Thursday 8 January 2015

Caribbean - St. Lucia















We spent the day in St. Lucia which I was very excited about as I've heard so many people talk about spending their honeymoons there etc and all I've heard is good things about it. The first thing I noticed about the island is how lush it is. The Caribbean is full of rain forest-y islands but there isn't a place you look in St. Lucia where you can't see an abundance of greenery which is lovely and refreshing after visiting places like Egypt and Morocco etc which has such high temperatures but no greenery in site! 

Firstly, we visited the markets as there was a huge market very close to us selling goods and also... FOOD. Yum, I got a fresh coconut for a dollar! All the goods are great and actually have some things worth buying, unlike most touristy places I find, so do go have a look if you have time! And don't forget to barter! 

We did as we usually did and hired a car for the day as we found that it was quite cheap when we split it and also we could do whatever we wanted without having to worry about finding a taxi in the middle of the rainforest for example. We did a tour of the island which we usually went for as these islands are generally so small that you can see a lot in a little time and we went to the "mud baths". My Dad says that the mud baths are really a huge scam and he bets that all the people who run them are secretly laughing at all the tourists that believe this crap about rubbing mud all over your body will somehow help you but I just thought it was funny and coming from a family (my mums side) which is very organic and nature orientated and also has a history of breaking out in spots , we loved the idea of using the earth to help our skins. As we drove there, there was a weird smell and none of us could work out what it was except for the fact that it smelt like a mixture of farts and eggs (nice, I know) and the closer we got to the mud baths, the more stinky it got. Once we got out of the taxi, we realised that it was the Sulfur from the rocks which was the cause of the smell so we would just have to deal with it haha. It wasn't too expensive and there are toilets, changing rooms and eating areas (if you want to eat in an area that smells like eggs... we didn't haha). The experience begins with hopping into a muddy water pool which is naturally heated by the earth to 38 degrees Celsius! After that you go and put some "white" mud on your body, wherever you like, from the buckets of it provided. After letting that dry, you go to the mud area at the back of the pool which was a natural little pool of mud which you could swim in and put "black" mud over the top of the white mud. After letting this dry (you can wear it for as long as you want, but it begins to get a little drying), you go back in the muddy pool that you first got in and washed it off. There are showers available to get all the excess mud off you. It's a great experience (except for the smell, which you do get used to after a while) and I would recommend it! 

After the mud baths we went to a waterfall which you can swim in. The water however, was absolutely freezing, especially in comparison to the heated mud pool we had just been in, so we didn't hang around long. We dipped our heads under the waterfall and swam around for a bit but not for long! Lovely waterfall though. 

After being treated to fresh cocoa (which I actually prefer to chocolate, even though you can only suck it and not swallow it) by the taxi driver, we headed to a local restaurant where we had the standard local meal of chicken in various sauces, macaroni pie, salad and rice, and of course lots of rum and coke before heading back.

Gee xxx

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