Thursday 30 April 2015

Acting Like A Tourist


Hey People!

It has been awhile since I have been able to write something. I'm sorry everyone! Kyle and I have been on a few adventures since he has been on his break. His parents visited for a few days, and currently a couple friends from town are here visiting. So of course we have been showing them around the island and acting like a tourist. 

I also started back at work, oh and some exciting news...my work visa got approved!! Yipee!! I am very excited to continue at this school, and hopefully help out any way possible. But that's a whole other story. For now, this post is mostly going to be pictures of the touristy things we have been up to. 

So sit back, scroll on through and enjoy :-)

Botanical Gardens
(It does cost money: Local Rate: 8 US, Non Local: 13 US)

There were a lot of exotic plants. It took about an hour to walk through the gardens. They do have a restaurant on site, however it is very expensive so we didn't eat there. 








There were a lot of statues similar to this around the garden













































Most of the places we visited were recommended by some of the teachers I work with, so I trusted their opinions because they would know best being that this is their home. 

We then decided to tackle one of the hiking trails on the island. Kyle's dad found an awesome website that gives a list of all the different hiking trails around the island, from the starting points, to the level of difficulty. It's a great resource!

Golden Rock Hike
We decided to go to Golden Rock. Kyle and I had both heard great things about this place, and the hiking trail was supposed to be pretty easy. (I didn't have a chance to look at the hiking website until after we hiked...)
Anyway, at Golden Rock, which was free to walk around, it was so beautiful that we all agreed it was better than the Botanical Gardens. It had some great views of the island! The hiking trail could be either 2-4 hours depending on how far you want to go. It follows the water source, all the way up into the mountain. We made it as far as the "Ocean View Point". It was all uphill, which took over an hour to get there. Kyle and his friends might tackle the rest of the hike this week, because the second half involves ropes and vines and steep climbing or something. Could be interesting. 
So here are the picks from that hike starting at Golden Rock. 





















We saw some Monkeys on our hike! Finally got some pictures!

























Ocean View Point! 
Way down there is Kyle's school.
We could see our house!








We then took the guests to some beaches and had a blast riding the waves. The beach we went to was called Chrishi Beach, which is now Kyle's favourite beach. Important note:We went back there with Kyle's friends this week, and I saw a sting ray!!!! It was so close to us! It abruptly ended my swimming time though. 
 


We made a trip to St. Kitts last week to catch up on some movies. Before we left, we stopped at the Mount Nevis Hotel which is where the oldest church in all of the Caribbean is located. Pretty amazing to see that. A nice history lesson, with some gorgeous scenery. 

Cottle Church






This was the view of Mount Nevis Hotel

This was just part of the lobby of the Hotel

St. Kitts





Kyle patiently waiting for his pizza before the movie. 


It was a great week with Kyle's parents here. They brought us a bunch of stuff: screen door, some lights so now I can see when I was dishes, toilet paper, candy, chocolate, Kyle got some school supplies, and lots of sunscreen. Oh and our couch!! It works great, and it is so comfortable!!
(The essentials when living on an island ;)
We had a 3 day rest before a new round of visitors showed up. In between there wasn't much down time because we were dealing with apartment maintenance things. It was a little annoying having the interruptions, however I am glad that we were here to monitor them because the workers left a big mess in our apartment after putting up curtain rods, and changing the air conditioning filter. I am still waiting for our apartment to get sprayed again because there has been a huge increase in mosquitoes in the last week, which I am not a fan of. 






While I have been at work, this is what the guys were up to


So that's it for now. We are still hosting friends until Saturday, so I am sure I will have more photos to come. Hope you enjoyed it!
Miss you all!!