we arrived in st. barthelemy on december 21st.upon our arrival, which required passengers to board a "tender" as the harbor would not accommodate the ship, we were greeted by the vision of yachts! yachts, yachts, yachts...wherever you could see.
who are these people i wondered. well, many apparently are french (the territory once belonged to sweden 1785-1878; france currently controls this place); certainly not the original inhabitants...the arawak indians. however, as the land is extremely valuable as a pristine hide-a-way for the privileged, one can only hope that the ancestral land fetched a good price somewhere along the line. the residents here are caucasians , creole and black mestizo.
the island itself is about the size of washington d.c. and is reminiscent of catalina in many ways. the island is only 8.1 miles in size. there is a permanent population of about 10,000 people here. children on the island can attend school through middle-school. to attend high-school, they must leave the island and go to their nearest relative--guadeloupe. this is also the case for those requiring hospitalization.
we were told by our driver who is sixth generation on this island that a one week stay on st. barth's can run about 70K. i don't doubt it. there is a private airport here and we did see planes landing and taking off. it would be interesting to say the least, to know, just who are these people who come to play here. just sayin'.
at the waterfront, much like catalina, the shops were all rodeo drive--cartier; louis vuitton; bvlgari; ralph lauren boutique; etc. here, if you must ask the price of whatever it is, you can't afford it. oddly enough, there was a lovely buddha statue just outside the hermes storefront; so placid and simple. i had to take the picture. i will post it as soon as possible.
we saw a very old anglican church here. there are three religions on the island--roman catholic; protestant; jehovah's witness. there are but two seasons here: dry and humid. guess which one we got.
languages spoken here: french, english, french patois and french creole. the literacy rate here is remarkable--a whopping 99%! major industry on the island--tourism; construction and agriculture. the highest peak on the island stands at about 1,000 ft. and the annual rainfall is somewhere around 37".
hopefully later i will have a picture or two of the church, a giant anchor as well as the harbor on this blog.
tomorrow we will be in barbados. december 22nd.
today's quote was:
A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike - John Steinbeck
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