Special Feature: Honeymooning in Saint Lucia - The Enormous Picture Journal - Day 3

Special Feature: Honeymooning in Saint Lucia - The Enormous Picture Journal - Day 3

by Guyon
Wednesday, November 20 - Rainforest Hike with Terry

We awoke this morning by alarm at 7AM in order to get ready for our rainforest tour led by Terry, our gardener. We made a quick, delicious breakfast consisting of a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich with pineapple.

Feeding ourselves - and the birds
Feeding ourselves - and the birds

After filling ourselves, we enjoyed watching the local animals battle over our leftovers.

Terry arrived at La Batterie not long after 8 to take us out. We hopped in the Jimny and headed through Soufriere and onto the rainforest, which greeted us with rain and forest.

Some portions of the drive up the mountain were pretty remote. Roads were unpaved, or sometimes two long paved strips you’d have to balance the car on with a deep channel in the middle. It undeniably made me a bit nervous.

We stopped high up in the mountains to look down on Soufriere and the Pitons.

We turned around and went back down the sketchy road towards a farm where we would begin our hike.

Ruby recorded this portion of our return trip. I really didn't want to do any damage to our rental!

We arrived at the farm, and got out. Walking sticks were ready for us on the right of where we parked. Terry led us in, and two young men who were working told Terry that it would cost $10 USD to get a tour of the farm. Fair enough.

Before checking out the farm itself, we went on a little hike to an overlook. Along the way, Terry showed us various plants of interest — frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, nutmeg, and more.

Palm trees create a canopy almost everywhere in the rainforest
Palm trees create a canopy almost everywhere in the rainforest

At some point, we arrived at a bench that overlooked the mountains to our east, with Mount Gimie to our north. Terry explained how 40 years ago a plane carrying six tourists hit the other side of the mountain, and nobody survived. He also told us about how people would go deep into the forest and plant marijuana.

We made our way back down to the farm. Terry had us pick things. They had a few bunnies and guinea pigs in cages to produce manure. The owner of the farm, a relatively young man, met us. I gave him the $20 and he took us over to pick our own carrots and peanuts while Terry used the restroom.

View west of the Pitons and the farm that we visited
View west of the Pitons and the farm that we visited

There were some blue doves in cages that we saw on the way out. We made our trip down the mountains, stopping briefly at Terry’s house so he could grab his backpack.

We did stop at the Toraille waterfall on our way back to Soufriere. It was a definite tourist trap. Many busses were outside bringing hoards of foreigners to the falls, presumably from the resorts in Castries.

Toraille Falls
Toraille Falls

On our way in, we spoke to some of the vendors out front. Ruby and I bought fried bread (kinda like a donut) for $1 USD and coconut bread for $1 USD and split them. Both were very good!

The walk to the waterfall was short. The waterfall by itself was pretty tame as far as waterfalls go, but it did have a nice pool that it poured into for people to take a dip in. Neither Ruby or I brought anything to get wet in, but we did go down and feel the water.

A photographer with a reflective vest took pictures of anyone who wanted a keepsake from the falls. Right beside us, a man proposed to a woman in the midst of the hustle and bustle. There was brief cheering, and life continued as if it had never happened not 30 seconds later. It did seem a bit odd, like drawing a masterpiece on an etch a sketch just to immediately shake it up.

On our way out, we bought some banana BBQ sauce we had sampled on the way in [This was later confiscated at the airport. RIP], and two of those generic little turtles you see for sale no matter where you visit. My mom will enjoy one all the same.

When we made it back to Soufriere, the three of us stopped at a restaurant and had lunch. Ruby got a fish dish, I got a chicken roti with fries, and Terry got a beef roti. We paid for Terry.

We drove back to La Batterie and I gave Terry the $60 USD he requested for giving us the tour.

We hung out at the pool for a little bit, and then played some cornhole. We’re both pretty garbage but I came in for the W with a cool 21-10 victory after taking a break to watch the sunset from outside the villa.

We went in and made dinner, which was leftovers from yesterday’s beef rotis, scallop potatoes, and Ruby’s leftovers from lunch.

Exhausted from moving furniture the night before, we opted to see what watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on Ruby’s phone in bed was like. Huge upgrade. We were pooped afterwards, and went to sleep shortly after/during Ruby read Exodus 20-23.

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About Guyon

Follower of Jesus, gearhead, photographer, and software engineer

Richmond, Virginia https://guyon.io/