I've been meaning to post the rest of my November vacation pictures for oh, months now. Yesterday I finally made myself sit down, think about them, and upload them all. I know I'm one of the most fortunate people on the earth to have been able to see St. Martin twice in my life, and in November, St. Barth, for the first time.
My favorite spot in the villa we stayed in was a deck perched high up in a cliff with hammocks, surrounded by flowering bushes. I'd spray on some insect repellant (there are some serious mosquitoes there) and lay in the hammock, drinking in the total quiet - just the sound of wind in the greenery, the distant drone of cruise ships, and lizards small and huge lurking in the leaves...
Here's a view of the harbor far below, and if I had a zoom lens you could see those are multi-million dollar yachts (he he, none of them belong to me, of course). One thing I found odd about St. Barth is how the local guides (and people) boast that there is "no poverty." If I was feeling cheekier, I might have asked what I was really thinking: "Are poor people not allowed in St. Barth? Or is it just too expensive for them to live here?" Not to paint a bad picture of the locals however, because they were all extremely welcoming and friendly and are almost all descendants of French settlers who came there in the 1700's.
People who know me well know that I'm obsessed with wildlife. And people who know me really well know that that includes lizards:
I love how lizards always know exactly where you are. They're so aware of you, of your proximity, and have an exact distance they allow you to approach before disappearing.
So yes, these all involved the zoom function on my camera:
At least once or twice a day on St. Barth it would rain:
The rain would typically come at the hottest part of the day, when the sun had really begun to pound into your skin. The sound of the raindrops on the leaves, the tiny sudden creeks of water that would stream down the cliffs, and the huge, incessant chirping of joyous tree frogs and bananaquits. The entire world smelled green and wet and streamed with life. It was all incredible, and I know I'll never forget it.
What's a bananaquit? It's a tiny, yellow-bottomed bird with a black, curving beak that nested everywhere on the island. As soon as the sun came out, the birds would bathe in the cool pools of water that had gathered in the leaves and lizards would come to lick raindrops off of every wet surface:
All the beaches were incredible (of course) but this one was our favorite:
We returned there 3 days in a row, braving the New York-like absolute lack of parking and crazy mountain roads so thin, so rocky, unpatched and treacherous-looking. The water was calm here, just an occasional swell of waves but nothing to knock a person over. And the water, so clear, so clean you can see, reflected in bluish tones, your feet, tiny minnows, and the occasional flash of yellow and black finned fish.
What about you? What is the most beautiful place you've ever been? And you can say your own backyard... for the longest time that was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen (and it still comes in 2nd or third on my list)... :)
