A St. Bart's beach
We spent the night with a wonderful breeze and too many mosquitoes. Ruben was quite the unhappy camper, so I came up with a haiku. See if you can figure out what it’s talking about
Blue light shines
come here, come here, die, die, die
Ruben smiles
We had breakfast on the porch, then we toured more of the island. Or tour guide for the day was Wally. One of our first stops was Anse de Grande Saline – a beautiful bathing suit-optional beach. Just after we started swimming in the waves (which were perfect for body surfing), this drop-dead gorgeous black guy showed up and set up his towel near ours. Then he stripped. He had an amazing body. If we could have brought him back for our friend Karen, we would have. Even a picture of this guy would have been an incredible present for her. But we resisted the urge to snap the photo. We body surfed for close to 45 minutes, then dried off and headed on more errands.
A St. Bart's beach
The first stop was a gas station to fill up Betty’s car (which was a tiny Subaru). I caught both Ruben and Wally staring at a gorgeous woman who really filled out a black knit halter-top.
Next we circled back around and came in to Gustavia (the largest town on the island) from the south. We spent some time in Gustavia. The Transat, a race of small (2-person) sailboats from Lorient, France to St. Barts) was finishing while we were on the island. Approximately 16-18 boats had arrived by mid day, and a couple of the boats were piloted by people Wally and Betty know or know indirectly.
We did do some shopping in Gustavia – mostly to pick up more APS fillm (110 Fr for one roll of 25 and one roll of 40). While we were there Wally stopped at the real estate agent to pick up some information. Then we went to the pharmacy for Ruben. When we first went into the pharmacy, the pharmacist indicated that he had to help other customers. Then Wally showed up and somehow we were miraculously bumped to the front of the "line" (if you could call the small throng of people a "line"). Wally knows the pharmacist, and that made it very easy to get the anti-histamine and spray to keep the bugs away from Ruben.
After the pharmacy, Wally took to see Le Select – the bar that inspired Jimmy Buffet to write "Cheeseburger in Paradise." Wally introduced us to the owner, Marius Stackleborough, a 70 year-old white-haired gentleman who has owned the bar almost 50 years. He’s also known as "The Swede." Marius no long runs the bar, his sons take turns running it. He is going to have an anniversary party for the bar in November 1999, and Jimmy Buffet said he would come. Ruben and I talked about coming back there for lunch on Sunday, but they are closed on Sunday. Wally also told us the burgers are very greasy there
Le Select - home of the real Cheeseburger in Paradise
By that time it was after 1pm, and we were expected back at the house. We headed back by way of the lighthouse and a quick panoramic view of the town.
We ate a really nice lunch on the porch, then Ruben and I took a dip in the pool. Betty sprayed the guest room with malathion – really nasty stuff, but it did the trick. Ruben was really exhausted from the bug bites, from the antihistamines, or from the lack of sleep (or a combination of the above). He tried to take a nap, but was feeling very paranoid about hearing mosquitoes, or feeling them bite him. Eventually he did fall asleep. Meanwhile Wally and I went back to the museum in Gustavia for an awards presentation by the Lion’s club (Wally is a member). The St. Bart’s Lion’s club was having a contest for the basket weaving technique native to the island. This contest was run 10 years ago by the Lion’s club and someone thought they should run it again for the 10th anniversary. American Airlines had donated a round-trip flight as one of the prizes (other prizes included flights on Air Guadaloupe, and gift certificates), in exchange for a photo with the winner under or near a big AA banner. This was the same banner that Wally had picked up from the airport a half an hour before we arrived. We showed up at the chosen set-up time but we didn’t have to do any set up. Instead we walked around and Wally introduced me to many of the locals, including a local artist (painter), the mayor, the deputy mayor, the fire chief, etc. The artwork was displayed was on the second floor of the museum building in the town library, but the museum itself wasn’t open. The presentation was down on the ground level on the dock in front of the museum.
The artistry of the pieces was incredible. They handed out approximately 20 awards. Once that was done we headed back and changed for dinner. The original plan was to see the sun set from our dinner location, but we didn’t make it there on time.
Dinner was at a WONDERFUL restaurant called La Mandala owned by "Boo-boo." The rumor goes that he is the son of a French director (Vidam?) and one of the following: Briget Bardo, Jane Fonda or Katherine Deneuve. Boo-boo’s wife is just gorgeous, and should not be as thin as she is given that she has a little girl named Amber (1.5 years old or so). They apparently want Amber to speak English, so they will be hiring an English-speaking nanny.
The food at La Mandala was incredible. We had seared ahi, sashimi grade salmon, thai soup, thai curry shrimp. Each of us ordered something different and we shared it around the table. For desert we had some sorbet and a "hot chocolate tart" that was absolutely to die for. I can still taste it in my mouth.
After dinner, Betty and Wally headed back to the house and we headed downtown to the pier to watch the Transat celebration. The band played good "Island" music (Jamaican maybe), and we danced a little bit. Ruben was pretty hot, and the heat made his bug bites itch, so we left after half an hour and drove ourselves back to the house in Wally’s 85 Toyota Tercel. This car is completely falling apart and the steering is very bad.
Once at the house we stripped into nothing and went skinny-dipping in the pool for a few minutes to cool ourselves and the mosquito bites down.
