"Every Little Thang, S'Gonna Be Alright"
Written: Mar 25 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Escapist retreat, All paid for resorts, Tons of activities, Friendly natives, Beautiful weather, Lovely Land
Cons: Expensive, IS a resort for you?, the fer de lance snake
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| eeks's Full Review: St. Lucia |
I am on vacation right now. Rejoice. I am here enjoying the many grayed splendor of non-sunny Providence. Well, as part of my “sunny”, dreary spring break here in my dorm in Providence, I am embarking upon a vicarious excursion of writing about the places to which I have journeyed and enjoyed in the past. Sit back and have a Pina Colada.
During spring break (late March) when I was 14, but a wee lad, I was treated to the lovely experience of traveling to a wee island by the name of St. Lucia. After a long hockey season that culminated in playoffs wherein my shoulder popped in and out of its socket, I was REAL excited to get some time off with my best friend Kyle and his parents. Nestled in the wee Caribbean Sea, St. Lucia is part of the lesser Antilles and about 400 miles from the northern shores of oil laden Venezuela (I used Randmcnally.com and it had the most exquisite map, with super amounts of zooming from a satellite view to a close up, WOW, like Phillip Magnavox told me, it really IS getting better all the time). St. Lucia is a rather popular tourist place, specifically for the resort crowd, in fact, *I* stayed at a resort.
Remember: This is through the eyes of a 14 year old (at the time) male (at the time?!) from a suburb of Boston. Just keep that in mind.
The Resort
I actually do not remember what it was called (nor does anyone else from my trip), but it was expensive and had its positives. Essentially, if you choose the resort route, you get the following: paid for meals at designated times (all you can eat three times a day, plus ours allowed unlimited drinks 24/7), a safe/sheltered environment full of other tourists, lots of activities/lessons available by sign-up (scuba diving, wind surfing, glass-bottomed boating, parasailing, et alia), friendly workers who are paid to make you happy and everything is facile and paid for. You do miss out on a lot though: reality and the real people who live on the island, more opportunities to explore and be adventuresome, cheaper, better lodging, and a vacation that deviates at all from the track.
The Land, The Weather, The Sun
Beautiful. The trip from the airport to the resort's side of the island was full of hills that made for some stunning views. The resort itself was also lovely with its own cove with a cliff on one side. The water was clean and clear, like some sort of dream. St. Lucia is about 1000 miles from the equator and hence, it was toasty, but I was coming from a brutal New England winter, so warmth made me happy. It was also very dry as they were in the midst of a drout (common in January-March), which made the heat a more tolerable dry heat.
The People
Extremely cordial to the point where they seem like they were pandering to tourists; I didn't mind since everyone came across as friendly. In fact, one man in town was so friendly that he came up to me and said "Hey man, wassup, wanna buy some grass?" as he held out a half full black plastic trash baggy. Now if he had been selling Coca-Cola, he would have had me. They natively speak a creolish mix of English and French; my semester of eight grade French was useless, but then again I was the worst speaker/understander of French in the history of French students. Most every islander speaks understandable English.
The coolest peeps were the taxi drivers. All the taxis in which I traveled were van type vehicles, but what made the drivers cool was their ability to fearlessly navigate the scariest driving I have ever seen. Twisty roads often times consisting of one lane running up and down steep hills; the turns were so tight that visibility before the turn was sometimes about 20 meters. So how did we not die? They are meticulous drivers who manage to drive at VERY fast speeds and warn each other when they come around the bend by tooting the horn. I was astounded; one of the most amazing driving feats I have ever experienced. The experience was akin to the defunct Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (the greatest ride ever, replaced by a stinkin Pooh Bear ride) at Disney World; this is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.
The Snake
I did not encounter the fer-de-lance snake, but rest assured if I had, I would be dead or I would have eeked a high pitched scream like a school girl and ran away.
What to do
I lounged, swam, played volleyball, learned the basics of SCUBA diving, glass-bottomed boated, wind-surfed, jet-skied, snorkeled, hot-tubbed, shopped in the city, and goofed with some other kids which Kyle and I met. Probably the best part was just chilling and chitting with the people we met; a couple of cute girls and a random funny guy. I am a people person more than an activity person - I can entertain myself without activity as long as there is another person whom I find interesting. But I was still blessed with the fact that there was opportunity to do every and any sunny vacation type activity in St. Lucia. Plus, the European women all took their tops off on the beach. Oddly, not nearly as exciting as it sounds, but all the men probably woke up when they read that.
Caveats and Assorted Advice
I never used their currency, the "Eastern Caribbean dollar," and I used US dollars for everything. As in all tourist spots be careful not to be gouged when you buy things. Make the most out of all your opportunities. I think this would be a great place for a honeymoon, as the atmosphere, even to a 14 year old boy, was romantic.
Conclusion
I think the key to any vacation is determining up front what exactly you seek to extract from it. If you want a warm escapist retreat from reality at a high price, then go to a resort in St. Lucia. I loved it at the time; it gave me everything that I wanted in a vacation. St. Lucia compared favorably with the resorts in which I had stayed in Eleuthra, Cancun, Guadalupe, the Bahamas and St. Marten. It let me live the credo “Don’t worry be happy.” Plus, I got to flirt with the 14 year old version of Claudia Schiffer, a young looker named Sandra; she was German, but danced more like she was Nuts (imagine “Sprockets” on crack).
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
eeks
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Willy Holt
Location: Boston, Mass
Reviews written: 58
Trusted by: 157 members
About Me:
Wow--looking back on this half my articles were atrocious and embarassingly titled--all for the bling-bling.
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