So my first few days have been crazy and amazing!
Friday Arrival:
As with most travel getting there
was ½ the battle, i.e. battle lol. It took 24 hrs. to get to St Vincent and the
Grenadines, I’ll be using SVG from now on. This included a 9 hr. layover in
JFK, which was somewhat miserable. They had a lounge for $50 to lay down and we
would have paid but it was on terminal 4 by Delta and you are not allowed to
leave a terminal unless you want to go all the way through security again. Fail
Jet Blue! We tried to find a Polynesian Restaurant for 1 hr. to eat at and
turns out it was just outside security on terminal 5. Seriously do terrorists
really want to lay down to nap and eat Polynesian food! We did make it after a
2 hr. stent on the Tarmac in JFK to Barbados putting us in at 3 am. Thankfully
after customs and luggage grab we only had a couple of hours before the trip to
SVG. It was a smaller plan and they did
charge us for each extra bag over 1 checked, $60 and $34 as my bag was over the
50 lb limit. The carry on has a limit of 10# as well but we both had 12-14# bags
and they had pity on us and didn’t charge us anymore. Thanks to Jet Blue for
NOT charging me an overage fee from Charlotte to Barbados when they found out
why I was going. LIAT the Caribbean airline could have cared less… We arrived
safely though and the Sisters met us. So here a Sister written Sr. is an title
for an FNP and nurses are RN’s still. They are not nuns J. They were very pleasant and
happy to see us, but didn’t realize our travel time and had planned to take us
to the Ministry of Health to talk for a while and then a Diabetes in-service
from a Cuban MD. We managed to stay awake for lunch, bank currency exchange,
meeting with head of MOH and the meeting some how! We were amazed how the cars
and people did not seem to have an rules on the road. The cars drove right up
to people and people walked into he streets around cars all the time. There are
no lights, only stop signs but it is more who gets there first or is more
aggressive it seems. We finally got to our places later in the evening.
Stephanie is staying on the main land and in a beautiful valley that is at the
top of the mountain. Her is a 10 -15minutes walk to the beach and her clinic
down a steep grade. Mine was on the smaller island and has a 1 hr. ferry ride
to get to. It is right at the top of the port on a mountain as well. I have a 5
min walk down a steep grade to my clinic and should have a 10 min walk to beach
but will not see until tomorrow. I have a great view of the port you can see
here. The apt is cute and is owned by a RN who is out o town but her husband
and daughter are very nice and here. I have 2 bedrooms, no AC, a tub/shower but
as of now the hot water is not working. Cold showers are not fun, unless the
humidity makes it tolerable J.
The owner has a laundry machine but have to se if I can use or have to wash by
hand. The island doesn’t have dryers so it is all line dry. The water is
drinkable on main land but I have to boil water and then chill in frig to drink
so must think ahead. They did have a toaster, gas stove, blender, microwave and
ice trays so I am good! With fans and windows open the breeze makes apt OK and
can sleep well with ocean breeze. SCUBA in AM!
Saturday: SCUBA
Day
So I did my
PADI e learning while in the states and my dives here. I got through Confined
dive 1 and 2 fine and loved it, except that it is done in shallow water and the
current is tough to fight. Confined 3,4 and 5 are in 30 ft. of water. Sadly my eardrum made weird
“rushing” sound and I felt my equilibrium off and out of sorts upon my first
decent. I had just gotten over a sinus issue so had to abort and snorkel rest
of the time out. Got Psuedafed at local pharmacy for $1 a pill and said to try
again Sunday once the ears pop and clear. Snorkel was fine and no pain so don’t
think eardrum is injured but will have FNP check at clinic Monday to be sure.
We ate a little cute café the scuba master Dave showed us
and the owner is from South Africa Sharryn and she was awesome .She made us Penne
Pasta as a non-menu special and gave us a good tour guide name and hook-up for
when we hike the mountain since we were students here at the clinic. We met a
Swedish girl who is on a vacation while away from Engineering school there. She
was also certifying while here. Our dive master is a retired Military/Security
guy David and his wife from Columbia who I could only understand he calls her
love and Princess. She does not speak English so we were trying to carry on
conversation and learn some Spanish words from here. They have adopted a dog
here, Nada, who is adorable brown mutt. They plan to bath the fleas off and
take her inside after she followed them home a few days ago. Dogs are rampant
here and all strays. They are either all pregnant or in heat. It is sad to see
so many with no homes and they aren’t fixed so they will continue to breed.
David retired here last year and is enjoying it doing dives and is a great
teacher at Indigo Dive at Blue Lagoon Marina. We found a taxi driver to take us
to town wait as we shop and then take us home. He was great and nice. Taxis are
a bit expensive, vans are cheaper but harder to find and the bus is cheapest
but crowded and you better say your prayers cause they drive crazy like. The
taxis are about $15-25 for a one-way trip about 15 minutes away, the vans are
$1 for the same distance, busses are about $2-3. Shopping was great and I did mine there on
the big island as it is cheaper than Bequia my island. I stayed Saturday night
with Stephanie and her place is a 3 bedroom place and has just been redone and
was beautiful like a an apt in the sates. The upstairs owner just tore his ACL
and we were amazed at their treatment here as he s in a full fiberglass cast
since it was a severe tear. He is a soccer player nick-named Smoker since he is
so fast. He was surprised when we said in the states he would have had surgery
or an ace wrap and Physical Therapy and rest with no cast. He wished he didn’t
as he must wear fro 4 weeks and can’t get it wet in shower! They have goats and
a cow right out front of the place to eat grass! We spent the evening drinking
“Very strong Rum” we found at the store and had sandwiches and passed out. Some
cool things we did buy also was Nutz’n Rum peanut butter rum, was great and a
Peppered Mango. A local treat that is a spicy hot mango slices. Haven’t tried
yet but will soon!
Sunday: Walk About
Day
So woke up to day and my ear felt
full of water so postponed SCUBA until 4/10 and will make it my b-day present
to myself! Will have MD check my ear at clinic tomorrow. We decided to sleep in
and then go to market. Turns out that Sunday is church and socialize day here
so the market is closed. Botanical Gardens are open though so we set out on an
adventure to find a van near the Petro station. Crazy here is that there are no
road signs and if you want to find something you give landmarks. Taxi driver
said to us, go to Petro station and tell them to go to Mr. Alexander’s house
when you want a ride home. Everyone here knows everyone really so this works! Crazy,
as they also have no street numbers so mail is delivered to you cause they know
you or you pick up at post office. After an hr. wait and no van stopping, turns
out most don/t work so they just honk and drive past you!, we gave up and took
a walk around the area. We found her clinic and the beach access. The steep
climb is crazy and on a twisty road. Will be OK down but a hike in the eve heat
up L. She will be here next
week from Wed-Tues since her preceptor is out for a few days and it’s Easter
with a big celebration here Thurs-Monday. Tues she will be on Bequia as her
Preceptor has a meeting weekly and she will have no one to be with. Only
excitement today was taking 5 grocery bags and my day packed stuffed with frig
items and eggs to the ferry, on the ferry and to my apt. Thank goodness the
Sr.s are so helpful. Her preceptor drove me to the ferry, since vans are sparse
and taxis expensive. Sadly I got 4 different times for the last ferry off the
island so came at 4 to be sure and it left at 6. Had to wait in the shade and
hope cold stuff would stay cold with homemade ice pack. The ferry is quite
rocky and is an hr. I missed the Duke game but thanks to service on the high
seas could see the score. We won as we docked! My preceptor and her husband
drove down to help me take bags up the hill in the dark so it was a lifesaver!
I was able to cook my first meal tonight on my gas stove! I made Fuseli pasta
with Red mushroom sauce spiced up with local hot peppers, red onion, garlic,
oregano, basil and white pepper. Spices are VERY cheap as it’ part of the West
Indies were they were discovered or invented? Anyway gonna stock up when I
leave since I will be off-loading stuff I brought for clinic and snacks for the
month since we were unsure of how food would be. Brought a lot of gummy snacks
and protein bars lol. Also made a lettuce, tomato and Italian dressing salad
and drinking some red wine I brought. Was nice to cook on gas stove, but
boiling water to wash dishes is time consuming and HOT! Gonna enjoy some TV and
get to bed early for clinic is at 8am. Should find beach after clinic tomorrow!
