st. lucia

so as a reward for surviving the bulk of raisingdc, lindsay and i decided we deserved a holiday. dianna was serving in baghdad as npr's producer, and she needed a break too. so we decided to all meet up in st. lucia. and let me tell you, it was exactly what the doctor ordered...here are some of the photos... i ignored a nagging feeling to upload all of my photos and one morning (when there were about 300 on my sd card) i turned the camera on to take a photo and was asked to reformat the disc. i didn't reformat and am trying to figure out how to recover the photos. if you have any ideas, please please please send them my way.

flying into st. lucia. little did i know that the beach you can see to the right of that petite piton" was going to be our home for the next week.

jalousie beach from the sky
we spent about 5 full days there
we didn't have to pay though the outrages rates
in st. lucia every beach is public, so we would just drive in, do our thing and leave
renting a car is a must if you go to st. lucia
more on that later

the water is really this blue, you can see down 100s of feet.

makes scuba completely amazing

immigration
i had all my SLC wear on and was burning up
i took off my uggs, wool socks, mongolian yak coat, etc
by the time i got to the immigration control guy i was sweltering
we got our bags and i immediately changed into a skirt and t-shirt
and didn't change back until i was on the plane out of st. lucia

the $70 drive to our hotel
make sure to rent your car at the airport
they really nail you on taxi's on this island
we rented a jeep for $50/day
it is only 23 miles

the first vision of rastas

first vision of soufriere

our first vision of the still plantation

downtown soufriere as the sunsets

soufriere from the dock.
please note the rainbow in the upper right corner of this photo
there was at least one rainbow an evening in soufriere

victoria joined us as we waited for dinner
2+2 makes a number

2+3 makes a number

victoria left
lindsay fell asleep
we were hammered

see: hammered

view from our balcony in the morning

we moved to the beach for dianna's first couple of days in st. lucia
this is the view from our room there

we left to pick up dianna from baghdad
the traffic was blocked on the way out of town because of this fight
you can't see that the guy in the Adidas shirt has a machete

reunited and it feels so good

we stopped at the beach on the way out of the airport.
i had on a suit of dianna's because i went to the airport in non-swim wear
what was i thinking

l'gros piton at sunset

busted
pun intended

stale jiffy popcorn never tasted so yummy

everything is a bit deeper in st. lucia

obligatory foot photo

it didn't take long for us to have friends in st. lucia

this is joe, he was our next door neighbor and a story all unto himself
needless to say, this photo aided me in winning this game of rummikub
(which was the game to play in st. lucia, everyone wanted in)

this is from our very last day, last meal, last moments
we went to lunch with some of our favorite people from st. lucia
rick, aaron, dianna, joe
jah lamb and me

i hope someone can help me get the photos of our hikes up the petite piton, dianna learning to scuba dive, a million beaches (okay 3) sulfur springs, mud baths, topical fruit plantations