Gardens and waterfalls

This is going to be the last post about my time in St. Vincent. I know it is overdue, but at least now it is here. The last couple of weeks in the Caribbean, Kristina and I did some sightseeing, so that I could experience the must-dos of the island.

One day, we went to Kingstown to visit the botanical garden and Montreal garden. It was wonderful. The botanical garden had a wonderful alley, see picture. At the top of the alley, there was a space where you could get married. How amazing would that be? It was very well kept, and it was lovely.

From the botanical garden we took an overpriced taxi to the Montreal garden. It is a privately owned garden, and it was absolutely enchanting. There were wonderful flowers everywhere you looked, and cute walkways to experience it all. Most of it was pretty jungle-like, but some parts were manicured and beautiful in that sense. I absolutely loved it and went wild taking pictures of all the wonders of nature.

My last weekend, I decided to visit some waterfalls in the area where I was staying. I went with some friends to a waterfall called Trinity falls. It was quite a long hike, but we found provisions along the way. There were a lot of ripe fruits growing along our route. We found oranges, grapefruit, and mango, and we also bought a pineapple from a farmer we met along the way. The picture shows me holding the almost invisible (or almost eaten) pineapple. It was a bit smaller than I give the impression of, but it was very nice and juicy.

I find water very interesting. We are dependent upon it to survive - our bodies are mostly made up of water. It also makes for interesting visual experiences, and there is something attractive about water falling down a hill or a cliff. It is almost dreamlike to capture in a photograph, but it is the basis of life on this planet. It is everywhere, but at the same time, it captures our interest and draws us to the places where it behaves unusually (i.e. falls down vertically). Clean water is beautiful, not only when it falls down a sheer drop, but when it comes out of our taps or when it saves a baby from dying.

But there are people who don't have access to clean water. In East Africa, there is a drought right now. And instead of just sitting at home enjoying the fact that we can drink the water that comes out of our taps (and the fact that we have water coming out of taps in our homes), we can do something to help other people to enjoy these privileges. If you want to donate to help in the East Africa crisis, you can go here. If you want to help creating a stable and safe water source for communities in developing countries, go here. This organisation works to help children, and therefore also works on creating clean water sources. Water is vital for our survival, and everyone should have access to it.

The day after I had visited Trinity falls, I visited Dark View falls. This is closer to where I was staying, and a wonderful quiet haven. The falling water seemed dreamlike and magical when captured with a camera. It seemed like a beautiful veil, fit for the princess of the forest, from a forgotten fairy tale.

I have a feeling most of you didn't understand last week's blog post. I made a promise to myself that when I finished my challenge of reading 30 books between Christmas 2010 and Christmas 2011, I would write a very silly story incorporating all the titles of the books I had read. So that was last week's blog post, and you can check it out here. Now that I have completed my challenge, I think it is time to reveal to you all that I have had another reading challenge going for a while. I want to join many other people in trying to read 50 books in 2011. So I will be removing the book I read in 2010 from my list, and I will count books and pages read from January 1, 2011.

Books read: 29
Pages read: 7824

23. Volcano

Today we (most of the students at the academy, and the horse team) walked to the volcano, the highest peak in St. Vincent. It is called La Soufrière, and the highest point is at 1234 metres elevation. We can see the peak from the academy, but we left at 5.30 AM to drive to the other side of the island (and mountain). The drive took 3 hours, around the island to Georgetown, which is almost directly opposite to where we came from. We drove the long way around (via Kingstown) because that way, the roads are better. Of course, it ended up being me who told the driver to stop because I was carsick. So I ended up starting the trail on an empty stomach. There are very winding roads here, and we were sitting in a van without seat belts, really packed together (but not wanting to squish the other people).

When we arrived at the trail and started walking, the time was 8.45. I ended up almost at the back, with a group of 4 people (me included) who kept a very slow, but steady pace. I liked it very much, although it was hot, and I was sweating so that my T-shirt was wet through. The nature was beautiful, and I was not feeling sick at all. It was a bit heavy, especially when there were steps to climb that were taller than up to my knees. We took enough good breaks. When we came to above the tree line, the trail became much steeper. I took my time, and arrived at the rim at approximately 12.30 PM, having spent nearly 4 hours on the walk up.

The crater of the volcano.
The hot spot is the white area with the steam,
 and behind the hill in the middle, you can see the lake.

We took a good break at the top, then walked around the rim to where there was a place to go down into the crater. Seven people went down into the crater to go to the 'hot spot' of the volcano. This volcano is active, and the last time it erupted was in 1979. The name 'Soufrière' is French for sulfur outlet, and that was exactly what it was. We could smell the sulfur in the air when we were walking the rim.

After a good break, we headed down on the other side, towards Richmond Vale Academy, or, as I refer to it now: home. I took it really slow, as I have a history of knee problems. My knees started protesting early on, so I had to press on through pain to get home, down from the volcano. I finally made it home at about 5.30 PM (after wading through two rivers and walking a deep dried-up gorge a river had made), and I could hardly stand. My knees were aching and protesting even when I was sitting down.

I took some painkillers, and then it was time for dinner, which was pizza! Lovely, home made pizza! When I finished eating, I could hardly keep my eyes open, but I had to share this experience with you (and I can't fail at BEDA when I have come this far).

Even though there was a lot of pain involved in the end, I enjoyed the hike very much. I suspect I will feel it in my muscles tomorrow and on Monday, but it was a very nice day. The nature (jungle) and the view was fascinating and breath-taking (when I had any to spare, that is). A big thank you goes out to the people who kept an even, slow tempo that I could follow, and who walked with me when I was really slow.

Books read: 18
Pages read: 4816

13. Knife!

Today, we started the day by checking the fence around the large banana field. Yesterday, we discovered that after the heavy rain and wind during the night, a huge clump of tree creepers and vines had fallen down right on top of the fence, and stretched it. Yesterday, we didn't have good tools for attacking this clump of entangled green mess, but we at least got it off the fence. So today, we had exchanged one of the clippers (the worst one) for a machete. That is the solution in most tropical areas (or areas prone to jungles, if you will) for clearing and cutting things. No garden shears here! Instead you have this huge, heavy, dangerous-looking knife. I felt a bit dangerous and really cool swinging a knife which was as long as my arm. So we attacked the green clump, and managed to get it out of the way. It was a lot of fun (but I am sure I will feel it in my arms tomorrow).

We then proceeded to continue clearing the main pasture of tree creepers, bushes and other green things the horses don't eat. I was swinging my machete, clearing some vines and creepers from an old rotting tree stump (or something like that). I had just removed a curtain of green stuff, and I saw a white shell. You know, the kind you find on the sea shore (the big versions). Then I realised that it was alive! The shell was the home of a hermit crab! And this is a ten minute walk UP quite a steep hill from the beach! How in the world did that get there? And how did it survive? Yes, it was a moist spot under a wet, rotting tree, protected by a curtain of tree creepers. But all the same, I found it incredible. And the crab wasn't very small, either, as you can see from the picture. I was just baffled, and after watching it for a while, ran to get my camera. I had to save this moment forever, and create proof that I actually did experience this (impossible though it may seem).

That concludes this 'strange and really cool things that happened to me today' blog post. And for those of you wondering, I sort of saved the poor crab. I put it under a similar curtain by the same tree which I did not cut away. But I still wonder how much longer it could have survived. Oh, the absurdities of nature (and oh, how incurably curious I am).

Books read: 17
Pages read: 4680

Edit: I found out the crab was actually a land crab, but I still don't really know how it lives. It presumably eats bugs and other things it finds. In Norwegian, 'landkrabbe' (directly translated: 'land crab') is the name of a non-seafaring person, a 'landlubber' according to google translate. I find that name for this crab quite fitting, so I have now named my first crab (or type of crab, if you are being picky).

9. Jungle and restaurant adventures

Today was the last day of the clinic 'Yoga and Rituals for Riding' with Farah DeJohnette and Stina Herberg which has been going on this week. It finished with two great adventures in one day.

The first adventure was a jungle walk to a ruin of an old sugar mill together with all the horses. We had to cross quite a wide river to get there and then go through the jungle on paths that were so faint you could hardly see them. It was just so green! Lots and lots of different shades of green, and it was really beautiful. When we had bushwhacked (not literally) for a while, we came to the old and crumbing ruins of the sugar mill.

We found out from reading the inscription on an old piece of machinery that that part had been made in Glasgow in 1855. So we figured that a bit over 100 years was approximately how long it took for nature to take over. Because nature really had taken over this mill. There were tree creepers everywhere, and even a big tree. Everything made of wood was gone, together with a lot of the iron and steel parts, so the only things standing were the crumbling stone foundations. The hill behind it was covered in huge leaves the size of umbrellas, and it created a nice backdrop for this example of nature taking back its own.

Then we walked through the jungle a little bit more, and came out on the beach. It was a beautiful bay, and I spent some time just sitting there enjoying the view and listening to the waves breaking. I thought it reminded me of the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' films, especially the rock outcropping which was almost an island (see picture). We walked back mostly along the beach, and came back home in time to see another wonderful sunset.

That evening Stina and Farah had decided that a good way to end the clinic was to take all the participants (luckily including me) out to dinner. We drove for approximately an hour towards Kingstown, and parked by what looked like a shut down restaurant. Then Stina said that we had to cross the river to get to the restaurant we were going to. So everyone rolled their trousers up and waded into the water. It was a bit chilly, the river had a rocky bottom, and we were wading in the dark. As you can imagine, it was quite a challenge.

We got safely across to the opposite bank, and arrived, after a short beach walk, at the Black Baron. It was a pirate themed restaurant run by a French couple. The food was absolutely delicious, and the setting was just wonderful. The restaurant mainly had guests from sailing boats who stop there to eat (that was why it was hard to get to from land). It was nice and rustic, and it had posters from the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' films. What a coincidence! I hadn't known we were going to a pirate restaurant earlier today when I thought of the films! So the restaurant adventure was a success, even though one of the others fell in the river on the way back. It was so nice in the restaurant, and I felt a bit like a child in there, especially when the participants of the clinic started dressing up in pirate things.

Overall, this day has been wonderful. Two great adventures in one day! Wow!

Books read: 17
Pages read: 4582