Zoo

I went to the St. Maarten zoo with some other spouses last week.  It was an interesting experience and such a fun afternoon.  The zoo primarily had macaws and other interesting birds.  There were also several tortoises and monkeys.  I was shocked to see that they have raccoons in the zoo.  I guess they may be rare here on the island but my parents have a few dozen I'm sure they would love to get rid of.  The zoo provides animal crackers to feed to all the animals.  I enjoyed feeding the tortoises and petting them.  However, the monkeys have a game of their own.  You cannot touch the monkeys, but if you throw a cracker in their cage, they will throw it back at you (with great accuracy and power).  They also had their own store of food they chucked at us.  Iguanas are everywhere at the zoo!  They are just loose walking around the cages and pathways.  Many peacocks are loose walking around too.  Several baby peacocks (I call them pea babies) were walking around too.  The petting zoo consisted of 2 goats and dozens of stinky rabbits.  At the end of the zoo was a white tropical bird in a cage that I can describe with one word only: diva.  This bird would say "hello" in a high pitched voice which was pretty cool.  But, as you approached her, she would become silent and just stare at you.  She also liked to climb to the top of the cage and hold on with only her beak and just stay there until you walked away.  As you walked away, she began screaming "hello" again.  We tried many times to get her voice on video, but she was insistent that we not.  Towards the end, she started mocking us I think.  When I did video her, she spoke utter jabber.  Very funny bird.  Definitely my favorite part of the day.

These photos were taken with my iphone since I did not have my Nikon with me when we decided to do this outing.  I also took several fun videos but the internet connection here will not allow me to post them without it taking a week to upload. 

what started out as errands....

On Monday, two other spouses and I sent out to run errands.  We ended up spending the whole day exploring parts of the island I had never seen before.  After getting household supplies, we stopped at the top of a hill for a beautiful view.  Below is a picture of the type of car we have been driving on the island. 

After we unloaded our purchases, we drove up to Paradise Peak which is the highest point on the island (1400 ft).  The view was incredible.  Driving up to this lookout was an experience too.  What started out like a normal island road up a hill quickly turned into a very steep, narrow, overgrown winding road.  At times, I wondered if the island car was going to make it.  Very rough day for this little car.  We did make it to the dead end where the road suddenly stops at someone's gate.  From there, we hiked up a very rocky trail to the lookout.  The breathtaking view was worth the rough hike in flip-flops (we didn't know there was hiking involved in this adventure).

Next, we explored the Coconut Grove Islands.  These are little islands off the shore on the French side. I really love this place.  We walked out to one of the islands and climbed on it to enjoy the view and water from there.

This is the island we walked out to

 I was fascinated with the texture of this island rock

 lots of little snails in the holes and crevices on the island

More little islands

We topped off our day with a very late lunch at Taco Macho near the airport.  This place has great authentic mexican food in a fun outdoor environment.  It took me a couple of days to rest my aching feet from all the rocks we walked on, but it was a great day.

Marigot Bay

Today I ventured out to Marigot Bay.  On Wednesdays and Saturdays, fresh fish and fruit are sold at an

outdoor market.  They also have crafts, clothes, spices, and other interesting things. I decided I had to buy fish since the meats in the grocery store and highly priced and poor quality.  None of the fish was in fillet form though, so this was a slightly scary task.  I found one vender that had cut a couple stakes so I went with that.  I have no clue what type of fish I bought.  We'll see how it tastes tonight!  They vendors with clothes and crafts like to bargain a lot.  I was not interested in buying anything but whenever I left a stand, the price on whatever dress or bracelet I was looking at usually dropped a few dollars.  Everyone speaks french first and they when they realize you don't speak french they switch to english (some more annoyed than others).  I found local honey that I am excited to buy sometime and vanilla that looks great.  Curry, turmeric, cumin, etc can be found in large quantities at this market.  I also found some interesting herbs like fenugreek.  My friend, who is also a wife here on the island, went with me on this outing and I am very thankful I had the support for the fish purchasing.    

The terrace

My favorite part of our apartment is the terrace!  We have a beautiful view of the French low lands and the lagoon.  We also have a covered area with table and chairs where we eat our meals.  Slightly elevated from the main part is a sun deck with a lawn chair which is wonderful for sun tanning.

Yesterday we went to a gardening store to get supplies for our first garden.  Our landlord is thrilled that we want to garden and she has been helping us with getting started.  We planted rosemary, thyme, mint, and basil.  We also planted seeds for squash, arugula, serranos, jalapeños, thai chilies, cilantro, bell peppers, and chives.  This is our first attempt, so we'll see how it goes!

Views from our terrace

 Walkway to hang laundry

 Rosemary

Little salamanders everywhere

 Seeds we planted

 Basil

 Window on the shed

Sun tea

The beginning...

This blog will chronicle the time Noah and I spend in St Maarten.   We are here because Noah is attending medical school at the American University of the Caribbean (AUC) for two years.  Noah will be very busy studying while I explore the island and learn about this culture.  I hope to share updates on Noah's time in school, my discoveries on the island, and photos I take while on the island.