St. Lucia

St. Lucia is a really cool place to stay. After a few days in the Bush, it's nice to be in a big room, even though I'm sharing it with three other guys. The place feels in many ways like a small vacation town that you would see in coastal America. Prices are higher, there are expensive restaurants, a grocery store where you really can't find everything you're looking for, and an astranged mix of locals who call this place home and tourists from all over the world.

Our first night here I found a little local bar called The Fisherman's. It has money from all over the world tapped up under the bar, flags from old ships acting as ceiling tiles, big open doorways, and powerful misting fans. Our group had a nice time here enjoying cold (slightly not warm) beer while trying to get a sense of the local culture. Our first evening here, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. One guy at the bar named Willem even thanked us for changing his opinion of Americans(I won't go into details for descency sake). However, we weren't entirely welcomed by all-- it seems that some of the older white generation have not adopted the new spirit of post-apartheid South Africa. The racism here isn't loud, but it is definitely felt.

I treated myself today, spending more money than I could really afford, to go fishing on the Indian Ocean. I headed out at roughly 4:45 this morning on a little chartered boat with Steve, Rohit, and Will on the hunt for Dorado, Sailfish, Yellow Fin Tuna, Grouper, etc. In all we caught two King Mackerel at about 20Lbs a piece and one Green Job fish at about 21 Lbs. The fillets filled six one-gallon bags. We're going to fire up the Braai (grill) in a little while and cook some delicious food for the group.

The wildlife here in general though has been amazing. Flamingo, hippo, crocs, zebra, rhino, buck, dolphins, monkeys, bullet ants, warthog, and buffalo. They are everywhere. Monkeys here are like our squirrels in some respects. They are mischievous, like to get into garbage, and run away when you come near. Plants are also astounding here though. For instance, the Flame Lilly is the only climbing Lilly in the world.

 

Posted with Blogsy