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Tuesday, December 30, 2003 Monkey-spotting )
Sunset from Banana Bistro )
Comments (1) Another successful monkey-spotting day! Woke up early and headed over to Golden Rock for a morning hike in the rainforest. The trail is a giant u-shape - and we think it's about 1.5 miles round trip. We didn't see any monkeys on the way up, but we heard them. Then, on the way back down - right about when we started to think we were being greedy since we'd seen them the day before - we heard the rustles in the trees and looked up to see about three jumping from tree to tree. In the hour or so that we were there, we think we saw at least 10-15 monkeys. We were fortunate enough to see a mother with a baby close behind - he'd jump and cling to her belly when she lept from tree to tree. We also witnessed a kind of monkey-fight - one was sleeping, and another one jumped onto the same branch, knocking the sleeping one onto the ground less than five feet from where we were standing. And, they really are curious - most of the time when we'd spot one, it was staring right at us - and when we would walk, they'd follow up in the canopy. SUCH a great morning. We had breakfast at Golden Rock and then spent the rest of the afternoon on our beach. Today we learned that our hotel name is pronounced "oo-WALL-ee" or "wally" or "o-wally" or "oo-ah-lee" or "Wah-lee" (we'd been saying "wail-e"). The weather today was great - lots of sun but WINDY. We were cooked by 3 so we took a drive exploring - visited the Nisbet Plantation (hotel on the Atlantic side - looked nice but WAY TOO WINDY and the water looked too rough for swimming) and the Mount Nevis Resort (which is a mile up the hillside, but had a GREAT view of St. Kitts) - also saw two pet monkeys in a yard - add those to the seeminlgy thousand of goats, and dozens of cows, donkeys, pigs, chickens, and egrets we've seen driving around. Went up to Bananas (where we had dinner last night) to watch the sunset (which was the first great sunset we've seen this entire vacation) before returning to o-wally for the bbq buffet. Planning on an early hike tomorrow and some beach time before the dreaded treck back home - perhaps we'll get bumped in San Juan... Comments Monday, December 29, 2003 View from our bungalow at Oualie Beach )
"Hey, since they cross here, let's just sit here and wait for them" )
Orchids @ the Botanical Gardens )
The Elusive Green Vervet Monkey )
Bacon Crossing )
Comments As directed, we tried to spot monkeys early this morning along the road - no luck. Rented a car (another Corolla) and went to the botanical gardens. Panoramic views of the sea from the gardens, and beautiful orchids and other tropical plants. It was very windy, so we're not sure how the hundreds of pictures will turn out, but it was still worth the stop. Next stop: Golden Rock Hotel, known for it's rainforest-adjacent location. The roads here are quite a trip - many are more like paths (grass) or tracks (grass in the middle, two paved strips) - quite a challenge :) And...success - we spotted several! Much bigger than the one we saw in Barbados (and roaming free, unlike the one in Barbados). After the successful monkey hike, we continued on the main road which circles the island. Somewhere we made a wrong turn and ended up on a path or track or whatever - then we saw a sign which we thought read "toprison farm" - we didn't think we wanted to go there so we turned the other way only to find out the sign read "to prison farm". Pictures to follow when we figure out how to log on from the room. Comments Sunday, December 28, 2003 Greetings from Nevis! Spent the morning on the beach in Anguilla, then caught our Liat flight to Nevis (via Antigua - confirmed to be a place we do not need to visit again - many direct flights from Europe - crowds beyond belief). But now we are at Oualie Beach Hotel and so far we love it! Our room is on the second floor, overlooking the beach which is gorgeous. Room is 1) air conditioned and 2) has a television (two things we were devoid of in Anguilla - not that it's a bad thing). We confirmed on check-in - there are green monkeys here - and it is our sole mission to find them - well, that and sit on the beach some more. We're both nice and tan - not a burn to be found because we've been liberal with the sunscreen. Jennifer's bug bite count stands at 23 - this room has a screen porch and plenty of Off bug repellent so we're hoping the numbers don't increase too dramatically :) Comments Saturday, December 27, 2003 Alas - our last nightin Anguilla (remember - it rhymes with "vanilla"). Today we did absolutely nothing but lounge, swim, and walk on our beach. We even forgot lunch! Not to worry - tonight was...you guessed it..."lobster night" at the hotel. So we didn't even have to call "Billy Reliable" - the taxi driver who's been shuttling us around. His motto is "never sleep" - which in thinking about it could be either a good or bad quality in a driver. Tomorrow we have big plans - beach, then pack, then to airport for flight to Nevis (rhymes with "Beavis") where.... it's monkey time. Comments Friday, December 26, 2003 After passing the rigid driving test (charging $20 to our room account), we headed out in the souped-up circa 1995 Toyota Corolla. Driving on the left isn't as difficult as I imagined, and it is somewhat of a local joke - when you leave somewhere they bid you farwell by saying "Keep Left". Stopped for a quick breakfast at Tasty's and then headed to the east end of the island. The roads are not marked at all - so we just kind of meandered until we found something worth getting out of the car for. Lots of dirt roads, lots of goats, and lots of reasons to get out of the car. The first stop was at Windward Point, which is near the tip of the island where the Caribbean and Atlantic sides meet. The landscape looked like a combination of the tropics and Mars - wild red rock formations and crashing turquoise surf. After a bit of driving around, we stopped for a swim at Upper Shoal Bay, then headed down the north side of the island, stopping at Sandy Ground, Long Bay, Meads Bay, and Shoal Bay East. Even still, Rendesvous Bay remains our favorite (although air conditioning in the room would be nice at this point). Took a late afternoon swim at the hotel before going to dinner at L'Indigo. Of course, it included a two pound lobster, grilled with sprigs of sage and served with a lemon butter sauce. YUM. Did I mention that there is no fighting with these lobsters - the tail practically peels itself out of the shell! Tomorrow is our last full day here and we have plans to...do nothing. Our biggest decisions lately are when and where to eat - a definite sign of a relaxing vacation. Use-to-date Statistics: Bottles of Sunscreen: 2 Bottles of Robiussin: 1 (but I'm finally past the hump of the cold and am getting better) Bottles of Insect Repellent: 1 Number of insect bites: numerous Scenes from today: Upper Shoal Bay )
Shoal Bay East )
Windward Point )
Overlooking Sandy Ground )
Comments Thursday, December 25, 2003 FYI - pronounced konk - rhymes with "honk". Just back from Christmas dinner at Blanchard's. YUM. In keeping with tradition, I had a two pound lobster - half cooked in spices and half basted in rum and honey glaze. Andy had veal scallopini with mashed potatoes and spinach. Kind of broke tradition, but the veal was darn good. Had the best table in the restaurant - overlooking a garden with a fountain, and beyond that, the beach. Cheers to Bob and Melinda for writing a great book (A Trip to the Beach) that led us to this fantastic restaurant. Spent the day on the beach - hey, there's a change of pace :) Played in the sand a bit (seen below) - "what's that" and "what's it for" were some comments of passers by. Others stopped and video taped us making it - but that was a little weird. So, our gift to the islanders - Gritty the Sand Man - the lesser known illegitimate brother of Frosty. Not that there's anything wrong with spending an entire day arguing about what shade of blue the water is - but tomorrow we're actually planning to venture out of the hotel. The map says there are 36 beaches on this island - and we plan to find every last one of them. The hotel has a car for rent - but we have to get an Anguillan driver's license first. Much like the Bahamian marriage license, the stringent requirements are that you pay the $20 fee :) Driving on the left should be interesting... Comments Conchy Christmas )
Gritty the Sand Man (Frosty's cousin) )
Sand Angel )
Someone Else's Serpent )
Comments Wednesday, December 24, 2003 Back from dinner - first post was from the office (broadband at $5/hour - can't beat that!) - but they have since enabled access from our room. Dial-up at a whopping 28.8 (but convenience is key). Our hotel had a Christmas Eve buffet, so (surprise surprise) we bailed and headed for a recommended lobster spot. Dined at Tasty's and Tasty it was. GIANT critters, split in half, and served with a garlic caper sauce (which, ok, I scraped off). Comments View from our room - which, oddly enough is two complete rooms - one with a king bed, one with two doubles - not sure who's joining us or when they're arriving... )
Beachside palms )
Conchy Christmas )
White Christmas )
Sandy Christmas )
Comments Two passport stamps and twenty-four hours later and we've arrived. Flurries were starting as we departed Chicago 45 minutes late - broken promises of "we'll make up the time in the air" meant we landed with only 30 minutes to make our connection in San Juan. And oh by the way - don't bother with the movie "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" - blech! So we arrive at the gate in San Juan, with at least 20 minutes to spare, and are greeted with "you must be the Martin's." While we'd like to think that the gate agents recognize us from our frequent travel to the Caribbean, this was not the case. "Here's the situation," he said, "there is bad weather in Anguilla so there is a weight restriction on the flight - we can only take 29 passengers, and they are already on the plane." Question is - how did he know how much we weighed?!? So we were transfered to a flight going to St. Maarten, with instructions to overnight there and take the ferry to Anguilla in the morning. Question is - St. Maarten is only 6 miles from Anguilla, so you'd think the weather would be the same. Before you start thinking "that blows" please note that we were more than fairly compensated :) So by midnight we were at the Maho Beach Resort in St. Maarten - it's on the Dutch side, but had a Parisian theme (smelled of smoke, and the desk clerks were rude). To my French colleagues, I apologize. To be fair, there were plenty of ugly Americans roaming about. We awoke at 7am to learn that our hotel was literally ON the runway. You know those pictures of the planes landing on the beach? It ain't Photoshop - it's Maho beach. After the freebie buffet breakfast, we grabbed a cab and headed to Marigot to get the ferry. The driver had some cool island Christmas music playing - "how will santa get here if my town has no sleigh - he'll have to borrow the neighbors donkey". The ferry actually left on time, and 30 minutes later we were at our hotel. The beach is amazing! That shade of turquoise that you swear is unreal. Island reminds us of an upscale more developed Anegada. Oh, and for those of you who don't know, we're in Anguilla. Rhymes with "vanilla". And now Andy takes over... When flying to the Caribbean "expectation Management" comes to mind - the adventure is almost as fun as the end result. Anway, were here is it's like out of a movie montage: putting your nose into a glass of great wine to smell the bouquet - much the same here; the front trees smell of a perfume, thousands of white butterflys fill bougenvillea and other exotic flowering plants as we sit and listen to a Bob Marley CD while eating lunch. Between tracks we hear the waves hitting the beach and the cooing of morning doves overhead. It's a beer commercial. Two hamburgers arrive grilled to perfection and we plan our next move to the beach....before we leave our waitress brings another ice cold beer... adjectives like "perfect" come to mind. Pictures to post later - beer is getting warm and there is plenty of sun to be had before we devour lobster for dinner. Ciao - Comments Tuesday, December 23, 2003 Greetings from Ohare. It's 34 degrees outside - won't miss that. Airport is pretty empty but there is a ton of security activity. There's something to be said about eating christmas dinner in shorts and a tshirt, hair wet with salt water, and sand in your sandals. Happy Festivus! Comments Saturday, December 20, 2003 Reflecting on 2003... The beginning was pretty pathetic. I had weekly doctor and physical therapy appointments for my broken arm. I was also taking two graduate school classes, which explains why there was less than usual on the travel pictures page for 2003. But in May it paid off and I graduated from Rensselaer. In June I was fortunate enough to speak at a conference in Greece, so we made a vacation out of it. In July, we bought a condo in the River North neighborhood of downtown Chicago (who are we kidding, we live in Cabrini Green). In August, I had a business trip to Cairo and Paris. Why are there no pictures you ask? Because Egypt in August speaks for itself and it was during that horrible heat wave in Paris. I did snap a few pictures with the phone-camera - my favorites being this one and this one and that one. The fall was uneventful, with Andy traveling a lot for work and Jennifer taking way too many sunrise pictures. We continued our tradition of holiday travel with a cruise for Thanksgiving, which included some time blogging from the internet cafe on the ship. And now we're just dreaming of a white Christmas - which to us refers to white-sand beaches rather than snow :) Comments
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