Farsighted Fly Girl

There's nothing like seeing a place through the eyes of locals. It's like exploring someone elses's home; only they know the special spots and unusual spaces. That's exactly how I felt on Greg's Safari tour of St. Kitts. A fifth generation Kittitian, Greg revealed the nuances and details of the island that I surely would have missed on my own. The lush scenery above was my view from Greg's Land Rover as we explored the  diverse terrain of St. Kitt's interior. The Land Rover supplied plenty of views as you can see, above. But we also made lots of stops, sampling genips, gazing at guava and starfruit trees and trying to sneak up on goat herds. Sugar was the main crop for St. Kitts for centuries so there are scads of old plantations left, like this abandoned house above. There were lots of key lime, frangipani and palm trees in the backyard. One of my favorite parts of the safari was meeting St. Kitts children. This group was eager to take photos and se...

I love tropical fruit, the more exotic, the better.  Whenever I travel to the Caribbean, I make a point of visiting the local markets or vendors for local fruit. In St. Kitts, genips, shown above, are sold on almost every street corner of Basseterre. Genips are like lychees, you peel them and suck out the pulp, around the seed which is slimy and slightly sweet. Figs are what Kittitians call the miniature bananas pictured above. I don't like bananas but I do enjoy figs, which are sweeter and creamier than the bananas grown in the U.S. Sea grapes grow on towering trees that tend to grow near the sea. This sweet fruit is also sold by many street vendors in St. Kitts. There's nothing like nibbling on a juicy bunch, as the sun warms your shoulders. Do you have a favorite fruit that you discovered on your travels?

If you ever visit St. Kitts, it's an official requirement to visit Brimstone Hill Fortress. Not only is it the island's most recognizable landmark, it's also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the best place to grab heavenly views. Constructed between 1690 and 1790, the fortress rises almost 800 feet in the air. Which means you must climb the stone path up to monument, way up on Brimstone Hill. Sturdy shoes are suggested. The climb is well worth it because beyond the cannons, bastions and citadel, a striking panorama of  an impossibly green landscape unfolds. It really looks like you could reach up on your tippy toes and touch a cloud or two. Most of the fortress is  built with volcanic rock. I felt like I heard echoes of the centuries of history stored in those rocks. After decades of being passed between British and French colonialists, the flag of independent St. Kitts finally flies from Brimstone Hill Fortress. The fortress is the one of the best ...

Most Americans down mugs and mugs of coffee everyday but I love tea. Technically, I don't drink the black tea leaves that are commonly considered tea but herbal infusions that are really a collection of herbs, flowers and spices. In the Caribbean, this is called bush tea and I always order a cup on whatever island I visit. There's just nothing like fresh bush tea. In St. Kitts, I ordered a pot at the Spice Mill restaurant and this earned me some surprised looks. Not because it was a hot, 90 degree Kitttitian afternoon but because few Americans know about the joys of bush tea and they didn't expect anyone to order it.  After much bustling and questioning, my waitress stepped outside the restaurant and plucked some lemongrass and thyme from the garden. You can see the tips of the plants in the photo above. I savored the spicy smell when she brought the pot out and sipped on cups and cups for over an hour. Bush tea is typically drunk for medicinal purposes and lemon...

I love red snapper. There's no other fish that inspires the joy and anticipation that this mild, flavorful aquatic dish provides for me. I can not resist ordering  fresh red snapper whenever I'm in the Caribbean or Latin America. Served with rice and peas, plantains or yucca, red snapper is the equivalent of  a comforting embrace, spiked with bursts of laughter.  I have a difficult time ignoring it whenever I see it on any menu so I was faced with a bizarre dilemma in St. Kitts. Every single restaurant I visited for dinner, featured a tempting version of red snapper.  So when I sunk my toes into the sands at Mr. X's Shiggedy Shack beach lounge, I just had to order the red snapper grilled with lemon and thyme, above. When I dipped into the gorgeous, sun-dappled Spice Mill restaurant, I just couldn't ignore the spice-rubbed red snapper, topped with pineapple salsa, above. When I joined with the gang  for dinner at the swanky Blu seafood resta...

I'm a punk. I admit it. I love a good travel adventure but  in the end, St. Kitts managed to kick my butt. I'm a big biking fan, as my weekly rides on my tricked out, pink Raleigh attests. But I just wasn't prepared for biking in St. Kitts.  I trotted out for an early morning ride with my press comrades and quickly crumbled. What could be so tough about biking through a tiny and lovely little island you ask? Well, for starters, we have the heat.  You'll never hear me complain about the sunshine and I adore hot, tropical weather. It's just that, a  95 degree temperature is not all that ideal for bike riding. See the wilted look on my face in the photo above? Notice the sweat glistening on my arms? That was was just the first 3 minutes. Then we have the gorgeous Basseterre landscape. I was surrounded by verdant green vegetation everywhere I looked. The Caribbean Sea beckoned  over the hills. Hills. I somehow had forgotten how hilly St. Kitts is. You can'...

Zip lines may look like the latest travel torture trend but it appears a lot scarier than it is. Imagine flying above the trees, sharing views with birds and monkeys.  You get so captured by the sights that you forget that you're thousands of feet in the air. I've zipped through plenty of rain forests and tree tops but St. Kitts Sky Safari was a slightly different experience. That's Kelly in the photo above. He helped my group cover our bodies in the pounds of required equipment. Unlike other zip lines, Sky Safari uses a carriage that you actually sit on, making it more comfortable and secure. The first contraption was a bodysuit/harness that would do any super hero proud. This was topped by a helmet and trolley carriage that we toted on our shoulders. Here, Jody models the sexiness of the entire getup. With Mt. Liamuiga looming ahead of us, we flew through the rain forest at 1,350 feet. The first zip line is dubbed The Boss and it towers 250 feet above the r...

It's easy to take things for granted. Especially when you have been blessed to live in a place that's filled with tropical lushness and a lovely rolling landscape. I quickly learned that Kittitians are a very thankful people. It's evident from their graciousness, to their eagerness to share their beautiful island. But I was taken aback when I saw this display. Who paints phrases on a house? Apparently, a very thankful Kittitian who was provided with a government-funded home.  It wasn't enough for the owner to lovingly deck out the place with sky blue hues and painted roses. They wanted to always remember the source of their good fortune. It made me stop and think about how grateful I was to even be in St. Kitts, admiring the beauty of the island and its people. What are you grateful for?

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a beach person.  Nothing soothes me more than salt water kissing my skin, sand covering my toes and an ocean breeze.  St Kitts is blessed with many lovely beaches but the most interesting is Reggae Beach, located on Cockleshell Bay.  It's a pretty stretch as you can see above but that's not what makes it memorable. People flock to Reggae Beach because the Reggae Beach Bar serves the best BBQ ribs on the island.  There's also a festive, relaxed vibe that attracts people. They also come to see Wilbur, the pig. Originally bought  for food, the owner of the bar developed an affection for the pig and decided to save him and let him live on the beach. For anyone that's ever read the children's classic Charlotte's Web, you know that naming a pig Wilbur probably means that it will never end up as pork chops on the dinner table. Wilbur weighs in at 700 pounds and enjoys guzzling beer as well as eating cheeseburge...

Public transportation can be torturous in many bustling meccas but it doesn't appear to be a problem in St. Kitts capital city of Basseterre.  You see, the public transportation consists of privately-owned mini buses lovingly painted with slogans and names that reflect the owner's sensibilities. How can you have a rough ride when the bus is emblazoned with "honesty? " I think just watching these moving murals is enough to brighten your day. I'd hop in this angelic white van just because I believe that its name would bring only good things. This is my personal favorite, because the heartfelt emotions of this phrase resonates in all cultures. This flashy display makes me think that the owner is a gregarious extrovert. The owner's name hovers over the slogan  of this bus in a way that suggests that perhaps he's joined the cut-throat competition. This says a lot about the owner's outlook. I really like the style of this slogan because whet...

Forget rum punch, in St. Kitts the ideal beach cooler is a refreshing brew of Ting soda with CSR (Cane Spirit Rothschild).  After ginger beer, Ting has always been my favorite Caribbean drink.  A zesty carbonated grapefruit soda, there's nothing more refreshing under the hot Caribbean sun.  When I was at restaurants and on the beach in St. Kitts, 'Ting With A Sting" is all that I heard requested.  I know that cane liquor can be dangerously potent so the sting part scared me and I never tried the drink. But I like the way it sounds, like the name of a crucial undercover investigative mission. Are there any drinks that you discovered on your travels that had dazzling names?