The island of St. Kitts is a wonder to behold. Sugar plantation subsidies from Britain and the rest of Europe have dried up, so the country is in the process of switching primary industries from sugar production to tourism. Because the island remains largely undeveloped, its natural beauty and beautiful coastline is unmarred by highrise hotels and timeshare condominiums. Instead, the land is covered with a mixture of fallow sugar cane fields, volcanic jungles, and a smattering of tiny villages.

Scenic vista on the island of St. Kitts

We started out our day with a short bus tour on the way to board an old scenic narrow gauge train that goes all around the entire island. We had a guide named Teddy who charmed a couple of our college students with his nickname “Teddy Bear”. Teddy mixed facts and descriptions about island history with down-to-earth humor and an endearing Kittsian accent–a charming island lilt peppered with British pronunciations. Everyone loved him.

One of Teddy’s helpful tips was about the myriad sheep and goats that roam all over the fields and roads of the island. The sheep have been sheered recently and since the two animals are very similar in coloring and general appearance, it can be difficult to differentiate them at a distance. Teddy made it easier: “De sheep have tails dat hang down loose, where de goats have tails dat stick out or up. So…dat’s how you tell the difference. If you kin see de ass, it’s a goat!”

If you can see de ass, it's a goat.

St. Kitts is also known for its rich volcanic soil. The Carib name for the island is Liamuiga, which means “land of fertile soil.” Teddy says the soil is so rich that, “If you stand around in it too long, you’ll probably start growing, too. Everything grows here. Throw something out there, and it just starts growing.”

If they’re not involved in the blossoming tourism industry, many St. Kittsians are subsistence farmers. The fertile soil, warm weather, and manageable amounts of rainfall make subsistence farming easier than it might be in the states, but local residents face one difficulty that would be totally foreign to farmers around Indianapolis: green velvet monkeys. You think it’s hard to keep wabbits from eating your vegetables? Try defending your crops from a strong, clever, agile primate with opposable thumbs. The monkeys were brought to St. Kitts by the French in the 1600s as pets. Now they outnumber the humans 2-to-1 and are nearly impossible to keep away because they are a protected species. For a while local villagers tried to use dogs to keep them away. That worked for a while because at first the monkeys were scared of the dogs, but now they’ve learned to be friendly with the canines–so much so that they have been spotted riding around on the dogs’ backs from time to time!

The scenic train ride went all over the island, providing us with many picturesque vistas. A wonderful staff served us delicious piña coladas. Local residents waved and smiled to us in every village. A local a cappella group serenaded us with harmonic renditions of traditional island songs and old fashioned Christian spirituals (video below).

St. Kitts Scenic Railway from Sam and Shannon Bloomquist on Vimeo.

Scenic train ride around St. Kitts

A phenomenal a cappella group serenaded us on the train as we toured the island.

The people of St. Kitts are friendly and welcoming. The kids are excited to wave at the staff and passengers on the train.

The train conductor had a sweet Obama cell phone case.

Since we’ve been back home in Indianapolis, we’ve had lots of questions from our friends and relatives about our trip.  We love to talk about our experiences, but it’s really difficult to sum them up concisely.  We didn’t have one favorite country–we loved them all in different ways.  Belize’s vim and vigor stole our hearts.  Guatemala’s turbulent history–much of it thanks to our very own CIA–made us cry, but its gorgeous river canyon and lovely waterside dwellings warmed our souls.  We fell in love with Costa Rica’s gorgeous central highland region, probably because its cool breezes and cloud forests gave us a welcome break from the 98% humidity of 95-degree tropical temps.  Nicaragua–the biggest surprise of all–was delightful in every way, and it’s a place we’d like to return to in the future.  Jamaica’s beautiful beaches and reggae welcome made us smile.  The Panama Canal blew our minds…twice!

But all the wonderful archaeology, flora, fauna, literature, history, cuisine, and gorgeous terrain cannot hold a candle to the people we met on ship and shore.  In every port, we encountered friendly faces and learned something new about the land and ourselves. We drank up sunlight, moonlight, starlight, and the sound of the ship moving through the ocean with our awesome shipmates.  We saw the Southern Cross for the first time! We solved all the world’s problems together on decks 4, 5, and 6 aft, and it’s weird to go back to normal, everyday life after all that.  The MV Explorer is part of our history now.  Our experience on the ship is forever defined by the wonderful souls we got to know on board.  It was the people, rather than the itinerary, that made this the trip of a lifetime…so a photo montage of them seems appropriate right about now. It takes a while to load, and remember to turn your volume down or plug in your earphones if you’re at work!

Passage Through Panama from Sam and Shannon Bloomquist on Vimeo.

Eleven-year-old Nick Whittaker is the voracious reader/poet extraordinaire you see with us in the photo below. To end this final post about our fantastic voyage, we leave you with the poem he wrote just before disembarking from the ship for the last time. The blag will go blagward. It just won’t be about sailing through the Panama Canal anymore. But, we still have our memories…and the rest of our lives to get back to the MV Explorer for, as Iain says, another “taste of the lotus flower.”

It’s time to say “bye”
To the MV Explorer
Our lovely experience
Is now all but over
It’s hard to leave
This wonderful cruise
‘Cause this is the one ship
We always would choose
To sail us across the sea
And go to many places
Like Belize and Jamaica
And see many new faces
So we are sad to leave
Even shed a tear or two
MV Explorer
We’ll always miss you
–By Nick Whittaker–