Long Over Due

Welcome to the whoops too much is going on post.  (Also there was a period where my internet was out)
Very eventful few weeks.  We started meeting with the students the past two weeks and everything has been very exciting.  Many of the kids are excited to go out in the environment and work on some sort of project!  The clubs are still in their infancy stage, but there are tons of great projects already in the works.  The weekend of May 12th we went down to Soufriere and hiked Gros Piton.  It was quite a ways up there and lots of heat to make you tired.   I drank 3 liters of water and it took us 4 and a half hours to go up and down, but once we reached the beach at the bottom to cool off the hard work and beautiful views were definitely worth it.

Southern Coast of Saint Lucia

Petit Piton from the top of Gros Piton

Success!

View of the peak from the beach

Anse L'Ivorgne Beach @ the base of Gros Piton

The following week we sat on Point Seraphine and enjoyed some craft beer from Antillia Brewery in Castries and enjoyed the sunset.  Definitely some of the better beer I have had on Island because most people drink Heineken or some form of Piton.  They also have Guiness which doesn't seem to be hugely popular.

Sunset on the Castries Waterfront

This past Monday was Whit Monday so we had a long weekend.  We definitely took advantage.  Sunday we did a beach restoration where they had a few sea turtles nest at Pigeon Island.  It was hard work, but we were rewarded with a nice beach and some good food!  Monday we did touristy stuff and took a snorkeling tour down to Chastanet, Soufriere.  We saw a lot of cool things even tho we noticed the coral was not as colorful as it could be due to lots of silt runoff.  We saw sea urchins (sea eggs), pufferfish, Lobsters, flounder, sea crabs, angel fish, several species of parrot fish and many many more.  It was very awesome.  Next thing on the list of sea adventures is to get scuba certified.

The past few weeks I've also joined a karate class to stay active.  It has been very exhausting every Tuesday and Thursday but very rewarding.  We meet at the local sports complex and have done a lot of technique and self defense.  It is taking me some time to get back and shape and change styles yet again.  It is more of a street fighting style and we do a lot of close combat stuff and trade punches and kicks.  It is slowly getting easier and shaking some of the rust off.  Now I just need to get back into the routine of running again! Almost forgot that finally in my free time I went to the cinema on island and finally watched Avengers.  It was .....interesting even after all the spoilers everyone put on Facebook.  Staying busy and active and hopefully I will remember to record more things.  Some of the things I do on Island are just second nature to me now and even though they are extremely exciting I just enjoy every moment.  Continue to enjoy life and take joy in even the small things.  Sometimes the small things are the things most cherished! 

So long for now!

Everything is Irie!

After finishing up our initial school meetings and enjoying Labor Day off on May 1st, our work week consisted of trying to schedule the planning meeting.  All the fun of trying to plan around busy people with busy schedules.  I cooked a nice Turkey Chili on my day off and had a great week.  Thursday I joined a local karate class and it was quite a bit of cardio.  All the exercise I had hoped for!!!!  Friday we enjoyed the Friday Night Fish Fry in Gros Islet.  The night was filled with lots of partying and dancing.....(yes I danced...well sorta)  Because this area is between a lot of hotels it was quite the crowd.  Saturday I recouped and enjoyed a little beach time....because the beach is amazing and I walk everywhere.   One thing I am not used to is the fact that everyone is surprised at the amount I walk.  If it wasn't always a beautiful 80 degrees here I would literally walk everywhere as long as I had the time.  Saturday night I stumbled upon a street Party in Castries that they are trying to start back up.  It was a little slow, but always get to meet some fun people and enjoy time with my friends that I made here. Today, My wild guy buddy invited me over for lunch.  Had some nice curry goat and all the fixins.  I definitely will not get used to how everyone keeps telling me I won't stay single long here.   Definitely a culture shock on that account. This week is kicking off the jazz festival before Calypso.  Should have a lot of stories. 

I didn't really take any pictures this week. So I will have to do better on that account next week.  Lots of fun being a Lucian.  Gotta keep on exploring!!!

Week 7

After a long week preparing for school visits the end of the week went very quickly.  Friday we visited three schools in the North and on Monday we finished up with our final two schools further South.  All five of our schools are a combination of primary and secondary schools with a wide range of previous involvement with environmental type activities.  The one thing they all share is a group of staff very enthusiastic about the "Conservation Clubs."  This first meeting was just an introduction and we are scheduling the follow up structuring meetings the coming weeks.  The more we actually meet with the stakeholders the more this project will gain some momentum.  The weekend was spent hiking down a nature trail maintained by the Forestry Department where they keep a few animals in a mini zoo on Saturday and visiting our fellow volunteer more in the center of the Island.  I did finally find some hot peppers that grow on the island and am excited to make some good sauces with them.  Unfortunately, the day after my stomach was a little upset.  Going to have to be a little more careful what food I ingest for a bit. The comings weeks are going to be full of excitement and more exploring..... I even found a martial arts class to join!  Stay tuned Peeps!

Towards the end of our Hike on the Union Nature Trail

Anse La Raye Beach (a small fishing village)

Weeks 5 and 6

Thursday April 12th

We went to the beach at Ti Kai village.  This beach is harder to get to so we were trying to go on a cruise ship day to try and bring a little order and sustainable tourism.  Its an interesting problem to solve because everyone is used to doing something a certain way that probably is actually hurting everyone's business.

Friday April 13th

I just realized that we had a Friday the 13th like two weeks after the fact.  A testament to how busy we've been.  This day was interesting because we went down and met with our southern branch and some hotels to check out the happenings in Vieux Fort.  This beach had a massive amount of sargassum seaweed.  Right of the coast is one of the nature reserves that is a major point of interest for both nature nerd and traveler.   The Maria Islands are beautiful from the beach and I can't wait to take a tour and possibly the endemic Fer-de-lance snake (which is poisonous).  I also tried some new foods like creole bread (delicious), and pig tail bouillon (fatty and not my cup of soup ).  We also got to go around the small fishing village a little more and have more of an island type experience.

Vieux Fort Beach with Sargassum

Another Part of Vieux Fort Beach

Maria Islands Nature Reserve from the beach

Saturday April 14th

This day I finally went into Castries to experience the Market.  I bought some local curry, onions, and green peppers for some Chicken Curry....which turned out amazing.  We also met up with several of the two year volunteers for lunch and discussions.  I spent this day walking around til I was finally exhausted, but it was extremely productive buying things to cook some delectable dishes.  Need to add more dishes to my repertoire while I am here!

Week of April 15- 21

We spent a lot of time in the office trying to prep for our school visits.  I think we are making some progress.  We also were privileged with a trip to meet more of the members of the Saint Lucia National Trust who we will be working with on our project.  We made a few stops on the way to our meeting to take care of some NCA business on the beaches as well.  We got our foot in the door with the Director of the National Trust and became members of the National Trust and made plans for Earth Day with them on Sunday.

Reduit Beach with Pigeon Island in the background

Lunch after our Meeting  Curry Chicken (one of my favorite dishes now)

April 22nd EARTH DAY 

 How do I explain this eventful day?

We started off meeting the National Trust bus in Castries to head up to Pigeon Island.  We cleaned up probably about 15-20 bags of trash, and another effort the day before cleaned up 47 bags of trash on Gros Islet Beach.  It was a successful effort. While waiting for the evening activity "Sòlèy Kouché,"  we walked up signal peak again and spent some time swimming on the beach and getting burnt. It was totally worth it.  We went for a snack while it rained for the last few minutes before the event and it didn't disappoint.  They had really passionate speakers on the theme of "Ending Plastic Pollution."  Several people from volunteers to the Fisheries department came out.  We even were treated to some cultural music and a dance performance from a local dance troupe.  I have been having fun (and working hard), but this was by my favorite day to date.  It just so happened that it was an event similar to volunteering with my favorite groups back home.

The Dance Performance: A Tree, Plastic and...I think the girl was either humans or Mother Earth.

Second Trip to the top of Signal Peak

Week 4 ish

I have been slacking on writing in this thing and my journal.  The busier I get the harder it is to keep up with this.  I will try and do better folks. Last week was mostly researching different programs and nature reserves and management areas on Saint Lucia. I also tried a new food, Soursop, which is EXTREMELY delicious.  Its hard to describe the flavor.  The ones I have tried are pretty sweet which is contrary to the descriptions I've read where most are sour.  The texture is creamy apple in my opinion.  During the weekend tho I did get the chance to go swimming on Vigie Beach (pictures in a previous post of the beach).   I really spent that time relaxing and counting my blessings.  It was a great day to be on the beach.  Now that my fellow volunteer is here we get to start meeting with other stakeholders in the environmental clubs and the real fun begins!  Things will get more exciting.  ( Well even more exciting than island life).

More exciting stuff coming!

Week 3

First Real Week on the Job

Monday was a day filled with researching all I could about Saint Lucia and the curriculum that was currently in place.  The rest of the week, I had the pleasure of venturing out to different parts of the island to meet with stakeholders at the different beaches.  

Tuesday, our meeting was at Cappella Resort with several hotel owners close to the area, the police, and the licensed vendors.  This location was at the very scenic Marigot Bay where several movies have been shot like Dr. Dolittle (according to the advertisements).  This area is pretty remote and access to running water is a little difficult.  All stakeholders involved had very valid concerns that circled around similar problems.  One thing that many of the beaches share in common is unlicensed vendors trying to make a living.  It's a very difficult proposition to try and have a solution that fits everybody and the health of the beach.  However, everyone similarly agreed that if the beach is getting bad reviews then it hurts all the stakeholders. It seemed like a very productive meeting.  After the meeting, we were treated to a lunch at the resort restaurant and celebrated my supervisors birthday which was a pleasant surprise.

On Wednesday, We headed off to Sugar Beach in  scenic Soufriere near the iconic Pitons. I was  given a leave of absence from this meeting and was able to sight see at the Sulfur Springs Caldera.  It rained a bit as it usually does on a tropical island, but the views were gorgeous.   On the way back, we stopped and bought some Cassava bread, a gluten free unleavened bread, which comes in an assortment of  delicious flavors from guava to cherry to chocolate!

"Touching" The Piton

Sulfur Springs Caldera

Sugar Beach

Making the local treat of Cassava Bread

On Thursday, we went around a few of the beaches in the north with the Minister of our area to inspect some potential issues that could be addressed. Several of these beaches are a lot further inland than they used to be due to climate change and rising oceans.  The thing that was etched in my memory the most was when the Minister said how he remembered the beach being a good 20 feet further from the airport.  The same traces of climate change can be seen on Reduit Beach which is highly populated due to tourists coming on cruise ships.   There is a berm to stop the waves and seaweed from coming into the parking lot, but they still have water flowing over during rough seas or high tide. 

On Saint Lucia they observe Good Friday and Easter Monday as holidays so I had a long weekend. Saturday I got out and explored Pigeon Island where Fort Rodney is located with another response volunteer.  This fort was fought over due to its strategic position and scenic views.  I was not fully prepared for the large hills that we climbed, but it was a fun little excursion!

Martinique in the distance from the Fort

Top of the Hill exhausted

Pitons in the distance from the Fort

The Delayed Update

Last week of Training

Monday we met with our counterparts which I am working with the National Conservation Agency.  Tuesday we met with some other volunteers who had very sound advice on what not to do on social media and other things. Which was interesting, because the following day there was an article by NPR explaining the exact thing that a person shouldn't have done and the website that we referenced.  Wednesday we found our way around town to important locations like the police station, hospital and work. I did happen to get turned around a few times, but the Lucians were very kind to help me out.  So far everywhere we ride the bus and getting around has been pretty easy.  Getting lost also treated me to some fantastic view over Castries.   

Friday was our first day at work and I got to meet the rest of the office staff.  I may have said this before, but everyone is so friendly.  I got the grand tour of the northern beaches and got to see a tiny part of what the NCA does. The areas were amazing.  I was a little surprised that Reduit Beach was so much more crowded than any other beach.  It was the one right next to mall and a few bars tho which tourists tend to flock toward.   I also got to taste a local snack called Cassava bread (unleavened bread) which is made from a root and usually has some sort of fruit mixed in.  It was pretty delicious and gluten free! This week I am researching a little bit about the island's marine resources and a few more site visits to learn more of what the NCA is responsible for.  I will try not to wait so long to update again!  Bonjou!