Senior Games 2009... Cane RACES!!!

Monday was a Holiday in St. Lucia and some of the other volunteers and I went to the Senior Games. They had everything from 100 meter dashes (more like 100 meter trots) to 1,500 meter speed walk (which lasted 20 minutes) to cane racing. Yes, I said it... CANE RACES!!! I swear the guy that one this race wasn't a real cane user! He was totally faking it! I half expected him to twirl his cane around as he walked upright over the finish line. We had a volunteer, Diane participate in the Senior Races, too. She placed in the top 5. GO DIANE!!

Anyway, we carried on Andy and Eric's tradition from last year and placed quarter bets on who would win, who would loose, and who wouldn't finish the race!! If you guest the looser and your looser couldn't make it over the finish line, your winning pot got doubled. I walked away up 15 quarters! Woohoo!! It was great fun; an event I will definitely be attending next year. I have pictures of the stadium and everything in my slide show. Check it out!

Also, I trust I don’t have to explain why I posted this… silly… cheer leading video. Just watch it… Need I say more? ;-) OKAY, i couldn't get the video to load... will update later

Everytings Irie Mun

I just wanted to tell everyone I miss you and can't wait to see you when I visit in July!!!!

I cant wait to tell you all about the work I have been doing here, the beach, hiking, turtle watching, steel pan, and of course the guy I have been dating for the past 5 months. That is pretty much my life here in St. Lucia; Peace Corps work, beachin' it, hiking, Steel Pan lessons, boyfriend, and the general hangin' out!

Oh and by the way. I went with Lloyd the other day to visit his brother. He has this huge cashew nut tree by his house and they decided to roast some cashews. I had heard previous horror stories from volunteers already about eating cashews in st. lucia. The general consensus is "Don't eat the freshly roasted cashews, you will get a rash from the oils." Now not only is the cashew nut my favorite nut (next to the pistachio of course) but the boys also had their doubts about this 'mystery rash.' They were absolutely certain that you only get this rash if you eat the cashew if they are not roasted completely, because then all the oils dont come off the nut.

What do I have today... A cashew nut rash on my wrist. BOO!
However, I must say, the cashews were really yummy. It was definitely worth the mild irritation!

LOVE!

Another Day in Paradise

Monday March 30th

Yesterday Haley, Embert, Lloyd, Sam and I hiked through the bush from MOnchy to Labonn. We stopped at Lloyd’s grandfathers house. Lloyd lived there for about 9 years when he was growing up. His grandfather is about 72 and in excellent shape. He was a fisherman that retired only a couple of years ago. While we were stopped his cousin serves us some chilled rain water as a refreshment. From Labonn we hiked down to a beach called Dophin beach. The beach is on the east side of the island. From the beach not one person or house could be seen in all directions. We limed on the beach for some time and I learned how to skip rocks on the ocean waves. Embert and Lloyd went exploring and returned with a gigantic tortes shell! The shell was at least 2 feet in length! We took pictures with the shell and decided that the sound of a turtle is Mahhh… none of us had ever heard a turtle before…

After the crew convinced me that “NO” I would not succeed in getting the shell through customs we proceeded to hike on a small trial to the Sashe River. We stopped againby a small, but lovely, 7 ft. waterfall on the river. The waterfall poured into a 12 ft. deep swimming hole. The river was just as secluded and private as the beach. On our way to the bathing spot we had to follow the river up stream a bit. Lloyd had stories of how kids from the local village used to wash clothes and take bathes at the river. You could still see soap stains on the rocks, Lloyd said it was looking like somebody still comes to wash there.

At the swim hole we sand some songs, gave thanks for our blessings, and dove into the pool off the rocks. Just when dusk was arriving and the mosquitoes started biting, Embert made a small smoke fire out of coconut husk; he says it helps keep the mosquitoes away. Just before night fell upon us we hiked up to the road from the river; not an easy ascent. I can’t imagine climbing up just so with baskets of wet clothes! We passed a pig farm on the way home. It’s spring and all the piglets were funning about. We made our way into Monchy just as the sun disappeared over the horizon. It couldn’t have been a better day. The only thing… I fort my camera! Good thing Haley had hers!

Flea Market and Steel Pan

2.7.09

I’m sitting at the Rodney Bay mall waiting for Haley to walk down from her place. There is a flea Market sale down the road and we need new clothes. The sun, salt water, and walking has all but worn out everything we have. The last sale I got a pair of capris, 2 dresses, and a shirt for 10EC. That is $4 US!! After the sale, Haley and I will spend the day at the beach before proceeding to steel pan practice at 3:00. Our steel pan instructor thinks that we will be good enough to perform with Pan-Orama in July!