Today was amazing! We were picked up at 9:00 by Wayne, Jane
and her son, Jay, and driven up island. En route we pick up Gloria, Margaret
and Vibert (all union leaders). It took us a couple of hours to drive to La
Soufriere Volcano trail, all the while being serenaded by the best of Kenny
Rogers! We started the hike in a gorgeous tropical rainforest. Jane and her son
went ahead and Irnice and I walked together. The rest walked with George who
was having some difficulty. When we reached the first rest spot, I teamed up
with Jay and Irnice walked with Jane. The climbing got more and more steep as
we went and the heat and humidity were high, but the beauty of the forest was
incredible. We hiked through three climatic zones and when we reached the top
we were above the tree line. We stopped a couple of times to wait for the others,
but eventually Jay and I arrived at the rim of the crater (after about 2¼
hours). The view was stunning even as fog or clouds drifted over. I ate a mango
at the rim that Jane had given us at the bottom. Jane arrived shortly
afterwards and I asked if we could go up to another higher lookout. So the
three of us hiked up there while we waited for Irnice, Margaret and Vibert to
reach the rim. (This was the first time up for Margaret and Jay who are both
local people).
Then we hiked back down again. It was just as beautiful going
down. There are a few points where we were walking on a natural catwalk and the
land dropped off dramatically on both sides. The vegetation was incredible.
When we all arrived back at the parking lot the union people served us a picnic
lunch they brought with them. It was salt fish and breadfruit with a homemade
green apple drink.
After that we drove to Black Point Historic Park. There is a
300ft tunnel carved through volcanic rock that the British made slaves dig in
order to make a shorter route to get sugar cane to the boats. Inside the tunnel
were bats and I tried with limited success to get photos of them.
Then we had the long drive home. We dropped off the union
leaders in reverse order. We drove through two carnival street parties in small
rural towns. Lots of noise and people. The second one totally blocked off the
road and we had to inch through it with oncoming traffic too. Our van was
surrounded by partyers who were peering in our windows and actually rocking the
van from the front and the back. We had two guys on the hood and three on the
back bumper. It gave me a small glimpse of the chaos of some of the African
riots, like in Rwanda. You are trapped and have absolutely no control. I was
not afraid though as we had all the union folk with us and everyone seemed to
be having a good time. The last part of the drive was in the dark (sun goes
down at six). The roads are very narrow and windy going around hills, buildings
and fields – with steep drops and no guardrails. Often there is barely enough room
for two vehicles to pass – they just miss each other’s mirrors. Often Wayne
stopped and let the other car creep past first.
When we finally arrived home, I asked Jane if she could set
us up with a tour of the islands and she said she would. I told her she was a
sweetheart and she said “I know”.
We all had a quick sandwich for dinner and then we typed and
looked at photos. I showed Irnice and George some shots of the American road
trip – Crater Lake, Zion, Bryce, Arches and the like. They've gone to bed and I
am about to too. Got two e-mails from Wendy and Mavis with preliminary stuff
for the first workshop.
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