Back in the UK

Hello everyone,
we are now home, we arrived yesterday brruuuurrrr its sooooooo cold, but I hear you say sooooo sunny, OK well yes its very beautiful and sunny but freezing cold. I am wearing a number of coats and gloves!

We had a great flight nice and smooth and we managed to sleep a little, we are just settling in to our little room at a friends house which we are using until we find a flat to live in. There are plenty on the market so it should not be too long before we can get all our stuff out of storage and get ready for a family Christmas.

I hope we shall see you all soon and thank you for the emails and support. We will be in contact but for now Pink Apple Life blog spot will go on hold for a bit. I will be busy now developing the Awakening with Horses programme which is gathering support which is showing me which direction to be going in next.

Peace and Love

Caro

Coming home

Well, we are coming home maybe as early as early next week, Thank you everyone who has been sending kind thoughts and messages for a good outcome for all. I think it a good opportunity to look at how and what we manifest in our lives for our learning, I know that it has been quite a journey for Bernie and myself.

I look forward to seeing you all soon, this is probably the last blog entry for a few days until we arrive home.

Peace and Love
Caro xxx

Difficult situation

As you know we have had problems with the water supply here, well we have also been experiencing all sorts of other problems with the noise around this area and the past couple of months have been extremely challenging in that aspect. We decided pretty early on that it was not going to be suitable to bring people down here. It has been a huge learning curve for us and one which I hope we have fully integrated. We are in the process of attempting to secure some sort of refund on the house and compensation. We plan to come back to the UK much earlier than we first thought, we hope to be home before Christmas now. We will keep you posted on progress. Meanwhile please send good thoughts for the best outcome for all concerned in this situation - thank you

Heart of Stone and Bernie's brush with a lorry

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Heart of Stone
We went down to the beach this morning for our walk and a swim and I found this beautiful stone. It was just after I had mentioned to Bernie about a small palm tree growing on the beach, I said 'I haven't seen that tree before have you?' Bernie told me that it had always been there! It got me thinking about how we only see things when we are ready and how much just passes us by. As I was contemplating this, I looked down and the stone was right there mmmmm... I had to bring it home and photograph it for you.









Bernie's brush with a lorry
Unfortunately a lorry squiged the hire car Bernie was driving yesterday, going around a roundabout the lorry was in the wrong lane, its cost a lot of money even though we take insurance you have to pay the first $250 US it takes 6 weeks plus to get a police report which you pay for and then they let you know who was in the wrong, no witness statement was taken even though there was one which would have been good for Bernie, the police didn’t want to know about it… ta de dum.. It’s a good meditation to be here right now-!!

Must be past Karma catching up????

Love Caro and Bernie

Buddhist Day Retreat

Today I have had the great pleasure to go on a Buddhist day retreat led by an incredible speaker, Kelsang Rigden, a Canadian Buddhist nun from the Tara Kadampa Centre in Barbados.

We were truly blessed by her grace, humility and humour, we spent all day in meditation, prayers and rest, it was very beautiful and such a welcome rest for me from what has become a difficult and challenging time here in the house, we have been experiencing a lot of noise from the road works and I am not sure if we will be able to stay here under these conditions much longer, we are trying to negotiate something with the agents and owners.

This is an excerpt from today:

A mind clouded with negativity and distraction brings confusion and pain. In our busy life it is hard to rid our mind of these clouds and easy to let negative minds overwhelm us and take control. Discover how to access the blissful clarity of your mind and banish distractions, improving mindfulness and inner balance.


Just what I need right now-!!


Love to all Caro xx

Update on Diet and Dancing Parrot

Update On Diet.
Well.... mmmmm......things are OK but I am finding it difficult right now due to our water problem, not to use that as an excuse even though it is. I mentioned before that I was steaming a bit of starch as in rice or sweet potato, what I have found is that by doing that I have cut down on the amount of greens, that I know is not a very smart thing to do and by writing about it brings it into focus for me. Sharing this all helps with re - focusing. When I first came here I was going to do a juice feast, I decided that it was not going to happen early on in the stay due to working out. I found that the combination of the heat with my fitness and emotional levels was too much to tackle all at once, so I have broken it down into slices. I decided to tackle the fitness first and that is ongoing, I am much fitter in the legs due to the one and a half hours hill walking 4/5 times a week, I have built that up from 2 times per week in the beginning. Trying to get upper body fitness is proving hard as my shoulder plays up if I do much. Swimming is fun and I do that in the pool every day and on the beach when we get there. So my sense is that it is time for another step, I think it is time for more greens, juices and less starch. I don't seem to eat much fruit either as the sweetness is too much. Sunrider products of course for me stay up there as a daily priority.

Bernie is working out every day at the gym and is looking well. He leaves me at the villa to get on with my work, taking the mini bus down town before heading up to Rodney Bay to the gym.


Dancing Parrot
Everyday I get people sending me various info, this I just had to share, I thought it was so funny and I know my son Ben will love it!




love for now

Caro and Bernie

Back again! Apologies, National Geographic, and Jet ski's.

Apologies for not writing for a few days, we are still suffering with problems over water. WASCO have not connected us as yet despite many promises, we have been buying water instead from the local shop which is OK, well at least after I have remembered to go into my heart and be awesomely OK with it all. Local shops are somewhat different than the local corner shop in the UK, here the local shop is a little wooden shack, which sells a few tinned provisions, alcohol and thankfully bottled water.

National Geographic
We have a small TV and I have got interested in some of the programmes from NG they also have a really interesting website and on there I found a short film clip, if you are interested in horses or camels take a look!

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/news/animals-news/australia-camels-apvin.html

Jet Ski's
One of the things that are funny here is the Christmas advert on TV when it’s so hot. It always seems so strange to me when I am here in the sun at Christmas rather than the cold and dark of the UK, with Father Christmas arriving on a jet ski rather than down the chimney-!! I am grateful though to be missing all the consumerism that goes on in the western world, no one here is speaking of Christmas yet except an odd advert here and there. I looked for a video for you and found this one, really cool I think, must remember to go play on a jet ski soon





Love for now Caro and Bernie

Life is short

A friend sent this to me the other day;

Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly,
Kiss slowly, Love Truly, Laugh uncontrollably,
And never regret anything that made you Smile.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should Dance . . .

Warriors don't always have to fight. They may just need to stand up!

Thanks Diana x

No Water

Well interesting how we take the wet stuff for granted in the UK here we are in St Lucia, the water has been off for 3 days due to two things;

1. the people who are building the road broke the pipe and took out the water meter with their JCB thingy a week ago, the water board WASCO have done nothing about it with water running down the gully at the side of the road DURR!!*** And they keep on TV ‘save water, we don’t have much’ etc.

2. The water pump which is the only way the water goes around the house is broken!


The tanks that we have, four of them, two for WASCO pumped water which are now empty and two for the rainwater collection off the roof. I have now discovered the delights of bathing and washing hair in rainwater, no need for conditioner, well it was great until the pump died. The rain clouds blow in straight off the Atlantic Ocean so I guess its pure-ish apart from loads of pollutants which I am sure someone will tell me about. We drink it but I do filter it and put it in prill beads and cosmic stones.

So for now we have no water apart from a big swimming pool and a couple of litres for drinking, not really dire I know but still makes me really grateful for what we have so easily in the UK.

Rain, RIP Mr Mouse, Books and food

Rain

Well I will say no more about the monsoon weather we seem to be getting, I consider we have been lucky compared to the Bahamas with tropical storm Noel which is now progressing up to hurricane level, possibly later today.

We are very lucky here and I have only once experienced a hurricane, it was in 1999, but to be honest I was in the gym when the worst of it passed through, It was only when I came out when walking home that I became aware that it was a hurricane! I had gone into the gym and there was high winds, a bit stormy, when I came out there was debris lying around, and everything looked like it had been dragged though the hedge backwards, the seas were really rough with waves which reached right through the beach front hotels dining and lobby area’s. Worst was for a couple of weeks we couldn’t swim in the sea because of all the rubbish and branches around.

Mice

A little mouse came in and died in the chair this week…. RIP


Books

With all of this bad weather I have got stuck in to finishing a children’s story which I am writing, I wrote it a couple of years ago and have meant to do something with it, finally I am getting it finished and it will be ready for launch in a few weeks as an e-book download.

I have also been reading a book by Mark Silver ‘unveiling the heart of your business’
I really love this book because it explains in detail how money, marketing and sales can deepen your heart, heal the world, and still add to your bottom line. If you would like to read about him here is the link http://www.heartofbusiness.com/


Training and raw foods

Training is going well, I am much fitter than when I arrived on the Island, although I have not been able to weigh myself my clothes are looser so I must be losing the inches. My diet is so simple made up of a little fruit, coconut water and sometimes the meat inside. Every day my diet includes some of the following; Lettuce, tomatoes, spinach cucumbers, avocado’s, chard and about three times a week I have a little steamed rice or some root vegetable. Every day I use extra virgin olive oil, raw coconut oil, seeds and almonds, I also take some sunrider super foods, it feels easy to do and my body is very happy. I only drink water now or coconut juice, as juicing fruits was too strong for me. At the moment the liquidiser has broken so that also plays a part. I wouldn't mind some raw chocolate though!

Bernie is eating well and has joined a gym with no air con! Thats a hard one for him and he tries to go before it gets too hot.


Thats all for now folks,

Love Caro

New Game

I think this is cool, and I have now learnt how to put films on the blog, enjoy!

Walk in nature

This afternoon we went for an exploration to Marke beach. We had been told that you could get so far by road then we would need to walk. The road was a dirt and rock track about two miles off the good road i.e. beaten down stone, I was really looking forward to going as it seemed quite an adventure, it was!

Bumping around on the road was fun and there was nothing around, I mean no people, no rubbish not a sign that anyone was anywhere or ever had been, only farmed land, but no people on it that we could see! It was great to be so isolated, it felt as though we were the only people there as it was as silent as only nature can be. It felt so good just to be, lapping up the silence once we left the jeep.

After leaving the jeep when we got to the gates we then walked along the track. This was a 500-acre farm owned by one family and fronting eventually onto the beach, unfortunately we didn’t reach the beach because of the rains of late the way was barred by water. But we did enjoy the tranquillity of the walk, I took the photo’s and I particularity enjoyed taking the one of the butterfly. You see Bernie with his machete looking like my guardian angel, to me anyway.


Tonight now at 5-30 pm it is dark and the thunder is rolling around, the tree frogs are singing and there is a heavy feeling in the air, oh and there’s the lightning. Tomorrow is Juno Kweole or Creole Day, All sorts of traditional foods will be served up and a massive all island party will be on the go from breakfast to late night. We are going to drive down south and join in with Bernie’s Father James and his new wife Mutt for the celebrations.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Love Caro and Bernie

Sunscreen

I have been wondering about sunbathing and sunscreen, my intuition has been to stop using sunscreen and to only sunbathe for an hour max a day and not between 12-3p.m.
I have been researching this and find some interesting information on the subject to lead me to believe that I am to follow the strong intuition about this. Now my brother has always sunbathed all his life without sunscreen all times of the day and he is now 55 and showing no ill affects what so ever.

My understanding is that we need vitamin D to stay healthy and to ward off cancer and sunscreen prevents that, also the chemicals in the sunscreen are often carcinogenic so I am left with; "follow what is right for me and stay as close to nature as possible".

I am as always seeking to eat a diet which includes all the produce which is high in antioxidants, Vitamins and minerals which gives a natural sunburn prevention, this I believe happens by eating living foods and staying away from toxic substances which we find in processed and non-organic foods.


Eco Organic Farm
Bernie and I have been developing our plans for our ECO organic farm here, its an exciting project and one which we hope to share with as many people as possible once the initial farm which is already there grows a bit more into the way we are seeing possible.

My feeling is that if we look after the planet the planet will look after us, it just takes a bit of love.

And the rain fell, again!

I cant tell you about the rain as it was just to much, torrents would be a good word for it, so I give you a couple of pictures of the garden taken from the balcony yesterday. The first picture is of the front drive, note the plastic swan in the background! The second is behind the house falling away into the main river which runs eventually to the sea, the river is around 50 feet lower than the garden.

This morning we had a rest bite from it, we went out on exercise around 7a.m. and it was just cloudy and cool (approx 25C) We managed to get back before it started to rain again, I still went swimming in the pool which was fun actually, it was warm in there and I like to swim in the rain.

Now it is just raining quietly and I am waiting for Bernie to come back with a jeep, we are off shopping and I hope to the beach and sunbathe later. Its funny that it can rain cats and dogs here and be dry and sunny just a few miles away, and visa versa.

Thats all for now folks

love Caro xx

Louvet Beach

I have found out the name of the beach we want to hike to, and in searching I found this website which has pictures of it. Now I am really getting keen to visit it as it looks so peaceful and obviously not many people go there, in all the years I have visited the island I have only just found out about it! The photo’s look great click here to see them

BBC news/ health article

Diet choices 'written in genes'
Some food preferences may be down to DNA
Our genes and not just our upbringing may play a key role in our food likes and dislikes, UK researchers believe. Click here to read the complete article

Thunder and Lightning

Last night we had the most amazing thunder and lightning storm ever, it was almost directly overhead and the rain fell like a solid blanket with no holes in between! When we went for our walk this morning we went a new way and along the road we crossed a concrete bridge. The water off the hills was still running fiercely even though the rain had stopped long before. You could see that in the night the river, which was now around six feet below the edge of the bridge, had risen up and over flowed, there were pieces of debris left on top of the road way.

The flash floods you can get here are sudden and dangerous if you are living below a hill, I just heard on the news last night of a family that lost their house like this. I know that many local type of plywood houses here have been lost before to floods, it’s a constant problem.

Nutmeg

Just an interesting picture of nutmeg! I thought you might like to see it too, Bernie bought me some back to grate on the top of my nut milk shakes. I have never taken notice of the amazing structure of the seed and coat of the nut until this time of writing.


we hope everyone is enjoying the blog

love Caro and Bernie

We are so lucky

How lucky are we to have this garden full of all its delights. it is sooo lovely to come back after our morning excersise and fall into the pool!

Thoughts on Diet

I wanted to log down my raw food findings for this body / mind.

Last week I went 100% raw except that little blip with the bread. What I am finding is that when I do a lot of exercise my body is sending out signals that it wants starch. Yesterday I went down the beach first thing and ran and walked the one mile using a system of interval training http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/tipsandtricks/a/Intervals.htm

Afterwards I swam with flippers around half a mile in the same way. Later again in the afternoon I did the same swim. My body replied to this workout with wanting starch and I felt a bit odd until I had a small portion of cooked rice, a small raw cabbage salad and a couple of small pieces of breadfruit and half a green fig (a kind of unripe banana which you cook) I am beginning to realise that I need to look at ways in which I can give myself these foods in a good way without destroying the enzymes by too much heat. Some foods just seem better to me steamed a bit to soften them. I still feel comforted by starch that way too.

My diet for that day consisted of
Before exercise
A sunrider sunbar

After exercise
Juice and meat of a coconut to keep me going whilst I made

A sunrider vitashake mixed with almond milk and the almond pulp of about 15 almonds

Later that a.m. 1 pint of green juice


After second exercise
2-30 pm the small starch meal


5pm
2 mangoes and the meat of one coconut made into ice cream (just frozen up nothing added)

After this I was not hungry and just drank more water. I drink around 2-3 litres a day of water

I can see that this is an unfolding journey and not a destination and I could be more in transition, which would be gentle on the body. For me its easy to get caught up in ‘getting it right or being goal orientated with being a raw food vegan. I am finally getting to be more in the moment and responding to my body in a way which is more supportive.

I am also spending a little time each day on the net researching the signals my body is sending to me to create a mental understanding of the nutrients in different foods.

All for now

love Caro xx

New raw food connection

As you already know I have been enjoying all the lovely raw food here, well at the party I mention in the next post, (got the posts the wrong way around!) last night I met a guy called Andrew who told me that their hotel is implementing a raw food option! How cool is that. Anyway they have invited me up to meet the person responsible for the menus and nutritional advice. I hope to go up sometime next week. I will let you know how it goes, maybe I will get to sample some of the raw delights, I hope so!

Sunset

Tonight I took a lovely sunset picture from Gros Islet where we partied last night.

Beaches and Party

Today we went down to Reduit beach, one of the lads took this photo of us before we went off for a swim, the weather was pretty dark and there had been lightning storms the night before, which were fun to sit and watch from the beach in the semi- darkness. Lat night we went to a street party, the music was so loud it made my whole body vibrate hitting it in the chest with those sound waves man –cool and one radical way of changing your vibration!

By for now

Caro and Bernie

Day off today

So today I have been chilling out, I have not done anything remotely energetic. I did though find, thanks to Angela Stokes:-) a really interesting website belonging to Storm and Jinjee on Raw foods. This website has some incredible pictures of them both and covers a whole host of supportive material on eating raw, body building, raising raw children, e-books and much more.

Dreary?

I notice on our little weather map right at this moment describes today as dreary, I think that is so funny as I am sitting here in the 30C bright sunlight we have had all day! I now notice it has changed! Must have been the attention that did it!

Herbal News

The FDA has just raided an herbal tea company, seizing $71,000 in herbal tea products and threatening to put the company out of business. Why? Because the herbal tea manufacturer told the truth about the blood sugar lowering effects of the bitter melon herb used in their formula. Telling the truth about the medicinal value of herbs simply cannot be tolerated in this country!

If you click on this link it will take you to the full article
FDA seizes $71k in herbal tea products as campaign of censorship against nutritional supplements continues


The website is very interesting and runs many excellent articles and informative reports on health, raw foods and more.

Sun blessed foods

I feel so lucky at the abundance of food here in St Lucia, I bought a big bunch of watercress and made a delicious simple salad with it today, I added grated carrot, tomatoes and sunflower seeds as a topping. I had half of it for my lunch, I am going to finish the rest of it tonight. I am getting so much enjoyment playing with simple combo’s of foods and my body feels great. Working out every day is paying off as well, today we walked further again up into the hills, we were gone around two hours and I am guessing how high but I recon around 5-600 feet up and down twice. Turning for home around 8 a.m. we had walked a little way, I was just thinking, ‘Oops we have come so far I wish I had bought some food with me, I don’t know if I can make it all the way back without eating something.’ (We still had some punishing hill work to do.) Bernie suddenly says "look there are some ripe guavas over there" and proceeds to pick them for me. Thanks to those precious little fruits I made it home OK. It sounds a bit dramatic but the heat is intense I find it tough on the hills unless fruited or sunridered up!

Raw Almonds

Some of you will know about the raw almonds issue with American almonds, the labelling of pasteurised as raw and the unnecessary decision in my view to pasteurise all almonds. For those of us who believe in food choice and want to eat our almonds raw we may still be able to do something to stop the continuing violation of our rights, I really don’t want to give up on this one. I find it deplorable that I am not given the correct info on what I am choosing to eat. To be able to buy almonds labelled as raw when they have been pasteurised is just not on in my book. Plus the fact it seems a ridicules thing to do to the almond, whoever heard of anyone getting ill eating raw almonds? Salmonella from chickens yes, but almonds?

Apparently two people did…………once

I got sick eating a duff sandwich from a shop when I used to eat that sort of thing, and I believe not so long ago several hundred people got sick on a cruise, and loads were ill who went on a holiday that my friend took. The point being that I don’t think almonds are a major player here in creating sickness..do you?

Anyway go to this link to read more about it and sign the campaign to save our almonds.

I'm really mad now :-)

Blessings
love Caroline and Bernie

Fitness update

Yes! I am getting fitter, Bernie and I went for our morning walk and went right up to where the road meets the track the longest walk I have managed so far, it took us around one and a half hours and we went down them up around 200 ft. yea it feels good. I am getting closer to our long hike to the beach.

Anastasia Books

I see that there is a new book to the Anastasia series, I have only read one but I got to read a free chapter on the new book last night, I intend to read more of them very soon. Click on this link to read more about the books.

Here is a short intro, "With no advertisement other than word of mouth, books of the Ringing Cedars Series have sold over 10 million copies in Russia alone and have been translated into 20 languages, making Vladimir Megre one of Russia's most widely read authors. Inspired by the Ringing Cedars, thousands of people are now planting trees, changing their lifestyle and, in search for a mortgage-free existence and spiritual reconnection with the Earth, are relocating to new eco-villages which have sprouted all over Russia and beyond. Thousands of readers have felt a huge creative upsurge and started writing poetry and songs and doing paintings".

Little Seedlings

Today David planted out the parsley. He also has a secret stash of spinach round his house, I have never seen anything like it, more like a vine? Anyway he asked if I would like some, I jumped at the chance, he told me after cooking it to put….. “so I interrupted and said I don’t cook, he laughed………I said “I will juice it “and he laughed a bit more. Good to know I am amusing him.

Raw Recipe

I made a great raw lunch today and thought you might like to know so here’s what I did.
I put in the new little Kenwood mixer with the metal knife;

1 red pepper sliced and de-seeded
1 white aubergine cut up
Some olive oil and salt to taste
These I whizzed see pic.
I used this as a topping

Then on the plate I put;
1 small lettuce
1 avocado from the tree in the garden
1 tomato
A few sprouted lentils

It was very yummy and I prepared it in about 5 minutes.

One of the great things about going raw is that the washing up only takes a few minutes also!

But what do you eat?

OK so a lot of local people here are finding it a bit of a struggle to imagine what I am eating as I eat no fish, meat, dairy or wheat. Also the majority of what I do eat is raw, probably around 90%. Many people are interested in the whole idea of health as an option now, but are struggling with their addictions, they feel that they cannot give up eating some of the things they are used to because they will feel deprived. It’s a tricky one for sure and of course like everything simple to talk about and in practice it can bring up loads of emotional and physical challenges, but I feel like I am on a journey of discovery about what works for and supports me in what I am doing. For me what I put in my body is interesting as I explore the dynamics of being human! For support and education on the growing raw food movement check out my links, more will be added soon.

To give you an idea this is what I had yesterday

2 litres of filtered energised water
The juice of 2 jelly coconuts
The meat of one
2 sunrider sunbars
1 sunrider vitashake
2 small sweet potatoes
Double serving of spinach
1 white aubergine
Handful of mixed seeds mixed in olive oil (sunflower, sesame)
½ teaspoon of sea salt
1 pint of green juice

The sweet potato, aubergine and spinach I lightly steamed for 2 minutes

I have now just got a blender and small food processor so I will be now going 100% raw and juicing rather than steaming.

The sunrider products I find have helped me enormously and are considered raw, they are full of live enzymes and my body loves them! I am enjoying all the fruits but I am also aware that too much sugar from the fruits makes me feel tired, but its OK if I work it off by exercise. I have heard some of my friends mention the same thing too.
As soon as the clouds go I am going to make some flax crackers and sun dry them. I also have some really beautiful red peppers, which I am going to eat today.

Herbs

This morning after we had gone for our early morning exercise George arrived with some ready to plant herbs of parsley, mint, citronella (which we can burn to clear the mossi’s at night) marjoram and rosemary, he is also looking out for a basil plant for us and a larger leafed mint plant as we just have the tiny one. Our seeds which David the gardener planted last week have sprung up and its good to see that fairly soon we will be self-sufficient when it comes to herbs.

I say Bernie there's a Pig in the garden!!!!

As I was sat at my desk writing today I looked out of the window and there was a pig! I have no idea where he came from but he spent about half an hour chomping through most things he found before leaving, no doubt to find another yummy eatery.

St Lucia Organic association

I am so pleased to learn of an organic project near to Choiseul in the south of the island. The farmers there have the largest number of poly tunnels in St Lucia, its here they are growing organic greens, yes greens! This is such a turn around for these farmers, they are learning a whole new way of farming, planting every week and tending the greens, so different than banana’s which for some even with fair trade has become an impossible way to earn a decent income.

When I went to the beach gathering I mentioned to you last Friday I met Pete and Patti who have become involved in the farm as a project. Pete’s passion has injected an enormous amount of energy and knowledge; Patti helps by bagging and selling some of the greens up here in the north each Tuesday. There is also a growing demand from the hotels, all really good news and progress towards health. I am planning to find out more about it all buy some greens from them and go down for a visit and take some pictures soon.

This is all good news for St Lucian’s who have a very high incidence of diabetes and heart related problems. You may like to check out a short film about reversing diabetes through diet in 30 days with Gabriel Cousins M.D., M.D.(H), D.D.

Complete Blog Makeover

I was just chatting to my friend Richard Clarke by skype today, he lives in Prague at the moment, we met in Southampton years ago, anyway I was asking him how to put the new weather feature on the blog and he started playing with the whole blog for me and hey presto after about an hour Pink Apple Life received a whole new image in line with our web site, yippee – thanks Ricardo xxx

History of St Lucia

I thought that some of you might like to know a bit more about St Lucia if you go to

http://www.guidetostlucia.com/aboutstlucia.html#history you will be able to find out more

Off to Rodney Bay hub of activity

Every Friday afternoon I have been told there is a meeting at Rodney Bay where therapist’s have a get together and chat. I am looking forward to going down to meet with them, as yet I don’t really know anything about it, I was invited by a friend so I will let you know how it goes.

Inventive use of the thingy!

Here is my latest pool exercise! I still don’t know what these floaty things are called, maybe somebody can enlighten me? For now it will be called the long red floaty thingy (LRFT). I have for some days now been enjoying the process of playing in the pool feeling like a child again making up all sorts of new exercise routines for myself to improve my fitness, I thought this one worthy of sharing to give you all a laugh! Putting the LRFT through the legs to achieve sitting on it, wave arms in a backwards direction pulling oneself around the pool, don’t drown laughing, only breathe when on the upward thrust as otherwise drowning is possible.

Glitches and Gremlins are fixed

Thanks to the lovely feedburner people everything works perfectly now. Just pop your email address in the box and you will just receive the updates straight into your email box, cool idea I think, hope you like it too.

Early morning runs or staggering up the hill!

After taking a day off the early morning exercise yesterday as the rain was falling in torrents all night and well into the daylight hours, I mean a lot of rain the swimming pool was overflowing almost, we went out this morning turning right up the hill rather than left and the easy option of down the hill☺

To give you an idea of the walk, or staggering climb it felt more like at times, a car had stopped to pick up a passenger and as he started to try to pull away the back wheels just spun, I know the road is not made up for a lot of the way but this bit was and only just a small bit of gravel under the wheels! You can imagine I was puffing and stopping at various intervals on the way. It was sooooo worth it though as we climbed about 300 feet up from the house the view was amazing, I could see a small beach in the distance maybe 2 miles as the crow flies, we are planning a day hike to go visit.

I was discussing with Bernie about the trip and it struck me as interesting the difference in how we all see differently, I was remarking that I would set off taking provisions and just go in the direction and see what happens and if I didn’t get there and ended up somewhere else try again another day, for me it was the journey, the discovery which was fun, getting to the beach would be a surprise and I would know that one day I would get there but maybe also have a whole load of other experiences. Bernie on the other hand said he would first get a car sort out the route know how to get there how long it would take and then go for it.
I have to say to remember that this is rugged country and he has a good point for safety.

I really enjoy the way we honour and respect each others way of seeing things often merging the two or just full on experiencing the other if we feel like a change, its great to be alive!

As my friend would say
one love

Caro xx

Glitches and Gremlins

We seem to have a few problems with the email subscription box, if you know about feedburner maybe you could help if you have a moment - thanks :-)

New links

I am starting a raw food links section, starting with my friend Angela Stokes who has the most remarkable story to tell and also lots of very interesting information to share, if any of you have links to raw food sites you would like to see me put up please send them to me and I will add them in.

Caroline xxx

Early morning running

Just thought you might like to see a picture of the lovely Bernie doing his early morning workout on Reduit Beach yesterday.

Sugar Apples and Snorkels

Temp. 32C
Today we left ‘The Farm’ at 6 a.m. to travel back down south to pick up the snorkels/ equipment and to see James and Mutt, Bernie’s father and second stepmother. We left early to avoid the heat on the downward journey, it was already around 28C when we left, quickly accelerating to a pretty sweaty level, I really don’t like using air con but a few times we did as our legs got so hot next to the engine, the heat seemed to be extra hot coming in through the sides in the foot wells in the little jeep Bernie rented for the day. We covered the 30 miles in around 2 hour’s I think because the roads are so winding and mountainous it probably is further than that, I have not ascertained yet if the 30 miles is how the crow flies or the other way.

James and Mutt were overjoyed to see us and much talk followed with Bernie acting as interpreter for us all as James only speaks patois a kind of broken French, Mutt speaks a little English which helps but after we had the same conversation twice about ‘well what do you eat then if not fish meat and beer? I decided that probably she didn’t understand too much of what I was actually saying!

On the side in their little hut was a scrumptious looking sugar apple which James gave me as a present, I have tried one before but did not remember, or maybe I just didn’t appreciate how yummy it was before. I was not eating raw foods and my palette probably was not as attuned to nature as it is now, but anyway we went off to the beach to eat, it was going up to 11 a.m. and we were pretty hungry, I broke open this amazing sugary experience, wow it tastes like sugar, slight crystal bits at the edge, soft bits inside, (see photo) with a hint of flowers which is just the most amazing taste in the world (to me today at that moment anyway) If you want a pure piquant sugar experience eat one of these little darlings sun warmed and ready..yummmmmmmmy!


Thus fortified we head off once again to Soufriere where we held our last retreat in April 0/7 to try out our snorkelling gear again, the water was so clear, I don’t think I have ever seen it this clear before and there were so many barracudas I counted 8 just in a space of 30 secs. I moved too close to one who darted around me so quickly it scared me a I zoomed off too to find Bernie laughing and wondering what I would do if I was deep water diving and saw a shark. I don’t think so. I admit I am a scary cat when it comes to really deep water but I do love to see all the wonderful fish when I snorkel.

Enjoy your week everyone and thanks to all who have posted comments its good to know you are there!

Love Caroline and Bernie

Sun Cooking

Sun and one downpour. 32 C. (approx)

Wow what a long day! I awoke at 4-30 a.m. and we went out on our morning walk at 6-30 a.m. Its now 8p.m. as I write this. Well today I got the feeling to do some sun cooking, I say cooking because the weather was so hot that the plates that I used became as hot as if they had been in the oven! After our walk and laze in the pool to recover I cut up a few tomatoes, marinated some aubergine in lime, olive oil and a little sea salt, soaked some flax seeds to make crackers and checked out the hottest place to put everything. This was my first sun drying experience and just hoped that it was as easy as I thought it should be. I mixed into the flax seeds some sunflower seeds and cut up a spring onion to add flavour added a bit of sea salt and spread the mix around a plate.

It all went out into the sun under a new mesh protector that I bought the other day. I tended them with loving care (well I did look at them a few times and turned the crackers at half time) and marvelled at the heat of the sun, see photo. They were almost ready when we decided to pop down to the beach, unfortunately I made the rather duff decision to leave them out just to finish off, mmmmmmistake, it was blue sky, real hot, dry and cloudless but whilst we were out there must have been a downpour, when we got back there was rather a lot of puddles around and I looked at Bernie with that sinking feeling when you know you made a real mistake of a decision. I have to say it wasn’t too bad I rescued the food and put it in a very low oven and finished the drying process once again and the result was pretty good. The lesson learned. I had been in a bit of a hurry as I was not ready as soon as Bernie and so forgot to ‘tune in to the energy’ otherwise I might have felt to bring them in. I felt a bit deflated for a while, but soon perked up when it tasted soooo good.. ah well next time…..!!!

Day Three

Day three 5/10/07
Weather around 25 C cooler with some breeze – a welcome relief
Today has been really good for me, In the afternoon I started on my work with AWH to find some good questions coming up which I need to delve deep to find the answers.

After rising at 6 a.m. Bernie and I went for our first walk down the hill, little houses dotted around in the locality of our walk made for interesting viewing, people live in such a variety of housing some concrete structures of one breeze block thick walls painted pinks, greens or whites, some unfinished, and a lot made from plywood. As we walked down the hill we met people going to work, school children and local characters all looking interested in ‘the white woman’ here out in the country I am a bit of an interest to them. Everyone speaks and says ‘good morning’ as we pass by and we make our way down the hill to the local school at the end of the gravel road, continuing on to the left we make our way on dirt track which runs through a large banana plantation.

After half an hour we turn for home now with the hill to face, its very steep and I have to stop three times to catch my breath before reaching home, its 7-30 a.m. and I am dripping with sweat, I only have one goal and that’s to get into the shower and into the pool, 5 minutes later there I am drifting around the pool buoyed up by the floaty thing I bought yesterday, everything seems just perfect. Bernie joins me for a bit and then after breakfast decides to head off for town and check out the routes with the local minibuses, which we will now use since we gave the car back. He has gone for the day as everything takes time here. I phone Cable and Wireless who have still yet to respond with their promise of help to get on the internet within 24 hours, 56 have gone by without even a return phone call, now we are going into the weekend so nothing until Monday, oh well that’s St Lucia for you, charming, beautiful, crazy and late. It’s all-inclusive, as Bernie would say.



Even though I have been here many times over the years living here for several months at a time sometimes, I still have not got the mosquito thing sorted, they always bite the hell out of me and yet again I am itching, I use the natural organic sprays and for me they just don’t work, I have taken to covering every inch of my body tonight in the hopes that I get no more bites until I can get some stronger spray, not great I know being into health and all that but what to do? Ho Hum…

Well that’s all for today
Love Caroline

Day Two

Day 2
4/1-/07 Temp at least 30 C sunny am with thunder storm p.m.

We arose at 6a.m after snoozing the earlier hours away since about 3 a.m. where the jet lag kicked in suggesting to me that it was really morning and time to get up. As I tried to go back to sleep I thought of everyone UK side 5 hours ahead waking and beginning their day.

We both decided it would be a good idea to hit the town early as the heat would be unbearable later on with all the concrete and buildings in Castries the capital of St Lucia, we were going to try to get Bernie's mobile phone unlocked and also to go to the busy bustling market place to choose fresh produce to last for the rest of the week. The phone apparently was far to new for it to be unlocked after going to 3 different places we finally found someone who promised well maybe that when Mr somebody or other came back in two weeks he would have the technology to manage to do this, so we are with out a mobile until it gets done, maybe!

By 8 a.m. the heat was building and I was puffed out just walking around the town with my rucksack on my back which was by this time only half full. After a short rest to get my breath and a drink of water we set off to the market which was fully awake, we passed by vendors in little booths selling all sorts of rolls filled with cheese, meats and the like, coco tea mixed with large amounts of sugar went down a treat for Bernie, I munched on a sunbar one of my super food bars and felt very smug at not succumbing to the tea which I have had before, pretty yummy made from grated coco add lime skin, nutmeg, cinnamon, add water and boil up then add sugar and milk, quite a drink! We went on to find spinach, avocados. Tomatoes, okra, grapefruit, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, lettuce, peppers, a beautiful large papaya which has taken pride of place in the vegetable rack. Leaving Castries we headed on back north to visit ‘Home Depot’ to pick up one or two household things, it really shocked me the prices of really ordinary plastic things like garden tables small round table set for nearly £80, something we would pick up in the UK for around £25. Anyway gladly we did not want to buy anything like that, but it really shows how so many here don’t have anything like the standard of living we in the west take for granted. There is so much poverty here and yet people driving many ‘top of the range’ cars it’s a bit of a paradox.

It was great to meet up today with old friends who just seemed to pop up from nowhere as we were out and about, one thing being here is that everyone knows everyone and at least some of the time out is spent on catching up with old friends, waving as you pass others going in the opposite direction, tooting horns and yelling down the road ‘weh weh weh’ as you almost miss someone you think you know even if you don’t!

This afternoon has been spent in the pool discovering some good excersise moves with a flotation thingy, it is round approx 4 inches across and about 3 feet long, very good for all sorts of moves, I can feel myself getting fitter my the minute.

It was interesting after the thunder storm the gully which runs behind the house which we only discovered because of the rain filled up and was gushing along, it made me think about the amount of flooding which can happen so quickly as the water runs off the hills, nature is raw an uncompromising and here you can get reminded very quickly as the weather changes from dry and hot into full on storm where you cannot hear yourself speak and back to calm and dry within a short time, spectacular.

View from the upstairs

St Lucia We have arrived!

Day one 3/10/07
Weather sunny with some cloud. 30’ C.

After a really easy trip from the UK yesterday, if you can call travelling over 4500 miles on a pressurised mental tube flying through the air at over 400 miles per hour easy! We were landed out of the aircraft, clearing customs and met by our friend Clarence with the hire car, an old-ish jeep in just under and hour, amazing, we had also landed ahead of schedule so to me this all bared well with this journey of discovery in which Bernie and I are embarking on for the next four months or 16 weeks to be precise.

After spending a little time collecting provisions from the local vendors in the main street at Vieux Fort we headed north to our villa that I prayed would be everything we had been promised, always a bonus! We arrived at the local estate agents office early and Sophia who had been in communication with me via the internet for the past few months took us up to the Villa, although only 15 minutes drive from the hustle and bustle of Rodney Bay, Boguis the district in which we are to stay, is in the countryside, busy having a road developed we still made the last ½ mile by dirt track prepared for tarmac but not yet done. We were just beginning to wonder where we were going as it was further ‘in’ than Bernie had expected and we had travelled high enough to make my ears pop and then down low enough to make me hope that we wouldn’t be so low as to loose the view, we finally came across the Heleconia Villa which surprisingly has a name on the gate stating ‘The Farm’ so we would never have found it if Sophia had not shown us. Quaint!

When the keys did not work in the locks so we could not get in did we worry? Did anyone fret? No of course not this is St Lucia, a phone call was made and we all (including the Taxi driver who had driven Sophia up) went for a walk around the 2 acres of garden delighting in the beautiful trees, four king palms, just like the ones you get in Miami, huge, magnificent and beautiful, mangoes falling on the ground sooo many, avocadoes, star fruit literally hundreds so many not eaten lying on the ground seemed almost a crime. We of course by this time were stuffing our faces with samples of all. It was actually a great move by the universe to lock us out of the house for a bit as the walking on the earth finally grounded me and I felt re-energised and complete.

Help arriving in the shape of WD40 the locks were sprayed and all was well. The Villa is wonderful spacious and open, with the pool terrace and garden area just perfect. The only slight criticism is that there could be more abundance in storage/homely touches, plus bathmats would be a nice touch too, but I think we can remedy most of that.

Before writing this at the end of our first full day here I have been resting, swimming, eating, reading and unpacking, what to do but enjoy this space and take advantage of all the beauty. The views are amazing as I look out from the balcony as I write this I can see a small mountain range (probably the best way to describe it) or a huge hill range! In the background, dogs bark the occasional lorry goes by burdened by a few ton of dirt from somewhere lower down the hill, the cockerel sings his song and I can hear the local banter here and there as people go about their daily business. Chickens visit and David our handyman lives behind the main house in a small plywood construction, he has promised to grow some produce if we buy the seeds, seems a good deal to me

The property here is surrounded by high hedging and feels like a calm oasis amidst a vibrant and dynamic community.

Tomorrow we give the jeep back so we will be going to town in the morning to collect my ever-growing list of requirements to facilitate life here. (Could be a good opportunity for personal growth there-!!) We also get on to the internet (I hope) we have asked for somebody from Cable and Wireless to visit, as it doesn’t seem to work right now!

Signing off now with love to all

Caro and Bernie