What happened in Saint Lucia?

First of all, can I tell you how confusing it is to have a St Lucia in the Caribbean and a St Lucia in eastern South Africa? When I first moved here and spoke to travelers about their itineraries and they’d say, “I’m headed to St Lucia from here.” I’d think, “Wow! That’s quite a leap!” until I learned about St Lucia, South Africa.

Once adjusted to the idea of St Lucia, South Africa, I met a guy from St Lucia who was doing some contract work as an engineer for the sugar cane industry in Swaziland. No, of course he’s not from St Lucia, South Africa. He’s from the Caribbean. So once again I was initially confused. But that explained his unusual accent and lack of knowledge on the region and cultures.

Originally distributed October 2009

I visited St Lucia, SA in May. I won’t go over all the details of the trip, but I will tell you this. While staying at the backpackers there I came back to my room one afternoon to find it had been raided. Stuff had been taken out of my bag and strewn about. Clearly, someone had been in there. Trying to contain my angst I went to the front desk to report the matter. They asked which room I was staying in, “the one in the back corner, near the pool.” Were my windows open, “yes.” Oh it was the vervet monkeys. They’ve gone in that room before when the windows have been left open.

Monkeys! Whew! What a relief. I went back to my room and took stock of the situation with new perspective. Suddenly I was able to laugh about it. My inventory survey showed that nothing was missing. They had pulled out some clothes and my glasses. Come to find out later when I looked through the photos in my camera, they had put my glasses on and taken pictures of themselves! Hilarious! Monkeys with a sense of humor, I love it!



Oh, yeah. That last part was just a joke. But they did break into my room and take out my glasses.