St. Kitts and Nevis Day 3

December 3, 2018

I awakened with the alarm and with a little hesitation got out of bed. I quickly shower and headed off to rituals for a repeat of yesterday‘s breakfast. It was so tasty. I walked to the Marriott and was there 15 minutes early. I went to the Tour desk to check in and he said that the bus would be here in 10 minutes. 20 minutes later I went back to the guy and asked about my pick up and he never told me that I needed to see someone else. I went down to that desk and she said she had been waiting for me. The pick up had already been there and looking for me. I was a little ticked off. She call for someone to come and pick me up and said it shouldn’t be very long. She wrote out my voucher and it about 15 minutes transport was there.

It was only about a 15 minute drive into the capital, BasseTerre. It’s one of the oldest towns in the Eastern Caribbean and currently has a population of only 13,000 inhabitants. It is the financial center of the Eastern Caribbean financial group- St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Dominica, Montserrat, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It was founded in 1627 as a French colony by the name of Saint-Christophe. It was the capital affect the French west Indies which included Martinique and Guadalupe. In 1727 if we came under for British control.

The city of Basseterre has one of the most tragic histories of any Caribbean capital, destroyed many times by colonial wars, fire, earthquakes, floods, riots, and hurricanes. Despite all of this, a considerable number of well-restored buildings still exist in downtown Basseterre. He parked in the porch area and waited for the crew ship to disembark. About 30 minutes later the group of mostly German tourist we’re finally on the bus. They drove 45 minutes across the west side of the island to meet up with the train. The driver was quite friendly and talked the whole time. Was nice of her to give information but majority of it was as useless as this is the school or is this where the trash is managed. We arrived at a clearing in a field and this was… We are going to begin our train ride. There were five cars and mine happens to be car number five at the very end of the train… Fine with me.

We are boarded the train. I immediately went upstairs and found a good location. I was guessing by the positioning of the train that I would be on the ocean side of the train in off the mountain side. I would walk over to the mountain side take photos but did preferred to be on the ocean. This is a good history of the train and sugar cane on Saint Kitts.- Sugar cane was introduced in St. Kitts in 1643, and it became as valuable as oil is today. Control of the Caribbean sugar islands sent European armies and navies to war, and sugar built empires. By 1775, with 200 estates producing sugar, St. Kitts was the wealthiest of the British possessions. But the introduction of the sugar beet and international market competition drove prices steadily downward, and by the beginning of the 20th Century the local industry was on its last legs. Believing that profitability could be achieved with economies of scale, in 1912 a group of investors built a modern central sugar factory near Basseterre and began construction of a narrow gauge railway around the island to bring in cane from the outlying estates for processing. Completed in 1926, the railway ran seasonally from February to June for the annual sugar harvest, called “Crop”. The new system allowed sugar production to continue on St. Kitts much longer than on other islands. The island of Nevis stopped growing cane in the mid–1930s. Antigua ended sugar production in 1971. But with a now antiquated factory and railway, diminishing acreage, and intense international competition, losses mounted. Finally, Prime Minister Denzil L. Douglas announced that the industry would be closed at the end of the 2005 Crop. The last “sugar train” rattled into the yard and the factory machinery was shut down on July 31, 2005, bringing an end to over 350 years of sugar production on the island. But the “Sugar Train” survived. In a unique partnership between Government and private enterprise, the privately–owned St. Kitts Scenic Railway started running tourist excursions on January 28, 2003. It now proudly carries the national flag as the “Last Railway in the West Indies”, a living link to a past when sugar ruled the island's economy. The train took us 18 miles up the Western/Caribbean side, across the top of the island, and even some of the Atlantic side. We saw a dormant volcano in the north, several of the mountain ranges, and even glance down into some rain forest area. The villagers were quite pour but the children along the way very happy to see us and waved as we went bye. Interesting thing that I observed was how few cars that we passed. This is quite different than all of the other Caribbean islands that I have visited with him massive traffic problems. I’m not sure what makes Saint Kitts different but it is an interesting question.

Early on we have a view of the nearby island of Saint Eustacius, which was quite spectacular. Also amongst the many churches that we saw, there was one which was virtually Seaside and also equally spectacular. It reminded me of visiting hey similar seaside church but in the Faroe Islands. It made me wonder about its history. It was obviously a much newer than the ancient church of Faroes but still a community church also. We snaked in and out of the coast line and saw the volcano in the mountain range too many coves along the way.

Continuing down the western side there were wetlands in the foreground with nevus far in the background with a bit of mist in the air it looked mysteriously or even missed a call. What a beautiful sight to see.

Soon will you be back in the city and leaving the tour. It is been a very interesting crossing of the island by rail. I’m so glad that I took this most interesting journey. We separated and when our own Waze. I headed into the shopping district in looking for the Amin Artisan Area. It actually only took me a few minutes and a few turns and it was in front of me… How lucky. Much of what was there was a common every day jewelry and repetitive Chinese product but there was a few different vendors. I found some glass items of interest. One was a fish of many colors end it’s certainly made me think of this colorful island. I also found a lady who used small gourds, cut them in half, and use them as a canvas either inside or outside for her expression. I chose a larger Gord that she had painted a Caribbean mask on. She gave me a small discount and I had her sign it along with taking a photo of her holding him. I explained what my journey has been and I appreciate it very much the fact that she had made this piece and wanted to include a photo of her in my blog. She thanked me. I return to the lady who had the fish and try to bargain but the artist who made the fish was not there today. He is an elderly man and was taking care of the sun today so she was minding his shop. I paid the price that she asked and was very happy with my purchase this colorful glass fish. He would make a special home in my collection.

From here, I watched on the main street to the center of town. The Berkeley Memorial stands in the centre of the Circus stands in the center. The memorial features a drinking fountain as well as a clock. There are four clock faces, each one facing one of the four streets leading to the Circus. There are buildings over 8agent on most of the corners and it creates a unique atmosphere. I took a left and went up the hill and search of The Church of Saint George. In 1670 French Jesuits built a church dedicated to Our Lady; in 1706, however, Notre Dame was burned to the ground by English soldiers billeted there. It was rebuilt and officially renamed in 1710 St. George. Even though sample in its interior, by European standards, the woodwork is quite special and the altar with cross above are certainly worthy of a special place of worship.

Continuing westward, I reach the park in front of the Co-Cathedral of immaculate conception. Catholics have been prevented from four rides during early occupations. The steady influx of Portuguese migrants from the island of Madeira from 1835 onwards strengthened the growth of the Roman Catholic community. Walking back down the hill I smelled the most tasty of treats and walked into a small bakery. I purchased some twisty bread that had a cream center with raisins and berries. Chewy and flavorful with the raisins berries and cream all combining for and unexpected flavor.

I continue down the hill back to the circus. I picked up a taxi here and headed back to the apartment. They expect to $12 was the cost. The cost for taxis here seems quite expensive given the short distances that they all travel. I understand that gasoline is expensive here about 50% more than the US. I also understand that there cost-of-living is very high to them and the cost of gas is astronomical. I still think the price is too high… Half would be reasonable. I open the doors to let the breeze in turn on the fan and sat down for a snack and some cold water. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening enjoying the breeze and relaxing. It was a brief rain but otherwise I has the release from stress that I wanted from the day. I have thought that I would go and take a swim but in the end I decided to not leave the apartment. I went online to have some dinner there as I had some food left over. I try to be thrifty with my food purchases and only spend money on an exceptional meal once or twice. I stayed up very late and plant to sleep until a reasonable hour but not too late. It is been a very good day. I saw many parts of the island with views and information that I would not have gotten otherwise. I felt good that I had seen much about Saint Kitts and had amazing photographs to support the enjoyable time that I had.