guavaberries and liquor
i can’t believe day five has already come to an end. we have passed the halfway point! it makes me very sad to think about this, since it means the last days are going to fly by and we will be back in reality…
today was a great day. it started off slow yet again- it’s harder than you’d think to get out of bed when you’ve got comfy pillows, no work and an amazing view of a tropical bay out the window and beyond the veranda!!! since we missed the opening for the full buffet, i ran up to the cafe and grabbed a couple mini boxes of cereal as wil rolled out of bed and into the shower. i knew i’d need something to hold me over till lunch.
the ship docked at around 7 am this morning, but since we were taking the slow road, we dinked around for a bit. we watched out of our veranda the people 9 floors below getting off, a crew of workers painting the side of the boat, and the many sailboats and water taxis scoot around the bay. after gathering our things we were off to explore saint maarten! one problem…after stepping off of the boat and onto the dock, wil realized he left his wallet on the boat. oops.
15 minutes later we were strolling down the pier towards the water taxi, and took a quick, hot and windy ride to the downtown. it was great to see the many brilliant hues of blue all in the same body of water. st. maarten is in interesting island. it is currently the smallest island in the world to be divided by two sovereign powers: dutch and french. and then throw in a strong caribbean flair and you get an interesting culture! we visited the dutch side- the peaceful and mild side (aka: no nude beaches…phew!).
we started our visit by walking down “front” street (note: the street behind it is called “back” street)…a narrow, one way cobblestone street stuffed with old colonial buildings of designer stores, jewelry stores, discount liquor stores and more. although it’s mostly foot traffic through the palm tree lined street, a few cars zip through ever so often; enough to keep you on your toes!
in our earlier research we learned that st. maarten is home to the “guavaberry.” st. maarten is one of the few islands that grows this mysterious fruit (i am still not quite sure what it is or what it looks like) and they produce the heck out of it in syrups, liqueurs, mixes, jams, etc. so we knew we couldn’t leave the island without a stop at the guavaberry world headquarters for a free sample! our verdict: it basically tastes like cough syrup.
wil and i got pretty bored with the repeat of stores (we’re not big fans of diamonds or designer purses, i guess), until one sign caught my eye…a giant bottle of vodka for $6.95. what?!?! we walked in and found a huge wall of liqueurs and alcohol for crazy prices. now, neither of us are not drinkers whatsoever, but to buy this stuff in the states would cause us to go broke! we did the unthinkable and bought three bottles (like 32 oz each) to start our own collection at home. would you say no to bacardi vanilla rum, godiva chocolate liqueur, and bailey’s all for only 35 bucks!?
we couldn’t stop laughing at our purchase, but at the same time we were excited to buy at least something in one of the shopping centers of the caribbean. not soon after walking through the stores did we decide to make our way off of front street to the boardwalk along the beach, one street over. once we hit the boardwalk we were exhausted, hungry and parched from the heat (at least in the 90’s). the boardwalk was lined with open patio restaurants and bars facing the beach. some incredibly scary and dirty, with a few interesting ones in between. we hit the best spot…but of course i can’t even remember the name…
we seated ourselves at a restaurant with heavy wood furniture, a deeply thatched palm roof, and bamboo screens and placemats. wil and i both ordered burgers and drinks, he a strawberry margarita and me a mudslide. the food was great (served on square plates!) and the frozen drinks definitely cooled us off and hit the spot. it was wonderful being able to sit in the shade, sip drinks and look out on the caribbean sea with no time limit whatsoever!
with not much left to do at st. maarten we headed back to the water taxi, taking lots of pictures on the way of historic courthouses and churches, while nagged by locals for taxis and hair braiding. once upon the ship we ended up back on our veranda, sipping wine, wil smoking cigars and people-watching as guests below boarded back onto the ship (it was surprisingly entertaining to watch the crew panic when 7 people hadn’t shown up by the cut-off time!…they were found btw).
dinner rolled around and we stuffed our faces. seriously. every night we have watched as people around us order an extra appetizer, extra entree or extra dessert. so wil splurged (for free mind you) and ordered not just one extra dish, but two! yum. and then rather than going to the cheesy “wild, cool, and swingin” show we grabbed our suits and went to the hot tub and hung out by the pool in the warm island air…aaaah.
it’s almost time for bed, but we may go out again tonight to watch “karaoke idol.” we’ll see. as for tomorrow, we stop at san juan, puerto rico so check wil’s site later in the evening for his post.
love to you all!
