Check out the little buddy we made at Villas Des Pitons in Soufriere. He begged outside our door every night.
By this point we had been in St Lucia long enough to not believe the locals camped out at the trail head trying to convince us we needed to pay them to visit Anse la Raye Falls, or at least give them $5 EC to borrow a walking stick. After a short shady hike we reached the falls, populated by a couple of mid-sized tours and their enthusiastic guides.
We didn't chance diving in though--the water in the pools below was green!
La Sikwi is a restored 19th century sugar mill in Anse la Raye, St Lucia.
Once abandoned on an old estate in the fertile inland hills for many decades, today the mill holds a museum. The grounds surrounding the mill are now a tropical garden. It's a familiar story on St Lucia: remnants of the days when agriculture was king revamped to harvest what it can money from the island's new cash crop, tourists.
Inside the mill, an impressive water wheel once leased by the government to provide hydroelectric energy for the town.
Fruit harvested from trees in the gardens: bananas, citrus, cocoa.
This aqueduct carried water to power the wheel inside.
The gardens are colorful, functional, and varied.
In a room below the mill, holes in the wall for stoking fires used in the sugar-refining process. A bar was added, now large tours take lunch in this room.
These little buildings on a hill make up the little fishing town of Anse la Raye, St Lucia.
Being foreign and trying to navigate the narrow roads here in a rented 4WD is an excellent way to get everyone in town to come out and try to talk to you while you're driving, which in a way is charming but for shy people like us was a bit overwhelming. I suppose that's a small town for you. I would have liked to have gotten more photographs but walking around town with a camera would have made us even more conspicuous, if such a thing were possible.
From the highway, the town and bay of Anse la Raye.
Anse la Raye beach littered with fishing vessels and construction equipment. The two residents here in the water are bathing their dogs. I saw many dogs on St Lucia, but these were the only ones I saw who appeared to have owners.
Church and cemetery on the waterfront.
I was supposed to work on the Fourth, but due to low census in the ICU I was put on-call instead, which meant I got to hobble down to Breckenridge Park with Thomas (he's still recovering from his rock-climbing injury) and watch the big fireworks show. I brought along my Joby-pod and had some long exposure fun.
(I didn't use my flash, the light is from a passing car)
