I recently returned home from my absolutely fabulous 5th trip to Anguilla during which I had a fantastic time visiting friends and exploring more of the island. I only wish I could have stayed longer and, I know this makes me sound like a spoiled you-know-what, but this trip of 6 nights in Anguilla was WAY too short! I’m not sure I’ll be able to do an AXA trip that lasts less than 10 days ever again! Go ahead, you can hate me now. (Sorry, but you already knew this island thing is a bit of an addiction for me, right?) So, I’ll just have to save up for a longer trip next time.

As usual, in the short period that I’ve been back, the differences between that little island and home have been glaringly obvious. It always happens that way – I get back, I desperately long for all the things I’m missing from Anguilla, and then the memory of what it’s like to be there gradually fades as I get back into the “daily grind”.

Granted, some of those things that I love about being in Anguilla are simply the benefits of being on vacation: no set schedule, no one to take care of but myself, and the complete freedom to do anything or nothing at all.

But, what I tend to miss most about Anguilla are those things that are so distinctly different from life at home and that I won’t likely experience until I head back again. So, before my current “island high” wears off completely, I thought I should write down some of those things that keep me coming back to AXA time and time again:

1. The slower pace of island life

This natural and relaxed pace is likely an unavoidable result of the fact that quite a lot of AXA runs on island time, which is that casual “Don’t worry, it’ll get done sooner or later” laid-back attitude common to the islands.

For me, life at home consists of zipping around from one appointment to the next almost non-stop with barely enough time to sleep at night.  Getting things done in a timely manner is key at all times; slow down and you get left behind.

So when I step foot on Anguilla, you can imagine the adjustment required for me to get used to the slower speed.  Fortunately, with each visit, I’ve learned to lessen the time needed to get into that relaxed state of mind that works best in Anguilla. Once I’ve done that, I can enjoy things like the fact that in AXA, when driving, someone honking their car horn at you is not an angry “Get out of my way!” or “Go faster!”  message as it would likely be at home. Instead, it’s just a way of them saying hello or a friendly heads-up that they’re going to pass you. Imagine that!

Of course, the downside of this slower pace is that, if you ever really want to get something done on a deadline, you might run into some issues depending on how the people you interact with operate.

For me, as a visitor, it’s just easier to accept that things are going to move slowly in Anguilla and not necessarily according to any particular plan. Everything is definitely much more enjoyable that way.

2. The friendliness of Anguillians

In my experience, the locals that I’ve met on Anguilla have been overwhelmingly kind and open. It makes me a little sad to say that it’s rare for me to find the same level of friendliness at home but this quality of Anguillans definitely warms my heart whenever I visit.  It’s possible that their friendliness is just a consequence of the fact that many locals work in the hospitality industry, but to me, it seems far too genuine and from-the-heart for that to be the only reason.  The vast majority of people that I’ve met on the island seem to be truly interested in hearing about me and in sharing about themselves.

Some of my most enjoyable memories on Anguilla have come after walking into a new restaurant alone, sitting at the bar to have my meal, and chatting for hours with locals that I had never met before. I’ve found that it’s pretty easy to strike up conversations with most people on the island as long as you’re polite and kind to them. Anguillians seem willing to treat you as well as you treat them and, many times, better than you deserve if you’re one of those rude visitors. (You know who you are.)

One (very sweet) young Anguillian woman that I met on this last trip assured me that “bad seeds” definitely do exist on the island, which is only realistic. Luckily, for those of us passing through, they seem to be few and far between.

I think that things at home usually move too fast for this level of friendliness with strangers to occur too often, so when I get frustrated about that fact, it’s great to know that a friendly place like Anguilla exists.

3. The lack of anonymity

Anguilla is only 35 square miles in size so it’s not hard to believe that it’s the kind of place where just about everyone seems to know everyone else. If they don’t know you personally, they probably have at least seen you or they know of your family.

If you’re just a one-time visitor to the island this close-knit community feeling might not make itself so apparent to you. However, if you’re a repeat visitor, you’ll likely soon find out that different people that you meet are connected in certain ways and, after some time, people might start remembering you.

Now, this doesn’t just happen with people you’ve met and talked to, but even people who have just seen you around.  At home in the DC area, I can go months or more without ever accidentally bumping into someone I know. There are just too many people and it’s easy to get lost in the crowd and feel pretty anonymous.

So when I’m in Anguilla and someone that I don’t know comes over and greets me, you might think it would be a little disconcerting. But, since this has so far only happened to me with friendly and gracious Anguillians, well… I have to admit that I kinda like it. It’s a nice feeling to not feel like a complete stranger in a crowd sometimes, if that makes any sense.

Just on this last trip, a guy emerged from somewhere within a packed Pumphouse crowd on a Thursday night, gave me a big smile and came over to greet me with a charming Anguillian-style guy-girl handshake (see this post for my earlier description of this common AXA hello).  He said “Do you remember me?” and my stomach dropped a little because I honestly did not remember him. Embarrassed, I apologized that I didn’t recognize him, but he was very kind and forgiving and said, “Don’t you remember? We were having dinner in the same group at Smokey’s that one time.” and he proceeded to name the people that we had been dining with. My mind was racing to remember the night, and I finally did recall the evening – but it had happened two years earlier!  This gentleman and I had never actually been introduced and I don’t believe we even spoke much to each other, if at all.

I praised him for his amazing memory and again apologized profusely for mine being so bad.  He didn’t hold it against me at all but said that it was nice to see me again and that he hoped that I was having a nice trip. The funny thing is that I ran into him again on my last day in Anguilla as I was arriving at the Blowing Point Ferry. You can be as sure as heck that I remembered him this time, and instead of getting the relatively formal handshake, he gave me a great big hug along with several well-wishes for my trip home. I guess that makes us friends. :)

The obvious drawback to this lack of anonymity is that people always seem to know what you’re doing and where you’re doing it. Also on this latest trip,  a buddy of mine said  “Oh, yeah, my friend’s brother told me he saw you at the Pumphouse last night at 1 am”. Huh? Wow. I don’t know his friend and, while I have met the friend’s brother (it took some digging for me to find out his identity), it was only a very brief meeting on a completely different day and at another location. I know, though, that this comment wasn’t meant with any ill intent and that it was really just something said in passing. It’s the kind of thing that happens pretty often in a small-town atmosphere. I learned early on that this just means that I have to behave myself at all times when on Anguilla – not that I wouldn’t anyway. No, I mean it! You don’t believe me? Why, what exactly have you heard? Umm…never mind. On second thought, don’t answer that.

Anguilla provides balance

Life at home isn’t perfect, but it is good. I consider myself very lucky to be able to visit a place like Anguilla that can provide me some balance when I feel like something is missing in my everyday life. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t pretend to believe that everything in Anguilla is perfect either, but to be able to have both kinds of places play significant parts in my life helps to keep me happy and (arguably) sane.

So, until I win the lottery and am able to have my own home in a place like Anguilla, I’ll have to settle for shorter visits and the knowledge that a temporary escape is only a short plane ride away. Works for me. For now.

By that time, it was time for me to meet a friend for lunch at DaVida restaurant anyway, so I happily left the suitcase and all the sad reminders of my upcoming departure behind.

The lovely meal that we had at DaVida was delicious and we enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere on the shore of Crocus Bay. We just sat there chatting for a long while and while I wished I could stretch it and make it last, my friend eventually had to go to work.

So what else is there to do when time on your favorite island is fleeting? Why, hit a beach bar, of course! Elvis’ Beach Bar, to be exact. So that’s where I headed and where I spent the rest of the afternoon sipping the delicious fruity frozen drinks that Elvis makes so well and chatting with the fun people hanging out there.  A group of kids there decided that my name was easy to remember because they just had to think of “Crabby Patty” from the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon. An older gentleman thought I reminded him of a friend that he lost track of many moons ago, and was I sure my name wasn’t Susie? Then Captain Rollins, who sails the catamaran “The Chocolat” showed up and that’s when the hilarity truly began! The man is a riot, I tell you and I just remember laughing harder and having more fun from that point on.

I will spare you the details, but I spent much of the rest of this night saying goodbye to friends, some of whom showed up at Elvis’, but also a few that I met up with elsewhere. It’s not a fun experience, but I try to keep in mind that I’m sure to come back soon to see everyone again. That’s the point in every trip where the sadness really starts to creep in.  Unfortunately, since I lack the ability to slow down the passing of time, I had to head home to sleep in order to have the energy to travel home the next day.

When I got up the next morning, my 10th day on the island, it was time for the dreaded drive to the ferry to leave the island. I hate it. A lot of people don’t understand when I tell them that I actually shed tears whenever I leave Anguilla, but maybe that means that they haven’t yet made the same connection to a place as I have to AXA. I have good friends there. The peace and quiet relaxes me there. My soul is happy there. Those of you who have your own special connection to a place will understand why I cried all the way to the ferry dock and had to work hard to hold back tears in front of everyone there.

The ferry ride to St. Maarten seemed to pass slowly but, somehow, I still managed to hold it all together. In my head, I said goodbye to Anguilla and promised to come back as soon as possible.  It’s not like I really have any choice in the matter since the island just seems to find ways to pull me back whenever I’ve been away too long.  I consider myself lucky to have found a place and a community of people that make me so happy. My plan has always been to travel to many different places around the world, but I’m not really sure how that’s going to happen as long as there is an Anguilla waiting for me…

I had been to both islands on a previous trip on a catamaran day trip on the Chocolat, and I enjoyed them both, so I agreed that Prickly Pear would be just fine. My friend was happy to hear my response and he said, “Ok, well you gotta be at Sandy Ground in 15 minutes.”

Um. What?

Our ride, a boat to Prickly Pear, was leaving in 15 minutes, so I needed to get down to Sandy Ground by then.  Still groggy from my late night the previous day, I agreed to do my best to arrive as soon as possible. I hastily got up, threw on a bathing suit and a cover up, grabbed my beach gear and I flew out the door.  I made it down to our meeting place about 3 minutes late, but luckily, the crew was still loading up the boat.  Hooray for island time!

It turns out that our ride was with the group of people delivering supplies to the Prickly Pear restaurant, so we found spots on the boat between coolers and tubs of potatoes. I asked my friend how we were going to get back, and he said “I’m not sure yet. I told Nature Boy to come get us later, but I don’t know if he’s coming.” (Nature Boy is a well-known Anguillian boat-trip operator.)

Hm. In my own world, this lack of planning would have been completely unacceptable. Going out to a remote island without knowing how I was getting back? Not a chance! But, at this point in my trip I had loosened up a bit and allowed the whole laid-back island attitude take over, so I just shrugged, said “Ok” and sat back to enjoy the boat ride.

Inter-island hitchiking! Awesome.

We made it to Prickly Pear early enough that it was still deserted, so we got to enjoy the beautiful water without any of the crowds that are usually there.  And so, once again I found myself floating in the beautiful crystal-clear blue waters off of yet another gorgeous deserted beach. How lucky am I?

It wasn’t long before the day-tripping boats from St. Martin and Anguilla (the Chocolat!) started showing up with large groups of people. By that time, though, the sun was getting a bit too hot for my taste so we retreated to the shade of the beach bar where we grabbed some drinks and a bite to eat. Captain Rollins, who runs the catamaran ‘The Chocolat’ was hanging out there too and kept us laughing as he does so well. (Those of you who know Captian Rollins know exactly what I mean. For those of you who haven’t, it’s just something you need to experience in person because he is QUITE the character. I highly recommend a trip on the Chocolat to meet him yourself!)

Nature Boy did eventually show up and so any worries I had about how we were getting home fell to the wayside. He’s an entertaining personality as well, and he demonstrated that when he serenaded the bride-to-be in a bachelorette party group from St. Martin. He’s a pretty good singer, too, so we were all very impressed!

After we had all finished our food, my friend and I set off for home with Nature Boy in his small powerboat. This ride home was a bit bumpier than the ride out, but once I learned to sit forward a bit to avoid constantly bouncing off of the seat back, the bounciness was actually really fun! Nature Boy even pointed out a few sea turtles on our ride home, which was incredibly exciting for this usually landlocked girl.

We got back to Sandy Ground in one piece and I thanked my friend for setting up a great trip and Nature Boy for getting us back. My lack of sleep and the day’s hot sun had left me exhausted, so I decided to head home to shower and to try and get in a nap.

I think I must have passed out pretty quickly after showering because the next thing I knew it was evening. A friend invited me out for drinks at the Viceroy’s Sunset Lounge, so I ended up meeting her there. We tried a few of the appetizers on the bar menu and had a nice chat with the sound of the ocean waves in the background. We swung over to the restaurant where our friends work after the Viceroy to finish off the evening where we all laughed well into the night.

I ended that day by counting my blessings for being able to take a vacation to a place that is not only a paradise, but is also home to some amazing people who I now consider as close as family. How many people get to do that in their travels? Probably not too many, so I feel lucky to be one of them… thanks to Anguilla, of course.

]]> http://islandobsessions.com/2011/03/28/june-2010-anguilla-trip-day-8/feed/ 2 http://islandobsessions.com/2011/03/15/june-2010-anguilla-trip-days-6-and-7/ http://islandobsessions.com/2011/03/15/june-2010-anguilla-trip-days-6-and-7/#comments Wed, 16 Mar 2011 02:28:39 +0000 Patty http://islandobsessions.com/?p=1392 Day 6

I let myself sleep in a bit on the 6th morning of my Anguilla trip, and I woke with the same twinge of sadness that I always get when I realize that I’ve passed the midpoint of my visit. From that point on in any given trip, I often find myself wishing for time to pass more slowly so that the moment that I have to leave the island stays as far away as possible.

I allowed myself to wallow for just a few moments but then I gave myself a little lecture about how silly it was to get upset when I still had four full days left in Anguilla. There was till plenty of time for fun, adventure, and relaxation, so no there was need to waste time by getting sad before it was truly warranted.

So, I allowed myself to happily relax away this particular day by reading at home in the Seafeathers breeze, except for one break to meet a friend for lunch and chat at the Anguilla Great House restaurant. I also eagerly agreed to take a trip to Scrub Island with this friend the day after next – he would arrange the transport – so that gave me something fun to look forward to in the next few days. Otherwise this was a much needed do-nothing day and I enjoyed it very much.

I was so relaxed, though, that I managed to forget to head out to Smokey’s, the Sunday night place-to-be, and I was reminded of that when I got several calls from friends asking why I wasn’t there! It had really just slipped my mind so I had to send my apologies to my friends. I did score an invitation for a home-cooked lunch (YUM!) for the next day from one of those friends that called, though, so all was not lost!

Day 7

I woke up early on Day 7 and decided that it was a beach morning. So, I packed my beach bag and drove down to Rendezvous bay, where I knew it would be particularly quiet and serene. As I had predicted, the beach and the water were completely deserted when I arrived, so I enjoyed my time floating in complete peace and quiet.

I didn’t keep track of how much time I spent in the water, but since the sun was feeling pretty hot when I got out I knew it must have been a long time. I was feeling nice and relaxed, though, so that’s all that mattered. I wasn’t up for sitting around in the heat afterward, so I gathered my things and walked towards my car.

About two-thirds of the way there, I hear a “Miss! Miss! Excuse me, Miss!” from behind me. A guy was jogging up behind me waving the beach towel that I had dropped as I was walking. I thanked him, while admitting what a bird-brain I tended to be after a nice soak in the sea. He laughed and told me it was no problem.

He said, “Actually, I remember you from Smokey’s the other day.” (when I went for lunch). I praised his memory as it had been a full two days since I had been at Smokey’s but I had to apologize for not remembering him. It turns out that he works there and had been running around, mostly in the back, so he politely said it would have been easy to miss him.

As I’ve mentioned before, this kind of friendly “Yeah, I’ve seen you around” comment seems to happen quite a lot in Anguilla, just because the island is so small. For me, it’s a nice change from being practically invisible in a big-city atmosphere and I feel like I should try and do a better job at noticing and remembering the people that I see on the island!

We chatted for a little while about this and that, and it turns out that his family owns the property that I was walking on to get to the beach and back (he forgave me for trespassing).  I told him that they should put up a little hotel or something, because it was one of my favorite beaches on the whole island. He said that his family was actually considering it, but hadn’t yet been able to sort out all of the details. I wished him the best and said we’d probably see each other around sometime soon.

I headed home to take a quick shower before going over to my friend’s house for lunch. I had purposely not eaten much in the morning since I knew this lunch was going to be out of this world! This particular friend of mine had run a restaurant in The Valley many years ago, but she has definitely not lost one bit of her cooking abilities – no sir!

When I arrived at my friend’s house, she was still finishing up the last of the cooking and I couldn’t help but drool over the heavenly smells coming from the kitchen. She had made no less than 8 separate dishes just for lunch and I knew I was in for a treat.  I couldn’t even fit everything on one plate!

Home-cooked meal in Anguilla (plate one, anyway!)

The food did not disappoint and I was glad that I had worn a dress with no waistline, because I stuffed myself silly at that meal. Everything was so incredibly delicious, and I swear it was better than any meal I had ever had at a restaurant on the island (sorry restaurants and foodies!). Nothing beats home-cooked, in my opinion, and I am so lucky that my friend was kind enough to cook for me.

We just hung out there at the house (it’s not like I could have made any significant movements away from there in my food coma, really) for a few hours until the early evening, when I decided to head out. I thanked my friend profusely for the fantastic meal and I decided to meet up with another friend for drinks at the Viceroy hotel.

We had a drink at the Viceroy’s Sunset Lounge and then bar-hopped to Klassik Cafe and then Bankie’s (aka The Dune Preserve). It was a quiet night at all three spots, but it was still nice to relax and hang out with some familiar faces that we ran into at the last two places.

I managed to tire myself out pretty well that day, and at some point I headed home despite being in the middle of having a lot of fun with some good buddies. I really wanted to stretch out my remaining days on the island but, somehow, exhaustion always finds a way of stopping me. *sigh* Oh well.

]]> http://islandobsessions.com/2011/03/15/june-2010-anguilla-trip-days-6-and-7/feed/ 1 http://islandobsessions.com/2011/02/16/june-2010-anguilla-trip-days-4-and-5/ http://islandobsessions.com/2011/02/16/june-2010-anguilla-trip-days-4-and-5/#comments Wed, 16 Feb 2011 05:15:38 +0000 Patty http://islandobsessions.com/?p=1344 On my fourth morning in Anguilla, I was feeling downright slothful -  juuuuust the sort of feeling I aim for when I come to this island. I really had zero inclination to do anything or go anywhere which, as it turns out, was just as well because somewhere around mid-morning, it started pouring down rain outside.

When I took a look at the weather forecast, I saw that they were referring to this storm as a “strong tropical wave” and I really had no idea what that meant.  You see, I had been spoiled by the weather in Anguilla on previous visits because, usually, rain on the island gently falls for 10 or 15 minutes at the most, and then it’s gone. This storm, however, was not so calm.  Instead, it was almost scary with the loud and violent bursts of thunder and incredibly strong wind gusts. I was afraid that some of the trees around the house were going to fall over and/or blow away (I was thankful that they survived seemingly unscathed.):

Anguilla rain storm

The storm only lasted about 30 or 45 minutes, so I just waited it out at home and relaxed. My only plans for the day were to meet a friend of mine for drinks in the evening, so I was in no rush anyway.

When I finally decided to head out somewhere, I figured that Elvis’ Beach Bar was just as good a place as any to go. So, I drove west to Sandy Ground where a handful of Elvis’ regulars were hanging out around the boat-shaped bar. I sat down, ordered a frozen blended fruit drink, and just chatted away with Elvis and the other customers.

A group of young local children were playing in the area and it made me happy to watch them enjoying the simple pleasures of chasing each other across the sand and enjoying tasty treats:

Enjoying a mango

After a little while, I told Elvis that I had the munchies and asked him if he had any snack-type finger food that I could order. He nodded and said “Sure, I’ll go make you up some plantain and breadstuffs, ok?”. I nodded back, too embarrassed to admit that I had no clue what “breadstuffs” were, but I figured that I liked plantains and well, how bad could breadstuffs be, really? Elvis was gone for a little while and came back with a plate of beautifully fried plantains… on a hamburger bun.  Hahaha! I laughed at myself for being a tad worried about what the mystery portion of the dish would be and that it turned out to be so harmless. We just don’t use the term “breadstuffs” at home but hey, it’s always good to learn something new, right?  My new young friends were very excited when they saw my snack, so I divided it up equally among us all and we shared the yummy treat.

I just passed the afternoon away there at Elvis’ and never really had any urge to go anywhere else. I was happy. Why mess with a good thing?

At some point, afternoon turned into evening and it was time for me to go meet my friend for drinks at Mango’s Seaside Grill even though I could just as easily have sat at that boat-bar all night.  But, I was looking forward to spending some time with my friend, so I paid my tab and was released from Elvis’ only after promising to come back later in the night. (Yeah, twist my arm, why don’t you?)

I drove myself further west and found Mango’s not too far away from the Viceroy Anguilla Resort. My friend was already there chatting with her friend who tends the bar there and we greeted each other with happy hugs and smiles. I always look forward to catching up with this particular friend because she’s been around the island for a while (well, her whole life) and sees things from a different perspective than a lot of the younger folks I know on island.  She’s been though her share of life’s ups and downs but still manages to live her life to the fullest, and I absolutely love that. She is an inspiration to me and talking to her is always one of the highlights of my Anguilla visits.

We shared the latest happenings in our lives over fizzy lemonades and Mango’s delicious lobster cakes.  She works a day-job at one of the local hotels and, in addition to that, takes care of both her son and her aging mother. I know she works hard at all of it, but I have never once heard her complain. Like I said, she’s truly an inspiration.

We hung out there for a couple of hours, but eventually we decided to head out.  We agreed to meet up again before I left and so we said good night.

Since I had made a promise to return to Elvis’, I went back there after leaving the restaurant. It wasn’t very crowded, but there were enough people there to make for a fun atmosphere.   Captain Rollins of the Chocolat (a catamaran on which he sails his customers on day-trips to neighboring islands – I sailed on the Chocolat on my first trip to Anguilla and I highly recommend doing a Chocolat trip!!) showed up, and those who have ever been in his presence know that he is truly hilarious! He’s quite a jokester and there are NO dull moments when he’s around, let me assure you.

The crowd grew a bit and I found myself talking to all sorts of people, both visitors and locals.  One group of people that I chatted with included a local gentleman who everyone seemed to know. I made the island-faux-pas of reverting back to my east coast mindset (You know, when people just equate your profession with who you are?) and asked him what it was that he does on island. Without a moment’s hesitation, he had the perfect response: “I drink rum.”  That answer made me smile, laugh and most importantly, it reminded me that what people do doesn’t matter nearly as much as who they are.  Anguilla is the perfect place to learn that lesson.

I also met someone whose job brought him to Anguilla every few months. I asked if he was hiring but unfortunately, he was not. Whenever I meet someone who has accomplished something as impressive as doing regular business in paradise or even living there, I always ask a million questions about how they did it. It’s amazing how many different routes people take to achieve their goals, and I enjoy hearing about as many of them as I can. Those conversations always give me my own ideas about what directions I decide to head towards in my own life.

Before I knew it, it was well after midnight and my exhaustion had caught up with me rather abruptly. I said my goodbyes to everyone, drove home, and I’m sure, fell asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow.

I woke up the next morning, on day 5 of my trip, not feeling 100%.  I thought that I would take it easy and stay home until I recovered, but when a friend called to invite me to lunch, he insisted that Smokey’s pea soup was exactly what I needed to cure my ills. He said it in such a way that I couldn’t really say no, because he was so sure that this would fix me so that I was as good as new.

So we went to Smokey’s at the Cove, a great restaurant on the beautiful beach of Cove Bay – one of my most favorite spots on the island.  I was happy to find that the Musical Brothers, a fantastic local band, was performing for the lunch crowd.

Now, the weather in Anguilla is usually so warm that I would never think  of ordering a hot soup there. But, since it was recommended so highly to me, I asked the waitress for a bowl, still not fully convinced that it would help. But lo and behold, not only was the soup delicious, but I felt much better after eating it! I felt well enough, in fact, to order and scarf down an entire cheeseburger afterward! I guess the soup IS a magic cure-all. Who knew?

I ran into several acquaintances at Smokey’s, including the businessman I had met at Elvis’ the night before. Small islands are great for that kind of thing.

After hanging out at Smokey’s for a while, my friend and I decided to head down to Elvis’ because I just hadn’t spent enough time there so far this trip (haha!).  We just hung out enjoying ourselves while shooting the breeze and doing a whole lot of nothing. Again, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

I got a call from a group of friends who work at one of the restaurants on the island, and they invited me to come over to hang out later that evening. I was happy to accept the invitation, as I try not to show up unannounced while they’re trying to do their jobs.  With those plans in mind, I decided to head home and rest before going out again that night.  Socializing and wandering aimlessly around paradise is hard work, after all, so I needed some time to relax from my strenuous…err…relaxing.

I had a great nap at home and, despite the fact that it was raining when it was time for me to leave again, I braved the weather and drove to my friends’ restaurant. Luckily, that rain storm was the usual light and quick kind, so by the time I had made it to the West End, it was done.

I walked in the front door to the restaurant and was so happy to see my good friends’ smiling faces again. I sneaked in a few hugs as some of them were passing by, and then I sat down at the corner of the bar so as to stay out of everyone’s way. It was close to closing time, so I just sat around being psychoanalyzed by my bartender friend (he said he likes to practice his bartender-therapist role with people like me) while things wound down.

I find it interesting to watch my friends run a restaurant in many different roles, from the managers to the dish-washers, and cater to the specific needs of their customers. Their jobs definitely require a lot of patience and yet they seem to handle it so well with their characteristic laid-back island attitudes while, at the same time, being attentive to their guests. I can’t imagine the crazy situations that they’ve likely encountered in their line of work but I bet they handle it a lot better than I would. I’m grateful for the lengths to which they’re willing to go in order to make their customers happy, and I can only hope that most of the customers recognize that as well. They don’t deserve to be taken for granted, but I’m sure they often are.

So, that night we all sat around chit-chatting long after the last customers had left. This particular group of friends are a bunch of clowns and never fail to make me smile.  I can’t even recall what we talked about, but I just remember laughing to the point of tears several times within just a few hours there.  Those are the special times that I cherish the most on my trips to Anguilla. It’s a great feeling to go on “vacation” to a place where you have friends that make up a sort of family away from home. I’m not sure if Anguilla is unique in its ability to make it so easy to form friendships with its residents, but at this rate I may never find out since I can’t bring myself to go anywhere else!

After another fun-filled day and evening, I called it a night, made it home safely and I fell asleep in a perfectly contented and happy state of mind. I know that a lot of people focus more on things like shopping, restaurants and spa treatments when they travel but, for me, Anguilla has changed all of my expectations for a “perfect” vacation. I find that I’m happiest after I’ve spent time in the presence of good people, even if we are literally sitting around and doing nothing. The activity itself is not as important as the sense of well-being that comes from surrounding yourself with friends and loved ones because that’s where the happiness lies. Sappy but true, people… at least for me, and I learned that in Anguilla.

For me, this drastic change in pace requires a kind of a detox and transition period, so on the morning of the third day of my trip, I allowed myself to just…stop.  I didn’t do much besides eat a bit and sit on the porch staring out at the sea. It was fantastic.

I could easily have sat there relaxing the entire day away if I wanted, but I began to think of all of the new things on the island that I hadn’t seen yet and became eager to go check them out. One of the latest additions was the new Viceroy Hotel Anguilla on the West End, and since I was curious to see it, I decided to head over and take a look around.

The Viceroy Anguilla  is a luxury resort and from the moment you drive onto the property through the beautiful palm-lined entrance, there can be no mistake about just how grand it really is.  I wandered around the property and admired the posh surroundings and the stunning views:

Viceroy Anguilla

Viceroy Anguilla

Viceroy Anguilla

Viceroy Anguilla

Eventually, I ended up in the Viceroy’s Sunset Lounge, an open-air bar and lounge with a fantastic view of Barnes Bay:

Viceroy Anguilla: Sunset Lounge

Viceroy Anguilla: View of Barnes Bay

What made me really smile, though, was seeing this familiar face behind the bar at the Sunset Lounge: Good ‘ol Garvey!

Garvey Lake

I met Garvey on my very first trip to Anguilla when he was a bartender at the CuisinArt Resort’s beach bar.  He had recently moved over to the Viceroy and seemed to be very happy working there. Garvey has always been good at remembering my favorite drink orders and no sooner had I sat down at the bar than he presented me with this lovely piña colada, the first official drink of my trip:

Yum!

I enjoyed every last drop of that frosty goodness (and maybe, uhm, one more) as well as some munchies at the bar while catching up with Garvey.  He seemed to be doing well in his new position and he was still working hard on an album with his group the Satisfaction Band.

While we were chatting, another Viceroy employee walked over and said hello to us. He looked at me and said “Are you off today?”.  I gave him a confused look for a second, but just at that moment, I recognized him as someone that I had met at Elvis’ Beach Bar on one of my previous trips to Anguilla.  Apparently, some part of his brain remembered me as well and he assumed that I lived and worked on the island.  I told him that I was just here on vacation (again) but that we did meet once before. I have to admit that I was secretly oh-so-giddy to have been mistaken for a resident of the island  (I wish!) and made me feel, just for a second, like I had been to Anguilla often enough to be “recognized”, even if it was just a fluke.

We all chatted for a bit, and they mentioned that Elvis was showing game 7 of the NBA finals (Celtics vs Lakers) at the beach bar that night so I thought that would be a good place for me to go later. Both of them said that they might show up there as well, since there was sure to be a big crowd, so maybe we’d run into each other again

At some point, I glanced at the time on my phone and I was surprised at just how long I had been there at the Viceroy.  I always enjoy the free and easy conversations that I seem to have when I’m hanging out in Anguilla so that’s probably what made the time pass so quickly. (Yes, I know I’m ignoring the possible effect of the alcohol too, but shhhh!)  I never feel like have to go looking for someone to talk to since there always seems to be some local or visitor who is happy to chat. Many other people who have visited AXA have told me that the same is true for them, so I think it really is a charming characteristic of the island and the people who live on and visit Anguilla.

So, after enough time had passed that it was safe for me to drive, I paid my tab and said my goodbyes. I left the fabulous-ness of the Viceroy and headed home. On the way, I stopped at “Best Buy”, which is one of the larger grocery stores on Anguilla and not an electronics store like its namesake in the US. Since the local stores tend to carry most items that I can find at home, I never worry too much about being able to find what I need. I just picked up a few things that would last me a few days and made my way home.

When I got back to the house, I had a small bite to eat and I just lounged around until close to the NBA finals game time. I freshened up and drove to Sandy Ground to check out the party going on at Elvis’ Beach Bar.

I got there a little early, but there was a small crowd already there. Elvis had the big (huge!) screen set up on the stage across the sand from the bar (sorry about the low-quality photo):

Big screen at Elvis' Beach Bar

I walked over towards the bar and when Elvis, who was decked out in a Celtics jersey, spotted me, he came over with a smile and a big hug.  Though I had spent quite a bit of time hanging out at Elvis’ in my past trips, I was surprised that he remembered me so easily. He said “You know, just last week, I was wondering when you were coming back.”. I’m not sure whether or not that was true (I’m sure he says that to all of his returning customers!) but it definitely made me smile.

I sat down at the bar and asked Elvis to make me one of his famous frozen fruity blended drinks, which I highly recommend. We talked a little, but he had to tend to the other customers, so I let him do his work. The crowd was starting to grow and there was a lot of taunting going on between Elvis (the Celtics fan) and some of the Lakers fans, but it was all in fun. After about 10 minutes, Elvis walked over and put down a plate with a half of a grilled lobster on it. “It’s the special tonight. You gotta try it!”

I know better than to refuse a beautifully cooked lobster with garlic-butter sauce , so I didn’t waste any time digging into it. It was delicious! I wasn’t even that hungry when I first arrived, but I devoured that thing faster than I really should admit. Sooo good!

When game time came around, the crowd had grown quite a bit.  The energy and excitement in the atmosphere at Elvis’ that night was so much fun, and I had never experienced a sporting event like that before. It really was a great time… just not for Elvis since his team ended up losing in the end. Poor guy. He took it all in stride though, even when some of the opposing fans made him put on a Lakers jersey! Needless to say, that thing didn’t stay on him for long.

After the game I ran into a bunch of friends (no sign of the Viceroy folks though) and we just chatted the night away there at Elvis’.  I always lived in big metropolitan areas so I very rarely get to experience that small-town feeling of randomly bumping into familiar faces, so I always enjoy that a lot when I’m in Anguilla.

It was a great night – fun, full of great food and drinks and lots of laughs. What more could I ask for? Not a single thing.

I’m sure it was well after 1 or 2 am when I paid my tab for my drinks and dinner and headed home.  As I was leaving, my friends told me to text them when I got home because Seafeathers is soooooo far away from Sandy Ground! It’s funny that, on an island where it takes 30 minutes to get from one end to the other, a 20 minute drive seems like an eternity to those that live there.  I have driven up to an hour (one way!)  to work in the past, so 20 minutes is no big deal for me.  I was thankful my friends’ concern, though, and I sent them all messages when I arrived safely at the house.

As you can imagine, I was pretty tired when I got home so it didn’t take me long to shower and get to bed.  All in all, it was a great third day in paradise and I fell asleep wondering “What could possibly be in store for tomorrow?”.

]]> http://islandobsessions.com/2011/02/08/june-2010-anguilla-trip-day-3/feed/ 0 http://islandobsessions.com/2011/01/30/june-2010-anguilla-trip-day-2/ http://islandobsessions.com/2011/01/30/june-2010-anguilla-trip-day-2/#comments Sun, 30 Jan 2011 15:32:15 +0000 Patty http://islandobsessions.com/?p=1230 Despite having been awake for around 14 hours the day before, I somehow managed to wake up before 6am on my second day in Anguilla. The bright sun was what woke me up at first, but then the excitement of being back on-island had me practically leaping out of bed. Yes, I was definitely looking forward to seeing my friends again and hitting all of my must-do places in AXA (like Elvis’ Beach Bar, Smokey’s, The Pumphouse etc.) but I think the most thrilling part of a trip to this island for me is that I generally have no set schedule whatsoever.

I hadn’t made it to the grocery store yet, but real sustenance had to wait, because my favorite beach was waiting for me and there was no time to waste! So I munched on a granola bar and a snack or two provided by Country Cottage Anguilla as I got into my beach wear, grabbed my towel and headed out the door.  In my rental car (while chanting “drive left, drive left, drive left” the entire time), I headed west all the way to Rendezvous Bay, which is my top choice for swimming in AXA.  There’s something about having the most gorgeous stretch of beach and its stunning clear turquoise-blue water all to yourself to make you feel completely and utterly at peace.  Ever since the first time I got a taste of that pure-relaxation, I’ve had an almost constant craving to recapture that feeling.

So here I was, finally back on Rendezvous Bay at a quiet hour of the morning. It was just as beautiful as I remembered, and it was perfectly deserted. I dropped my beach gear in the shade of a coconut tree and made a bee-line for the water. It was relatively early in the morning so the sun was not yet blazing hot, but the sea was perfectly warm. And so I swam…and floated……..and floated some more………..and………..bliss.

I stayed in the water for around 45 minutes, and I finally dragged myself out and onto the beach when my muscles were so relaxed that I felt very noodle-like. I reclined on my beach towel and just stared out at the water and gave thanks for being able to be there in the first place.

A photo worth repeating: Rendezvous Bay June 2010

After about 20 minutes, I spotted a swimmer in the water coming in my direction from what must have been the opposite side of the bay, as I didn’t see him get in the water anywhere near where I was. (Then again, I may have been too zoned-out to have noticed…) I was impressed by his stamina and watched as he did the free-stroke almost effortlessly to glide across the water.  He came to a stop at a shallow part of the bay where I had been swimming and sat on the edge of the sand allowing the waves to wash over him as he caught his breath.

He was an older gentleman, maybe in his sixties, who, when he spotted me almost hidden under the coconut tree, gave me a great big smile and a wave.  He came over to introduce himself and, as I find it’s always easy to do with people in Anguilla, we began casually chatting about anything and everything. He said that he is a native Anguillian, but his family has spread out all over the United States and the Caribbean. He told me how he’s been around the world and has worked in all kinds of fields including law, health care, and teaching but that he ended up back in Anguilla because this is just where he belongs. It’s his home.

I told him a bit about myself too, and he was very interested to hear what I had to say. We had been to some of the same places in our travels and some of his past careers are related to what I do for a living, so he asked very informed questions and made some thoughtful comments that told me he knew some things about this world.

He told me that while he was back in Anguilla, he couldn’t just sit still so he was organizing a few projects for himself, including some law-based endeavors. He said that I had some very good professional skills that would be useful to his company and offered me a position if I was interested. Though it was the first job offer that I had ever received on a stunning, deserted Caribbean white sand beach, I politely declined due to my inability to relocate at that time. It made me smile, though, because I could tell that he was being both genuine and kind.

We ended our conversation when we began to feel the sun getting hot, even there in the shade of the palms. He told me where I could find him if I changed my mind about the job and we said our goodbyes. I headed back to my car and he walked off on the beach in the opposite direction.

Since I was on the west end of the island, I decided to swing by Meads Bay, one of my other favorite AXA beaches. It was also beautiful and mostly deserted, but since the sun was getting to be too strong for my taste, I snapped a few pictures and decided to head home. I’d have plenty of time to come back – it was only day 2!

Meads Bay, Anguilla: June 2010

Meads Bay, Anguilla: June 2010

Meads Bay, Anguilla: June 2010

I drove back to the cottage to shower and change and just as I realized that I was unbelievably hungry, I got a text message from a friend asking if I wanted to meet her for lunch at Valley Bistro in The Valley. I had never been there, but had heard nothing but rave reviews about it, so I thought it was a great suggestion. I quickly responded that I would meet her there, grabbed my keys and drove (on the left) towards the Valley.

When I arrived at the restaurant, my friend was waiting there for me at a table in the covered dining area. I had passed the Valley Bistro (right across the street from the Catholic Church in the Valley) about a million times and it was hard to believe that this was the first time I had actually stopped by. It is a casual dining spot that serves French themed fare at reasonable prices. I decided to go with the “Pan-fried Shrimp – Provencal Flavor”, but saw quite a few other things on the menu that I wanted to come back and try later.  My shrimp dish was amazing and I’m not ashamed to say that I ate it all. Every last bit..and I don’t regret it for a second.

I was glad to have the chance to catch up with my friend over lunch, but time passed too quickly that afternoon and we both had to be on our way.  I had to check out of the Country Cottage Anguilla and move all of my things to a friend’s house, where I would be staying for the rest of my time in Anguilla.  This friend had been generous enough to allow me to stay at her home while she was traveling off-island and I was beyond grateful to her for doing that.

So my lunch companion and I said our goodbyes and I headed back to the cottage, snapping a few pictures on the way:

Yep, those are goats in my sideview mirror.

A Horse in Anguilla

I got laughed at while taking the above photo of a horse, as described in a previous post. Personally, I prefer to remember it as the two of us laughing together about the situation but, in reality, I know she thought I was nuts. Crazy tourists take pictures of everything! In my defense, it really is a beautiful horse, isn’t it? (Just say yes.)

Checking out of the cottage was a very quick process. I had a very pleasant stay there, even if it was for just one night. It is definitely on my favorite lists of places to stay in Anguilla and I hoped to return again soon.

I navigated my way back to Seafeathers, and I was so thrilled that I was able to do it without a map! When I got to the empty house, I had started to unpack a bit when my lack of sleep over the past few days hit me like a ton of bricks.  I decided that this had to be a stay-at-home night and that my energy levels would just not allow me to go out later as I had planned. But that was ok. This was only day 2 of my 10-day stay, so staying home to catch up on rest would not be such a bad thing.

So I cooked myself a small meal (with food left in the house that my friend said I was welcome to use), had dinner and eventually made it to bed. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep within nanoseconds of my head hitting the pillow, but that just meant that I had a great, jam-packed second day on Anguilla. I knew there was only more fun to come…

]]> http://islandobsessions.com/2011/01/30/june-2010-anguilla-trip-day-2/feed/ 1 http://islandobsessions.com/2011/01/23/june-2010-anguilla-trip-day-one/ http://islandobsessions.com/2011/01/23/june-2010-anguilla-trip-day-one/#comments Mon, 24 Jan 2011 04:42:08 +0000 Patty http://islandobsessions.com/?p=1149 Arriving in St. Maarten

Whenever I land at Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten (SXM), it’s usually after a night of maybe 3 hours of sleep followed by ~7 hours of traveling.  Despite being completely exhausted and likely a little frustrated at not being able to sleep on the plane, I am always completely invigorated upon seeing that gorgeous, clear, turquoise-blue water from the airplane window.

This time was no different and I was eager to deplane and feel the familiar Caribbean heat for which I had been longing for too many months. Luckily for me, since I was sitting about two-thirds of the way back from the front of the plane, the back door of the aircraft was opened and I scampered happily down the stairs to the concrete soon after the plane came to a stop.  The sunshine was just as glorious as I remembered, and when combined with the beautiful sea not too far off in the distance, the feeling was perfect and I couldn’t help but feel like I was finally coming home after too long a time away.

I headed towards the door of the arrivals terminal, smiling and returning the greetings of the airport staff who were pointing us in the correct direction.  I made my way through the terminal and was delighted to see that the lines were short at the immigration booths. One time in the past, my plane had landed in St. Maarten at around the same time that at least two or three other flights did and I waited well over an hour and a half to get my passport checked and stamped. That happened on a Saturday, and that frustrating experience made me vow to never travel to SXM on a weekend again.  This day, however was a nice and quiet Tuesday and I flew through immigration in less than 10 minutes.

I took the quick walk down the stairs towards the baggage claim saying the usual “I hope they didn’t lose my bag.” prayer. It seemed that my luck was continuing as I spotted my suitcase coming around the carousel not long after I arrived. Yes! Now onward to Anguilla!

I left the terminal through the rightmost exit of the airport and saw a gentleman holding up a sign with a list of names, including mine. He was a driver for the Link Ferry, which is the ferry service that I usually use to get from St. Maarten to Anguilla.

I have used the public ferry from Marigot (on the French side of the island, St. Martin) in the past, but when traveling solo, the cost of the Link Ferry service is only slightly more than the cost of getting to Marigot by taxi plus the cost of the public ferry fare. The other thing that I think about is that, on one of my past crossings from St. Martin to Anguilla, there were no seats available on the top of the public ferry (which is open-air) and I got stuck sitting in the enclosed bottom of the boat.  Unfortunately, that happened on a day on which the seas were also particularly rough and as a result, I got pretty seasick on the ride over.  Privately run ferries tend to be smaller, more open boats so I have used those ever since.  One other benefit is that many private ferries like the Link, leave from a dock that is about a 5 minute drive from the SXM airport and you can avoid the ~20 minute taxi ride to Marigot (or longer if traffic is bad). (Van transport to the closer ferry dock is included in the Link Ferry fare.)

Once all of the Link passengers had arrived at the meeting point outside of the airport, our driver led us over to his large passenger van, loaded our baggage into the back and drove us over to the dock at Simpson Bay. There is a police station at this dock where your passport information is logged and your departure from St. Maarten is documented. The Link Ferry staff also pass out Anguilla immigration forms here so that you can fill them out and have them ready upon arrival in Anguilla.  The wait at Simpson Bay, for me, has been as short as 15 minutes but has also been as long as an hour due to boat issues or late passengers. At that point though, I usually begin my re-acclimation to “island time” and I just relax and enjoy the fact that I’m almost in Anguilla.  This time, my wait was about 20 minutes and then we were on the boat on the way over to Anguilla.

Anguilla At Last!

The ferry ride to AXA took around 20 minutes and finally, FINALLY, I had made it back to my favorite island! This familiar sight upon arrival at the Anguilla ferry dock is one of my favorites:

Immigration at the Anguilla ferry terminal was quick. I got a friendly “Welcome back to Anguilla!” from the immigration and customs officers and I made my way outside.

As all of the familiar sights and sounds of the ferry dock parking lot came to my eyes and ears, I smiled. I headed over to a particular corner of the lot where the car I rented from Ronnie Bryan Car Rental was parked. (Ronnie had emailed me the car’s description, license plate number and its location the day before.)  As I was walking, I heard “Well, well, well! Welcome back!” and I turned to see a local gentleman that I had run into several times on my various trips, including my last visit in December 2009.  He was wearing a great big smile and came over to shake my hand. I started to laugh, because the last memory I had of him was that of when we were sitting at the bar at Picante, a Mexican restaurant on Anguilla, and our topic of discussion was whether or not it was morally acceptable for him to feed his leftover chicken fajitas to his (live) chickens when he got home.  (He was joking, of course.) When I reminded him of the silly conversation, he laughed and told me that I had a good memory.  We chatted for a bit, and I went off to find my car.

My vehicle was just where Ronnie said it would be,  and I loaded my embarrassingly heavy suitcase into the trunk.  (My attitude was, though, that if I packed it, I shouldn’t complain about having to lug it around!)  I found the key in the glove compartment and marveled at how, in Anguilla, it was possible to leave a car door unlocked and the key inside without worrying.  I could never do that at home, but it’s one of the charms of this island that make me love it.

My First Afternoon & Evening On-Island

As I started the engine, I began reciting my standard driving-in-Anguilla-mantra:  “Drive left, drive left, DRIVE LEFT!”.  I have to constantly repeat this to myself whenever I’m behind the wheel because I’m used to driving on the right side of the road at home.  So, at every turn and roundabout (traffic circle) on the island, I have to hesitate for a few seconds and make a conscious decision to stay on the left. After a while, of course, I get used to it and have to think about it less.

I had arrived on island a bit earlier than I estimated, so I decided to take a drive down to Sandy Ground just to have a look around. I passed by the entrances to some familiar spots like Roy’s Bayside Grill as well as a new restaurant called Sand Bar that recently opened. Sand Bar was on my list of places to try this trip, so I was glad to know exactly where it was. As I drove past The Pumphouse, my Anguilla phone rang. It was a good friend of mine who was checking to see if I had arrived on the island yet. I parked in the parking lot of Elvis’ Beach Bar and caught up a little with her on the phone.  She was excited that I was back and we made plans to meet up in the next day or so.

By the time my phone conversation was done, it was about time to head to Country Cottage Anguilla in Welches (on the eastern side of the island), which would be my accommodation for the  night.  Since I wasn’t sure of exactly how to get to the cottage, I made phone contact with the owner, Isaiah Fleming, who agreed to meet me at the Shoal Bay East roundabout so that I could follow him the rest of the way.  He was easy to find, and we took a few turns off of the main road in order to get to the cottage. It’s not a beachfront property, but the combination of peace-and-quiet, extensive amenities and affordability make it the perfect kind of lodging for me. (See my post about my experience at Country Cottage Anguilla for more details of my stay there.)

I rested for a bit and gave another one of my friends a call. She lives on-island and, since she was leaving on a trip the next day, she had generously offered to let me stay in her house while she was away. So she and I had a limited amount of time to hang out, and we made plans for me to meet her at her house for dinner that night. Heaven knows that after a full 12 hours of traveling I was looking kind of disheveled, so I did my best to freshen up and headed out.

This was my first time staying on the eastern end of the island, so I took it as my chance to learn my way around the smaller roads out there that I had never been on before. When I managed to find my friend’s house in Seafeathers without getting lost, I was quite proud of myself.  She had whipped up a great meal for her family and for me, and we ate and talked the time away at a table in her front yard with a great view of St. Martin and the sea.  It was a great start to my visit, I must say.

At some point it got dark, and I knew that the family had to do a few more things in preparation for their trip, so I decided to take off so that they could do what they needed to do.  Now, on some other past trips it would not have been unheard of  for me to then drive off to the west end to meet up with friends for a drink, despite having been awake for 14 hours. On this night, though, I just couldn’t do it. I was completely exhausted, and the thought of going to sleep was just too tempting. So, I headed back to the cottage and got ready for bed.

Just before I fell asleep, I got another call from an Anguillian friend who had heard that I was back in Anguilla. It’s no secret that news can travel pretty quickly on a small island, so I wasn’t at all surprised that he had heard of my arrival through the grapevine. We agreed to meet up at some point before I left and then he told me to go ahead and get some sleep.

Can’t Help But Love This Place

It’s such a wonderful feeling to know that there are some people on this tiny island who not only remember me from my visits, but who also miss me when I’m gone and who welcome me back with open arms when I return. Anguilla is a place where you can run into familiar faces quite often and, more often than not, they’re smiling and are genuinely happy to see you. It was with these thoughts that I fell asleep on my first night back on Anguilla – so happy to be there and very much looking forward to the rest of my stay.  I just love this island.

Actually, my good friends let me know that they were expecting a child and asked me to be a godmother during my last visit to AXA in June.  I was honored to accept, but I was sworn to secrecy since they hadn’t yet told everyone the news…and since I’m well aware of how fast word can travel on a small island, I kept my mouth tightly shut.

Today, however, they got official word about the sex of their baby and let me know that they’re no longer keeping the pregnancy a secret. So now, I get to blab the wonderful news to the world and revel in the fact that my new godchild will be born  in just a few short months!

And you know what that means, right? Yep! Another trip is in the works for when my friends are ready to show off their new little one! (If I can wait that long…)  And many more after that! :)

Rendezvous Bay June 2010

Well, I made it back to Anguilla! I had a pretty smooth travel day yesterday and was so excited to arrive back on my favorite island once again. Ahhh, island bliss…

You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been neglecting this blog a bit in the past few months. That’s been mostly because life at home has been pretty busy and there have been just too many distractions keeping me away. Apologies to those of you who were hoping for more posts recently, but “real life” has a frustrating way of making me cast aside things that I truly care about for things that “just have to get done”.

Luckily, though, I’ve had this trip back to AXA planned for several months, so I’ve been looking forward to it for quite a while.  This vacation comes at a time when I’m in desperate need of rest and relaxation just as we all could use from time to time. I’m fortunate enough to have a pretty good life at home, but as I mentioned before, my priorities tend to get a bit jumbled in the madness that is my everyday life.

So, I’m kind of looking at this Anguilla vacation as a time for me to relax and refocus myself a bit. The openness, kindness, and easygoing nature of Anguillians always inspires me to appreciate and find happiness in the most basic things in life. I hope to not only carry this energy and attitude back home again this time, but also to do a better job at not losing sight of what I always learn with every return visit to Anguilla: that simple things in life are truly the most valuable.

I hope to be tweeting throughout most of my trip, so feel free to follow me at http://www.twitter.com/cariborbust.

More updates coming soon! I promise! :)