Unique Food, The Beast (again) and Travel

Monday May 3rd.

Today was a lax day where I tried to stay off my feet as much as possible. Ernie and my buddy Peter took off first thing leaving me with a room to myself. After a nice breakfast, prepared by Jennifer, I met up with Bryan and Ryan, the two Xtreme tourist film guys. We headed down to the beach, which was less that 2 min away. They mic-ed me up and interviewed me about In Our Own Quiet Way and the Tri and Give a Dam project. It took about 25 minutes to complete! I drove the two guys to Olympic car rental (which was named this because the owner was in the 1970 something Olympics for shooting... and now he is almost blind)and picked up a car for me as I was going to be on the Island a few more days. I debated whether or not to get a car as funds are tight, but felt that I had better. I picked up a few things from the store to eat throughout the day and literally stayed off my feet the rest of the day. My body must have been tired with how it reacted yesterday, so I thought this would be a good idea.

Tuesday May 4th.

I woke up late (yes) and headed down to breakfast. Lionel was in what seemed to be an important meeting, regarding politics, so I minded my own business and quietly got some food. Jennifer came in wearing some big dark sunglasses and ask Lionel if he could take her to the doctor because there was something wrong with the eye. She had recently had eye surgery. I spoke up and said that I could take her so that Lionel could finish with his meeting. Jennifer was very grateful and this may have been the reason I needed to get that car. I took Jennifer to town and the doc took good care of her. Jennifer was so grateful she helped me gather a few gifts for the kids, bought a hand made pottery plate for Sunny and took me to lunch.

She wanted me to go somewhere “the locals” went so she took me to Tim Duncan’s uncle’s restaurant. I guess good old Tim is from the Islands. It was a small place but she said that this is where the locals eat. So not wanting to disappoint, I said I would give it a try. This is what I ate.....

The drink was made from a plant called Sorrel. It was dark red in color and taste like cinnamon.

goat stew meat, plantain, seasoned potatoes, rice, peas, and macaroni. It was all pretty good... but not delicious. Then I had what is called a delicacy there.... Conch (pronounced konk) meat from a conch shell eaten with Fungi (corn mill and okre) This dish I thought I was going to hate as it smelled very fishy. But it was actually very mild and was fine.

In the evening I was suppose to go for a ocean kayak trip but the winds shifted and it had to be canceled, dang! Instead I went for a nice 6 mile run up and around. The sights at the top were awesome and the pictures simply do not do it justice.

Wednesday May 5th,

Woke up a little earlier today, as I had to get everything packed, return the car and find my way over to the airport. Coach Keena suggested I go for a nice easy ride so indeed I did. I took the Ellsworth out for a quick spin and found myself at the bottom of the beast. “I’m here and I may never be back, so why not climb it one more time for old time sake!” It took me 10 minutes to climb it and only a few minutes less to get down. It is such a steep hill that I needed to really clamp down on the brakes and take it slow. Right as I pulled up to the Arawalk my back tire went flat.... whew! With no cell service on this side of St Croix it would have been a long walk back rushing to get everything done. I packed up my bike and gear, said goodbye to Jennifer and Lionel and was off to the airport. No problems through customs and the only charged me $25 to check my bike. NOW HOW HARD WAS THAT - WHY CAN’T THEY JUST DO THAT EVERY TIME (yes that is me yelling)!!! The flight was delayed for about an hour because they could not get the baggage door to open... maybe I should have paid more to check my bag. :)