Thursday, February 24, 2011:
Looks a little cloudy and windy out today. It’s been cloudy, windy and rainy for a few days anyway, but I guess it’s just the way the season is. We’ll go out cruising anyway. If Gerald slows occasionally, I’ll try to take a few pictures.
Our goal today is to pinpoint the exact locations of the Cruzan Rum Distillery (couldn’t find it before), the Whim Estate property and maybe the Lawaets Museum that’s up in the rain forest. First we have to get through the Sunny Isle Intersection which is on Hwy. 70. It’s the busiest area on the island I think and if I ever missed home and the horrible traffic jams, I just need to drive through there and I get my fix!
At one point we tried to go around the traffic and took a couple of side roads. Unfortunately we didn’t avoid that much of it, and only got about a block further down. But, it was pretty close to the highway so it wasn’t so bad. As soon as we pulled back on Hwy. 70 we passed a pickup truck sitting on the side of the road with a wire cage full of crabs. Wow…! Guess he is selling them? He was also stripping the plastic insulation off copper wire…and had to wonder what he was going to do with it…and where he might have gotten it!
(crabs and the copper wire hanging of the right side of the cage!)
We get past the traffic and on to the 4 lane road (Hwy. 66) and head west to Rt. 64 which is supposed to take us to the distillery. My iPhone is working, and even though I think the Google map is an old one, I see a couple of buildings that could be our spot. The distillery has been here for a few hundred years, so no matter how old the map is, it should be on there! We take our right on Rt. 64 and I tell Gerald to take the first right, and in a few seconds, we were there. Now, granted we are coming from a different direction on this trip, but I couldn’t help wonder how we, or anyone for that matter, could miss the road. The sign isn’t all that big I suppose…only about 5’x10’…! OMG! How could we have missed that! Outside of having flashing lights, arrows and someone on the road flagging us in…I can’t imagine not seeing it! I can only claim I must have had my head down trying to read the map! Good grief!
(see how little!?)
We turn on the road with the BIG sign, and immediately smell the sweet air of the rum! YUMMY! Almost like a sweet cake! I envisioned an icky smell like at the whisky distillery in Tennessee. Now, I personally don’t like whisky, so I apologize to all the whisky lovers out there. I used to drink it when I was uber young, but I don’t like it now, and the smell of it fermenting made me want to yack! (probably subconsciously reminded me of a bad hangover! =) Down the road and into the distillery we go, following the sweet smell of the rum. Past the security gate, where we had to leave our names.
Wow, some of these buildings are very old! COOL! This Cruzan Rum Distillery has been here since about 1760, and is still owned and run buy the Nelthropp family. But rum in general has been produced in the Caribbean since the early 1650’s! That’s a long time ago! You know it was used as an antiseptic, killed stomach bacteria that surly would have killed most people and for countless other things (not to mention for a good time!). It’s also caused many a headaches (some of which have been experience by me personally!). Although I understand that the Cruzan Rum Company has devised a way to filter out certain elements which is
They use an imported molasses now, and mix it with tropical rain water (along with other stuff) which I’m sure gives it the distinct taste.
Here is an old sugar mill windmill. Or what’s left of it. You can still see a bunch of these all over St. Croix and other islands in the Caribbean.
The old big house, which is now the office.
They have a visitor’s center where you can sample the rum and buy souvenirs and bottles of rum! YES!!!!
A big ole’ tree where you can sit in the shade and imbibe on a hot day after your tour.
…and in case you imbibe too much…there are hammocks to lie in!
Me enjoying a Rush Hour! (the good kind of Rush Hour!)
Gerald can’t drink – he’s driving…so he pretends to drink straight from the bottle! Fortunately…it’s only a picture on the back of the brochure!
We leave (ok…we closed the place down!) and head towards the Whim Estate Plantation. Once again…the island map that is given to the tourists is about as accurate as what Christopher Columbus used to get to the “new world”. We end up driving into neighborhoods, turning around numerous times, arguing (naturally), until finally a guy asked us if we were looking at property or lost! We told him we were trying to find the Whim Plantation and he graciously said we could follow him as he was headed by there anyway. Once again…my head must have been down because there it was, wide open, on the main road!
The place was closed because it was after 4pm, but I took a couple of pictures of the outside. We’ll go back later when it’s open to take more pictures. To me…these places are creepy…the old buildings weathered and decaying. The history is interesting, but I always think of the suffering that took place in that date. Glad I wasn’t alive back then! I like running water, flushing toilets and daily baths!
We head further down Hwy. 70 to the big K-Mart to see if I could find a collapsible cane. Eventually I won’t need these crutches, but a cane would be a good idea and a collapsible one would be perfect! Unfortunately they didn’t have one, we head back towards home.
Here are some pictures of driving down parts of Hwy. 70 – very different than the one back home!
(fairgrounds to the left)
This is the University of the Virgin Islands. I understand it’s a pretty good university and inexpensive too!
Gerald was trying to take a picture of a windsurfer that kept going by the condos. The wind has picked up lately…they are out there taking advantage of it. Unfortunately he could never get the guy and the parachute at the same time!
Watching TV tonight I found myself gasping a couple times about watching vehicles driving on the right side of the road, and thinking they are on the wrong side of the road! Oh Boy! Luckily on St. Maarten they driving on the right side of the road…we’ll be good by the time we get home…there will just be an adjustment period there. May have to let Bob drive for a while at first!
