Someone commented on my face book page that this blog is about to get more interesting and indeed I would have to agree. This blog began in St. Lucia, West Indies in 2008 and I am returning to work at Ladera in St. Lucia this Friday. If you follow the weather (not necessarily the news) you might know that St. Lucia was struck by hurricane Tomas Halloween week end. Much of the damage is due to horrific land slides that drug houses, buildings and jungle down the mountain sides toward valleys and the Caribbean Ocean. Lives were lost, chunks of roads dropped hundreds of feet, mud filled houses, power and water are only now being restored, things in general are a mess and over whelming.
The owner of Ladera called me last week to see if I would be interested in coming down to help. Of course my Caribbean soul answered almost immediately a resounding "yes". I am thrilled to be going back to Ladera I only wish the circumstances were different. I leave with some trepidation as I have never worked on such a large scale, as in helping to stabilize a mountain but I will give it my best.
Likely I will not be on the blog until I get organized in St. Lucia. The Internet was not exactly dependable the last time I was there and I imagine the hurricane has done little to improve that. In addition I just purchased a new laptop (I don't even have it yet) and camera so it might take me a bit to get acquainted with their operation.
I am really excited, they expect I may be needed for a couple of months. There are a few loose ends I am scrambling to wrap up in the next couple of days. Two drawings for spring work, final instructions for the two guys we still have working and winterizing my own piece of dirt, just to mention a few. My clothes and travel junk are already laid out on the pool table, I'll go through them a couple of more times to pare down the items at least by half. Some of the best packing advice I ever got was to lay everything out, get rid of half the stuff and take twice the amount of money you think you need. Just looking at my snorkel gear gets me jazzed up.
There are lots of videos and news items if you want to see what St. Lucia looks like right now. Just Google St. Lucia hurricane Tomas and you will see what awaits me. If you are following along meet me in St. Lucia in a few days and I will show you first hand how to repair a resort after a hurricane (hopefully). You can also check out the resort where I will be working (Ladera), it is magnificent with a breathtaking view of the Pitons. My blog profile picture is taken looking out from the restaurant to the Pitons. Wish me luck.
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1 comment:
Hey Tina, well, welcome in advance - I just drove down to Soufriere for the first time since the hurricane on Saturday just gone - the mud slide by Ladera is so long! It'll be interesting to see how you guys build the slopes back.
I'll be posting some pics from that road trip on my blog later - even though I've been driving just about 30yrs in St. Lucia, I don't plan to be driving the roads too much - there's a huge amount to be fixed for real.
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