Special Feature: Honeymooning in Saint Lucia - The Enormous Picture Journal - Day 10

Special Feature: Honeymooning in Saint Lucia - The Enormous Picture Journal - Day 10

by Guyon
Wednesday, November 27 - La Maison Creole and Flying Home

Another lazy morning for us, and our last day in Saint Lucia! We considered doing the Des Cartier (“two quarters”) trail but decided not to because we didn’t want to be very sweaty before being on planes for several hours.

After making breakfast and while packing our belongings, Chairmane (the Hidden Treehouse villa manager) and her assistant swung by a little before checkout. They presented us with a fired clay face much like the ones liberally placed within the villa. How kind!

Chairmane’s assistant had came by earlier with some souvenirs to sell but I had turned her away at the time because Ruby wasn’t dressed. I felt bad about that, but on their return, I was able to ask her about them, and she brought them back. I was hoping an opportunity like this would arise, so I had given our remaining EC dollars to Ruby. She managed to spend all $30 EC (~$11 USD) of it on a bead bracelet and Saint Lucia keychain that we’ll turn into a Christmas ornament.

We brought our bags to the car and headed south towards Vieux Fort, but I had one last destination in mind. This was La Maison Creole, a small Saint Lucian cultural museum just on the other side of Choiseul.

When passing through Choiseul, we stopped at one of the art shops that we had passed a few times and wondered about.

After briefly checking out the woven items, we continued down south to La Maison Creole.

When we pulled up, we were greeted by a woman who ran the museum. I feel like her name was Theresa, but I can’t remember for certain. At any rate, that’s what I’ll call her for now.

It soon became clear that this museum also served as her home, and that it was just us and her. The museum doesn’t get frequent visitors. Later we found out that Theresa’s daughter had added the museum to Google Maps, where I found the museum the night before.

After waiting a couple minutes for Theresa to tidy up, we began our tour. She showed us various items of Saint Lucian past — kerosene lamps, woodworking tools, cameras, homebuilding techniques, artwork, sewing machines, and anything else that she had come across and stocked in her museum.

Upon being asked about the vinyl records she kept (for she had many in large stacks), she encouraged us to take one home with us. I chose a Jamaican EP [which may be found on Discogs].

As we headed towards the garden in the back, she stopped to show us how she had just been cooking sweet potatoes in an oven (any Saint Lucian will pronounce oven oh-ven). It wasn’t an ordinary oven either, but a stone construction that she might have put together herself, and a live fire. She shared one with us. It was okay.

In the garden, she showed us soursop fruit and a fruit called five fingers (carambola). We had seen soursop flavored ice cream after finishing our hike at Gros Piton.

We looped around the other side of the museum, passing her cat Zuki, and entered in through the front. There were inexplicably many items from Africa.

Earlier, Ruby had asked Theresa about her woven baskets that she makes. Theresa excitedly told Ruby that after the tour, she would show her how she makes baskets. What we did not expect was just how sacrificial she would be with her time with us.

We sat down at the entrance at a small table with strips of leaves from a Panama tree. For the next 80 or so minutes, Theresa demonstrated to Ruby each step of the process, starting with the bottom, then the sides, then the lid, tidying up any edges, creating and attaching two handles, and finally a latch to keep it shut.

It was splendid, and the perfect way to end our tourism on the island. People like Theresa make Saint Lucia beautiful.

Ruby, Theresa, and the basket they made together
Ruby, Theresa, and the basket they made together

We expressed how much we appreciated her time with us, and headed on to the airport.

If you were on an airplane and didn't take a picture, did you even fly?
If you were on an airplane and didn't take a picture, did you even fly?

Everything went pretty smoothly. Despite being a couple rows away in one of the flights, we were able to virtually spend time with each other playing Mario Party DS.

This is the end of my journal. If you have any questions about our experiences, do find a way to contact me.

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About Guyon

Follower of Jesus, gearhead, photographer, and software engineer

Richmond, Virginia https://guyon.io/