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| Our suite pool |
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Lobby Bar |
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| Anse La Raye Friday Fish Fry |
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| Anse La Raye Friday Fish Fry - Live Band |
We spent yesterday afternoon at our pool and lobby bar before heading to Anse La Raye's Friday Seafood Feast. Definitely a ritual among locals. We arrived early, so we felt a little uncomfortable at first; however, after an hour or so, more tourist started arriving and we were able to relax. The festival was VERY grassroots, local seafood stalls lined both sides of the street. Many of the local people had big grills cooking up lobster, snapper, conch, oysters, etc. You name the seafood, they probably had it there. There were also a bunch of large stew pots, cooking up Creole stew with curried lobster and king fish. I’m not usually a big fan of “street food,” but what the hell, we tried it anyways. We started with the fish cakes, which were really tasty and cost only $.50! We then moved on to the local dish, Braff, which was grilled mahi mahi in a lemongrass basil sauce…very tasty. Lastly we tried the Lobster special, which included a full lobster, rice, veggies, conch fritters and pasta for under $20! Oh and of course we washed it down with the local beer, Piton, for $1 each! There was also a live band playing steel/bongo drums and people singing karaoke. This was HILARIOUS!!!! St. Lucian’s with strong French (Creole) accents singing the Eagles….priceless. Jeff and I did not drink enough Piton to participate in the karaoke!
The drive to the festival was rather long, 45 minutes, but we did get to see many of the local towns as we drove along the coast. St. Lucia was hit by a hurricane this past October 30th and the locals and the land are still recovering. The hurricane left a lot of destruction in its path, taking the lives of 10 people. Our driver pointed out some of the areas that were most affected. Huge landslides took the lives of one entire family, as the mud and rock came rushing down the side of the mountain and completely took out their home. The home to their east was lucky. The mud, trees, and rock came down around this home, but the structure stayed in tack. As you drive by, there are literally hundreds of trees (now horizontally facing) and rocks wrapped around this home. It was unreal to see these huge boulders and 7 feet worth of mud on the backside of this home. We tried to get a picture, but we were too slow. It’s very sad to see how the people here were affected by the hurricane. From what we’ve been told, there was no indication that it was even coming. No evacuations were put in place and people had to ride out the 4 day storm and hope for the best. The people of St. Lucia have been working together to rebuild the island, as this is one of the first weeks that many of the hotels have reopened their doors. Tourism is the largest industry to St. Lucia so we know they look forward to a strong Holiday season that will drive the economy during this hardship.
This afternoon we are heading to Anse Chastanet Beach. There are many beaches in St Lucia with white sand, but we thought it would be different to visit Anse Chastanet, it is a volcanic sand beach located in the southwest coast. It is pretty secluded, with one restaurant…another day of r&r is ahead! We will post pictures tonight!
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