Our plane from San Juan had holes in the floor. I could see the water below us as the prop engines droned. Curiously, 3 other Ross students were in my row so we busied ourselves with the usual conversation. The landing approach gives a fantastic view of Ross, the volcano, and Basseterre (the capitol) on the left side of the plane, I was on the right. The airport is small. A huge sugar cane field is at the end of the very short runway. Ross’ name is everywhere on the advertisement boards, right next to Carib (the local cane brew), Kay Jewelers, and of course Coca-Cola. The drive to campus includes a central tour of the capitol, on the wrong side of the road, with lots of honking and swerving, potholes, narrow streets, people and cows in the road, dogs on the side, and waves of all kinds from the locals. The Ross campus is 5 minutes outside of the city on a bluff overlooking the Caribbean Ocean. From my window I can see Basseterre, the ocean, a huge sugar cane field, and the sister island of Nevis. Just out of view is the pasture of donkeys that wake me up in the morning. Not bad. Orientation is a time for us to do the tourist thing, to explore the island and the amazing culture. It is a time for us to learn where all the good food is, where the bad food is, where the good swimming and snorkeling spots are, how to survive the streets, and feel like this is home before we dive into the books. In a sense, we are cramming a bit more than a simple vacation into 7 days. It is tiring and incredible.
The island’s history is a little rocky. You can read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Kitts_and_Nevisevis. St. Kitts has a long history steeped in the sugar cane culture of the Caribbean. Unfortunately, in 2005 all government subsidized sugar production ceased. There new economy will be rooted in tourism. They just built the second largest cruise ship dock in the West Indies. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this yet but economy has to be driven by something and sugar cane just wasn’t working.
The food is nearly everything I could have hoped. The local fruits and veggies are quite wonderful and incredibly tasty. Pineapples melt in your mouth. The carrots have a spice to them. The mangos will be ripe in a week or so. Rice and beans are a staple in the diet. All the bread you can find is baked fresh by 2 bakeries in town. Guava jellies and bananas are on every corner stand. Even much of the meat is local. As wonderful as this all is, there is not enough to go around. The island is not self sufficient with the fresh food and it is very costly to ship it here. The first grocery store we explored had grapefruits from Florida and pineapples from Brazil. All the coffee is Folgers unless you find a tourist gift shop. Expiration dates are considered a suggestion because they would rather sell the food than throw it away. I almost bought cheese that expired over a week before (looked fine to me), dairy is not popular because it goes bad so quickly. As a result, the cost of food is easily twice that of the states. A scrawny cheese burger is $9 at the cheapest bar, fries are extra. A local lobster will run you $50 to $100 at a restaurant and all you eat if the tail. Any imported beer starts at $5 a bottle. You can find Guinness but expect to have $9 less to your name. Thankfully, the local brews are $2 but no quality control makes it interesting.
The locals don’t eat out for obvious reasons and it is mostly the rich visitors and upper class that can afford to shop at the store. Saturday mornings there is a market that cannot be beat. Most students never see it with their own eyes because all the excitement happens at 6 in the morning. All the farmers come with their goodies and at 6 sharp the gates open. Sweet fruits of every shape and color, many of which I haven’t a clue what they are and could never hope to pronounce their name. Meats killed that morning . Some are still whole while others are sectioned to more reasonable sizes. Fish caught the day before. Nuts from the rainforest. Bulk rice, beans, and spices. Tomatoes are in season all year round. And of course, everything that you can fit into a fryer is offered as well. (I didn’t see fried cheesecake but I half expected to find it.) Within an hour the entire market is scraps and leftovers. The flies start coming and the sun is getting high. By 8 there is nothing left but garbage set on the curb to be picked up. Incredible.
To round out our orientation we all hopped on a catamaran bound for Nevis. With icy drinks in our hand and the wind in our hair, thoughts of studying and classes on Monday melted away. A cloudy day gave our scorched skin relief from the sun while we snorkeled in a reef that had colors only of the imagination. Teeming with fishes of so many shapes and sizes; short and fat, long and skinny, spotted, stripped, and spiny. We even got caught in the middle of a school of big bright blue fish that totally surrounded us. Sailing felt great to do again.
This place is magical and I wake up every morning to disbelief that I am living here for almost 2 ½ years. Talk about the best vacation ever.
Happy Trails to ALL!
~Laura
Pictures can be found at: http://fuzzpault.com/ Click on Photos and Laura’s Album
Letters (coming through the Post Office)
Laura Talaga
Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine
P.O. Box 334
Basseterre, St. Kitts
West Indies
Packages send through USPS (sometimes listed as St. Christopher), FedEx, DHL, or UPS. Flat Rates Box will be cheapest. Do not put in anything that looks new or expensive! I have to pay 65% tax on whatever is in the box that looks like I can sell. I will soon have an address of a student’s spouse that lives in Allentown and is coming down every 1-2 months.
Laura Talaga
Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine
Island Main Road
West Farm, St. Kitts
West Indies
Phone
869.668.3486 – this is my island cell phone. This IS an international call but it is possible the phone will be on my person.
