The Culps of the Caribbean

But I had no idea what it was.   Now I do. From Wikipedia: The language of Saint Kitts and Nevis is English . However if you have never visited the Caribbean before you may have difficulty understanding the patois, or more correctly the Creole language, spoken by the locals which is based on the English language but to the untrained ear sounds nothing like it. For example "a-come" means coming "a-knock" means knocking. Most notable is the simplification of use of pronouns as in "I and I" which replaces all other pronouns like she/he, we/my, yours, hers/his and ours. The Caribbean patois has its roots not only in African languages (west, central and Nigerian), standard English, Scottish and Spanish but also Perso-Arabic and Sanskrit. Unusually the end result is not just a language but also a philosophical statement which emphasises the group relationship rather than the personal.

The landlord bought several coconuts from some guys standing on the corner.  He had them trim and cut the tops off using a machete in our yard.   He gave me one.  I drank it.  This is St. Kitts fast food.

As I mentioned before, Black Rocks is a couple of miles down the road from our apartment.  When the cruise ships are in-port there are lots of vendors at Black Rocks.  That makes for an excellent opportunity to go grab the St. Kitts version of fast food.     Lots to choose from: BBQ Chicken, Pork Chops, or fried fish.  Sides are beans and rice and corn on the cob.  I got the chicken.  It was delicious.       Headed home I am always taken aback by the view of my workplace and it's proximity to the ocean.

On Saturday morning I headed off to the market.  As I approached the port area I could see the cruise ship Azura .  This ship is on a 3-week trans-Atlantic cruise from England.  3,500 passengers and 1,200 crew. Inside the tourist area, four Segways await to be ridden.  Truly, the people who ride these look like complete dorks . Further away from the tourist area and but just down the street the local food vendors are there to serve the public.  There are 4 western fast food resturants on the island (KFC, Chruch's, Subway and Dominos),  but the local cuisine is far superior. There was a flash mob of activity.  As I peered inside the circle, there was much haggling over the fresh fish. Many fresh fruit and vegetable vendors line the streets leading up to the public market. This blue building is the public market. The market is located right across the street from the fishing port, where the nights catch is much sought after.  T

I am dually legit today.  Got my officially work permit stamped passport so that I am not an illegal alien and also got my St. Kitts Social Security Card.  Who knew?  I guess that means I could retire here.

    So in order to get here, one must fly through the Bermuda Triangle.  That certainly explains the difficulty in getting a steady stream of supplies here from the States.  

Today the sky was very clear and there were few clouds hovering atop Mount Liamuiga. My apartment is on the middle level. I discovered the Saturday fresh market downtown by the port today.  It was very full of vendors.  I did not take this picture 'cause I didn't take my camera [so I stole this one off of the internets].   This will definitely be a weekly stop.

1. Drive on the left side. 2. Riding in the bed of a pick up truck is normal, often standing up. 3. There are no stoplights on the island. 4. There are 2 speeds posted on the island 20 and 40.  It does not specify if it is mph or kph.  Doesn't matter, no one goes either. Ever. 5.  Watch out for goats, sheep, cattle, chickens, and pedestrians (few sidewalks in the villages). 6. There are no drunk driving laws.

Last Day of Kyle's Spring Break Amy wanted to go back to Caribelle's Batik.  One the way there, a goat happens across the street. Village street that winds up to Caribelles. Amy and Kyle amongst the flora. Kyle and I also amongst the flora. Freshly dyed batik material hanging to dry. The wonderous scenes at North Friars Beach.  Just about 5 miles from home. The Breakfast of Champions. Not everything on St. Kitts is beautiful.  In fact there are a lot of things that are eye sores.  This however is a wonder.  It is an auto body shop that keeps their stock of used front ends and bumpers on the roof of their building.

Amy and Kyle visit St. Kitts Kyle sitting on my front porch.  Atlantic Ocean in the background. Just a few miles down the road is Black Rocks.  Volcanic lava had flown into the ocean and created this natural wonder (many eons ago).  Were this to be in the U.S. there would be guard rails and fences preventing people from getting close. Standing atop Timothy Hill over looking Half Moon Bay in the Frigate Bay area of St. Kitts On the other side of Timothy Hill, facing Southward, Kyle stands with the Atlantic Ocean on his right and the Caribbean Sea on his left. Standing in the Atlantic Ocean at Sandy Beach.  The water is extremely clear and nicely warm.  The Atlantic breaks pretty far out and it is relatively shallow for at least 100 yards out. On Cockleshell Bay, We spent the afternoon at the Reggae Beach Bar, which is right on the Caribbean.  Many visitors had left mementos of the alma maters,  Kyle stands before the MSU Spartan

My workplace sits near a cliff. A short walk down a path through the sugar cane behind it leads to the steps down to beach.  I explored it today.  The people at the office rarely go there and it is fairly inaccessible to the nearby villagers.  On the southern end it is rocky and on the northern end it is black sand. View from the top of the steps. Even on the calmest day the Atlantic generates 5-6 ft waves here.   A chunk of coral.     The northern end with the black sand.                   As this beach is rarely visited there is a collection of items that have washed up on shore that have fallen off of boats and such.  Along the high tide line, trapped amongst the drift wood are an unusual/comical number of sandals and flip-flops. This blog will be boring if I keep putting pictures of beach scenes on it.  So I will curtail that.