I thought I should blog about my time in St. Lucia first, though. St. Lucia was stunning. I stayed at a guesthouse called Chez Marie Alish in Gros Islet, a small fishing town just north of Castries. It was off the beaten track in terms of tourist attractions, but I enjoyed being in a very local neighborhood and waking up to all the roosters. (Although sometimes the roosters were confused and would crow even at 3 in the morning or some other ridiculous hour!) The owner, Mr. Louis was so nice and went out of his way to show me around. Since I was there for a while, I decided to take a stab at public transportation and used the local bus system (actually a fleet of minibuses) to get around. I remember the first day I was really nervous since it's hard to distinguish the routes of each of the buses as they are all white vans. You stop and hail the bus just as you would a taxi. You then need exact change and must know the amount of your fare. Before you reach your destination you have to yell "One stop!" to get the driver to stop. A lot of the buses play really loud reggae music so I would often yell to the driver to stop, only to have him not hear me. Several times I ended up getting off at the next stop and just walking back! On my first Saturday in St. Lucia I took a bus into Castries for the weekly open market. When I got off it was so crowded and humid that I could barely breathe as I tried to make my way over to the produce stands. The bus station (which isn't actually a station, but a street where all the buses pour in from all areas of the island) was crowded and chaotic. I circled the produce stalls for about forty minutes before finally settling on some star fruit, grapefruit, and bananas. When I bought the star fruit, I asked how much it was for one and was told that it was $2 Eastern Caribbean Currency (EC or as they say it here, "eecee"). The girl then gave me a bag to put it in. After I had picked out the piece of fruit I wanted, I started to walk away until she stopped me. She then took the plastic bag from me and proceeded to pile in the entire stack of star fruit into the bag and handed it to me. I was stunned. Apparently I had paid for the entire stack and it had cost a little less than $1. Oh well! Good thing I like star fruit. I decided to freeze them and eat them like popsicles in the afternoons when it's unbearably hot. I also walked around Castries town. The town itself is right on the water and the smell of local produce mingles with the odor of the stagnant drains that snake all around the streets. Saturday is always when Castries is bursting at the seams with locals doing their marketing for the week and tourists unloading off the cruise ships docked nearby. I eventually stumbled upon Derek Walcott Square, a small park in the center of town named after the St. Lucian poet and Nobel Prize winner. I had read about the square, which honors St. Lucia's two Nobel Prize winners (the other winner is Sir Arthur Lewis who won for economics in 1979). The park itself was beautiful with trimmed grass, the busts of Walcott and Lewis, and a huge shady tree in one corner. The public library also overlooks the square. However, I was really disappointed since the square was completely locked up so that no one could enter. When I talked to Derek Walcott later on in the week, he explained that even he doesn't have a key. Although, he's hoping to get one soon.. how ironic, a square is named after you and you can't even enter!
Which brings me to one of the highlights of St. Lucia--I met Derek Walcott! Not only did I meet him, but I visited his gorgeous house right on the beach and met his partner Sigrid and their cat Suzy. Mr. Louis (the guesthouse owner) said that Walcott was an acquaintance of his (believable since Gros Islet is such a small town) and that he would get me his number. When I called Walcott for the first time, it was surreal because I couldn't believe that I was talking to THE Derek Walcott. I explained that I was a Watson fellow studying his work and hoped to meet up to chat. He had just celebrated his 80th birthday a few weeks ago with a huge celebration where numerous poets and friends came to St. Lucia to celebrate (Seamus Heaney was among the attendees as they've been close friends for years). However, the festivities left Walcott exhausted and he wasn't feeling well when I initially called. He told me to call back a few days later. When I called back on Sunday, this time he was feeling much better and I was instructed to "Be ready in an hour. Sigrid and I will pick you up to go to the beach and we can talk there. Look for our white Jeep." I was surprised and excited to be going to the beach with Derek Walcott, but didn't know what to expect. Do I pack a towel? Are we actually going swimming? What questions do I ask? The afternoon ended up being more than I ever expected. We arrived at the beach and immediately we went over to Maud's, which is a tiny tent where a family sets up every Sunday to cook local food (fish bakes, fried accra, swordfish, etc). He had me try fried accra, which was so tasty! The fish cakes were also delicious. Then we just sat in his bright blue beach chairs and talked for a while. It was hot and he told me that we had to go swimming. Once again, while we were treading water and dodging waves, I was pinching myself to ask if this was actually happening. His wit and sharp, almost biting sense of humor was hard to pick up at first. When I told him I had graduated from Wellesley, he responded: "Oh, one of those elitest schools." I didn't know how to respond. After a few seconds he smiled, "It was a joke, you know!" Oh, right! Halfway through the afternoon when we were sitting in our beach chairs, he turned to me and exclaimed, "Well, it looks like we won't be getting rid of you for a while!" When a blue truck pulled up beside our beach chairs, he told me to get up since we needed to go see the coconut man. The coconut man had boxes of coconuts in his trunk and Walcott went about selecting two coconuts for us to try. I admitted that I had never had a fresh coconut before and he looked at me in horror and said, "How are you from Hawaii?" The man then took a huge knife and chopped of a corner so we could sip the juice with straws. There's so much juice in there! Once you drink the juice, you hand the coconut back to the man and he'll chop the fruit in half so that you can eat the milky white meat inside using some of the shell as your makeshift spoon. After a while, Sigrid came back from running errands and we once again went for a swim. It was beginning to cool down so Walcott suggested to Sigrid and I that we head back to his house to lounge by the pool. His house is AMAZING. It's right on the water with a view of Pigeon Island. Half the year, according to Sigrid, you get stunning sunsets right from the backyard. He also has a painting and writing studio which faces the ocean. I saw his typewriter on his desk and walked around his studio which was filled with portraits of his friends or stills from play scenes. There was even a portrait of Seamus Heaney. He invited me to browse his bookshelves (huge floor to ceiling shelves) just stocked with any kind of poetry you could imagine. It was heavenly. I was told that I could read or borrow any of his books at any time, but if I didn't bring them back, he would kill me. haha. I settled on one of Lorna Goodison's books and as the sun was setting, the three of us sat outside drinking iced tea and watching the waves. It was so magical. The Watson is full of magical, serendipitous moments, but never in a million years did I imagine an afternoon like that! Since I was in St. Lucia for a while I got to know Derek and Sigrid during the time I was there and went back two more times. They are two of the kindest people and they really opened up their home to me. It was so surprising that here was this great artist, who was willing to let me into his life and share his time with me. When Annie came to visit, we went to go see him to say goodbye. I was able to show him three of my poems, which was also such a rare and valuable experience. Another funny sidestory is that he couldn't remember "Courtney" and instead called me "Candace" and "Constance" at first. Finally, he asked me if I had a middle name. I told him "Akiko" and that became my nickname.
His painting/writing studio. Imagine waking up and writing at this desk every morning.
Also, Annie came to visit! The OTHER highlight of my time in St. Lucia. Ro was also supposed to come as a birthday surprise, but the east coast weather wasn't having it. (It's okay, Ro--come visit me elsewhere!) It was so nice to see a friend and we had a good time exploring the island, lying on the beach and being the ultimate tourists. The island was small enough that we were able to take a day tour and drive all around the coast. For lunch we stopped off at Ladera (Walcott's favorite restaurant) which has unbelievable views of the two volcanic cones called the Pitons (a UNESCO World Heritage site).
On each of the tables at Ladera they had water guns to shoot away the birds!
Let me know if any of you have contacts in Trinidad! I desperately need contacts. So far I've met with (and am staying with) Trinidad Poet Laureate Anson Gonzalez, which has been really interesting in terms of my Watson work. I interviewed him a few days ago. I also tagged along on a trip down to the south of the island (by San Fernando and Fyzabad) to meet Chinese-Trinidadian writer/artist Willi Chen and to visit the Wildfowl Trust. I'm meeting with the US Embassy on Thursday in hopes that we can collaborate to put on a poetry workshop or reading similar to the one in Bangladesh. I'll keep you all updated! Thinking of all of you!
Ah-mazing!!! What a great story, Courtney! I mean Akiko... See you soon!
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