Rituals & Shiggidy Visit

Mom's soaking in the warmth before her flight back this evening. Montserrat (about 60 miles away) is still spewing ash and disrupting flights here and there, but The Mom will likely be on her way to the frozen tundra that has become the U.S. before the night is out. For you volcano officiados, I ran across some great pictures of the Thursday explosion from someone living on Montserrat - check it out.

Yesterday, I was able to borrow a car from a friend and we decided to try the new Rituals Coffee House for lunch. It's kind of like a Starbucks, but was started in Trinidad and has spread across the Caribbean. Yep, it looks just like a mainland coffee house...



I was excited about the fact that they had bagels. Oddly, they don't seem to sell them uncut (and no salt bagels!), but the egg & cheese everything bagel was pretty good. Not quite New York, but not frozen either. Mom enjoyed her tuna salad wrap. Prices were a bit high, but I guess that's typical of these places too. It was a nice change at least.

Afterwards we headed back into Basseterre for some last minute shopping and then it was time for the pool. You know, a typical day in St. Kitts. It was a really hot day (look how calm the water is - both ocean and sea), so the pool water temp was actually perfect. Break out the noodles!



Then we went to the Shiggidy Shack for dinner. This time Mom tried the ribs, which seemed to be one over-the-top food too many for her poor stomach (she doesn't normally eat this way at home). The local KC-5 band had played a nice set of instrumental jazz music while we ate, but then ruined it when the backup singer started singing lead. Oy! Too loud...too off-key. Time to go.

We watched some of the Olympic opening ceremonies and then called it another perfect day in paradise.

Today, we'll probably drive around a bit, head to the beach, and then it'll be off to the airport. Boo.