Sunday was probably our biggest day and definitely one of the best.
It began with 9 am LDS Church services in the only branch on the island -
about a 15 minute taxi drive from our resort.
Sacrament meeting's assigned theme was "Be Thou Humble,"
a subject that the speakers knew of and conveyed well
and the highlight of Sacrament meeting
was the confirmation into the church of an 18-year-old lovely young woman.
The missionary couple we befriended that day told us that her parents didn't approve of her joining the church,
so she faithfully waited two years until she was of legal age and she had been baptized the previous day.
The Sunday School Gospel Doctrine teacher gave one of the finest lessons I've heard.
A likable St. Kitts native, he engaged the class to participate with thought-provoking questions and cute humor.
A native returned missionary, now the father of a couple of kids, who sat behind Roger and I,
made some profound observations.
I love to observe the teachings of the Gospel in action when we travel and visit the wards and branches.
Though we are all living in such different circumstances,
the message is the same and we are all equally-loved, God's children.
There are about 600 taxi drivers on the island, and we had previously determined
that it would be much cheaper to take taxis to where we wanted to go than to rent cars,
especially because the eight of us could fit in just one. They were always lined up,
eager to take us anywhere. The prices of the shorter hops were pretty-well set,
but for our tour around the island we planned after church, we negotiated a great price with the driver, Dennis.
This pic was taken later in the day at one of the scenic points where Dennis took us.
We thoroughly enjoyed Dennis. In his youth, he had been a professional rugby player
and he knew the history of the island well and kept up a fluent, informative banter.
John chimed in, too, and we really got a "Cook's Tour!"
We toured all around the outside of the island.
There are no interior roads through the mountains.
Note our Marriott resort in the distance.
All the guys were taking many pics throughout the day,
so here are some of some of the scenic ones I picked to show on the blog.
Recorded history of St. Kitts begins with Christopher Columbus' second voyage in 1493,
when he spotted it and named it.
However, settlement did not begin until 1623 when Englishman Thomas Warner's ship arrived.
He left his family there and sailed back to England to get more recruits to come back with him
to establish a settlement.
Soon after his second arrival, French settlers came and an Anglo-French rivalry spanned over 100 years.
After a native uprising of Kalinago natives and enforcements of other Caribs from surrounding islands,
the Brits ambushed the native men in their beds, killing hundreds.
Not such a different story from wherever Anglo explorers have invaded natives' lands.
There were many of these egrets on the island -
note the nest of mother bird and her babies.
(These next two pics are especially for you, Ken!)
As we approached Romney Manor, originally the site where a Carib Indian Chief had his village,
the landscape became more dense and lush.
For centuries, St. Kitts occupied a critical position in the European struggle for the islands of the West Indies,
which were rich with sugar plantations and it was considered the gateway to the Caribbean.
Romney Manor was a 10 acre sugar plantation.
This Batik factory was closed on Sunday, but I later found, on our Sister Shopping day,
a caftan made from St. Kitts Batik.
During the long history of this site, the owners have witnessed the crushing of cane by animal power,
wind power and water power.
With almost 100% humidity, the lush plant life was thriving.
Goat families roamed freely.
Roger felt right at home.
Next stop was at the ruins of this church, where Thomas Warner is buried.
We wound up a steep road to explore Brimstone Hill.
In its heyday, Brimstone Hill was known as "The Gibraltar of the West Indies,"
referring to its imposing steepness and height, its proximity to the sea and its seeming invulnerability.
After a decisive British victory over the French at Brimstone Hill in 1782,
the Treaty of Paris of 1783 granted the islands to Britain.
In 1983 St. Kitts & Nevis gained full independence.
We walked through rooms where the British soldiers and their families lived.
This pic shows those rooms below, with the hand-painted form of a soldier on one of the doors.
Handsome British soldier
Cannons were first mounted on Brimstone Hill in 1690 by the British.
The French had not considered it possible to transport cannons
up the steep and thickly-wooded sides of Brimstone Hill.
There were many killer steps to get to the top,
but what a spectacular view!
Back down the steps from the top at the Visitor's Center, John shared his ice cream with this stray cat.
Patty put out a little dish of milk for a stray cat living at our resort.
Evidently this has been a pattern throughout their lives.
Hearts of gold and a weakness for animals, those two!
Coming back down from the top, Joan jumped out to get a pic of us going through the narrow opening.
Dennis then took us to a spectacular viewpoint.
What a gorgeous beach and pic shows the narrow road we traveled on our almost 5-hour tour.
Our final stop on our tour was at a scenic spot
where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea.
Dennis let us off at The Strip, where we had predetermined to have the Sunday buffet at Sunset Cafe.
We arrived about an hour before it opened, so we waited and watched the sunset.
Finally, they seated us for dinner.
We hadn't had lunch, so we were starving!
We tried native dishes, including breadfruit au gratin, ribs, fish and some native veggies.
A beautiful sunset ended a very full, but very rewarding day!
I'll leave Part 2 with a shot of this beautiful couple.
Stay tuned for the finale, Part 3 . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment