Carlos Borges
PRODUCER, Videographer, editor, Video engineer
Carlos Borges
PRODUCER, Videographer, editor, Video engineer
St. Lucia “No Pressure, No Problem”
Monday, April 9, 2007
Check out the HD Podcast at: www.FascinatingEscapes.com
I traveled to St. Lucia at the end of january in 2007. The temperature and humidity felt a lot like Florida in the late spring. The thing that stands out about the experience overall is how friendly the people were there. I’m not quite sure if it’s because we were tourists, or if they are extra nice because the last thing they want to is lose their jobs because of any negative comments from guests. I spoke to a few people that worked at the hotel about local life and how they came to get the jobs they have. They mentioned that first of all they wouldn’t have the jobs they have now if they didn’t speak english. Especially the tour guide.
The tour guide was an example of someone who is grateful for her job. In fact, it may be one of the most prestigious jobs a native can have. She wakes up every morning 3 hours before she has to be at the hotel. Travels from her home almost 20 miles a way hops on several buses and arrives at her job almost 45 minutes early every day. She arrives so early because she literally can not afford to be late. The position of tour director is a prestigious position on the island. She is the only breadwinner for her family and she supports her husband, daughter, and mother. We actually made a pit stop at her house on the tour where we met her family, and they brought us out some local bananas and banana chips.
If you’re wondering why I mention tourism and bananas so often here’s some quick background on the economic situation there.
Tourism and offshore banking are now the island’s primary source of revenue for the local economy, replacing banana exports. Bananas were the primary export for years but increasing competition from Latin America has forced St. Lucia to diversify. The government is trying to revitalize the banana market with some early success.
Back to the tour, we started out at my hotel in the northwest part of the island and headed straight south on the main highway. I noticed that the roads are tight and the traffic is heavy. There are people motorcycles and scooters jostling in and out of cracks between the cars and trucks. It’s actually pretty packed in the mornings and dies down a little bit later on but there always seemed to be construction. But there was a good reason for that, they were getting ready for the Cricket World Championships and St. Lucia was one of the host countries. These folks love their Cricket. The island was under British rule for several decades. St. Lucia is known as the "Helen of the West Indies" because the island switched between British and French control so often it was likened to the mythical Helen of Troy.
We continued through to Castries, the capitol city, where about one third of the population lives. We meandered through the capitol, viewing several museums and churches, though all from the bus, (not enough time to stop and be able to get to everything). We carried on to the overlook of Castries and moved on to the view above Marigot Bay. I bought an incredible bottle of rum, that they said was the St. Lucian version of Viagra... “It’ll put the Choo-Choo in de train!”, they said. ha ha, I love it.
From there we went into the drive-in volcano, which was beautiful, but... it was a sulfur spring... which means it smelled like rotten eggs the whole time we were there. There was no escaping it. The footage will not give the scent any justice.
They also mentioned the island’s unofficial motto, “No Pressure, No Problem”. Cool story associated with this one, they say that because if the Sulfur Springs are still fuming then everything’s alright. If it stops fuming then the pressure in the volcano builds... and pressure is the problem. So they say if there’s pressure then start running! However, being on a volcanic island, I don’t know where the heck they think they are going to go, but hey, cool motto.
So, I’ll check out right now, but please enjoy the video, it’s just over 4 minutes long and in sparkling HD. I hope you have as good a time watching it as I did putting it together. I’ll be back with another one in a couple of weeks or so. Go to the main page and vote on which episode you’d be most interested in seeing, and maybe I’ll work on that location before one of the others.
Take Care,
Carlos