06.26 It is an early morning today, at least for us it is. We are at "A peace of paradise" in Mamiku here on Saint Lucia. We plan to get away as soon as possible and enter as they open at the immigration office in Castries. Do they have our passports?, will we need a visa?, what will it cost us?, and will we get the passports?, these are questions that being raised this early morning.

08.01 Today we drank guava juice at breakfast. Now we´re sitting in the car and we´re ready to leave. Although we´ve been a month in leftside driving countries, it´s hard to learn that you enter on the car´s left side if you want to sit in front. We are going with Lorraine who is going to her work.

It´s time for departure. We´re going to Castries.

Castries

09.03 We have reached Castries. On the way here we had a long and interesting discussion about school and teenagers. It is always fascinating to learn about how things are done and run in other countries. It is also great to hear what great reputation Sweden has abroad. The fact that we in Sweden are having problems with discipline, overweight and similar things among pupils was a surprise for Lorraine. Now we will enter a building and go up seven stores to get our passports.

09.21 We went up with the lift. As we reached the right floor we signed in a ledger and now we just filled in our visa applications. Here goes..., perhaps.

Jeremie Street, Castries.

The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Castries.

Nobel prize winner in literature 1992, Derek Walcott.

10.16 We strolled into the town centre and sat down on a bench in front of/outside Derek Walcott Square. We can get our passports sometime between 14.00 and 15.00. Everything is running smoothly. We are not running, just walking makes us sweat.

10.54 We went inside the park and saw a bust of the Nobel Prize winning author Derek Walcott and also a 400 year old saman tree. Now we have sat down at Cynthia’s Place for some coffee. The coffee is hot even by my standards. Just as we got in here rain started falling, outdoors that is. Coffee isn’t the only reason why we sat down. We will also take some time to write the last postcards home.

400 years old tree in Derek Walcott Square.

Peter writing in his journal at Cynthia´s Place.

12.17 We went to the post office and did there what you are supposed to do in a post office. We went back into the Derek Walcott Park and met some guys who claimed that they took care of the park. One of the guys called himself Anton. He wondered if we were interested in smoking grass. OK you´re not?, are you by any chance Christians?, he said. We also chatted with his colleague who introduced himself as Aruba, just like the island he said (Aruba is a Dutch island in the Caribbean). Castries reminds us of the other capitals we´ve seen on our trip. A small but busy town centre and just some blocks around it, nothing more.

12.35 We are sitting on a bench in La Place Carenage, a mall which seems to be made for cruise passengers. Inside here it is cool and relaxing. I guess we´ll look around for something useful, maybe food, maybe a gift to the ones back home.

13.14 It is time for some food on the other side of the bay that hopefully resides our passports. We are at the restaurant Caribbean Pirates. Here we will have Spaghetti Bolognese and boneless chicken meal. After a short stroll in town we´ve returned to La place Carenage. To be exact we´re on the first floor. Our order was written down in an electric notebook. A small fish is swimming around in a carafe on the table.

Peter eating "boneless chicken meal".

13.57 It was delicious, but perhaps not that much spaghetti for Christer. Now as Christer asked for "the bill" the waitress wondered if he had said beer. Here comes bill.

14.08 We are right now talking to our hostess over the phone. She will pick us up at 16.00 at the very same spot she left us. We will hopefully have our passports by then.

14.23 We are back with the immigration people in the government building. We are hoping to get our passports and visas. There seem to be some problems with the visas. We overheard a conversation regarding a group from India. Some of them had been let into the country without any problems and some had been stopped due to visa regulations.

14.35 Our passports have returned after two days absence. Welcome back!

Resting place in the sun.

Christer in front of Castries.

14.57 It is time for a small bench break in a park between the road and the sea. The sun is shining from a clear blue sky.

15.40 We’ve just been shopping at Super J, another store in the IGA-concern. We are standing under a palm tree and await our transport.

16.04 We both thought we heard someone calling me but we couldn’t see anyone, suddenly our hostess Lorraine appeared. She came down from the car park right above us. After a visit to a shoemaker with rasta pictures on his walls we are back at Super J. We will soon go up to the car deck. Ok, now this journal is fully written. It is time to change.

A visa at last!

A short stop in Dennery.

17.31 We are home again. Now we will just relax. We have no idea what we are going to do but we know it will not be much. We have plans to wash our clothes in the washing machine on the back porch. On our way home we made a short stop in the small fishing village of Dennery. They have just begun a joint venture with Japan. Lorraine also bought some fresh bread for this evening.

18.42 We are thinking, testing and trying out how to run the washing machine. First we filled it with water, after that some washing powder and of course our clothes. We set the timer and the washer started. As it was done we drained it and now we are refilling it to rinse. We hope we have done the right things.

19.17 The clothes have left the machine and is hanging outside of our house. Now we will have our dinner at The Fox Grove Inn, a hotel restaurant nearby. http://www.foxgroveinn.com/.

19.47 We are walking in the darkness. It is sometimes lit by a street light, houselights or the powerful flashlight we borrowed from Lorraine. Well flashlight, it is more accurate a small spotlight.

19.55 We are sitting on the terrace to The Fox Grove Inn. We are looking out into the darkness seeing some lights here and there.

The moon and some snails.

21.12 We had pasta and Chinese Chicken. The food was excellent but also quite expensive. We strolled home through the darkness and met a gang of snails, slugs or whatever they are called. They had gathered on the road and we wonder why.

23.17 An era has come to an end. The final strokes are made. The toothbrush I bought in Ljubljana 2004 has gone to meet its maker. The new one I bought today will start working tomorrow.

Christer giving the Caribbean darkness some light.

Tuesday 31st of July

07.01 It has rained tonight. That is great for animals and plants. It isn’t so good for our clothes hanging out overnight to get dry.

07.45 There is no harm done with the clothes. We just had a visit from another wallwalking lizard. Outside our house a weasel-like animal has passed. We think it might have been a mongoose. They were brought here a long time ago.

09.18 A great breakfast is eaten. Today we had cereals, milk, banana, papaya, coffee, bread and cheese from Jamaica. Our clothes are soon dry and as soon as they are we will begin this day’s adventure to Soufrière and the two Piton Mountains, Saint Lucia’s most famous tourist views. On a website on the internet we have read about an American tourist complaining about the capital Castries. ”The safe areas are not clearly marked”. What does he mean by that? We survived yesterday without any kind of markings.

09.53 We are on the move again. Another trip has begun. Now we are waiting for our transport. We are trying a local bus stop. A white man who stepped out from the banana plantation claimed that it was no use to try. It can take all between five minutes and two hours before a bus stop, Wait, a minibus is on its way. Isn’t it funny how many times a transport has arrived as soon as I have picked up the journal. We have got what we came for. It is time to leave the bus stop.

Hewanorra International Airport on southern Saint Lucia.

10.29 After a short stop with a short walk in the town of Vieux Fort on Saint Lucia’s southern tip we´re back on a bus. We are not the only caucasians on the bus. Outside of the minibus we can see a flat landscape with a hilly horizon. I am looking forward to see more of that. We are not having any problems with the heat and now we are on the move again.

10.51 We just made a short stop in Choiseul. Here an elderly man with a cap and toothpick in the corner of his mouth got on the bus. Between the trees we can spot the famous Piton peaks. Soon we will be there and we are enjoying some great music, Mama Africa. Feel free to listen to it at http://youtube.com/watch?v=tLQ-WdEeuYo

Christer on a sidewalk in Soufrière.

One of the Piton mountains on Saint Lucia.

The wheelbarrow-man isn´t amazed by the view at all.

11.23 We have reached Soufrière after having a dose of sulphur scent on our way here. There is sulphur springs here just as on Dominica. We can see the sea and one of the Piton peaks. I wonder where the other one is. A local guy informed us when the church here was built and also how to get to some waterfalls. After that he wondered if we had some money for his dinner. We didn’t have any.

11.57 After taking some pictures we sat down on a new bench by the sea. In the sea, by a bridge, is a pirate ship. The time has come for lunch. We are thinking about something to drink and perhaps something else. Can a place with the add ”Fine Dining” require a tie? Does anyone here wear a tie? Wait, a gentleman just got out of the police station wearing a tie, the man that is, not the police station. We are beginning to suspect that it isn’t possible to see the other peak from here.

12.12 We have sat down at the restaurant Pirate’s Cove http://piratescovestlucia.com/home.aspx. We just ordered roti and hamburger. The pirate ship just left for new horizons

Soufrière harbour

Pirates of the Caribbean.

13.25 We have walked around in Soufrière. It is a calm and peaceful place. We took some more pictures and had a rest. We also walked along the beach in search for the other peak. We didn’t find it. All we found was a jolly young local guy who offered to guide us around here. He claimed that it was impossible to get around without a guide from the area. Now the journey home just begun. The peak we took pictures of is ever so mighty.

Church of the Assumption, Soufrière.

13.56 Suddenly I got a golden opportunity to take a picture of the other peak. Up with the camera, zoom in and... Then the bus leaped, bumped and I took a picture of something else.

14.55 After a search in vain for a beach and seeing every corner of the town in our hunt for a restaurant, we have sat down by a table at Shernell’s in Vieux Fort. We are filling up with welcomed fluids. I was and still am thirsty. During our stroll we met Barney, the man who drove us the other day. He has promised to drive us tomorrow as well.

A street in Vieux Fort.

15.51 We went shopping in yet another Super J supermarket. More beverages are bought. Now it is time for the last journey home here on Saint Lucia.

16.37 We finally found a mini bus destined for Mon Repos, a neighbouring village to Mamiku. The minibus driver wondered where we were going as we approached the last stop in Mon Repos. We mentioned Mamiku and he took us to Fox Grove Inn. Further, we said and he took us to the end of the hill, just outside our food provider Daniel´s place. After that we rushed home through the pouring rain. It is time to dry up.

18.46 For a while we have watched some national TV. They have discussed the African heritage, rastafarianism, agriculture and economy. Now they are showing a gentleman with greyish hair and glasses. He might be a Creole troll. The language is at least kweyol (Creole).

A surprising visit after the rain.

TV in the creole language.

19.32 A frog has been jumping around on the back porch, an about 5 cm long snail/slug had be lifted out in the garden and Lorraine has to the dogs big joy returned home. She has promised us to arrange with mango and bread for tomorrow before we depart. She also mentioned that there is a kind of insect that bites you and it itches really bad. They are the ones that have bitten us. They are called ”no sees”. You can’t see them but they can bite you.

23.01 The time has come to go to bed for the final time here at Saint Lucia. In six hours we will be back on our feet. It is incredibly moisty in the room. I hope our fan will do a great job. Enough of the writing, time to go to bed. Good night!

Wednesday 1st of August

05.16 We got out of bed about fifteen minutes ago. There is hardly any water in the shower. Now we will have the breakfast that Lorraine has prepared for us. I have been instructed how to use the gas stove. It is time to boil some water for my morning coffee.

05.39 Hey stop, I have to slow down. There is no panic at all. We got at least 30 minutes left. Is it an animal, something that we own or something else that beeps like a videogame from the eighties. If you rush you forget things. The beeping has stopped. We keep some parts of the breakfast for later.

06.31 We are on the move again. Barney came around after Lorraine had phoned him and asked him to hurry up. There is hardly any traffic today. Everything runs smoothly. Lorraine wished us a pleasant trip. We really enjoyed our stay here.

07.20 We have reached the airport in Castries and said thanks and bye to Barney. Now the time has come to once again check in.

07.49 Everything that you are supposed to pass in an airport is passed, well not the door from the gate. The security was thorough. We had to remove watches, shoes, wallets and packing. Now that that is done we can relax.

08.27 We are still relaxing. Our flight to Martinique is delayed. We have heard some final calls for a flight to San Juan in Puerto Rico.

08.46 New deal. The plane that we are supposed to fly with will land here at around 09.25. After that it will be emptied and refilled. If we are lucky we will take off at around 09.45. Now we just heard yet another final call for San Juan.

09.18 A sound came from the loudspeakers. Anticipation rose at the gate. All we heard from the speaker were,”Yeah go ahead”. That was followed by a new sound. It is time to board.

09.27 We are onboard. Christer just realised that we don’t have a confirmation for our next flight. On some of the islands they wanted us to show such confirmation. They want to be sure that we have a ticket away from the island as well. I hope that we will have no problems with this.

FRANCE

10.36 We have landed on Martinique. We are back on square one. Here we have exchanged all our Caribbean money to Euro. We got rid of all the money we had left. We hear birds tweeting and everything feels great.

10.56 In lack of a café you just have a sandwich wrapped in foil. It is a cheese sandwich that Lorraine gave us. It was made for breakfast but is perfect as lunch.

11.14 We are rolling in a taxi towards our next home. Just imagine if I had tried to learn more in my French lessons at school. It would have been great to speak fluently here. We are once more on our way to Fort-de-France.

11.31 We have reached our pre-booked place at Carib Hotel. Here we will leave our backpacks in a room by the reception and return around three. They want to get the room ready. Our next mission will be to find a place to eat at.

Rue Ernest Déproge in Fort-de-France.

Harbour area in Fort-de-France.

11.57 We are sitting by the sea, not far from where a TC dropped us off in what seems ages ago although it was in late June. To my right is the fort of the island.

12.44 We made our first stop by the Saint Louis cathedral. Just as we had begun to think that this place lacks grass smokers one of them came by. His name was David and he was from, well.. not from this island nor from France. Now we are having a refreshing espresso at Delices de la Savane.

Cathédrale Saint Louis.

14.15 We have searched for some places to eat at this evening and also found some. We have bought 0,5 litres of soda for 2 Euro a peace. They were bought from a shuffling man in a small store. For some reason he couldn´t lift his feet when he walked. The next thing we have to do is to find a wastepaper basket before we visit an internet café.

15.55 We are checked in and pleased at Carib Hotel. Well I am not that pleased. There is something sticky in my toilet bag. The bottom of my deodorant is broken. I just have to imitate Harry Belafonte as I go shopping. I have to say Deo, deeo.... On top of this it seems like our TV only has one channel.

Fort-de-France

The French revolution is still alive on Martinique. Statue of Victor Schoelcher
who worked against the slavery in the French Caribbean.

17.54 We have spoken about many things. How would the rasta men we´ve seen here be treated back home? Back home what’s foreign is frightening such as new kinds of food. Speaking of food, I am hungry. It is time to go out for dinner.

18.06 We didn’t get that far. Just some blocks away the gates of heaven were opened. We have sought shelter under a roof.

18.58 The rained stopped just a short while after the last words were written. We bought breakfast and now we are dining at Snack Elize. Today we have ordered cheese burgers with fries and orange juice to drink. Some of the dishes had the word Madras written after them. They cost a little extra. I wonder what Madras is. Outside of here we saw a man who laid flat on his belly and he wanted to speak with us. The sky above the sea looks evil.

19.25 We are back in the room. The gentleman in the reception has brought us a remote control for the air condition and also taught us how to change channels on the TV.

20.51 There is a thunder storm outside and we lost most of the channels. There are by the way only French tv channels to choose from. Honestly, Martinique seems to be a piece of France out in the ocean totally unaware of the islands around, islands where they speak English. Hardly anyone here knows English.

22.14 We’ve skipped the TV-channels. We are hunting for the channels on the radio instead. We just overheard a bitter fight between a Spanish transmission about the Catholic Church in Venezuela and English from; at least we think so, Saint Kitts.

22.49 Raindrops keep falling on our roof. The tapping is soothing and somewhere in the distance we can here the thunder roll. We hope it will have stopped raining until tomorrow. We ended the evening with Lorraine, the beer of the island. We had Lorraine from morning to evening today.

Thursday 2nd of August

09.19 We have had some rain during the early morning. We hope that it will stop so that we at least will be able to stroll some. If we by any chance should get some hours of sunshine the plans are to head for a beach for a final dip in the sea.

10.20 All rainy on weather front. We are wondering about how we shall plan the day.

11.04 It is now or never. We will go out. There is after all places without rain on a rainy day.

Rue de la Republique in Fort-de-France.

11.45 We´ve seen and walked through new, for us that is, places of the city. We have among others walked along the pedestrian street Rue de la Republique. Now we are near the Botanical Garden, Parc Floral. The sky is still cloudy.

12.01 We are sitting in the park feeling cranky. Here we had hopes for sun and a swim as a Caribbean final and all we got is an empty rainy park. Wait, a man just passed!

Buses and homes of different standards.

13.07 The weather is far from great. One great thing is the fact that we are inside a house. We are seated at Délifrance. It happens to be in the same chain as the one we visited last year in Singapore (12/8 2006). We are having banana cake, pineapple juice, coffee and cheese and ham sandwich. We changed our swimming plans to tomorrow instead.

14.17 We have visited several different souvenir shops and bought some t-shirts. One of them is for Roberth’s son Martin. He has to get a souvenir from Martinique of course.

Carib Hotel

15.06 We have walked, bought and walked again. Christer is in the shower. I will soon take his place there. Tomorrow´s check out time is 10AM That has just put an end to our plans for a morning visit to a beach.

19.32 We keep searching for dinner places. The ones we seen earlier turned out to be take away places. Now we have returned to Snack Elize. Today we are going to try some new juices. Christer has chosen guava and have gone for maracudja. I wonder what that might be.

19.54 Maracudja was yellow and tasted great. Now we are looking at the weather report. There is s slight chance we might see the sun tomorrow.

20.51 Once again almost everything is packed. The next time we will see our belongings will be in Europe or to be exact Paris. The final night in the Caribbean is getting closer.

22.08 We are watching a handball game on the TV between ladies from France and Brazil. The game seems to take place on Martinique and we´ve also seen the Slovenian flag.

PS: Maracudja is passion fruit