Carnival Parade in St. Kitts

One of my favorite events of the year.  The folklore associated with the parade is very interesting.  Have a look at the following video.

If you would like to learn more about the history of the Carnival masquerade you can find information here http://stkittsapartments.net/st-kitts/st-kitts-carnival-add-it-to-your-bucket-list/

Pics From The Great Rum Punch Tour 2012 Slideshow Slideshow

Pics From The Great Rum Punch Tour 2012 Slideshow Slideshow: TripAdvisor™ TripWow ★ Pics From The Great Rum Punch Tour 2012 Slideshow Slideshow ★ to Basseterre. Stunning free travel slideshows on TripAdvisor
A great day of fun in the sun on beautiful St. Kitts! This is part one from the Great Rum Punch Tour. Just too many beach bars to hit. Part Two coming soon!

Things To Do Before You Die - St Kitts Carnival

Things To Do Before You Die - St Kitts Carnival
Find out about this fantastic experience on the beautiful island of St. Kitts! Color, beauty, pageantry, humor, and amazing athletic feats make this a must-do. Add it to your bucket list!

The Fruit in my Backyard

In today's modern super stores you can find a wide variety of produce from around the world. However, I think you’ll find some fruits in St. Kitts that you might not be familiar with if you are moving here from North America.

One of the first that comes to mind is the Breadfruit.  Breadfruit was brought to St. Kitts in the 18th century from Asia, as a cheap means of feeding the slaves working on sugar plantations.  A single breadfruit tree can produce as many as 200 fruits in a year’s time.  It is used as a staple food similar to the potato.  It is prepared in many different ways.  It can be roasted, boiled, fried, made into a salad, and cooked in stews. It is approximately 25% carbohydrate and 70% water with an average amount of vitamin C and trace minerals.  It has a textured surface that smooths out when the breadfruit is ripe.  It also gets a softer feel to it when ripe.

Soursop is another St. Kitts fruit that you might find unique.  Soursop was most likely native to St. Kitts and grows throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico.  It’s pulp has a creamy consistency, the taste is a sort of tutti-frutti flavor.  Some describe it as a cross between strawberry and pineapple with sour citrus notes.  Soursop is used to make drinks, desserts, and as a flavoring for ice cream.  Local people sometimes mix it with milk and give it to their children at bedtime to help them to fall asleep.  Fruits have a spiny appearance.  When ripe they become soft.  Soursop contains a large number of seeds and a core which should not be eaten.

St. Kitts also produces Sugar Apples, or Custard Apples as they are sometimes called.  Another plant that was thought to be native to the Caribbean, the tree bears as many as 50 fruit per year.  The lobes separate easily when it is ripe and the fruit feels soft.  When separated the lobes will each have a piece of the fruit attached with can be bitten of the peel.  It contains many large, hard black seeds which are indigestible.  The fruit is sweet and has a custard like consistency.  I can’t say I think the taste resembles any other fruit I’ve eaten.  It almost reminds me of a pleasant perfume.  The fruit is eaten raw.

Another fruit you might see here is the Mamie Apple.  Typically grown at higher elevations, the fruit can be quite large (several pounds in weight).  The skin is thick, brown in color, and has a fuzzy appearance.  The fruit is a bright yellow- orange color and tastes similar to a mango.  I personally like the taste better than mango, it’s a sweeter more refreshing taste.  The texture is similar to that of a mango.  The skin of the Mamie Apple can cause an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals.  If you are allergic to mango skin, it’s probably best to avoid the skin of the Mamie apple as it can produce a similar effect.  This fruit is eaten raw.

The Guinep is a fruit I had never seen before I moved to St. Kitts.  It comes in clusters that are grown on very large trees.  The skin is similar to a citrus fruit but very thin.  The fruit is typically eaten by making a bite into the skin and then squeezing the fruit out into your mouth.  The pulp of the fruit is orange in color, and it’s taste is similar to a lychee but with a creamy texture and a more pronounced sweet tart element.  At the center of the pulp is a large hard seed which should be spit out after the flesh is removed from it.  This fruit is a favorite of school children, and is sometimes called a skinnip as well.  You will often see vendors selling guineps outside the school yard.

The name apple seems to be used for many fruits in St. Kitts.  We also have Wax Apples.  Wax Apples, called Malay Apples in other parts of the Caribbean were not native to the island but brought in from Asia.  The tree tends to be more shrub-like and bears many fruit that are about 4-5 inches long and sort of pear-shaped.  The skin is very thin and red in color and the flesh is white.  The taste is sweet and mild, and sort of resembles a watery apple.  A mature tree can bear up to 600 fruit.  The entire fruit can be eaten and is usually eaten raw and/or  may be sliced into a salad.

There are several other fruits that were new to me upon coming here from a Northern climate, but may be more familiar if you come from lower North America. Among them are the Cashew Apple or Cashew Cherry as it is sometimes called.  The fruit is on top of the cashew nut when on the tree.  The tree is shrub-like and will bear 100 fruit or more in a season.  The skin and flash may be eaten and have a sweet fragrance and taste similar to a mango combined with citrus.  The fruit is eaten raw.  The cashew itself must be roasted prior to eating or it can cause a severe allergic reaction.

Other fruits, you may be more familiar with, that are grown on St. Kitts include;  passion fruit, guava, mango, papaya or PawPaw, plantain, Shaddock (a citrus with a thick skin that is similar to a grapefruit combined with an orange), sour orange, and sea grapes.  I highly recommend you give some, or all of these a try while you’re living in St. Kitts

Latin American Herald Tribune - Clinton Sends Best Wishes to Nevis and St. Kitts on 28 Years of Independence

Latin American Herald Tribune - Clinton Sends Best Wishes to Nevis and St. Kitts on 28 Years of Independence
Nice article on Clinton wishing a Happy Independence to the people of St. Kitts. St. Kitts is celebrating 28 years of Independence this coming Monday, Sept. 19.

St. Kitts, Gem of the Caribbean

Previously identified as Saint Christopher, many regard this particular tropical island as being the gem of the Caribbean. Founded by Christopher Columbus in 1493, during  Columbus's second trip to the new world. Columbus titled the island St. Joerges. As a consequence of mistakes within cartography back then, naming of the islands had been very difficult. The island evolved into St. Christobel, (named after Columbus's guardian saint ), and later it was altered to Saint Christopher, and then shortened in the modern day to St. Kitts.
Around 1623, Englishman Thomas Warner landed on the island and staked a claim for Britain. He then developed a colony on St. Christopher. One year later, it grew to become the very first British Territory within the West Indies.
In the year 1625, a French ship, in serious need of repair after running into the Spanish Armada, appeared in the harbour. After taking pity on them, Warner allowed them to land on St. Kitts. Thus, St. Christopher also became the first French colony in the West Indies.
Being one of the Leeward Islands, it is situated approximately 1300 miles southeast of Miami Florida. Having a population of approximately 35, 000, St. Kitts is only about eighteen miles long and five miles wide. As is true with many Caribbean Islands, St. Kitts was formed by volcanic eruptions. It is still possible to still discover remnants of it's creation in the community named Black Rocks.

Welcome to St. Kitts Life!

Here I hope to share with you some information about this beautiful island paradise I call home.  I'll be posting more soon but in the meantime here's a couple pictures of my island.

This is an image of Brimstone hill fortress.  One of the first fortresses built in the West Indies

This is one of my favorite beaches!

And this.... is one of our beautiful sunsets!
And...on that note I'm leaving to come back!