9 Cubans and a Kansan visit St. Kitts: day one

Leaving St. Kitts

Remnants of an abandoned sugar mill

Sunshine's Bar and Grill

The world (or at least our table) through Shawn's eyes

The birthplace of Alexander Hamilton

Satanica demonstrates why it is a bad idea to fall asleep on the St Kitts/ Nevis ferry

Frigate Bay (back in St. Kitts)

As readers of this blog may have noticed, through a combination of my work and the abundant time off that it allows me, I get to often indulge my gypsy spirit and visit locations both near and far. The downside of this lifestyle is that all that traveling keeps me from spending a lot of time with my family and friends. So this makes my last adventure extra sweet, in that it allowed me to have my cake, eat it and chase it down with a Carib beer. On the weekend of Sept. 18th-20th, I got to visit the serenely beautiful islands of St. Kitts and Nevis along with (deep breath..) my man, Shawn; my mother, Mami and her friend and fun loving ex-New Yorker Maggie; my brother, avid and talented photographer and frequent commenter on this here blog, Roland and his wife Magda; my wonderfully evil friend Martha (nicknamed Satanica); my deceptively evil but very funny friend, Betty and finally my long lost evil friend Lily and her decidedly non-evil husband Israel. My friends, who I never get to spend enough time with (partially due to the fact that 2 of them have reproduced...twice) are immense fun, quick, clever and I can not emphasize this enough, evil. They are constantly on the lookout for a victim for their next practical joke and it was my sincere concern that they might engage in some questionable Spanish lessons with Shawn, the only non-Cuban in our midst, while my back was turned. But justified concerns aside, it was wonderful to have the chance to share this adventures with people I so enjoy.

Shortly after we landed on St. Kitts and checked into our respective hotels (the charmingly worn Frigate Bay Resort for me and my pals, the more upscale and thus more popular Marriott for my family), we hopped upon a ferry bound for the neighboring island of Nevis, where I had arranged for Stedroy and his "Smile on Me taxi" to give us a tour around the island. While waiting for that ferry, we had passed the time drinking the local brew, Carib beer, which we were happy to learn was also sold on the ferry itself. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Stedroy's welcoming smile. He in return, was greeted by 10 people in need of a toilet and also more beer. He happily accomodated all our needs and set off to show off the most picturesque sights his island had to offer. He took us to a natural hot spring, to scenic overlooks, to an abandoned sugar mill (which I am ashamed to say, this being at least an hour into our tour, we used as a public toilet of sorts...every time you tried to enter a nook or cranny, there was either an alarmed scream or a request for toilet paper coming at you), to the St. James Anglican church with its black Jesus (where, to the best of my knowledge, no pissing took place), to the funky Sunshine's Beach Bar and Grill on Pinney Beach, where more Caribs were imbibed and finally to where we started, the downtown port city of Charlestown, where my mother single-handily caused what I am sure will be hereafter known as the great souvenir shortage of '08, by buying everything that had a price tag on it (and a few things that probably didn't). Our tour completed, we parted with Stedroy and headed back to St. Kitts, for a much needed nap followed by a night of bar hopping on Frigate Bay in search of, what else, more Caribs, where I suspect that Shawn may have learned some words that he probably should not share with my souvenir-laden mother.