St. Lucia
Before we landed on St. Lucia (pronounced St.Loosha), the second largest of the Leeward Islands at 238 square miles, I gave a lecture on Slavery in the Caribbean. After lunch we disembarked in Paradise. Although named for St. Lucy -- and despite the local tradition which asserts that Columbus named the island for St. Lucy because he discovered it on her feast day -- Columbus’s log suggests that he never saw the island. St. Lucia has a considerable population of 142 thousand and now depends more on the tourist industry. Castries is the capital and has a population of 60 thousand. It has been the largest exporter of bananas of all the Windward Islands, shipping more than 108 thousand tons in the 90’s. The devastating hurricane Debbie hit St. Lucia on Sept. 10, 1994. Twenty-four inches of rain fell in 7 hours. Four people were killed and 24 seriously injured. Mud and silt of up to 4 feet were recorded in some of the western valleys, and the banana crop was destroyed with 70 thousand tons lost. The Prime Minister estimated the damage at $30 million USD. This gives us a stark reminder of how at the whim of nature these economies are. As a result of this devastation there is a move away from such a dependency on one crop agriculture. Today fishing and flower exporting is also being pursued. Additionally, manufacturing is now employing 14% of the population and growing. There is a venture now to establish a data processing industry in St. Lucia.
The island's inhabitants are chiefly descended from African slaves but the influence of the French overlords is very strong. The official language is Patois which is a blend of French, African and the original Carib. Our guide Susanne sang us a song in patois and even two of our guests from France could not understand it. Until recently, patois was not a written language. However, recent efforts have been successful and it is now being written and one can purchases books on the language by contacting the Summer Linguistics Institute. Like their neighbor to the south Trinidad, St. Lucia has a high rate of literacy and has produced notably writers. Derek Walcott who teaches in the United States received the Nobel Prize in 1992 for his work and his long narrative poem Omeros is well worth reading.
The first thing that struck most about St. Lucia is the height of its mountains. Mount Gimie is 3,180 feet high and the two pitons are now designated UNESCO world heritage sites. St. Lucia is a volcanic island. Our trip to Soufrière was eerie. We entered into the heart of an active volcano. The first thing that struck most of us aside from the heat was very strong smell of sulfur. As I watched the mud bubble out of the streaming vents at 212 degrees f (100 degrees C), I had a vivid understanding of how these volcanoes gave birth to these islands. The smoke in the photo is the superheated steam.
Our next stop was the lovely botanical garden. We were taken on a guided tour of this garden where we were shown much of the native flora. We had a demonstration of how coffee, nutmeg and other useful herbs were picked and prepared. The size of the flowering plants and the ease with which they seemed to grow made many of us avid gardeners jealous. It would appear that all one had to do was set a stick down and return in a month and it would have rooted; of course weeding here would be a task. Our walk ended at a lovely restaurant perched almost 1000 feet on the side of the mountain looking down at Soufrière. The view was breathtaking – the town with its colorful roofs was spread below us and in front the coral Caribbean. We had rum punch and fresh fruit juice and fish cakes, fried plantains and chicken wings. Yum! The orchard tree in front of the restaurant’s verandah was alive with a number of different species of hummingbirds. Tomorrow the Grenadines.
Before we landed on St. Lucia (pronounced St.Loosha), the second largest of the Leeward Islands at 238 square miles, I gave a lecture on Slavery in the Caribbean. After lunch we disembarked in Paradise. Although named for St. Lucy -- and despite the local tradition which asserts that Columbus named the island for St. Lucy because he discovered it on her feast day -- Columbus’s log suggests that he never saw the island. St. Lucia has a considerable population of 142 thousand and now depends more on the tourist industry. Castries is the capital and has a population of 60 thousand. It has been the largest exporter of bananas of all the Windward Islands, shipping more than 108 thousand tons in the 90’s. The devastating hurricane Debbie hit St. Lucia on Sept. 10, 1994. Twenty-four inches of rain fell in 7 hours. Four people were killed and 24 seriously injured. Mud and silt of up to 4 feet were recorded in some of the western valleys, and the banana crop was destroyed with 70 thousand tons lost. The Prime Minister estimated the damage at $30 million USD. This gives us a stark reminder of how at the whim of nature these economies are. As a result of this devastation there is a move away from such a dependency on one crop agriculture. Today fishing and flower exporting is also being pursued. Additionally, manufacturing is now employing 14% of the population and growing. There is a venture now to establish a data processing industry in St. Lucia.
The island's inhabitants are chiefly descended from African slaves but the influence of the French overlords is very strong. The official language is Patois which is a blend of French, African and the original Carib. Our guide Susanne sang us a song in patois and even two of our guests from France could not understand it. Until recently, patois was not a written language. However, recent efforts have been successful and it is now being written and one can purchases books on the language by contacting the Summer Linguistics Institute. Like their neighbor to the south Trinidad, St. Lucia has a high rate of literacy and has produced notably writers. Derek Walcott who teaches in the United States received the Nobel Prize in 1992 for his work and his long narrative poem Omeros is well worth reading.
The first thing that struck most about St. Lucia is the height of its mountains. Mount Gimie is 3,180 feet high and the two pitons are now designated UNESCO world heritage sites. St. Lucia is a volcanic island. Our trip to Soufrière was eerie. We entered into the heart of an active volcano. The first thing that struck most of us aside from the heat was very strong smell of sulfur. As I watched the mud bubble out of the streaming vents at 212 degrees f (100 degrees C), I had a vivid understanding of how these volcanoes gave birth to these islands. The smoke in the photo is the superheated steam.
Our next stop was the lovely botanical garden. We were taken on a guided tour of this garden where we were shown much of the native flora. We had a demonstration of how coffee, nutmeg and other useful herbs were picked and prepared. The size of the flowering plants and the ease with which they seemed to grow made many of us avid gardeners jealous. It would appear that all one had to do was set a stick down and return in a month and it would have rooted; of course weeding here would be a task. Our walk ended at a lovely restaurant perched almost 1000 feet on the side of the mountain looking down at Soufrière. The view was breathtaking – the town with its colorful roofs was spread below us and in front the coral Caribbean. We had rum punch and fresh fruit juice and fish cakes, fried plantains and chicken wings. Yum! The orchard tree in front of the restaurant’s verandah was alive with a number of different species of hummingbirds. Tomorrow the Grenadines.
