What happens in Anguilla stays in Anguilla ...

Unless of course you write about it.

Well it's confirmed - I am not taking any southward bound vacations this spring. So now, Anguilla and the rest of the Caribbean are consuming my every thought. Under pressure of unrealistic deadlines, what do I do? Go on the hunt for unfinished trip reports. Here is what I was able to find so far ... my goodness, am I ever long winded! This is only the first 2 - 3 days - imagine if I had stayeda full week!

Dinner my first night, was at Tasty’s, and it was indeed, tasty. Except for the fact that I was a) tired from partying at the family reunion/wedding in Toronto the night before, and b) belatedly reeling from the rough crossing between St. Maarten/St. Martin and Anguilla: I seemed to be experiencing delayed sea-sickness. My meal of Stewed Chicken with rice and the freshest veggies I have ever tasted, was nicely packed up and I was sent home with what seemed like enough food for the next 3 daysworth of lunches, dinners or midnight snacks. The portion size was really, really generous. And I had a nice big bottle of French fizzy water to go, as well - the name of which escapes me right now, but which went down mighty fine with a few slices of lemon from the local market, and orange slices courtesy of La Vue’s breakfast buffet.The next morning, I awoke refreshed, enjoyed the simple continental breakfast that La Vue provides in the lobby area.

 I took my coffee to the side garden and enjoyed the view of Road Bay/Sandy Ground, from way above and pondered how the heck to get down there, either on foot or by car ... and I let the heat and fresh air work its magic. By the time I headed into the Valley, still bright and early, to pick up my rental car, magic time was over and I was sweating like a construction worker! And I pretty much didn’t stop sweating for the duration of my stay. I think the week prior was much cooler, by

all reports, but the temps began rising over night, seemingly as soon and I landed. Ha! Imagine that?! My arrival sparked a heat-wave!

Can’t recall for the life of me, where I rented the car, but anyway, a minor mixup - a booking mistake on my part, resulted in the delivery of a car with manual transmission, whereas I thought I had booked automatic. In the time it took to get a tiny, brand-new, microwave-sized, microwave-named automobile ready for me, I was able to go across the road to top-up my Lime cell phone. One good thing about Lime, is that their phones roam all over the Caribbean, with reasonable rates, so I didn’t have to bother with getting a local SIM card and just kept my old SKN number, for the few outbound calls I had to make. Much cheaper than using my own phone to call home.

When I went back to finish car paperwork, the lady in charge informed me that she worked out a special rate for me, and indeed, I only paid a few dollars more than the special internet rate for the original booking. She did expect a favour in return - I was asked if I could drive her elderly sister to work ... or, at least to the next round-about. So, I complied, happy to return the kindness ... but was frankly, a bit nervous: not really knowing my way around Anguilla, and not really feeling comfy with right-side steering wheel. It was a bit of a comedy of errors trying to figure out where to pull over when the car-rental lady’s sister pointed out an empty field, and said “I get out right there ...” I still think she got nervous about my driving and lack of familiarity with Anguilla, and took the first opportunity to bail from my car!

And thus began MsJilly’s/Vervet’s driving adventures in Anguilla. After a quick stop back at LaVue - I headed west to quickly check out a few things - like the Malliouhana (still pretty much looks th

e same as 21 years ago from outside at least - ok maybe with more mature and lush flora and fauna, but still the same.) OK, this part of the island looked easy enough to negotiate, so I turned around and headed east in search of Shoal Bay, and the many (?) beach bars I had read about. Ultimately, I had planned to end up at Gwen’s for lunch. So, I drove and drove and drove, heading straight, and keeping to what I thought was the left, and somehow ended up going around to Island Harbour. Then when I turned around, I still somehow messed up, and ended up driving past the airport at least twice, and through The Valley at least twice, and stopped at some intersection with lights from every conceivable direction.

I did learn one or two things about driving in Anguilla:
1. It is only easy if you know what you are doing.
2. The map isn’t really helpful because, I don’t

know about you, but I can’t drive and use a map at the same time.
3. I needed a navigator, both for the map and to laugh with ... it’s just no fun making silly mistakes when you have nobody beside you in the pax seat to laugh at you.
4. If you’re driving from North Hill towards Shoal Bay East, if you can see St. Martin/Sint Maarten across the sea, you are going the wrong way.
5. There are lots of little grocery stores in Anguilla, and they were all, and I mean all, out out high SPF tanning lotion, and mosquito milk.
6. When you go to Anguilla the week after Bankie’s Moonsplash festivities, the shelves seem to be devoid of tanning lotions, mosquito repellent and I won’t even hazzard to guess what else!

7. Getting lost is h

alf the fun. I now know my way around every nook and cranny of that island!

I finally made to Gwens hungry, and exhausted from driving! I ordered the ribs, and a Carib. For dessert, another Carib. I must admit, I was a bit disappointed in the meal, possibly because it was late in the day for lunch, but the ribs seemed a bit dry and bland, and the pasta salad was definitely overcooked. Maybe I had been oversold, and led to over-anticipate because of all the hype on all the forums?! But ya know what? Who the heck cares ?! ... Because, I was there for the beach, the beach and more beach ... and oh my goodness, what a beach! And I got to see beaches I hadn’t planned to

see, while trying to find the one I wanted to see!
Once

I was sufficiently fed and watered, I took a long walk along the beach and was again thoroughly confused, as I could not locate or recognize the establishments I had read about on the travel forums. I realized later that Shoal Bay and Shoal Bay East are not the same place, and that it is a loooong walk around the point to get from one to the other. I think. No worries, I headed back to Gwen's generally vicinity, and had a swim, a snooze, and another Carib to replace lost fluids due to the constant sweating! I had a quick chat with Gwen and her husband, and also with a flirtatious local scam artist. What fun! A definite “must return” kind of place. My meal and three beer were so inexpensive, that I thought perhaps there was a mistake on the bill!

That evening, I stayed in and supped on a veritable feast of left-over stew chicken from Tasty’s. This is eve

n better served as leftover fare, the next day. Veggies still firm, not overcooked and the flavours have time to meld. Dessert was a local West-Indian style pastry/bun, which I picked up at one of the many grocery shops that I stumbled into earlier that day. I christened the brand new coffee maker in the room and tried to make Vietnamese-style coffee with condensed milk, and the fresh supply of Columbian from the Dominican Republic, which the Hughes' kindly left in the fridge for me.

Tuesday was another hot, beautifully cloudless day. Perfect morning for my West End adventure. Breakfast was at Straw Hat. I had met the manager and chef the day before, and they were very welcoming and cordial. Nice conversation, terrific breakfast of their signature quiche, from my seat at a table facing the sea! Then, the fellow who looks after the chairs for Straw Hat set up an umbrella and two chairs for me. When I protested that I was fine without the second lounger, he responded with a “well you never know who might come by to visit ...” Knowing that Meads Bay often attracts

celebrities, I perched myself gracefully upon my my lounger, waiting for Sting, Liam, Denzel ... but, alas I just used the second chair to house my bo

ok, beach bag, and extra towel. Nobody came by to visit :(It was very quiet on Meads Bay. So I decided to take a nap. Isn't that what everyone does after breakfast? It's hard work eating all that good food! I fell asleep to the sound of the waves lapping on the shore and woke about 2 hours later! Great! Just in time to drive around and look for somewhere to have a light lunch.

My drive took me first to Rendevous Bay. I parked and began walking the beach. Now, I had not taken many pictures up until now, because I thought I would do one more d rive around the island later in the week and take some snaps of all the places I had stumbled across during yesterday’s driving session, in addition to photos of the places I had seen intentionally. So,

as I pondered where tomorrow’s drive would take, me I took my camera out to get a few shots of Rendezvous. Karma had different plans for me, so as soon as I resolved to start shooting, a gigantic rogue wave rolled into shore and drenched both me and my cheapo, but reliable little HP. That was the end of my photographic tour of Anguilla ... over before it even really started.

Back in the car and off I went. Did I mention it was really hot? So hot, that my thoroughly soaked clothes were dry in record time. My short funky haircut dried even faster. Note to self: leave t

he expensive hair products at home - they seem to have a chemical reaction when exposed to Anguilla salt air. My hair was standing on end - sort of like Ed Grimley. But I didn't know this at the time. And thus, I made my grand entrance at Trattoria Tramonto. The place where all the stars come to lunch... where the walls are lined with photos of the owners and staff, taken with the likes of the Clintons, Robert De Niro, Snookie (OK, maybe not Snookie, but you get my drift, right?) All said and done, a very casual looking setting greeted me. Worn wood, shutters and mostly lots of open air, not too many walls. Almost a large, rambling shack really. Love at first sight for me. I think this is my latest favourite place among all my favourite places on earth. And that is saying something ... not because I am a food snob, but because there is really no shortage of great Italian food in my life, so I don't go out of my way to seek out Italian restaurants when I travel. But I just instantly felt at home here. First of all, the setting is just so peaceful and post-card perfect, with just enough (not too tall, not too scruffy) palm trees for natural shade on the beach, great sand for walking on, the most beautiful hues reflecting off the waters, and a killer view of St. Martin. What more can a gal ask for? Oh, yeah ... a working camera! No such luck.

Aside from the aforementioned natural beauty and ambience of the setting, what made this place special (and I haven’t even mentioned the food yet) was the absolute graciousness of the staff. It was quite late for lunch (I think there is now a pattern developing here) ... but a charming waitress made sure I was aware of all the special, and she didn’t even flinch or bat an eye-lass at my Ed Grimley up-doo.

So, from simply wanting a bottle of mineral water, and a nice place to sit while I figured out what to do about the camera, I ended up ordering a fabulous salad - baby arugula, baby spinach topped with wild boar prosciutto and shavings of the most delicious artisinal parmiggiano. I wish I had written down the exact description of this salad. It was YUM! On the side, they serve a little plate of bite-size pieces of fresh focaccia, just like my mamma makes! Naturally, I had to get a glass of white wine to go with this impromptu feast. Nicely chilled, it went down like lemonade - but with the added benefit of provoking a wee buzz. Two cappuccinos later, I was ready to hit the road. Recently, I ran across my visa statement, and I saw the finally tally for that lunch - YIKES! But it was worth every penny. Food - spectacular. Setting and service - priceless!

Later that day, I vowed to eat a light dinner ... or perhaps no dinner. Then I went down to Sandy Ground/Road Bay and ended up at SandBar. Sidled up to the bar, ordered a gin a tonic. And the next thing you know I am chatting with some ex-pats and first time visitors. Then I run into the journalists from the “channel crossing.” I enjoyed a wonderful sunset, great company and apparently ... three quarters of the tapas menu!

OK, back to my day job ... and my bottomless pit of academic assignments ... more later.