St. Lucia crafts colorful culture

There I was, being smeared with green mud all over my body in St. Lucia’s Sulphur Springs Mud Bath.

Two layers first to exfoliate. Then I was sprinkled with black mud while a guide crafted designs in stripes and handprints as if my arms, face and chest were a canvas.

I felt like I was in a pool full of zebras — zebras with black handprints all over dotting the mud masterpieces.

The mineral waters in which we were submerged allegedly washed away 10 years along with the mud palette. I’m pretty sure my husband didn’t notice any difference.

This beginning of our all-day Carnival Sailing outing was followed by a “refreshing” dip in the Toraille Waterfall. The only reason anyone would do this is for bragging rights, after recovering from the chill and proclaiming, “I did it! I did it!”

Then we snorkeled after a lovely buffet and some more rum punch, lolling with colorful fish in much warmer waters.

After the various exertions, sailing lazily by the lengthy, looming twin peaks of the Pitons — the iconic symbols of St. Lucia majestically claiming their dominance of the horizon — I thought, “It doesn’t get any better than this.” But this was St. Lucia, so it did.

It followed at another island landmark. The every Saturday

Castries Market is crammed with colorful fruit, fish, flowers, hats, handbags, hot sauce, houseware and bustling crowds. People flood the rows of stalls inside a huge warehousetype building and then street after street with volumes of vendors plying their trade while loud music from multiple speakers vie for attention. There’s bedding, bangles and baked goods as well as T-shirts, trinkets and toys along with clothes, condiments, crafts and candy.

There’s everything you could possibly ever consider buying and a wide variety of items you never would. Many, mostly edible, are not even recognizable.

When we stopped at a stall to buy some hot sauce, the owner offered us a taste of some spiced rum she makes. After one delicious sip, I was having trouble putting one foot in front of the other.

Many similar alcoholic options are available at yet another of St. Lucia’s mustdo’s. Friday night Jump-Up in Gros Islet doles out generous servings of drinkin’, dancin’, jammin’ and jivin’ to tourists and locals alike.

When I was last there in 1995, what had started as a local gathering some 25 years earlier had evolved into a rollicking street party with body-to-body guests enjoying congenial sensuality. Chubby tourists with cameras around their necks moved as freely as native vendors dispensing

Hike the back country safely

out longer than anticipated.

barbecue chicken and beer. Although visitors were welcome and made to feel an integral part of the celebration, it remained an authentic island happening that hadn’t deteriorated into a commercialized venture staged mainly for tourists. That was then.

It was now a crowded mishmosh of mostly tourists waiting in long lines at barbecue chicken stands. No one moved freely. We were advised to wait until close to 11 when all the tourists return to their

S & S TRAVEL

Motorcoach all-inclusives and the locals who work at the same resorts leave to come to Jump Up and restore it to the memorable and far more authentic experience it once was.

Other things had not changed. Traveling the steep windy roads that slither and slink through the harrowing hills provides a glorious view of the island. You are engulfed in lushness: small, large, low, high and enormous, with leaves the size of surfboards.

Well-kept, multihued huts mix with less quaint, more rundown dwellings. Women balancing seemingly unmanageable loads on their heads wave as you pass by.

You haven’t even hit your basic tourist attractions yet. There’s a hike through the rainforest, a walk through the botanical gardens complete with another waterfall, a visit to bubbling springs lying within a dormant volcano — and beaches, lots of them.

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National Park Service retirees have prepared guidelines for staying safe when walking through remote areas:

• Study maps of the region before you start and establish a firm turnaround time. Pay attention to landmarks you pass, keeping in mind they may appear different when approached from the opposite direction.

• Carry extra clothing, food and drink in case the weather turns bad or you find yourself

• Know your physical limits and, if in a group, keep in constant communication with the others. Use the buddy system.

• Carry a first-aid kit and emergency equipment, such as extra matches, a flare, mirror and whistle.

• If things go badly, stay where you are until help arrives. If someone in your group is hurt, determine first whether it is safe to proceed, or send someone — preferably two persons — for help while staying with the injured member.

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Steve and Sheila Magsamen, Tour Managers Decatur & Fort Wayne Departures 260-432-8488 www.memoriesinmotion.net