"She want the big bamboo"*

While in St. Lucia, the hubby and I did the Soufriere By Land and Sea adventure through Sunlink Tours. We traveled down the east side of St. Lucia by open jeep from Castries to Soufriere and back north by party catamaran. Al was our fearless driver and Thomas was our funny and knowledgeable guide (see below about bamboo for a taste of his trivia).



Here's our jeep. Al is all the way to right (and yup, that's the elusive hubby on the left). I'm very sad to note that I never did get a picture of Thomas. He was so busy making sure all of us tourists were taken care of that the only time he really sat down was when we were riding in the jeep.

The highlights included:

Getting pummeled by a waterfall, which was quite refreshing (yes, be kind...that's me in a bathing suit!)

Driving into a volcano, complete with sulphur springs that smell like--you guessed it--rotten eggs

Being entertained by the Captain (that's him jamming behind the wheel) as he sang along with Bob Marley and "Big Bamboo."

Every time I hear the word bamboo, it just brings me right back to St. Lucia. Did you know that bamboo was the national tree of St. Lucia? That is until they found out bamboo isn't a tree at all. Now bamboo is the national plant of the island and calabash is the national tree. All the Americans on the tour agreed that our country would have changed the status of the bamboo to a tree just to avoid having to admit being wrong!

*as performed by Horace Peterkin