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ST CROIX 2024 DAY 6
Day 6: A little history, walking and puking living off the land and super expensive pop.
Well, I sure didn't sleep well last night and was up at 3am until 4:30am wondering what exactly can I do during this time frame when everyone is still sleeping. I tried like crazy to go back to sleep to no avail. I decided to take a nice relaxing shower in my over sized walk in shower with viewing windows to those above me...eek! I guess I'll take a shower in the dark and remain incognito to the outside world who might be up at the same time not able to sleep either.
Around 8am everyone up was up and the early morning hustle and bustle would begin now. I decided to switch up our regular eggs made in every known possible way to man to ...pancakes. The kids were excited and I would have more excitement to offer them today as well.
Sakari decided to join in on the fun and made Karl his very own heart shaped pancake. (Sorry I didn't get a picture of it but it was cute and thoughtful).
I packed the car and the kids asked if they should get their bathing suits on (they know me all too well) and I replied "Nope, not today". I think everyone gasp and gave me a blank stare. They ask again..."No bathing suits today?" "No water today?" Nope, we were having a day off from the water and beach. I was holding my breath that we all wouldn't die of heat exhaustion so we would have to load up on water by drinking it instead.
We were headed toward Frederiksted again and we pulled up to the surprise. Today, we are going to...The St George Village Botanical Garden.
Sakari is a big nature lover and we like to do things like this. I wasn't sure if it would be like past experiences but hey, it was something new and different to do right?
We parked and entered into the building to pay our admission. It would cost $10/pp. They also had a gift shop inside.
Here is a map of the place:
We first entered into a building on the side that had information of how plants are used as art, household items and building. There were different types of shells displayed and a huge replica of the largest seed in the Plant Kingdom (Coco de Mer).
We headed out to the court yard and it was really pretty and open.
Now I don't really remember all the details of everything on the grounds so things maybe get mixed up here and there. I can tell you there were lots of greenery, old buildings, flowers and different areas to explore.
We headed to the right to check out the grounds. There was an open area with trees and flowers along the way.
Physic Nut: Has an oil used for candles or soap making and also produces a purple dye.
The Overseer's House: This building housed the employee in charge of the enslaved and contract workers at Estate St George. It was constructed between 1815 and 1825. It was inhabited until the 1950's. It was for punishments and whippings. Currently the building houses a population of Jamaican Fruit Bats. Banana and plantains grow along the wall as well.
Lime Kiln: Used for the calcination of limestone to use in construction for mortar, plaster and limewash.
The Flume: Built around 1846. Water came from a small dam in the stream now filled with silt and ended in the cistern then pipes led the water to the sugar mill.
Heading into the Tropical Rain Forest now. This area gives visitors an idea of the way the vegetation of St Croix looked before human intervention.
It got a little interesting. The trails were different. The surroundings were different and it was pretty cool. You really felt like you were in a rain forest. It felt like not many people had been in this area recently because...let me tell you...there were spider webs everywhere! You wanna see a guy run, watch Karl. (He has this phobia of spiders whether it be real spiders or "water" looking spiders that aren't really spiders Karl 😉). He thought he was playing cool and stopped to "look" at something as I went by...therefore making me go first meant that I was the one battling the webs so he didn't have to deal with them. That little sneak!
We did come to a place that looked like some type of crab or snail graveyard. There were shells EVERYWHERE! I thought I had taken a picture of it but can't find it.
Out of the rain forest to an open area we would find the Nursery, but we were not allowed in the area as it was fenced off.
There were remains of buildings in the area for the enslaved workers' called Row Housing.
The Orchard House:
The Estate St George Museum:
The Blacksmith Shop: Built in 1826 and was in use until 1923. All machinery and parts for the plantation were made and repaired by the blacksmith.
Beautiful flowers everywhere:
We came to a big building and went inside. They were preparing for a wedding. It looked like a beautiful place to have a wedding/reception but all I could think about was how steaming hot it was in there. I can't imagine!
They had several ponds in the area:
One of them had baby dragonflies...they were so small but yet so cute. I swear I took about 20 photos just to try and capture a decent picture.
Up next was a beautiful, largest tree I've ever seen: the Kapok Tree. It is supposed to be around 400 years old and it is massive! The Kapok seeds were once used for filling mattresses, pillows and life jackets. The soft wood was easy to carve and was used for making canoes. They often reach a height of 100 feet (although can exceed 200 feet in other locations) with a diameter of more than 8 feet.
I don't know why I didn't think of it but if someone would stand beside it, they would have looked miniature. (You can google it and see pictures of people standing by it and it makes for an awesome picture. I can't believe I missed this opportunity).
We came to an area with some ruins. It was very pretty here. But there was one unique thing about it...there was orange balls all over the ground.
So there was another couple in this area. They were from Puerto Rico and they said they have these fruit trees lining their property at home (They have 30 of them). They said they are called Jobo ("Hobo') fruit. They told us they go out to the property and pick them and eat them. They are like a treat. They told us which one's were the good ones and what to look for. It is a Mombin Fruit). I was a little unsure about picking up fruit from the ground and just popping it in my mouth and trusting complete strangers. But, you only live once and they were doing it so how bad can it be right? I didn't see any signs saying "Don't eat the forbidden fruit". Sakari tried it and said "I feel like this is something you would make alcohol with" 😂 Karl thought it tasted sour.
Moving on to the "Kitchen and Animal Area"
It was hard to picture this area being a "kitchen" since it was all open and had flowers in it.
We moved on. The next area was really pretty. I think this was the Bromeliad Garden. It had these trees with some type of vines hanging and was just so neat.
They did have a lot of cacti on the grounds
I did manage to find this picture of the fruit of the Virgin Islands:
I'm not exactly seeing "hobo" fruit on there.
We stopped at the gift shop on the way out. I have collected so much sea glass on my trips all over and found this...it gives me ideas now.
On the way out, they have a book for you to sign to keep track of everyone from all over the world who come to visit.
We started to head to the car and our new "fruit friends" come running out behind us. They said, "You have to try this fruit!" and handed us more fruit. Are these people trying to poison us? They showed us how to eat them. You kinda peel off the outer layer of "skin" either with your nails or teeth and then you suck out the inside...but don't eat the middle seed. They said they were called Guineps or Spanish Lime. It is rich in Vitamin C.
I took a lot of videos of the place HOWEVER...I would get home and find that more than half of them were on the wrong setting (a fast time lapse) and unusable so I think I will spare you what did come out good as it's only bits and pieces.
We continued down the road to try to find a place that we had seen the other day...an animal petting zoo it said. We knew it was somewhere on the way to Frederiksted so we headed that way.
We finally came to a sign that said "Jungle James Cultural Tour & Petting Zoo)
We pulled into what looked like someone's driveway. I wasn't too sure about this. They did have some horses and sheep in the field along the way.
Once we parked, it was at someone's house. There weren't really any signs on where to go or what to do. Do we knock on the house?
Finally someone came out of an area behind the house and we ask if this was the petting zoo. He told us to come with him. It was a family living on 3 acres that grows everything, has multiple animals, and lives off the land. This should be interesting. The cost of the tour would be $5/pp.
We started in an area that had several people (not tourist but people I assumed that lived there) and the smell was horrible. You could tell there were animals there for sure. I wasn't quite sure why these people picked this area to sit in just because of the smell. It was very hot out and the smell of steaming hot feces made things worse. It wouldn't have been my "go-to" spot...just saying. There was plenty other trees on the property. There was just cage after cage in the area.
They had cages with animals in it from "bunny rabbits" to chickens. His daughter was holding one and they handed it off to Sakari. He told us that he cross bred a rabbit and a bunny and this was a bunny rabbit. This one was 3 weeks old.
There was a large fish tank that was green. He stated that it wasn't "dirty" but the sea grass inside of it made it appear that way and reached in and pulled some up from the bottom of the tank. There were guppies, gold fish and fighting fish in there? He stated he never had to feed them because they would eat the mosquito's from the top of the tank and the sea algae kept the water cool no matter how hot it was outside. I was left scratching my head on why he needed these fish and what their purpose was and you could definitely tell that the sides of the tank had algae growing on them and the color of the tank wasn't from sea grass on the bottom.
We continued on and out of this area. As we walked along various areas, he would show us his vegetables and fruits that he had on the property and would let us "try" them.
He has medicinal plants growing and picked one to tell us about how it fights covid and is all natural. He said it breaks up the mucous. He breaks it up and makes a drink and drinks it and he's around people with covid and he doesn't catch it. (It sounded like it he called it "cattle tongue" but I'm not sure).
He also had a plant called "Verb Vine" (I think is what he was saying) and it has health benefits that eliminate viruses from the body and other ailments.
There was a tree that grows a pea on it that is high in nutrients and a handful is equal to eating a steak.
There were several ponds in the area and even tubs of water. He would explain that the fish in the ponds ate the mosquitos (again, like the tank) and it had tadpoles and frogs in it. He keeps water all over the place to keep away the butterflies because they are destructive.
We came to the bird area. He had multiple types of chickens that laid 3 different types of eggs. There were a lot of ducks in there too, a turkey and several peacocks.
This really made me wonder...is this their actual operating bathroom? It was just a small box in the middle of all the trees and gardens.
He had been digging a well. It was to be 14-15' deep and that was all that was needed. He explained how it was going to work but it was still a work in progress.
There was a vine around the well with pink flowers. There are several stages it goes through from flowering to turning into a pod and then something that looked like a seed. He said you put the seed in a popcorn machine or put it in oil and it pops just like popcorn and taste just like popcorn. It cleanses the body while you eat it.
It took awhile, but Karl finally decided to hold the bunny rabbit and became quite attached to it. He had also became quite attached to the hubby's vacation hat as well and I don't think the hubby ever got it back the rest of the vacation.
There were vines growing all over a building and he disappeared under them and came out with passionfruit.
Sweet potato...our favorite!
This is a black bean vine. He decided to grow it going "up" instead of on the ground and said he made a Christmas Tree out of it. 😄
Dragon Fruit:
He said nothing on the land is wasted and he trades items grown there for other things. He stated it was a "non-profit" place but I'm not sure of his definition of non-profit. He grew vegetables and fruits and had eggs and so on and sells them to the public he said. He stated that he lives completely off the land and does not go to the grocery store...now wondering if you don't go to the grocery store, what do you use for necessities such as toilet paper (leaves?) or his cooking oil he mentioned for the popcorn. I wasn't completely convinced of this statement...just saying. Where does he get the food for the animals? He did say he involved in the schools and does tours for them and brings animals to the schools.
There were several white doves up in the trees. I'm not sure how he managed to keep them here and them not fly off. But, he states used in weddings.
He built an entire big shed just for this machine. It was a bottle crusher. He would use it for recycling and repurposing. He said it was very expensive. I honestly didn't quite understand why someone who lives off the land would need to crush bottles?
We had circled our way around and was back out to the front. He had a pet tortoise.
He handed a few guinea pigs to the fam to play with.
Then we headed over to another area...the pig area. In one pen there was a baby. To coax them out, he brought food.
Other pigs in another pen. Whew...the smell. He said they were a mixture of pig, pot belly pig and boar because everything here is cross bred.
I spotted an iguana up in the tree. I guess this guy knew the right house to hang out at...it had all the good food and would stay healthy here!
There was a baby horse that was only 3 weeks old. It was so cute!
He did mention he cross breeds every animal. He said that made them heat tolerant. ❓
We had spent a few hours here, tried multiple home grown items, smelled the smells, learned a lot of interesting facts on how to live off the land and now I wanted to go home and start planting things in my back yard...except I'm sure my 3 huskies would help themselves to anything I put out there so I guess that's not an option. It was time to move on.
Here's the location of Jungle James.
We headed into Christiansted to do a little bit of roaming around the area and possibly some shopping. I have to say the parking in this area was crazy and the one way streets, then the streets that dead end but isn't a one way street but only one car can fit in it...it was crazy.
We headed down one of these one way not so one way only one car fitting streets and it dead ended with no place to turn around right at the water in front of us. I was pretty much forced to go into an underpass that belonged to a hotel. Um, I'm not sure where we are heading but I'm almost sure we are not supposed to be there since you drive right by the open area at the check in desk. It led to a very small parking area but I managed to turn around with great difficulty.
As we headed back out to the street a spot opened up for parking. Whew! Thank goodness. We got out and I looked across the street and there was Big Beards. Ahhh, I remember this street now! I've been down here the last time we were here and doing a tour with Big Beards. Well, at least now I knew where to go if we booked with them.
We got out and walked toward the little shopping area, which was open in the middle with shops along the sides.
There was plenty of places to buy trinkets, clothes and souvenirs. Karl ended up buying a really cool blue long sleeve dive shirt. I really liked it.
Every place we dive I always shop for magnets that say where we went diving there. They are SO HARD TO FIND! Most places I can't find any. However, this place had several and I screamed like a school girl when I found them.
The hubby always manages to find the local feral cats no matter what country we are in.
Colorful!
As we walked out of the shopping area we were at the waterfront. It was so pretty.
We managed to see some Tarpon in the water. Karl said "Wow, those are big!"
A sugar mill that was a tasting room.
Across the water was the Hotel on the Cay island and I had planned on visiting it while we were here.
There was a historical area so we went to check it out. This is The King's Wharf. It was the center of international commerce during and after Danish rule. It was filled with smells, sounds, and various languages being spoken in the exchange of news, gossip, and business dealings. Islanders traveled here with sugar, rum, and cotton to be weighed, taxed, and stored before being transferred to ships anchored in the harbor. In exchange, mariners imported plantation supplies, lumber, wines, mules, and human cargo from around the Atlantic world.
The Scale House: constant activity during the sugar harvesting season from January to March. All imported and exported goods were inspected and weighed here to determine the taxes to be paid. Unrefined sugar and rum that were produced on the local plantations, arrived here in sealed wooden barrels called hogsheads that weighed approximately 1,000 Danish pounds (117 English pounds).
Here's an overall of the Christiansted National Historic Site:
The Customs House: Customs service was constructed in 1841 and served as a clearinghouse for all persons and goods that left and arrived in Christiansted. From here, officials collected duties assessed at the Scale House, kept records of all cargo, passengers, and tolls, inspected ships, and patrolled the coastline for smugglers.
Danish West India & Guinea Company: First completed in 1749, served as the warehouse for all goods handled by the Danish West India and Guinea Company. Over the years it has served as the government warehouse, communications center, post office, and today offices for the National Park Service. Auctions of enslaved Africans may have occurred in the courtyard until 1754 when the Company was dissolved. From 1754-1796, the complex grew to three times its present size, nearly reaching Fort Christiansvaern. In 1796, the complex was reduced by half with the construction of several blocks of buildings separated by Hospital Street. Most of the buildings were torn down in the 1830's. The complex appears much as it did in the 1850's.
The hubby and I started walking across the lawn and up toward another building.
Fort Christiansvaern, St Croix's first fortress, was built at Bassin Harbor in 1749 by enslaved Africans during the reign of Christian VI. It served to defend Christiansted and provide safe anchorage for vessels. The fort remained in use until 1878 when it was demilitarized and used as a jail, police station, and courthouse until 1952. In order to protect its investment of St Croix, Denmark improved the island's coastal defenses in the 1780's with the construction of new forts and batteries. Several guard houses were also constructed, located on points of land jutting into the sea and near shipping channels that cut through reefs.
It said there was an admission to get into the building. I'm not a big history buff and normally wouldn't do things like this, so we walked back out only to find that Sakari and Karl wasn't with us. We headed back to the first building to find them sitting along the side.
Steeple Building: White Danish colonial style Lutherian church with a clock tower built in the 1750's.
Government House:
Karl said he was feeling sick. I wasn't sure if he was trying to get out of walking around, it was too hot and he was having heat exhaustion, sick from being bribed into eating fruit off the ground at the Botanical Garden or trying different fruits and vegetables from Jungle James place. Was he poisoned? Can his belly not handle it? I wasn't really sure but he said he was sick. Maybe he was just tired of walking around and wanted to go back home. Ok, ok, we're leaving Karl...come on.
We started walking back toward the car.
We were strolling along rather slowly. Karl would gag and sit down. Then try again. Then all of a sudden it was "let the vomiting session begin". It was game over for him. He couldn't hold it in any longer. We were left to just hang out while he did his business and Sakari took care of him.
While we were waiting, I was looking around and found something rather interesting on the door:
We had visitors while we waited.
We eventually made it back to the car. I thought maybe Karl just needed some food and with the heat, it was making him sick on an empty stomach. I cranked the a/c in hopes this would help.
We looked on the map and it said there was a Subway in the area. I started driving, however, it said it was right there where we were. Hmmm, it must not be there anymore. The next closest thing listed was a Wendy's. We went there and it was closed. Next was a McDonald's in Frederiksted. I didn't really want to drive out of the way...but did so anyhow.
We made it to McDonald's, put in our order, and Karl decided to lay his head on the table and sleep. Karl refused his food and just held it in a zombie like state when we gave it to him. NOW I know he's really sick. He doesn't refuse food like this. I have to say McDonald's was the cheapest meal, eating out, that we have had here on the island. It was $32.00 even to feed all 4 of us.
Karl seemed to think that he had a migraine. He said he gets them sometimes but hasn't had one in awhile. Poor thing. I've had them in the past and they are not fun.
Here's a short video of the waterfront and historical area:
Ok, time to head back home so he can get some headache medicine. Along the way we decided to stop at an overlook we had passed several times already. Karl slept during our stop and we just got out to take a few pictures and then left.
A short video of the overlook:
We continued on our way. I was actually starting to learn my way around here. I knew when I got to the stoplight with this...you turn right.
We would start to smell something and knew it meant we were about to turn off onto our street and head up the hill. Up and then back down.
Karl went to take his medicine and then straight to bed where Sakari would pamper to his every need. She's such a nurturing person. "Karl, do you want some water?" "Do you want me to get you a cool rag?" "You want a blanket?" "You want me to warm your food up?"
Well since the kids were done for the day obviously...we decided it was adult time and headed to the casino for a little fun. It was real close by (remember coming home and me MapsMe had us turn at the casino and up the one lane dirt road to no where?)
Karl talks about the day he will be able to go to the casino with us...You have a few more years (although I believe we did see a sign that you can gamble at age 18 in the casino on the ships...so soon Karl, soon).
We arrived and there really wasn't many people there. You had to stop under this area and check in with the security guard. While we waited on the elevator to take us up to the casino he told us a story about when they first opened there were people lined all the way around the building and standing in line to get in. They would only allow so many people in at a time...although he said it was a really big casino. He said these days, not many people come.
Once we arrived inside and looked around, it really wasn't that big of a casino (to us) compared to ours back home. We scoured the place and checked out every slot machine...twice, before deciding to break apart and head to the one we felt was going to be our lucky winning machine(s).
I won small amounts here and there. I lost small amounts here and there. But, we were killing time and having fun.
The hubby would soon discover that they gave out free pop. Score! He brought me one over and I continued on my win-lose streak.
I went over for a refill at the bar and was informed that if we come to the bar to ask for pop, we will be charged. If we stand outside of the bar and ask, it's free. Um...say what? What's the difference? That was weird.
I managed to find one of the games I just love...the cows moo at you and you know you're increasing your odds of a bonus round the more moos you get.
The hubby seemed to be stuck on a machine...so he must be doing good right?
Actually usually what that means is he did really well and got excited and kept playing and then it turns into not doing so well. 🤣
We spent about 1 1/2 hours there. We checked in with Sakari and she said she managed to feed Karl part of his McChicken sandwich and he was feeling a little better but still not up to par. I told her we were heading home and I would make dinner. I knew she had to be hungry by now.
We came to the casino with $100 each. We walked out with $129.49. So to put this into perspective, we each had 2 free pops while we were there...using that term losely of course. If you think about it, each pop would end up costing us $17.63 each. Our that hurts to think in those terms. Oh well, we had fun right?
It was now dark outside and I would be forced to drive home in the dark once again. My eyesight is not the greatest in the dark these days. I'm getting old and try not to drive after dark most of the time. But, it was right down the street.
We were greeted outside our door
I ended up making Alfredo with mozzarella cheese bread. Karl, was still not up to eating much and we all decided to just head to bed. Pour Sakari was getting ate up by something. She had bumps all over...especially her legs. I gave her some cream for itching I found in the first aide kit in the home and she lathered it on and then we went to bed around 9pm. Just sleep it off child. You won't think about it. 💤💤
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