Monday, March 20 – St. Kitts

There is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the island that I’d like to visit today. There’s a problem though. The taxi ride from my apartment to the site will cost 65 USD. Each way! Sorry, that’s not happening! I need to find an alternate method to get there. After a little research, I’ve come up with a solution…

In the neighboring town of Basseterre they have a bus terminal where I can catch a ride to the site (and back). There’s one caveat though – from what I’ve read, the drawback of the bus ride is the fact that it drops off its passengers at the base of a steep hill that leads to the site, whereas a taxi will take the passengers to the top of the hill. Mmmm…I’m up for the hike! How bad can it be?

The walk to Basseterre from my apartment took 40 minutes. While I was in town I stopped by the tourist office to confirm that I could take the bus to the UNESCO location. The woman there confirmed my plan, but did warn me about the hill. I’m still going for it!

When I got to the terminal I went up to the first bus in line to ask the driver if he was going to Brimstone Hill (the UNESCO site). He confirmed that he was, and that he would stop at the base of the hill to drop me off (there are no set bus stops, you just shout to the driver when you want to exit). The buses don’t depart the terminal until they are full; fortunately though this bus only had a couple spots left to fill, so I only had about a 5 minute wait until we departed.

So, we’re rolling along and I’m confident that the driver will stop for me at Brimstone Hill. Well, all of a sudden I noticed a sign for Brimstone Hill, and we’re not stopping! I kind of looked out the window and said, “Hey, I was supposed to exit there!”. The woman sitting next to me asked if that’s where I wanted to stop, and when I said yes, she yelled out to the driver to stop. He immediately recognized his mistake and put the (mini)bus in reverse to take me back to the site entrance. And it turns out the woman sitting next to me was the bus driver’s Mom. Pretty funny!

The ride to Brimstone Hill took 25 minutes. The cost?? 1.30 USD.

Brimstone Hill contains a well-preserved (and restored) fortress designed by British military engineers and built by enslaved Africans. The first cannons were mounted on the Hill in 1690. By 1736, the fort had 49 guns and was considered impregnable. However, in 1782, 8,000 French troops attacked the fort and took control from the British. Ironically though, a year later the Treaty of Paris returned the island and its fortifications to the British. In 1852 the troops at the fort were reassigned and it was abandoned. The restoration of the fortress began in the 1960s. The entry fee was 15 USD.

The walk up the hill actually wasn’t bad at all. Took 20 minutes (including photo stops). The hills in Dominica and St. Vincent were much more difficult to hike. (Including the volcano, of course!)

I had a 10 minute wait to catch a return bus to Basseterre (just wave your hand, and they’ll stop). On my walk back to the apartment I stopped for another smoothie – this time I went with pineapple/strawberry, with a touch of ginger. Awesome!

Tuesday, March 21 – St. Kitts

Nothing very special planned for today. I’m just going to take a walk back to Basseterre and roam around a bit.

Had to make another smoothie stop on the way back to the apartment. This time I went with Roland’s recommendation: banana, oatmeal, green peanut, beet root, ginger, coconut milk, almond milk, and vanilla yogurt. Very good!