The Graveyard Shift

This is the flower of the Baobab tree which is located in the main square in Basseterre. The Boabob has an incredibly rich history and I think it's easier to provide the Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baobab. I have never seen the Baobab flower and the blooming production is really quite something. There are green fruit-like looking pods; beautiful, very large white flowers that begin white before ageing to cream then brown and finally fall on the ground in a beautiful dried formation. I was lucky to see a truly spectacular baobab on neighbouring Nevis. That was a very interesting day so I will tallk about that in another post.
My friend Frances and I visited this historic Anglican church in Basseterre on afternoon and spent a lot of time just browsing through the tombstones. This was on my second day and I think that it was only about this time that the true historic significance of St Kitts really began to sink in. The headstones go back to the early 1800s and even an occasional late 1700s and many carry interesting tales. Unfortunately the chruch was closed so we could not get in but the thickly cut walls are still standing strong and proud.

I would want to spend eternity under such beauty.
Frannnie has to get the prize for being the most agile pregnant Mama. Here she is after our tombstone jaunt, climbing the fence after we realized that the gates had been locked for the night and we were, GASP, locked in the churchyard. Spooky. Not a problem for Frannie. I have to save this picture to show the baby what prenatal antics his mother had him up to!

More photos from the rainforest hike

This little monkey was rescued as a baby and is not yet fully grown. It is startling how human they are, especially as babies. There are said to be two monkeys on the island for every person. The green vervet monkeys lack prehensile tails and, as such, do not swing but rather walk around. I saw most of them in the evening when the sun had come out and they would come out of the woody areas. This baby was very shy but quite willing to come to us.
This is the gingerbread facade of the Caribelle estate house where batik cloth is produced. The gardens here are spectacular and the crowning glory is the 350 year old samaan tree that greets you as you drive up to the house. It is a whole ecosystem with epiphytic bromeliads, orchids and vines.
The exquisite flower of the flamboyant or the poinciana is almost orchid-like in its delicacy.
The diversity of St Kitts really surprised me. On the Southern peninsula, the land is scrubby and dry with not a few cacti thriving. But inland, there is rainforest filled with butress trees; mango trees and sandback trees with their distinctive polished , sickle shaped wooden disks that explode loudly in the heat of the sun with sharp, cracking sounds. The aquaducts put in by the Brtish in the late 1700 and early 1800s to service the sugar estates are still very much present in the forest and the pipes have held up remarkably well to the ravages of time.
Our hiking group stumbled across Nicholas Spencer and his friend hunting crayfish in the river. They had a bucketfull and assured me that they were going to cook it themselves. I ran into the two of them a few nights later at Spratnet as it turns out that Nichlas is the nephew of the owners Mark and Jack Spencer. Very small world.

So much to Write. No time!

Lovely view of climbing vine in Flamboyant tree (or Poinciana as it is known here).
This is the fountain at one of the charming hotels located in Basseterre's beautiful hillside suburbs.

Here is Cleaver, our rainforest tourguide who could not have been nicer. He is nestled here in the roots of one of the massive buttress trees that form the rainforest landscape. In a fascinating ecosystem, these roots anchor the earth and prevent erosion of the soil at the side of the riverbank.The petroglyphs of St Kitts are some of the best preserved of the region. They were carved into the rock faces by a people who probably thought that they had all the time in the world. This desire to communicate through art is still one of the most distinguishing features of human beings and is what truly brings us together. I wondered if this image was created by an errant teenager (or is that a 20th century invention?) or was the artist well respected throughout the region? The red paint has been added recently and, to the purist, may be seen as a mistake. The paint will fade but the etchings are here for as long as the rocks stand.

Needless to say, I have been hectic. St Kitts has been interesting on so many levels. I had no idea that this was the Crown Jewel of colonies for the British Empire and, as such, is very rich in historical data. The gravestones and churches alone are a treasure trove.I will post more later on all of this but we are off this morning to an island tour of Nevis. I'm posting some photos from my rainforest hike yesterday which was really interesting.

More St Kitts

This is an old colonial house that still sits on large grounds with lots of fruit trees and many grazing cows. The formal entrance with the pond/fountain in the middle of the front drive is a common architectural detail of this period.
Allamanda in all its colours
The bread and fruit dish at lunch today decorated with bouganvillae

This ginger is often known by the unglamorous name of "dead man's fingers"

1st Day in St Kitts

Site of Ocean's Edge project.
We went on an island tour this morning to look some of the sites. I'm here doing an article on a development by Newfound Properties, Ocean's Edge. http://www.oceansedgestkitts.com/
They have just broken ground on what is to be an exclusive luxury resort that will wrap around the very special Frigate Bay with its sweeping horseshoe beach and rising cliffs ( Atlantic side but very close to the spit that meets the Caribbean sea). Potential buyers can choose from one bedroom and two bedroom beachfront apartments that will be laid out parallel with the beachfront to ensure that each unit enjoys true beachfront; a series of large, semi-detached duplex garden cottages will be set within the lush landscaping and finally, a choice of two bedroom hillside apartments or three to four bedroom executive villa plots each with a commanding view of the spectacular Frigate Bay. A few of the higher villas will also have a view over the South peninsula encompassing vistas of both the Atlantic and Caribbean Much of this southestern peninsula is untenable as agricultural land as it is drier than the lush interior. It is, however, perfect for tourism development because of the long, sandy beaches and easy access to both the capital, Basseterre, and the airport.
Sales have been brisk with almost one third of the available units already sold. With several high end ventures coming on stream over the next few years, the recent opening of a large Marriot hotel that doubled bed space on the island overnight, investor confidence is high. The capping off of the sugar industry means that the government is open to high end development and keen to facilitate the type of tourism that will help preserve the pristine environment. St Kitts has two advantages; by holding off tourism for the last twenty years (this little nation only became independent in the early 1980s) by a long reliance on sugar and light manufacturing, the island was able to look at the development of neighbouring islands and learn from their experiences. The twin state Federation is also well versed in the mechanics of upscale tourism through its experience in Nevis with the successful and highly regarded Four Seasons. Both islands are remarkably unspoilt and still conjure the charming island feeling that is lost forever on many other islands. Certainly no traffic snarls here except behind the browsing, meandering goats or the drowsy cows.
The pictures today are all over the place. It's all things that caught my eye and will help me when I'm building the article in my head.
This week I plan to:
Hike to the Volcano
Snorkel
Visit the National Heritage building and do some research on the history of the island.
Visit James Stephen's cave.
Go to Nevis

How much more pastoral can you get?
This is where we had Sunday brunch. The house on the bluff with the mountains in the background is a classic Caribbean scene but one that is becoming more and more difficult to find.
The restaurant is built around the pool and these thick, cut stone arches show the reflection of the pool water in the blue light thrown back against the wall. The architecture of the old plantation houses does vary from island to island but many features are the same. The big open verendahs, the high ceilings and the thick, cut stone walls combined with wooden shutters are some of the identifying features especially in the English speaking islands that were mostly British colonies.My lunch was delicious- seared salmon with petit pois risotto and sauteed vegetables- yum!

A cathedral of trees



We rarely see this plant in Trinidad anymore. I know it as chandileer bush and it is commonly used for dried flower arrangements. It is also boiled to make a powerful cough suppressant and I know it for that use at home. Therefore i was quite surprised to come across a field of the spiky plant in the middle of nowhere. Set against the backdrop of the mountains, they make a striking contrast.

I'm Off to St Kitts

And this is the family that I am leaving behind and whom I will miss terribly. Here they are in random order.

Katie; yes, she does have this much personality. I inherited her because, I suspect, she can be a bit noisy. (She howls). But even that is part of her charm I think.Smalta and Ross

Hayley
Smalta; this dog is so smart, the only thing he does not do is answer the phone!

Susie is quite mad and as you can see, literally long in the tooth. As I write this, she is in her customary spot on top of my scanner keeping company as I write.
I'm off for a week to do some work in St Kitts. I'm going to try and blog from there but don't know the set up yet.

It's all in the Details

Cat's Whiskers come from the botanical family Labiatae and are native to SouthEast Asia. I also have a purple one which is far more rowdy and difficult to control. With its dark leaves and striking white flowers , it brightens up most beds and once pruned into a compact bushy shape, it behaves itself. Everyone knows that gardens are expensive places to run. They require copious amounts of feeding, supplemental planting, and manuring just to get them up and running. That's one of the reasons I particularly love this little plant. It "catches" in the blink of an eye and once it enjoys enough sunshine, it will be perpetually covered in flowers. There are certain plants that are repeated ad nauseum in my garden and, you guessed it, they are the ones that I "catch" myself. Other faves are oxalis, crotons, begonias and mundo grass.

These two belong together. Yes they do. And no, they are not ferns. I do know that they are all feathery and frondy but are, apparently, members of the carrot family and this is the flower. Nature never fails to surprise.Lantana is one of those plants that does well in everyone else's garden and hates the sight of me. I am trying again. This time, I am prepared. I have fed, mulched and made sure that there is enough direct sun and dry soil to keep any self respecting Lantana happy. We shall see. I am persisting because when Lantana thrives, it is gorgeous. Beautiful in the detail and in the whole. In fact my Tropical Garden book describes it as a "sometimes invasive shrub". Hah.