That time of year

Carnival time on St. John. Anyone familiar with the Caribbean knows that each island has its own Carnival at a certain time every year, and these are BIG BIG deals. I think the most popular would be in Trinidad or Brazil, but it's enough to get little St. John worked into a frenzy as well.

Jason and I hit up the food fair on Sunday for some chicken roti, conch, macaroni and cheese and steamed veggies. Classic West Indian fare.

I admit to being a little sad because I managed to miss the one thing I've never been to in these years...a pageant. Pageants are HUGE down here. If you are a winner, it may be the highlight of your entire life. Seriously. Even though the island is only about 4,000 people and your competition only 2 other girls. But man do they put in the effort for a long (3+ hours) show.

And of course, since I have to work on July 4th-our main celebratory day here on STJ-I will not be able to partake in my favorite part...the parade. It is not much of a parade, admittedly. It is completely island style, getting started around an hour or 2 late each time, but it doesn't matter. The streets are crowded with people and it's an all day party (there are no liquor laws down here, so its free-flowin', cheap, strong, and everywhere). The parade lasts 4 or 5 hours with floats coming through maybe every 45 minutes. Ah island life. And I am definitely not making it up at 4am for J'ouvert. Did that a few years ago, sobered up and went to work. Once is enough for me.

Definitely looking forward to more good food and live music in the nights to come. On a little island where not much happens, it is good to have something going on.

Pukes

Pukes is the nickname for tourists in Alaska, which I always thought sounded a bit harsh, although funny. They are our livelihood after all. At any rate, it is the time of year when I am ready to have a break from dealing with their idiocy. I came to realize on my recent cruise ship vacation that living down here has really helped me understand the unwritten rules in Caribbean travel. Fortunately I was able to avoid the usual faux pas (not covering swimwear in public, not saying a greeting before asking questions like 'where's the bathroom?', walking in the middle of the road, etc.). But I've had two recent experiences with moron tourists who definitely earned the term pukes that I felt were worth writing about.

The other night at the Westin I had a guy come up to me and say "I've been at the beach all day, and I get back to my villa, and my room key doesn't work! Do you understand how awful this is??"

I was having a hard time figuring out if he was joking or not, so I say I'm sorry and direct him to the lobby front desk where he can get it fixed, but the guy is not shutting up. The more he says the more I can't figure out if he is joking or not. "Do you understand that I've been at the beach ALL DAY, and my room key doesn't work??!! This is traumatic. This is INCREDIBLY traumatizing! This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my life!" Me sitting and nodding and trying to decide whether or not to laugh. I felt like saying, "Well, you must have an amazing life if this is the worst you've ever dealt with." I'm glad I didn't laugh, because I'm pretty sure he was very serious, but come on now! People live in such weird realities.


The other situation came from a man who obviously knew little to nothing about the world outside his suburb in Middle America. He asked me why there were so many Jamaicans here. Do you see where this is going? At first I didn't get it. I said I really didn't know any Jamaicans...maybe one. How did he manage to meet so many Jamaicans? He says, "They're everywhere! You know? The black people?" Oh. I began to get afraid that this was what he was thinking. WHAT AN IDIOT!!! How is he not aware that the Caribbean, ANY Caribbean island, is mainly inhabited with people of African descent? They're all from Jamaica? That was definitely the dumbest thing I may have ever heard...maybe worse than people asking how the islands don't bump into each other while they're floating around or any of a gazillion other stupid puke questions. I think I gave him a brief history on the West Indian culture, but pretty much decided that beyond that I could not speak with him any more.

These are the days of my life.

Pet Peeves du jour

As an anal retentive Virgo, there are a lot of little nuances in life that make me cringe. That does not come as a surprise to those who know me. Now I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but there are a few bathroom accessories (or whatever you want to call them) that I find absolutely offensive. Keep in mind, I am from Wyoming and have no place to talk about class, but...eh...I am going to.

Bathroom offense #1: padded toilet seats. Why do these exist? My butt is afraid to sit on these.

Bathroom offense #2: Furry toilet seat covers and toilet rug things. I am just so disgusted at the potential for hair in these. It is like a breeding ground for filth. And they are completely unnecessary while also being completely ugly.

Bathroom offense #3: blue toilet water. Good for you. You keep your toilet clean. But something is totally not right with blue toilet water. It seems toxic and nasty. A good scrub every few days seems to do the trick for me!

That is all for now.

Just another day in paradise

A big thanks to Captain Kevin of Born to Rhumb for providing the boat, and to the Connections ladies who decided that Jason and I are now part of their family, and thus were able to enjoy a day trip to Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. We were the youngest by quite a few years, so we were also the drunkest. Although we hit a lot of the same spots as on our last boat trip (Foxy's Taboo, the bubbling pool), I was thrilled to get to Ivan's as I had never actually been there before and was friends with his son Bully before he died a few years back. What an amazing spot he has! Boat trips are one thing I will really miss when I eventually move from here. Check the pics...
Jason striking a pose on the tire swing at Ivan's.

I love this place...shells and coral on any and all surfaces

A cat that is really into eating mayo



Cool conch entrance at Ivan's
The bubbling pool, Jason and his harem

A seaweed toupe

The nice warm water in front of Ivan's and our boat in the background

I like the botton sentence...at Foxy's while checking in at customs


World Famous Foxy'sMangroves on our walk to the bubbling pool

Hot hot hot!

Well, it is that time of year. Is it summer yet? The seasons all pretty much run together around here in the tropics, except that it is starting to get REALLY WARM. I remember when I moved here in January of 2005 and laughed when some of the locals warned me how much hotter it would get, but now I'm living it once again. Not till November will there be any relief. It is so hot that I cannot sleep under covers and I still sweat all through the night (yuck), and when I'm awake...still sweating ALL THE TIME. If you want a little more perspective, think of how hot and muggy Florida may be, and then think that the Virgin Islands are a thousand miles south. A thousand miles closer to the Equator. Toasty.

But, on the up and up...this very moment is the beginning of my 3 day weekend with a boat trip tomorrow to the BVIs. AND, my work is going really well. Finally! I am back on the property at the Westin doing the marketing, and it is just sooo much more me. I can't believe I left this same job almost 2 years ago and it took me this long to get back into it. Only downside is customer service. I hate customer service. And when you work at a 5 star resort where people come down from the states expecting stateside service, there are a lot of issues to deal with. I feel like yelling at people sometimes...CHILL OUT! Go get a drink and it will all be okay! I could rant on tourists for a long time, but I will refrain for the moment. Time for a nap to get this weekend off to the right start.

I knew it.

That little map thing in the margin of my page is useless. I always had an inkling that it was. Today the list of places from which my site has been visited is so ridiculously out of whack. Belgium? Brazil? Germany? Mexico? Turkey? China? Chile? Seriously doubtful that I have that kind of popularity. Not even 90% of my friends and family know I have this blog. Stupid map thing.

A Sunset Cruise is always nice

There was not much of a sunset (view looking toward St. Thomas), but here are a few photos from our little boat trip last Wednesday night. It is amazing how intoxicated one can get with only an hour and a half on a boat. Boat trip = Boozin'.

At this very moment II

10 hours later...Mother has now assumed the role of child beater. At least Grandma's not still singing.

At this very moment

Listening to my elderly West Indian neighbor belting out church songs (her porch is right outside my window). Only a few minutes ago she was screaming at and beating her little granddaughter who lives there. This is very typical.

Melt my little heart

I just found out a former high school friend of mine and his wife adopted a baby. And it seems a bunch of their friends are doing the same! As adoption has been my biggest priority since I can remember (eh, dare I say elementary school?) for myself and for everyone, this makes me really excited. Now if I could just get the people I know who eventually will want kids on that same bandwagon...

Oh yeah

I got my hair chopped. 6 inches! And bangs! I haven't had bangs since middle school, and they were a completely different animal then. I really am a short-haired girl at heart. Plus, it is getting too hot for anything long.

While we slept

An epic battle for life ensued just feet from where we slept. How did we sleep through said battle? I say a big thanks to a large bottle of wine.

So what exactly happend? Well, many of my friends know that through the years our little apartment has been a bit of a critter super highway. When our latest rat visitor came over last week, we did what we always do...set up a plethora of traps. We got poison, old-fashion rat traps with peanut butter, and the little sticky paper thing (do not complain to me about being inhumane...rats deserve the slow death if it gets stuck on that thing).

Well...when we woke up this morning we saw the cupboard below the sink open and the rug all in a bunch with the dust pan and little hand broom stuck to the upside down sticky rat paper. The rat escaped from the sticky paper, but not with his tail. Ew. I guess if it comes down to gnawing your own tail off to survive, you just do it.

Our apartment isn't much more than a hallway, so this all went down about 5 feet from our bed. Again, thank you red wine.

Mr. Rat may have escaped this time, but I know his days are numbered because he's been eating the poison. Fingers crossed that he dies outside and not in our cistern or behind our fridge.