Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas

When we first arrived in Charlotte Amalie and went ashore, we were horrified over the touristy strip of Rolex vendors and pushy high end jewelers trying to entice us into their stores.   This little part of town caters to the cruise ship crowds, and apparently since St Thomas is duty-free, things like fine jewelry, Rolexes, useless high end crap, cigarettes, and alcohol are nearly half off.  So imagine our dismay when the first impression we have of this place is of people coming from every direction trying to talk us out of our money and sell us things.  That coupled with the thousands of people herding around the streets from the daily cruise ship drop off, oblivious to their surroundings and bumping into you, and the drivers yelling "Taxi? Taxi?" every half a block, it nearly sent us into a manic I-don't-wanna-be-here frenzy.  But after getting off this main strip and exploring some of the backstreets, you discover just how enchanting this little city actually is.  For some reason, tourists don't seem to venture past the busy touristy neighborhood and stay within the "safe" parameters of the stores, and so in just a few short blocks, you start to enter the locals territory.  Small little shacks selling inexpensive local cuisine, like salt fish "pates" and stewed meats with beans and rice.  Houses are painted in bright colors, with the paint peeling and faded out by the sun,  creating a dreamlike dilapidated pastel facade throughout the city that is set upon lush green mountains.  It's very "hilly" and you find yourself exhausted while trekking up each street.  The anchorage at night is my favorite as Charlotte Amalie twinkles like fireflies in the summertime, reflecting off of the water, looking like a sky full of orange stars.  Walking around town, you get a feel of what it was like before it became a cruise ship mecca.  

I sense a bit of contempt from the locals towards the tourists, as people would often ignore Frank and I and disregard our very existence, avoiding eye contact, or any interaction (except when they're hollering at us to take their taxi, of course).  I don't really blame them since I can understand how there is an obvious cultural divide between the sheep-like, capitalistic, buy-buy-buy cruise-ship crowd versus the poorer, yet simpler living islanders.  I find that there always seems to be contention when you artificially place people of extreme opposing economic/financial backgrounds together in the same place.   Though you could argue that there shouldn't be any animosity because since tourism is the only industry here, and their economy is strongly buoyed by the tourists that spend their money.  A Catch- 22, I suppose.  One way or another, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I really love it here. 

I guess it's been a while since Frank and I have access to things while simultaneously being semi-immersed in a culture.   It's an interesting juxtaposition of being surrounded by an unreachable culture, with its pigeon English (I often can't understand what a local is saying because of their heavy accents), and also being someplace that is so westernized.  Kmart is a walking distance away from the dinghy dock at Yacht Haven Grande,  laundry is inexpensive and easily accessible through the Crown Bay Marina, McDonald's is right around the corner, there's even take out Chinese food. Some markets are stocked with familiar treats such as Sour Patch kids, Smartfoods popcorn, smoked gouda and even Shitake mushrooms, yum.   We're even able to get things shipped in using a mailing service (Mailstop), for a nominal price, as the USPS considers St Thomas american territory (we received a package from Florida in 3 days).   It also helps that getting from one side of the island to the other is a mere safari bus ride away.  For $2, you can basically take an open air "safari bus" from here to Red Hook, which is at the eastern point of the island and about a 1/2 an hour by car, which is a little slower paced and less touristy.   You pick up these buses at any point in their route, and press a doorbell-like button when you want to get off.   What a luxury it is to have things so readily available while surrounded by pretty blue water.    

I love this uphill house

Gee Frank, don't be so thrilled about the cruise ships...

Bye bye cruise ship...

Fireflies...

Puerto Rico

Hello again.  Since I've last written, we have travelled through some of Puerto Rico as well as both Vieques, Culebra, and even a stop in St Thomas…

Before we had left the DR we had initially wanted to go from Luperon to Samana and check out the whales hanging out there in that bay during this time of year,  but a weather window to Puerto Rico presented itself and we couldn't resist, so we set out from Luperon straight to Boqueron, Puerto Rico.  This trip took us along the dreaded northern coast of Dominican Republic and across the notorious Mona Passage. Frank planned such a perfect window, that we ended up with a nice 2 day and 2 night sail with small seas, fair winds, and trails of phosphorescence in our wake, all of which helped melt away the anxiety we had built up about this portion of our trip.  Catching a 3 ft mahi didn't hurt our mood either. Going from spending weeks in a third world country to Puerto Rico (which is essentially a Spanish speaking America, fully equipped with Walmarts and McDonalds), was surreal to say the least.  And even though this was the furthest we have gone up to this point, we felt like we right back home, which was bittersweet.  To be honest, Frank and I were a little underwhelmed by Puerto Rico itself.   It felt much like being in Miami, as it is very Americanized, and coming from the simplicity of the Bahamas and the way of life in Dominican Republic, we felt we had traveled a long way to end up right back at square one.  Perhaps it was the culture shock of being surrounded by all the things we love to hate but I was not ready to be back in America yet.  This certainly didn't stop us from gorging ourselves on Wendy's til we got sick to our stomachs, as well as enjoy the luxury of having things be so easily available. But still.  

The one thing we did genuinely enjoy while there was renting a car and driving through the mountains that make up the center of the island.  For anyone visiting Puerto Rico, I would highly highly recommend it.  Frank and I had to drive to West Marine way over in San Juan (on the northeast corner of the island) from Boqueron (in the southwest corner), so we decided to make the best of it and take the scenic route. Driving up across and around the mountains on sketchy roads with sheer drop offs on either side and steep 30% grades was a little intimidating at first, but well worth it.  The ride is pretty much through a jungle in the mountains sprinkled with houses precariously perched in seemingly impossible ways on the super steep slopes.  The roads snake their way through bamboo forests and rainbow eucalyptus groves with lush Tarzan-like vines draping from the cliff sides.  Winding across the summit ridge line, you'll pass through countless coffee plantations and banana farms.  Tiny villages with yummy baked goods to offer dot the valleys, burned out cars occasionally left abandoned on the side of the road are slowly being reclaimed by the jungle, and families can be seen going about their daily business on horseback.   All of this works together to transport you back in time and away from the Americanization that seems so rampant on the coast.  It was about a six hour drive in the end running from Rincon east through the country roads before eventually getting back to the highway and our business at hand.  When we set out, we had no real plans, we just sort of quickly glanced at the map and chose what looked to be the steepest, and least travelled roads so long as they were heading generally eastward. Once we set out, we would randomly choose a direction at any given intersection, a type of exploring we have come to refers to as "car hikes."   Frank and I have a long history of car hiking beginning way back when we first met and drove a loop across the US some 13 years ago.  More often than not, these car hikes have led us to some of the most beautiful places we have been able to find.  Being lost and not knowing what's around the next corner is one of the most thrilling parts of traveling for us.  This particular car hike was one of my favorites...

This was off the side of the highway :)

Rainbow Eucalyptus  

Bamboo everywhere...

First mate on watch

Sailing along the southern coast of mainland, PR.

Oyster/Clam stand in Boqueron where you eat
fresh shucked shellfish right then and there.

These black clams are native to Boqueron and were so
so so delicious.  

More Caves and Abandoned Spaces….

We found after spending over 3 weeks in Luperon that there is so much to do.  We found another cave to explore after Nick spoke with some real estate agents about possibly buying some property on the island.  They took Frank and Nick on a tour that included property sitting over this awesome cave.  The next day, we rented motorcycles again so that we could explore this cave some more.  Needless to say, it was beautiful….

We also found an abandoned marina that was also pretty cool….