brian and Jill, so we booked what is supposed to be a really great day on a deserted island, hoping to pack in as much fun as possible. Well, I think it is safe to say that our hopes were fulfilled and then some. After dropping us on a deserted beach on Isle a Quatre (a small island not far from here), Michael, Junior and Albert went to work on the lunch preparations at the makeshift barbeque about 100 yards away. Suzanne and I swam down the beach around 1 to get some grub and Albert happened to be waiting at the beach just right around the corner and asked us who was the stronger swimmer. Not having any idea why he was asking or any gauge of Suzanne’s swimming skills, I immediately shouted “I am! I am!”. He then informed us that he had forgotten some drink ingredients on the boat and asked me to swim out to the boat to get them. Thankfully Suzanne came too, because there is no way I would have been able to swim back with 2 bottles. Ever have to swim in the ocean while carrying a full bottle of Mount Gay Rum? It’s not easy. But at least if I ever do it again I know that a modified backstroke is the way to go.

The rum punch was then complete and went down a little too easily, as you will shortly decipher from the remainder of the days events. Actually, I think its just best to show some photos. But first I need to compliment Michael on the world’s best potato salad. The chicken was also fantastic but the potato salad was unbeatable. If I could get that and a tuna melt from Da Reef I would be so very happy.

Jill, Junior, Erin and Suzanne

Michael and Jill

The girls, intrigued by Albert's stories

[All relatives might want to skip this part…..] On the way back, Michael made a stop at Lower Bay, we weren’t really sure why, but took advantage and jumped in the water for a little more goofing around. That wasn’t really that great of an idea since the 3 lovely ladies planned to go to a party as soon as we got back to the dock. Given that my bathing suit was all wet and I wanted to present myself well at the party (lost cause at this point) I determined that not putting my shirt on over my wet bikini top was a good idea, and when I put my skirt on, apparently it was inside out. But hey its just a white linen skirt so who could really tell?? I also went sans flip flops, which later proved to be a big mistake. I’ve now attended 2 parties in my bathing suit with beach wear over it, but this was a new one, in just my bikini top and skirt. I guess I wanted to show off my tan.

Jill, Andre and Erin

The soiree sure was nice, much better than one with oreos and chips and salsa. It was also quite crowded, but all of our local friends were there, several of whom pointed out to me that my skirt was on inside out. We provided some good entertainment for all, and everyone understood once they knew that we were out with Michael all day. One of our friends was nice enough to arrange for us to get a ride over to the Salty Dog because he thought we might want some food. Thank God.

We finally headed home about an hour later (thank you Nigil and Jill!) to find that our gate was closed and the remote was in the car which was still at the harbor. This is where the lack of flip flops came back to haunt me. Luckily we were not forced to climb the fence and were able to get through the neighbor’s gate, but as I walked through the landscaping I managed to practically cut off my big toe on some odd piece of vegetation. Its not good and will prevent me from pretty much any more activity involving putting on a shoe, sock, a flipper or something that requires walking longer than a block. Trip home should be interesting.

Monday December 31

2008-01-02T13:09:00.001-08:00

Big day today. Old Year’s Night in Bequia. Yachts and sailboats come from all over the Caribbean and farther to be in the bay for the celebration tonight. I had been looking forward to tonight ever since I arrived, so I wanted to pass the daytime as quickly as possible. Isn’t it funny how sitting at a desk for 8 hours (or, in my case, 4-5 hours, who are we kidding here……) can fly by if you are busy, yet if you have the day off you realize how long 8 hours actually is? Today was kind of like that. I wanted to get out of the house early since the maid was coming, and we managed to do a good job of getting people motivated and out of the house by 10 a.m. so we could head to town to see if we could buy any fresh fish and grab a bunch of other stuff for the dinner Brian was going to prepare for us. As you can imagine, fishing is a very important part of life in Bequia and every morning, the restaurant owners, locals and tourists wait to hear the blow of the conch shell in the harbor which signals that the fishermen have arrived in with their catches of the day. This is why I said before that the menus here are “guidelines” as there are no guarantees of food supply. We weren’t sure if we missed it or if they never arrived, but the only thing Brian was able to get was conch, which was from a restaurant owner that he had befriended the night before, not from the fish market.

We decided to head to Lower Bay, as I expected that today it would be the place to be rather than Princess Margaret, but there weren’t too many people there. We had some nice sun time at the beach before it started raining, which is when we ran for cover at DaReef and thought it was a great opportunity to have another tuna melt. Still not on the menu. So sad.

Brian prepared a 3-course gourmet dinner for us before we headed to my favorite place to partake in the Old Year’s festivities. We were smart and called a taxi, but it started raining just as he was pulling up. When it rains, the taxis have covers that they put on the back so that the passengers don’t get (too) wet riding in the back of the pickup truck. The driver put them all down for us and Jill made the greatest comment: “This is just like being on M*A*S*H!”. Maybe it isn’t funny the second time around, particularly if you weren’t there, but we all found it quite hilarious.

Anyway, we made it to the Frangi safe, sound and dry just in time for the rain to stop. For those of you who have not been here, let me set the scene: an outdoor bar on the beachfront with white sparkling Christmas lights, a steel drum band playing on the beach with a sand dance floor, lots of white Adirondack chairs and picnic tables filled with people enjoying a front row seat for the decorated sailboats in the harbor and the sound of the surf in the background.

And tonight the atmosphere was packed with fun in anticipation of the midnight fireworks. Shortly before midnight, everyone crowded the beachfront, the pier and the shallow water and we were all treated to a great fireworks display accompanied by the horns of the boats in the harbor. Can you beat it? I don’t think so.

Our perfect evening was topped off by a funny event that made me feel a little better about the events of Saturday night – our taxi driver couldn’t get up the hill to our villa. Stuck on the same gravel patch where things went south for us 2 nights ago, which ended up being quite the bummer because walking up to the house on a long steep incline after our festivities was not easy! But it sure beats trying to find a cab in freezing cold Chicago on New Year’s!

Sunday December 30

2008-01-01T17:45:00.001-08:00

HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY FINN!!!!!!

The only way I even know what day of the week it is anymore is because I count the days before or after an event. Today I knew it was Sunday because today was the day that the rest of the guests arrived. While I’m happy for them to finally be here, I’m also sad because it means my time here is coming to an end. One week left then its off to St. Vincent and Barbados before heading home. I’m kicking myself for that plan, I would love to just stay here, not just for those extra 3 days but for a long time. Jill and I have been trying to concoct business plans so that we can live that dream but its going to take some time :)

The guests weren’t coming in until mid and late afternoon so we had several hours to kill. The original plan was to go to Lower Bay for the Sunday fun, but mother nature interfered. Last night and today were similar to the storm that came through when I got here, and hopefully it will pass before New Year’s Eve (Old Year’s Night) as we plan to spend the evening outdoors. We gave De Bistro the third and final chance and I have to say it gets the thumbs down. I know that the staff is shy and things move at a slower pace here but the service is just ridiculously slow, and the food is mediocre. Oh well. As much as I wanted to order the French toast again, I refrained and just got an average omelet and a really, really fatty piece of bacon. Boo.

After an unnecessarily long breakfast we ran some errands and witnessed something that disturbed me all day and probably will continue to haunt me for a while. I realize the whole cycle of life thing, but those of you who know me know that I am a big-time animal lover. I even save bugs that I find in my house by setting them free outside rather than kill them. We saw a pickup truck pull up to one of the stores with 2 cute goats in the back with ropes around their necks tied to the bed of the truck. The ropes around their necks aren’t unusual, most of the goats here are tied to a very small area and seem perfectly happy grazing and napping in a 3 square foot area. We kind of guessed why the goats were there as goat is a popular meat here (I did enjoy a fantastic goat water soup at Fernanado’s last night…) but I chose to keep that out of my head. Later in the day when we drove by that same store, we saw large pieces of raw meat (for lack of a better description) being butchered on a table outside the store. I know it wasn’t THOSE 2 goats but it still made me sick to my stomach. Maybe I’ll become a vegetarian in the new year.

All four guests arrived without incident and luckily without the tour of every island in the Grenadines that Jill had. We had a great authentic local dinner of chicken curry at Captain Mack’s which was arranged by our gracious villa host Patriece and we of course then went to the Frangi for drinks. It was odd to be reminded of the stress from home that Suzanne unfortunately had to bring with her from work and unrealistic expectations that everyone had of what life on this island would be like. No Walgreens, no Whole Foods, no DirectTV package. We are lucky to have a road to our villa, the rest is all a bonus. I felt like a local, actually taking it a little too personally that people didn’t immediately find this to be the same paradise that I have come to know. Hopefully within a few days they will love it here as much as I do and realize that the inconveniences of being here is what makes this island the unique escape that it is.

Saturday December 29

2007-12-30T10:18:00.000-08:00

I’m just going to skip through the day’s activities and get right to the best part. Oh wait, 2 things first. One, we upgraded our moke to a TOT (Tricked-Out Truck – that’s an Erin term, not a local term). I was very sad to have hit the end of the road with the moke but we need a bigger vehicle for the rest of the trip. We’ve now got a great sound system, VERY tinted windows and really hip windshield wipers, in addition to lots of other perks. Its actually harder to drive on these roads than the moke, but I must say I feel pretty darn cool and kind of hip-hop-ish….

Two, I did finally go scuba diving today and there are a few things I wanted to mention about that. I have a new idea for a hand signal: “I’m bored”. Not sure what the proposed signal would be but one is needed. I’m not implying that the diving here isn’t good, it was great, I saw lots of great stuff, but I’m one of those divers who only needs 30 minutes – I like to end everything on a good note. If you dive for 50 minutes, it just gets kind of old and the other divers who sometimes flail their arms, blow bubbles like crazy and kick you in the head get really annoying. Plus I was freezing my butt off. I think that’s where the wetsuit would come in handy as opposed to a t-shirt.

Anyhow, we finished off the evening with an exceptional dinner at Fernando’s Hideaway. And the word “Hideaway” is there for a reason. It’s a little local gem and the homemade food and the atmosphere provided by the luminaries made out of flour bags and the hanging lanterns were both outstanding. After dinner we met Roger (the bartender from the Frangi) at the Gingerbread for a drink (below) and headed home as soon as it started to rain.

Rain is a bit of a problem when you have to drive up steep inclines, especially unpaved ones. We quickly learned this lesson after passing through the Mount Pleasant Christmas Arches and heading up the road to The Compound (my new name for our place). Suddenly the wheels on the TOT started to spin and the TOT turned a little bit sidways. I should also mention that many of the roads here are edged by very steep gutters, so if you get stuck in one, its to the body shop you go. I put the TOT in neutral with the brake on and we began to skid backwards down the hill. Did I mention it is pitch dark? In a panic, we finally got the TOT to stop, but found ourselves in a bit of a predicament. There seemed to be a tree in the car. Not actually the whole tree, but just part of one that came in through my window. At this point we decided to get out and scope out the situation. Of course we didn’t have a flashlight so we used the teeny LCD screen of the old camera that Noel had let us borrow to see where the wheels of the car were and to determine if we could get out and to make sure there were no bulls around. As we were looking, another car came up the road and we gave the universal signal for “We need help”. The driver slowed and rolled down her window and kindly asked “Is there enough room for me to get by?”. Huh? She was clearly a tourist and no one had yet told her that this is the friendliest island on earth. She needs to learn.

We discovered how to put the TOT in 4WD and made it out of our predicament while relieved but laughing hysterically. I know it probably doesn’t seem that funny but trust me, it really was………………….

Friday December 28

2007-12-30T09:19:00.000-08:00

Moving Day

Our time in Spring has come to an end, but not a day too soon. At the beginning of my adventures, I didn’t mind the 15 minute drive every time I wanted to go somewhere and loved the scenery on the way, but now that we are preparing for more guests we need to maximize our play time and be closer to the “action” (that word is relative here!). Plus I was wanting some privacy, as I found that renting a place that is actually an apartment attached to where the owners live is not always as charming as one would hope. It just feels funny to know that someone is always there. That, combined with the constant voices in my head telling me never to go home, never quite made me feel like I was all alone here. Below is a picture of Liz and I before Jill and I packed up the moke with our loads of luggage to head to Mount Pleasant.

We were told that we could arrive at the new villa any time after 10 a.m., so we drove up promptly at 10:10, extremely pleased to find that our place is protected by a private electric gate which will hopefully deter the local paparazzi that has been following us around :) The owners Patriece and Ashleigh were here to greet us, provided a wonderful selection of fresh fruit and some homemade Bequia cake, and showed us around the property. The only word that continues to come to my mind to describe this place and this setting is spectacular. View from the patio on this, another GORGEOUS day, is below.

Exhausted from our big move, Jill and I decided to treat ourselves to another tuna melt sandwich at Da Reef. One thing that I learned quickly here but I think I previously failed to mention is that a “menu” at a restaurant is more of a “guideline” – it gives you an idea of what could possibly be available if all of the stars aligned for the owner that morning. Well apparently the tuna stars did not align this morning because they had actually inserted a new page in the menu that didn’t even have tuna on it. Only cheese or ham sandwiches. So, so, so disappointing. Luckily Lower Bay has lots of good beach bars so we just walked 100 feet over to Dawn’s Creole Café and I settled for chicken salad, Jill just had fries because she had her heart set on a tuna melt. We will definitely have to return to see if it makes it back on the menu. At Dawn’s we ran into our friend Emmett who entertained us for a bit. He informed us about the local thief, a charming young man who we saw on the beach scouting out some potential targets (at least that’s the story we are using to keep things interesting). See, that gate does come in handy!

After another stressful day at the beach, I was craving the chicken BLT from Salty Dog. We also needed to stop by there to check on our rum punch order, which I should have listed as the number one priority of the day. As usual, Andre and everyone there greeted us with a smile and great service. We left with our tummies full and a nice big bottle of punch. How can it get better than this?!

Thursday December 27

2007-12-29T09:25:00.000-08:00

I have been here for almost 2 weeks now and had yet to check out what is supposed to be the nicest beach on the island, Princess Margaret Beach. The road down to the beach is not the easiest road to navigate in a moke so we hopped a water taxi from the dock in front of the Gingerbread. Competition for water taxi passengers here is fierce, as it is for regular taxis. Everywhere you walk, if you look like you want to go somewhere other than where you are, the drivers all ask “taxi?”. As for the water taxis though, I wasn’t sure if its like in Chicago and you just raise your arm, and it turns out that works just fine. The drivers want to make the most of their time and keep stopping along the way to pick up other people, but lucky for us the woman on the boat with us told him to stop stopping. It was kind of funny.

Princess Margaret is quite nice, it has a different feel from Lower Bay thanks to the new restaurant/bar/spa called Jack’s. While it creates a beautiful setting, my opinion is that it doesn’t fit in with the culture of the rest of the island. Too L.A./South Beach. And it’s the only place to eat/drink on the beach, unlike Lower Bay where you have lots of choices. I do like, however, that they have quite the impressive spa menu. Everything from massages and facials to waxing and an eyebrow “tidy”, and all at very reasonable prices. While I was tempted to get the 90-minute hot stone massage, I just don’t feel like its possible for me to be any more relaxed. I might end up being a zombie if I treated myself to a relaxing spa treatment, but I may have to suck it up and give it a shot before I go….

After the beach, we jumped on the Dive Bequia boat and went out for a snorkel. There was only one paying diver and 5 stowaways: Jill, me and 3 adorable little girls ages 9 and 10. They had a ball exploring while Jill and I snorkeled and the diver and the dive master dove a wreck. I haven’t had the urge to dive here yet because I am just too lazy to get all geared up, but I think I need to add it to the agenda.

Jill and I had a lovely dinner at Mac’s, it was packed. We ran into John and Sue whom we had met at Christmas dinner, they were setting sail for charter the next morning. I had forgotten already that Thursday nights are the big night at the Frangi for the Thursday night Jump Up. Many people eat there or somewhere close by and then hang out and enjoy the steel drum band. We stopped by for just a bit, then headed home to get some rest in anticipation for our big moving day tomorrow!

Wednesday December 26

2007-12-28T15:37:00.000-08:00

** note: pics are now posted from previous days!! **
Paul and Kevin - going diving Saturday :)

Luggage Day

Via the latest technology available on the island (Jill’s cell phone), we received word early in the day that Jill’s luggage had been transferred from Barbados to Bequia and was waiting at the airport. We had committed to be at Da Reef at noon for beach day fun and thought that we had plenty of time to get to the airport and back and then go to the beach by noon. We hopped in the moke and headed to the other end of the island to the airport and were greeted by the same friendly crew from the last time….. Sitting on the sidewalk outside the airport (mind you, there is no wall to the airport, its just an open area the size of my house) were our friends the immigration officer, the customs officer and the security guard/poet/singer. No one at the airline counters. Jill approached the 3 people and explained she was there to get her luggage and the immigration officer told her “Uh, you’ll need to talk to the customs officer”. Even though the customs officer was sitting right next to him, she repeated her story to him and he said “Uh, the airline people will be ‘back in a moment’, you need to wait”. OK, what to you think the over/under is on how long a “moment” is in Bequia? I decided on 15 minutes. The security guard/poet/singer helped us pass those 15 minutes by singing to us and reading poems. Turns out she had written a new Christmas song that she would sing later that night under the almond tree for the all-church Christmas Carol event. Side note: The almond tree is the central meeting place on the island. Come here and you will understand…

15 minutes passed….. no airline people. But then our new friend told us that they were just in the house “over there with the green roof” (imagine me pointing to the house across the hill) and that perhaps they were having lunch. She wanted to call them for us but was directed otherwise by the airport mafia. After many hand signals, covert actions and maybe a phone call, we saw some action occur on the porch of the house with the green roof and shortly thereafter the phone at the airport rang. Jill was then waved over by the most serious wave by a customs officer I have ever seen, she was provided with her luggage, and we were free to go. We both cheered and ran the hell out of there.

We did eventually make it to Da Reef, only less then an hour late. It was another gorgeous day at the beach but we grabbed seats at the bar rather then sitting on the beach. We enjoyed the best tuna melt sandwiches that have ever been made on this earth. Spectacular. Will definitely be back for those. Other than hanging out at the beach, that was kind of it for the day, no crazy night out. We were too exhausted from the airport stress.

Tuesday December 25

2007-12-26T06:40:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

From Santa, Gem and Pepper

day of rest - no blog today : )

Christmas Post Script:

OK there are a couple of things that just couldn’t go unsaid from today, as much as I wanted to declare it a no blog day. First of all, Liz and Greg we gracious enough to have invited us to a traditional Christmas dinner at their place (upstairs), as well as the 6 guests who were staying up the road at Palm Lodge. In addition to us, 8 of their friends joined us and we really hit it off with John and Sue, who own a sailboat that they charter for trips in the Caribbean. Their boat is called the Makayabella and Jill and I have decided that the next time we are ready for a Caribbean vacation we are gathering up our friends and sailing with John and Sue. I’m pretty sure that after this trip my friends will finally believe me that vacationing with Erin can never be dull so get your deposits in now for the sailing trip : ) After dinner, Jill and I shared a cab with John and Sue down to the harbor so we could pick up our repaired go kart that had been parked there since last night. This was actually the first time I rode in a taxi here the way it was meant to be ridden in (pardon my grammar….) – the taxis here are pickup trucks with benches in the back and the passengers sit in the open air in the back. Quite comfy, I must say, in addition to being quite scenic.

Luckily, the moke started up just fine, so we decided to celebrate by walking down the beach to the Frangi to check out the scene. The moment we arrived, we saw our new friend that we had made the night before, lets just call him “The German”. We noticed he was wearing the exact same clothes from the night before, but then again, Jill kind of was too. The major difference, however, was that Jill had showered. Clearly The German did not. The German was staying at a place called the Lower Bay Guest House for a whopping $26/ night, which means there was a community bathroom. Apparently it must have been out of water. But isn’t the ocean only 20 feet away? Anyhow, after 30 minutes of Jill and I talking to each other and him standing between us, I finally discovered (thanks to Noel’s keen observation) that The German was committing the worst Fashion Don’t in the book. Green Capri pants with black socks and Doc Martens. Noel discreetly mentioned it to me and just like Elle Woods I shrieked and said “Oh my gosh! You are committing a major Fashion Don’t” and pointed to his feet. It didn’t go over well. He explained to me why those were the only shoes he owned and that all Germans only wear those shoes, while I argued that lace-up shoes on a beach were totally impractical. He left shortly thereafter, and we shall forever hereafter refer to him as “The Stinky German”. Hope he’s not reading this, he really was a decent guy other than the fashion and soap challenges.

Monday December 24

2007-12-26T06:36:00.000-08:00

JILL’S ARRIVAL DAY!

My goal today was to keep myself occupied until 2:30 when it was time to pick up Jill from the airport. Doesn’t seem like a difficult task but after a week and a half by yourself time starts to go by a little slowly. I gave De Bistro another chance for breakfast and splurged on the bacon omelette. I was very pleased to find that I actually received a bacon omelet! I then headed to the famous Doris’ Fresh Food to get some snacks and was very impressed with her selection – I picked up the fixings for my favorite snack/meal: cheese, crackers and summer sausage. I’m all set.

After spending lots of time just walking around and hanging out, it was finally time to head to the airport, which is clear on the other side of the island. I arrived 20 minutes before her arrival time and parked myself in the waiting area. I was the only person there who didn’t work there, and all the people who worked there hung out together chit chatting. This was the first time I felt like an outsider since I have been here and I didn’t like it. In any event, I finally approached the SVG counter after being there for 45 minutes to ask about the flight. The group that was hanging out in the office (which included a toddler, by the way) looked at me funny and someone came out to see if I had a problem. I asked about the direct flight from Barbados and the woman looked at me like I was a nut and told me there was no such thing, but that there was a plane in the Grenadines somewhere that will eventually arrive. I tried to explain that was impossible and took out the map of the flight routes, pointing to the direct flight from Barbados and she laughed at me and said “oh, no, that’s not right, there is no such thing”. I sat down in frustration and just decided to wait. After 30 more minutes I asked again if they knew where the plane was but apparently the idea of knowing where their planes are is a strange one. I decided to take a drive out of boredom and come back in a bit, keeping my eye out for any planes.

As I drove up the road, I saw my friend Don MacDowell, he and Danette had just arrived back from Martinique about an hour earlier. They welcomed me into their home to use the phone and try to figure out where Jill might be, and as we were enjoying a laugh about my airport experience (as well as their experience that day, which resulted in them having to charter their own plane to get back from Martinique), Don saw a plane fly out of the airport. Danette got on the phone and found out that Jill had finally arrived, but there was some major confusion going on because I never gave Jill any information about where she was staying in Bequia. Even more confused, I rushed back to the airport and was waved over by the immigration officer. Apparently Jill was initally denied immigration because she didn’t have a location here on the island, and I was scolded for the second time in 2 weeks by an immigration officer for not having printouts of all of our plans. Are you kidding me? I could have told them we were staying on the Moon and it would have been fine, they just need something to write down. They don’t have addresses here anyway, I don’t understand how the name of a town or the made up name of a villa will help. Whatever. She then spent some more time in customs because she was behind someone who apparently was bringing in too many cigarettes. But once it was her turn, she had no problem since she had no luggage. Lost by American Airlines before she even made it to Barbados. Great.

Turns out Jill had a nice tour of the Grenadines, having stopped in Union, Canouan and Mustique to pick up and drop off passengers and to get gas. Sounds like the plane is more like the bus, and if you stay on long enough you will eventually get to your destination. Interesting.

We had to go to town to get her a bathing suit and on our way back up the road to Spring in our “glorified go-kart” as Jill calls it, we saw someone standing in the middle of the road. I explained to her that lots of people walk everywhere here and she said “no, that’s not a person”. It was dark, but I did see the 2 eyes glowing and staring at us, and as we approached we realized that it was a bull. Yes, a bull. Standing smack in the middle of the road staring right at us. Thankfully we aren’t driving a red moke. I’m not sure why but I slowed down to pass it and was reminded by Jill that we are in a go-kart and that we needed to get the hell out of there. It never moved and we had a good laugh.

We had a great Christmas Eve Dinner at the Frangi and as usual enjoyed the company of our new island friends at the bar after dinner. When it was time to head home, the moke woudn’t start. Given the luck of the day, we just decided to leave it there and get a ride home. I had forgotten my flashlight and I didn’t want to be telling the story the next day about how the car died as we were going up a hill and it fell off of the bluff, then we were attacked by a bull in the pitch dark. Better to be safe than sorry :)

Sunday December 23

2007-12-24T08:21:00.000-08:00

Another GORGEOUS day today! If this keeps up my tanorexia is going to require professional help. After another relaxing morning at the pool I headed to Lower Bay, and today it really WAS the place to be. The key is to go on Sunday, now I know that. There were lots of families and kids playing on the beach and Da Reef was the center of the universe. I parked myself at the bar and looked around and saw pretty much everyone I have met on the island in the past week in one place. I chatted it up with Noel and some of his buddies and found out that Sondra left the island today and did make mention of the fact that I may have stood her up at the gym. Oh well, she isn’t the first person I ever stood up at the gym….. After a while I noticed my San Fran friends John and Paula sitting just a few seats down from me so we had a couple of drinks together. Too bad they are leaving tomorrow, I really had a good time with them.

Although I had originally intended to go home after the beach, another one of my new friends Emmett invited us to his place in Industry for pre-dinner drinks. I felt a little scummy in my bathing suit and yucky clothes but no one cares. It was quite the shindig out on his beautiful, huge patio, complete with my favorite h’ors d’oeuvres – oreos, pocpcorn and cheese and crackers. I was in heaven! And to top it off, all the kidlets were walking around having a great time serving it to us on trays. So cute. I met so many nice and very friendly people, most of whom I had run into at least once or twice before. I also learned, much to my surprise, that not just my friends back home are reading this blog!! I think I may have offended a couple of people with my comments about the furniture store and the furniture but I come from the land of Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel so I can’t help it. Hopefully I haven’t offended anyone else, and if I did just tell me and the next rum punch is on me :)

From there it was to the Crescent Beach Inn for the Full Moon BBQ Buffet. You would think by now I would stop being so impressed and amazed by the culture here but that’s not true. The band was playing, people were dancing and everyone in the place was having a great time. We ate at picnic tables on the beach under the full moon – my ticket was for the fish (you get a little paper ticket saying whether you get meat or fish) and it was another great meal. And I usually don’t even like fish. My favorite was the macaroni/potato bake thing. So very yummy, I could have eaten the whole pan of it.

Another great evening, totally unplanned. I really wish my camera wasn’t broken so I could share pictures ….

Saturday December 22

2007-12-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

The weather was GORGEOUS today, absolutely perfect for doing nothing but lay by the pool. I had told Sondra last night that I would meet her at the gym this morning at 9 a.m. Who wants to take a guess at whether that happened?? My intentions were all good last night but this morning it was just too much effort. This was truly the laziest day I have had here thus far. I ventured out only once, which was for dinner at the Gingerbread. I’ve only had curry once before in my life and remembered that I actually liked it (very strange concept due the fact that I usually like bland and boring food) so I ordered the chicken curry. It was quite yummy! Highly recommend. I resisted at stopping at the Frangi for a drink on my way back and went home and watched my favorite movie – Legally Blonde. Elle Woods is my idol :)

Friday December 21

2007-12-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

I think the weather is finally cooperating, it was another beautiful day today, even with the short, light rain that came through at about 4:00. Since I had such a rough day yesterday (ha ha), I decided that a leisurely morning by the pool and an afternoon at the beach would be perfect. I tried snorkeling in Lower Bay but the current was too much for a little weakling like me with no fins so I just settled for hanging out in the water enjoying the scenery. I brought my new digital waterproof camera with me in the water to take some pics and when I got back to the beach it was totally on the fritz. Waterproof schmaterproof. Another $300 camera down the drain. My last one got ruined in Bonaire in August because of water, but that one wasn’t actually supposed to get wet. You know what this means now? No pictures. I'll have to refer you to websites. Below are the 2 last pictures I took before the sad event.

This is where I am staying now - http://www.hwcn.org/~aq606/ -the first big picture is the view that I am looking at right now from the pool. As suspected, the picture does not do it justice.

Sorry for the digression. Back to the story. When I finally felt like I was going to pass out from lack of nutrition I headed across the road to Can’t Remember the Name for a late lunch and learned another strange food lesson. I ordered a turkey baguette (you all know how much I LOVE turkey sandwiches) and I think that here, turkey means O-S-C-A-R M-E-Y-E-R. It was a slab of bologna, I swear. Yuk. I swear I saw a turkey running around this island the other day, surely they exist here. Then it started to rain so I headed home. Well, I tried to head home. The moke wouldn’t turn over. Great, huh? Had that happened at home I would panic but here I just laughed. I asked the guys from CRTN to help me out and I caused quite the chain of events while we tried to get a hold of Raleigh and they searched for their car starter. This must happen often if they keep a car starter at the bar. Turns out there was just a loose battery connection and I was all set to go. I told the guy who helped me to keep an eye out for Jump In Taxi in case he came down to help and he said “Oh don’t worry! Raleigh is my good friend, I will tell him not to come” and got on the phone to call Raleigh’s brother to get the phone tree going. I continue to be amazed at how small of an island this is!

After coming home to clean up and catch some TV, I drove to my usual spot to grab some dinner and track down my friends from San Fran. As I was driving in, I saw them walking down the street with another woman who didn’t seem like someone they would be traveling with, turns out they had just met her on the street. Her name was Sondra and she just arrived a few hours earlier from Connecticut to go on a one- week charter through her timeshare trade. John and Paula were exhausted from a rough week of sailing so they went back to their room to rest and my new friend Sondra said she would join me for drinks and dinner. I wasn’t sure about her at first, she was quite bold and I thought she might play for the other team. When she touched my arm and said “you’ve got a great tan girlfriend!” I got really nervous but shortly after that she mentioned a man back home. Whew.

We were at the bar at the Frangi and saw the usual suspects. There are a lot of single retired men here and they are pretty f-ing funny (I’m trying to keep it clean). Any Anna Nicole Smith types out there might want to consider coming down here for a look-see. Noel and another nice gentleman entertained Sondra and I for a bit and introduced us to Sir James Mitchell, the owner of the Frangi and the former Prime Minister. The Frangi has been in his family for over 100 years, its quite the institution. When I told him I was from Chicago, he told me about the wedding he attended there recently of a local girl to one of the producers of Wicked. He told me their great love story and said that they want to make the love story into a musical. So 10 years from now when its out you can say you heard it here first. We then talked about the plans for the great fireworks display on New Year’s (called Old Year’s here) at midnight. Apparently Noel is in charge and is looking for volunteers to go out on the barge with him and light all the fireworks. I was tempted to volunteer all my guests but thought that may not go over very well. Although it would make for a good story.

Thursday December 20

2007-12-22T05:56:00.000-08:00

Friendship Rose sailing trip to the Tobago Cays (“Keys” for those of you unfamiliar with island speak)

Funny how I can’t get my lazy ass to work before 9 a.m. but was able to be up and at ‘em at 6:30 this morning ready to head down to the dock to go sailing for the day…. I was even my unusual chipper self!

I was one of about 30 people on the boat and the crew and the guests were all quite friendly. I met a bankruptcy lawyer from Hawaii who was here buying land, contrary to the advice of all of his logical friends. Buying land here is kind of like opening a restaurant in NJ in Tony Soprano’s hood. Can’t trust anyone and if you hire someone who isn’t politically connected in St. Vincent you can get really screwed. The government requires an alien landholders permit which is basically like an FBI application. It is the unanimous opinion of the locals that Bequia is in its last days of being a sleepy, quaint and unknown paradise as they watch the government put uninhabited parcels of land up for sale at prices that only affluent foreigners can afford. Many blame the Firefly (http://www.fireflybequia.com/) for speeding up the process. The Firefly is one of only 2 hotels in Mustique, and it recently opened a hotel and restaurant here. It is not far from where I am staying and goes for around $600/night, while rooms at the world-famous (but rustic) Frangiapani start at $50/night (although you have to share a bathroom and may not always have water……………). So if any of you were thinking of buying a part of paradise, do it now. You can hire me to scout out the place for you :)

I slept on a cushion on the deck on the 3-hour sail down to the Cays, and when I woke up I was thrilled to see the beautiful turquoise water and white sand on the teeny little islands that make up the Cays. There isn’t much to do other then enjoy the beauty, swim and snorkel but that was just fine by me. We were served an incredible lunch with wine, followed (as usual) by too many rum punches which made for a very relaxing sail home. It was an uneventful day but I was exhausted and spent the evening on the couch and had a great night’s sleep – finally.

Wednesday December 19

2007-12-20T14:02:00.001-08:00

Today was another good, although short, day due to the fact that I had to spend a few extra hours in bed sleeping off my hangover and the fact that I have to get up super early tomorrow to sail to the Tobago Cays. I had such a great time last night that when I got home I decided I needed to enjoy some pineapple surprise and a bag of pretzels while watching the exciting local news from New Jersey. My actions seemed relatively harmless but when I woke up this morning to find pretzels scattered about my villa I was convinced someone else must have been here. But I guess it could have been me. Luckily I didn’t leave out any pineapple surprise because otherwise my place may have been overrun by bugs while I slept.

I was getting ready to head out to have my only meal of the day at 2pm when Greg asked if I wanted him to take me to another villa that my sister could rent so we did that. It was much nicer than the first. This island is far from luxurious so linoleum floors, a boombox and Golden Girls – type furniture is considered nice. You come for the views and the serenity, this is not the place to come and be pampered. That’s Mustique, just a stone’s throw away.

I was craving a burger so I headed down to the Salty Dog. I felt pretty cool when I walked in and Andre said “Hey Erin!” and cleared a spot for me at the bar. People here are so friendly. And he remembered all the stuff I told him the last time I was there, unlike my memory of several of my conversations from last night. He said he was going to go to the party last night too but the weather deterred him. Instead of a burger, I opted for the flying fish sandwich, the local version of the Filet-O-Fish, and it was YUMMY! I finished off their pitcher of rum punch and convinced them to provide a supply for us when we move to the other villa. Its pays to know the bartender!

I met Andre’s brother and his family from Barbados, as well as another visitor who is here until March. He trains racehorses in France and this is the off-season. Can’t remember his name, but when I later saw him walking down Belmont Walkway, he remembered mine and yelled another (I am so cool) “Hey Erin!” as he walked by me and while enjoying an ice cream cone from the Gingerbread. It inspired me to get one too so I did, and sat at the beach eating some mango frozen yogurt. That’s when the sun finally came out, which is a good sign for tomorrow’s trip.

When I got back, I decided to learn yoga from Rodney Yee and practiced out on my private patio overlooking the lush gardens. I did pretty well, I must say, but Rodney’s speedo with a sock in it kind of creeps me out.

That’s it, a pretty boring but good day. I’m feeling very welcome and comfortable here, it really is a special place. Before I got here I kept reading that it was “special” but now I know what it means.

Tuesday December 18

2007-12-19T09:18:00.000-08:00

Holy raining cats and dogs! The day started out just fine, I headed to town early to tour a villa that my sister is considering renting, to buy a fan and to have some breakfast. The villa was a disappointment, it’s a good thing I checked it out before they rented it. The girl who showed it to me offered to go with me to Courts to see if they had a fan. It’s a good thing she went with me because I never otherwise would have walked into that store thinking it was the right place. For those of you in Chicago, you know those furniture stores on Milwaukee Ave? Picture one of those, but primitive island style. I’m not sure if the bad taste is cultural or that it is inevitable because by the time anything makes it to this island it is outdated. Anyhow, we asked for a fan and thankfully they had one in the back room. 99EC (about $40). If it was 100 EC I could have gotten a free ham. I considered buying something else just because I love a bargain but decided against it.

I hear that the Bistro has good breakfast (I heard that about the Gingerbread too, remember?) so I tried it and ordered the French toast and some fresh passion fruit juice. When I ordered, the waitress responded with something that sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher saying something so I just nodded and smiled. Apparently she was telling me that they were out of French toast because when my food came, it was a plate of 2 very large hash browns. I asked her what happened to the French toast and again I got the Charlie Brown teacher thing so I just ate it. But I was charged for the French toast. Is it possible that in Bequia “French Toast” means “Greasy Crusty Hash Brown”? Huh. I’ll order it somewhere else and report back.

Then the rain started. And it never stopped. I did nothing all day and headed to the MacDowell’s for the party in the evening. Thank god I asked Raleigh to drive me because I was somewhat overserved. Don’t let the fact that they serve Heineken in small bottles here trick you into thinking that you can drink more of them. When Raleigh picked me up to drive me home he said “If you smell me, I just want to let you know that I had a drink, I was just at the lighting ceremony. But its OK”. Hey, even so, better him driving than me.

The lighting ceremonies are a big deal here, the villages compete every year for the best Christmas display and last night the judges from St. Vincent were here to see all the displays. We drove through 3 of them and they were all very impressive. The locals take so much pride in it and work so hard for weeks to make it perfect. For those of you who are coming we will definitely have to check them out. One of the best ones is in Mount Pleasant where we are staying. Can’t wait for you guys to get here!

Monday December 17

2007-12-18T06:06:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day, I learned and was reminded of a few important facts. Learned: (1) if you do not seal an envelope here before you mail it from the Grenadines, stamps are half price, (2) lots of people here are up and about before 9 a.m. and (3) Oprah is on at 5pm on channel 3.
Reminded of: (1) sunscreen only works where applied, (2) as painful as it might be, it is important to read the basic manual of very complex electronics, such as a camcorder, before actually trying to effectively use it and (3) mosquitoes LOVE me.

Today I turned over a new leaf and got out of bed at 8:30, determined to have a full day at the beach. For the first morning here, the sky was cloud-free so I was quite excited. I packed up and headed to the Gingerbread for what was supposed to be a “great” breakfast. If a mangled egg with mangled bacon and 2 slices of cucumber is a “great” breakfast on this island I’m in trouble AND I might actually be able to get a job as a cook here! I took a stroll to Port Elizabeth to mail my Christmas cards and get some cash and to my surprise actually ran into the retired couple I met on the ferry. I met their kids and grandkids as they headed off to Mustique for the day. Very nice people but very hard to understand with that crazy English accent.

I headed to Lower Bay, which is supposed to be a very popular beach, and found that I was one of 10 people who was in-the-know. Let’s keep that secret between us, I don’t want it to get too overcrowded. I enjoyed a very nice day there, taking frequent swims in the Carribean Sea to cool off, followed by exfoliating treatments as I tried to apply suntan lotion while covered with sand and salt. That’s when I gave up on the sunscreen.

Spent the rest of my day at my private pool laying in the pool lounger, then retired to the living room to learn the most important lesson of the day which is that I must be home at 5 to watch Oprah.

After a napper, I headed down to the Whaleboner (no immature laughing) for the Monday night BBQ and steel drum band. To my surprise, no one was there, so I dined at the Frangiapani instead, which is right next door. Too chicken to try any of the local fish dishes I stuck with the chicken dish, which was yummy, followed by some really rich key lime pie and a really awful glass of white wine. Since then I had a rum punch (20 parts rum, ½ part punch) and am now enjoying the reggae twist on pop music that is being played at the Whaleboner next door – the band finally showed up - and a pina colada. I’m sitting about 10 feet from the water with my feet in the sand on an Adirondack chair staring at the sailboats in the habor. Jealous yet?

Post Script: I thought I was done for the evening when I headed to the bar to pay my tab but then I ran into that couple from Florida – remember them? Don and Danette MacDowell. I type that so I don’t forget. Danette and I chatted it up for a while and she introduced me to some island characters, including Noel the Vikings fan and Roger the bartender. Those of you coming to see me will appreciate the latter of those two. Had lots of fun and Danette invited me to their party in Paget Farm tomorrow night for the christmas light festival thing. I predict tomorrow night’s story to be a good one.

Sunday, December 16

2007-12-17T11:49:00.001-08:00

After having finished a fabulous breakfast on my private terrace consisting of some low-end carribean apple jacks (note that I didn’t splurge for the Cocoa Pebbles), yogurt and fresh, unbelievably good mango, Liz called and asked if I wanted them to take me for an island tour. Although I was dead set on finally heading to the beach, I decided to go in hopes that it would prevent another incident like Friday night. For those of you who don’t know how big Bequia is, here is a clue: we toured the entire island in 3 hours. And that included a stop at the store so I could pick up some rum and beer. I believe we covered all 20+ miles of main road on the island plus a whole lot of unpaved roads. The tour gave me some good ideas of places to go when my guests arrive but also unfortunately gave me a migraine headache. Rest of the day was spent on the couch watching football (nice snowstorm in Cleveland BTW), eating leftover lobster pizza and trying out a new recipe of pineapple surprise (MV girls know what that is!) – this time it is made with Guava/Pineapple juice. Love it. Then of course when it came time to go to bed I could NOT fall asleep, despite the choir of bug and bird humming noises and dogs barking that can be heard all over the island. Thankfully I am not near any roosters. I spent about an hour watching a firefly mating dance occur above my bed through my mosquito net. I’m not sure if I fell asleep before the dude firefly got his action or not but finally I dozed off.

Saturday

2007-12-17T10:48:00.001-08:00

Saturday

I got quite a late start on Saturday but decided to head to Port Elizabeth to get some groceries and run some other errands since all the stores are closed on Sundays and this girl needs some snacks. I was a little surprised at 2 things: (1) a box of Cocoa Pebbles was 22 EC (about $10) and (2) milk comes in a box and is not refrigerated. I guess I heard about that crazy milk before but have never seen it in person. I can now check that off my lifetime to-do list. After stocking up on peanut butter, jelly, bread, ruffles and lots of fresh fruit, I gave myself another unintentional self-guided tour of the island and happened upon a very cute area called Mount Pleasant, which is where our next villa is located. I caught a glimpse of the villa up at the very top of the island and I must say the view from up there must be amazing. Can’t wait to see the sunrise and sunset from there given that it has a 360 degree view. Just thought I would rub it in for those of you who couldn’t make the trip J

Anyhow, the rest of Saturday was pretty hum-drum so I decided to nap, then head out for dinner. I parked by the Salty Dog and waved to my friend Andre then found the Frangiapani on my first try. I was so excited at my accomplishment that I quickly bellied up to the bar for an ice cold Carib as a hard-earned reward. The place was so darn cute with all the Christmas decorations yet it felt so wrong looking at them and listening to holiday music while on the beach. I’ll get over it I guess. I met a great couple (someone my age, finally) from San Fran, John and Paula, who are bareboating down the Grenadines. Given that the kitchen was already closed at the late hour of 8:15, we had to head elsewhere for dinner. We tried 2 other places and they were like “you better hurry, its getting late and the kitchen is closing!!” Are you kidding me?! We begged the staff at Mac’s to make us a lobster pizza, which they did, and we enjoyed some more Caribs and rum punch. They are returning to Bequia on Friday and we made a date for drinks. See, I already have a social life!

Friday Night

2007-12-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

Friday night I ventured out for dinner, and Liz and Greg offered to lead the way since they were headed to Port Elizabeth for dinner anyway. The one problem with following someone when it is pitch black outside is that you don’t really pay attention to where you are going and focus only on following the car in front of you. I learned that lesson later….

We headed down to Port Elizabeth and I had dinner at the Salty Dog. I met a very interesting “retired” couple from England who bought land here many years ago while on a 3-year around-the-world sailing trip and have lived here for 10 years. Their now-teenage kids live here and they all spit their time between the home in Mount Pleasant, the 3 new villas they are building on the same land for the kids and their yacht. I really wanted to ask them what they did for a living but I refrained. I also befriended the Salty Dog owner, Andre, who gave me lots of good scoop about things to do. I’m sure I will see him many times in the coming weeks.

I was pretty tired from my travels so I headed home early, probably around 8:45. This is when the lack of paying attention to where you are going bit me in the ass. After about 30 minutes of unintentionally exploring the winding roads in the pitch dark in my little mini moke, I knew I had little hope of finding my villa and headed back to Port Elizabeth to start over. I made it back to the starting point, but how was I supposed to know that the red faded sign near the main road in Port Elizabeth meant “no entry” and I was going down a one-way street? After getting in trouble for that, I saw a police officer next to the church so I stopped to ask him how to get to Spring. Instead of giving me directions, he asked me if I was busy because there was a big party going on at the bar and they were getting ready to light up part of the island with Christmas lights and wanted me to come and have a drink. While intriguing, I just wanted to go home and he pointed me in the right direction. Unfortunately, I wasn’t so good at following them. After backing up into one ditch, almost running over the biggest crab I have ever seen, about 10 dogs, and 1 cat and freaking out everyone who lives in Spring, I made it home around 10. Thank God.

Arrival Day

2007-12-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

Before I begin, I must thank Bank of America for sponsoring this wonderful trip........................

One thing I knew before I arrived here is that island folk do not live on the same hurried schedules as we do, but it is easy to forget. Case in point: my 1130 flight to St. Vincent took off “on time” at 1150, and the 1pm ferry left “on time” at 130. I waited longer in the line at the airport in Barbados for a 30-passenger flight than I did in Chicago for a 300-passenger flight. At least in Barbados the line was outside and I was able to enjoy the warm weather. While the customs officer in Barbados quickly stamped my passport and told me to have a nice trip, the customs officer in St. Vincent wanted my life history and reprimanded me for not having a printout of my full itinerary for the next month. Perhaps the former incident was not normal because of the fact that it was at 130 in the morning and the guy just really wanted to go home.

What I love about the smaller and more distant islands in the Caribbean is experiencing the local cultures, but I was quite surprised to be one of very few white american tourists on the flight from Barbados and on the ferry to Bequia. I spoke with the other two tourists on my flight, a retired couple from England, who were coming to Bequia to surprise their grandchildren. Let me tell you, those kids sure were surprised when they got off the boat! Then I thought I was doing really well with my social skills when I met another couple frantically running for a taxi to catch the 100 ferry like myself and asked if I could share with them. Turns out they are my age and have a house here and come down every month from Florida. Nice.

The ferry is very much for commerce and the passengers are kind of incidental. I watched them load building supplies, truckloads of gravel, food and lots and lots of mysterious boxes. I also watched a local merchant hack up a bunch of some sort of really big green/orange/yellow fruit at the dock with a machete so that people could drink from it. As much as I wanted to run down and try some I figured I will save the food adventures for later. While on the ferry I saw some people with beers so I decided to get one, not realizing that you have to venture down to the very depths of the boat where all the locals hang out. I had gone too far to turn back but a word to the wise - do not go to the depths of a ferry without your sea legs. I almost fell over about 10 times.

When I arrived, Koko the dog greeted me and Liz showed me around this charming villa. I have my own pool with an incredible view and a great private outdoor lounge area for reading and relaxing. My driver Raleigh set me up with a mini moke which he just delivered and I will quickly have to adjust to driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the super skinny roads. Be very afraid for me!

Until I locate a USB cord, you all are going to just have to imagine how beautiful it is here. Words and pictures can’t do it justice.

2007-09-23T22:09:00.001-07:00