Travelin' on the St. Kitts Scenic Railway

We sure have been busy around here lately. I manage to check all my friend's blogs daily...and I even get ticked when they don't update it regularly. Then I realized that I haven't updated our's in almost a month. So here's a lot of pictures to make up for it.

A school group took a ride on the St. Kitts Scenic Railway at a nice discounted price, so Mimi and I were sure to be on board. It is a double-decker train that tours the island, provides all of the smoothest virgin pina coladas you can handle, and they even have a little choir that comes to each car throughout the tour as you glide through the island and let the cool breeze take you away.

I was a little intimidated with taking care of Mia on this probably-not-so-safe train by myself (by school group I mean the spouses of students...the boys are always studying). To my surprise (and relief) she was very obedient and delightful.

The tour started out with a glance at the quarry on the island. I was pretty impressed. It was pretty official.

The workers were sure to take a break and give us a wave.

The former conductor (now the guy that comes around and counts how many people are on board in his semi-retired days) was sure to stop and ready his "props" for a very posed picture. I wasn't expecting it, but he sure seemed eager and was used to being a "celebrity."

We quickly started seeing remnants of the sugar industry as the tour continued. Sugar was the main source of income for both St. Kitts and Nevis for a very long time. Sugar production only stopped in St. Kitts in 2005, when it's main interests for revenue turned to tourism.

This is called a "sugar slider." It was what they would transport sugar products on.

Sugar cane still grows wild all over the island. You can sometimes see locals out chopping it down to use.

Look closely at the top of this almond tree. Can you see a sneaky climber enjoying a morning view of the ocean?

Our tour guide told us she retreats to this black sand beach when life gets stressful. I would love to do the same, but I haven't figured out how to access this beach as of yet!

We crossed over bridges...

And looked ahead to bridges we were yet to cross...

We tried to gaze through the clouds at Mt. Liamuiga , meaning "fertile land." It used to be called "Mt. Misery," so I guess it's a good thing I'm pregnant and won't be able to climb it after all.

Here are "chimneys" from the sugar plantation days. This is where the husks from the sugarcane was burned during sugar production. Many of these still dot St. Kitts and Nevis.

Mia was a great traveling buddy...even though towards the end she didn't consider staying by me to be the most fun anymore...

As we passed by schools throughout the tour, the little school children would all wave and shout "Good Morning!" to all the passengers on the train. It was very enchanting. This class even took time out of their story time under the mango tree to bid us hello!

On the "country side" of the island, you can see the islands of Statia and Saba in the distance. They are relatively close, but not as convenient to get to as there aren't regular (and affordable) ferrys.

We took a bus to get back to our car, and Mia enjoyed the car-seat-free ride a little too much. There's no such thing as "car seat laws" in St. Kitts, so sometimes in binds, she gets away with it...

So as you can see...although we are a world away from everything that we know and love...we are sure enjoying where we are and what we are doing. We are only here for a little while longer, so we're taking advantage of all the opportunities we can get and meeting some wonderful people in the mean time!