Sunday, June 14, 2009

a week in paradise.

since peter has whet your appetites with his st. kitts preview, i'm sure that you all have been anxiously awaiting our full post on our week in paradise. so here it is!

st. kitts is a small 6 mile by 6 mile island in the west indies. on one side lies the atlantic ocean, the other side is bordered by the beautiful caribbean, with its turquoise, clear waters. the island felt deserted--it's hardly been developed, but what has, shows great disparity. the main city, basseterre, appears third world with door to door shanties and islanders speeding by in make shift mini van-taxis named things like "hakuna matata" and "big playa." the coastline, however, is full of rich foreigners' mansions. the streets are lined with monkey-filled trees, and goats roam to and fro all over the island, only to be summoned by their owners at night. st. kitts is definitely a majestic island full of culture and "peace and love." it's all about the island way of life--relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery. so that is exactly what we did!

this is the view from a hill nearby our hotel. the caribbean on the right and the atlantic on the left.




turtle beach. beautiful and secluded. we ate at a really cute little restaurant called the beach house, which has no walls and looks right out over the water. there are also big gorgeous homes and little bungalows that are only for rent to "serious real estate buyers." they plan on building a port for the private yachts of those buyers. anyway, the food was pretty good at the beach house, but the view was even better.



one day we went up to a fort built at the top of a mountain on the island that was built in the 1600s by the british. the fort was built to defend the island from the french who were trying to overtake it from them. the british hired the african slaves that were working in the sugar cane fields to build the fort. they carved lime stone from the mountain and carried it to build the massive walls of the fort. the fort itself is surrounded by cannons to protect the island. it was really incredible to see such a big and sturdy fortress still standing strong hundreds of years later.





the rest of the week we just spent relaxing at the pool and beach. the weather was perfect--high 80s the whole time and nice and sunny to give us (well, more so peter than me) our first tans of the summer!





we also played croquet and flew our groovy new kite from the beach.






and this last shot is of us on the tarmac boarding our plane and saying good-bye to breathtaking st. kitts! it was the perfect post-graduation and pre-baby getaway!

9 comments:

mom/shauna said...

Great post, Emily. I love the kite picture and the picture where you are standing by the beach shoreline looks exactly like the place where my sisters-in-law and I had the contest to judge "Whose husband had the best looking legs."
You're right...St. Kitts was the perfect post graduation~pre baby vacation.

Nick said...

Looks like a awesome place. Emily you forget to mention Pete's run in with Chavez.

Pete why didn't you bust out your new denim swim suit?

Alisa Larson said...

How fun for you guys! We love the Carribean!

Emily Frandsen said...

nick. peter is only allowed to wear his new denim cutoffs when getting out of his semi-truck to take a short ip in the gulf in biloxi.

and yes, we were privileged enough to see mr. hugo chavez, along with about 20 other countries' dignitaries at our hotel. they were visiting st. kitts for the petro carib summit.

Denyse said...

Em! So glad you had a nice relaxing vacation, that's how they should be...You look amazing by the way, I am so excited for you guys. Miss you!

Dede said...

What a fun trip! I am so jealous. Can't wait to see you on Wednesday!

Jill T said...

It sounds like the perfect getaway. I'm glad the weather was good for you this time. That hill is cool where you can see both bodies of water. No paparazzi shots of Chavez?

paul said...

way to go. great vacation!

Krista said...

I'm glad you were able to fit in one last HU-RAH before the baby! Looks like the perfect relaxing vaca.