Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Grand Turk, one of the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, is thought to be the first place Christopher Columbus made landfall when he sailed the ocean blue in 1492.  After astronaut John Glenn became the first man to orbit the Earth almost 500 years later, he splashed down in the waters off Grand Turk. Grand Turk was the last stop on our cruise, and we were exhausted from fun and sun and all of our adventures. Carnival Cruise Lines has built a beach side resort here, with  restaurants, shopping, and beach chairs.  It is a wonderful place to rest. We had lunch at Jack's Shack on the beach.  We had been told earlier that they had the best jerked chicken in the world.    Based on my extremely limited experience with jerked chicken, I would have to agree. If you look closely at this photo, you can see some workers painting the smokestack on the ship. I guess it has to be done sometimes. ...

The gardens at Caribelle Batik are worth the trip there, even if you are not interested in fabric.

Well, of course , I'm not going on a trip without visiting some quilt shops or fabric stores.  On St. Kitts, we went to the Caribelle Batik factory and store. There was a tour through the small factory where ladies spread hot wax in patterns on fabric to be dyed.  It was hot, it was crowded, and I decided I would just buy mine already made.  It was very interesting to watch, however. It was too crowded for me to make pictures of the process.  After being shown all the steps required to make batik, their gift shop prices seemed very reasonable. Caribelle Batik is surrounded by beautiful gardens.  Pictures will be posted next time.

 St. Kitts, part of the West Indies, is one of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antillies.  Since it was settled, it has been French, Spanish, and British.  It has been identified with the British since 1783. The island has volcanic mountain ranges in the middle of the island, which are too steep for habitation.  We saw remnants of windmills and smokestacks that were used in the production of sugar at one time.  In 2005, the government closed the sugar industry.  Today, their major source of income is tourism.  There have been a lot of foreign investments in the last few years.  Anyone who buys property there becomes a citizen. The Marriott. Sir Timothy Hill is a popular place to stop, especially the day we were there.  Vendors were there, offering everything from tee shirts to the opportunity to have your photo taken with a monkey or a donkey with sunshades. On the eastern...