We pulled into our next port right on time - around 8 a.m. another Holy Island - St. Maartens. Or one of its other names - Soualiga, Sint Maarten, San Martin, Saint Maarten, and SXM.
Us and 40 or 50 of our closest friends packed into a beautiful new bus (no sarcasm. It actually was beautiful, and it looked brand new. Luck of the draw, I guess) for our excursion.
Ash was the name of our tour guide / bus driver. He was quite knowledgeable and … talkative. Great profession to match with that guy’s gifts.
We saw quite a few local critters and evidences of life in one way or another. A wild monkey in a tree. The brown pelican is the national bird. Wild peacocks. Wild sheep.
Horses and cows. Frigate birds. A wild pig (Chris saw it, I didn’t). Even a feral cat.
Hurricane Irma devastated much of the island, and evidence of the damage is still rampant.
A bit of history … the early ships that landed unloaded their ballast stones and replaced it with product from the island (mainly salt). The locals used the ballast stone extensively for building homes and walls.
This island had a fort of their own - Fort Louis. It is way up on one of the highest mountains.
At the requisite economic stop (local people selling their wares). They had two bathroom options. Either use the deluxe private one and pay 1 euro (or 1 dollar) or use public ones (and leave a tip).
Chris has been looking for a hat to block some of the sun. She found just the one. And wouldn’t you know it? Her long lost “sista” gave her a deal on it. And of course, we got a picture of the two. Cute.
Oh, I forgot. The original name for the island came from the earliest natives, Soualiga, meaning salt island. There are even three flags. One Dutch, one French, and the Soualiga, which represents the unity between Dutch and French and locals.
On the way home we stopped at the famous beach where planes fly very low as they land at the adjacent airport. As we watched a few land and take off, we enjoyed a smoothie of mango, apple, passion fruit, and strawberry. It was surprisingly quite good. Very refreshing.
On the way back to the bus we met someone new. I was wearing my Galveston Fire Department hat and my Jamaica Beach Volunteer Fire Department shirt. A lady approached and asked if we lived in Jamaica. I said we go to church there. She asked which church, and I explained the location as the church at the light. From that she asked if we knew Brent and Natalie. Indeed we did! Come to find out, Marilyn was Natalie’s sister. We chatted until the bus returned. Small world.
Near our last stop we saw the longest zip line in the islands. Even saw two people coming down. That’s a loooong way. Looked like so much fun.
Psalms 8:3-4 says, When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You set in place, what is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him?”
Father, thank you for random connections. Help Marilyn have a great trip, and be with Brent and Natalie. Bless them. Amen.
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