St. Christopher (St. Kitts)

Miriam teaching us about wild herbs.

Introducing......Wilbur the beach pig. He even has a children's book written about him.

He seems to be napping a lot these days.

We finally get to touch a MONKEY!!!!

St. Christopher, otherwise known as St. Kitts was a fun island to explore. Carol had been talking about seeing a wild monkey FOREVER! It turns out that there are so many monkeys on St. Kitts that they outnumber the amount of people on the island. They are a real nuisance, stoning people's pets and tearing up the agriculture, so very little produce is now grown on this island. We decided to rent a car to drive the entire island of St. Kitts in search of monkeys!

Our first stop was to get a cold drink on the roadside. We met Miriam there and she taught us all about wild herbs grown on the island. She picked us a huge bag full so we could use them in teas and cooking.

Next we visited Caribelle Batik on an old plantation. They demonstrated how the batik was done and, of course, Carol had to buy a batik shirt! This is also where we met our first monkey! No, it was not wild....it was even wearing a diaper!! The two little boys with the monkey explained that the diaper was so it wouldn't poo all over us. After Carol quizzed them about why they were not in school (it was Easter holiday) we all became good friends. They insisted on giving us a tour around the old sugar factory, and after we gave them some change from our pockets we made them promise to use the money to feed the monkey. They explained that they understood that they had to feed the monkey because it makes money for them. We were pleased to hear that the older boy had high goals for his future. He was saving money to become a doctor.

As we drove around the northern part of the island we noticed a lot of sugar cane fields, old plantations and lots of live stock. When we approached the southern part of the island, the landscape became much drier. When we got to the southern tip we came upon a cool beach bar/restaurant. We ate lunch and then wandered around the area. This is when we met Wilbur. He was napping under some boats. It turns out that Wilbur is quite famous and even has a book written about him. He lets you pet him and he grunts quietly in his sleep.

Still looking for a wild monkey we left to drive back to where our boat was. Not long after we left the beach where we had lunch we saw monkeys running across the road!!! WILD MONKEYS!!!! We stopped the car to watch and we saw about 10 crossing the road one after the other. These monkeys are green vervet monkeys brought to the island by a French man as a pet. Now they are outnumbering the people who live there. Satisfied that we finally saw a wild monkey, we could return the car. After all that, at the next place we anchored our boat, there were monkeys running around the beach. Oh well!