We fell asleep last night to the sounds of frogs croaking and other creatures of the night. It’s a natural white noise machine here :)
We were up for breakfast pretty early (for vacation) at 7:30, partly cause we were in bed by 7pm last night, and also cause the large transoms in the room let in the morning light.
Had an excellent breakfast, local (homemade) lemonade, scrambled eggs with herbs and crispy bacon, fresh bread and seasonal fruit (mango, melon, watermelon).
Planned out our next couple days with the hotel staff. Today we planned a short one-hike along the Têt Paul Nature Trail and lunch at a local restaurant in Soufriere. We also booked a snorkeling excursion for tomorrow.
Sorted ourselves out in the room (we hadn’t done much reorganizing from airplane mode yesterday), and then headed out.
Now that we were familiar with the road conditions we had more confidence in determining if Google maps was taking us on a ‘shortcut’ or if it was indeed the normal state of the road.
The trailhead for Têt Paul Nature Trail was about 20 minutes from our hotel. We got there around 10:30am, there was just a trickle of other tourist groups. A friendly driver for another group helped us pointing out the best road-side place to park to get the future shade.
Paid our 15 CAD each at the trail ticket booth (they took ApplePay!), which included a guide. A guide’s not really needed, and it would have meant joining other folks, so we just went on our own.
The path is well-maintained, with stairs and boardwalks over possible muddy areas. We took our time admiring the lookouts along the way. At the top are great views of the pitons, two volcanic plugs which are the symbols of St Lucia (they appear on the flag), and are also a UNESCO world heritage site. There’s a couple side trails near the top for alternate views. Took our pics and then headed back down; round trip was about 35 minutes.
We had expected a longer walk (we were told 60-90 minutes), it was still too early for lunch, as most places only open at noon. So decided to stop in at Project Chocolate along the way. They only did scheduled tours, so chatted with the friendly security guard about the schedule for later in the week.
Carried on towards the sulphur springs. We’re not keen on mud baths or hot springs, but figured to check out the bubbling mud. At the entrance, and enterprising guy (Tim) asked if we preferred a short walk to see Superman Falls. That sounded more picturesque than a dull grey mud puddle, so we were in :)
Followed Tim down a dirt road for about five minutes, and then walked down a rustic path to get to falls. These were really cool to see, with the contrast of the sulphur-tinged rocks behind the falls and the ash-coloured pool at the bottom from the lava granules. Plus we were the only ones there. It’s possible to swim under the falls, and there’s mud and ash buckets for skin cleansing, but we were just there for the view. The falls featured in Superman II, thus the nickname, and also in Romancing the Stone. It was well worth the side trip.
We asked Tim about our lunch plans at Martha’s Tables. He thought they might be closed for lunch and suggested Belle Vue Restaurant as a backup.
Tim was right on both counts - Martha’s Tables were closed, and Belle Vue was an excellent spot. It was in the centre of Soufriere, with a nice view of the harbour, as its name suggests.
Had a local juice to start which was refreshing. We had the jerk chicken and Creole chicken. Both came with an assortment of the usual provisions, banana pie (sort of like a potato dish my Mom used to make, but with plantains), baked mac and cheese, coleslaw, mmm good. It was exactly what we were looking for.
We had ideas to walk around town but it was midday sun and probably not recommended. So headed back home to relax for the rest of the afternoon.
Dinner was again excellent at our hotel. It’s Saturday night so a few locals were gathered at the bar adding to the ambience.
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