There have been a rash of car accidents and other things lately.

Last week a girl was pulling out on the main road and got broadsided by a minibus. She got hit so hard it split the car in half on the other side. She was killed in the accident, but the car is still just sort of chilling out by the road at the site of the accident. It is quite a sight.

Then a couple of days later there was a random shooting. The victim was a British woman who has lived here for many years. She started and ran the St. Lucia Animal Protection Society.

Then over the weekend a random pal and bartender at our usual spot was killed by a drunk driver. Deb went to the funeral today in Anse la Raye.

On a bit of a lighter note, pink-eye (or red-eye as they call it here) has reached epidemic proportions on the island. It started in the south and has swept north now. I have been hand-sanitizing like mad. All I need is pink eye….

Over the weekend, I went to Laborie to hang out with Lauren, her posse of kids, Greg the new volunteer, and to pick up the extra parts for my new computer. Friday night we hung out on the jetty while some of the kids fished (nothing was biting). Saturday we hiked to a waterfall. The hike wasn’t bad (quite flat and paved when it was on the road… just my style!) and the waterfall was really nice. The water falls down between big boulders and makes like a waterslide. The water was rushing pretty fast on Saturday, after several days of rain. It swept the kids right down, but us bigger, whiter people got knocked around pretty well. It was too bad, because that was the end of the waterslide for me. I dinged my hip good, and in just the perfect spot so it chafes no matter what I wear. But there was a pool lower down that we could jump and dive into. I uploaded several pics from the hike.

On the way back to Lauren’s, we passed along the beach. Alex (the volunteer) and Sara (of the new group) were there swimming. I didn’t swim much. I didn’t want the salt water to sting my hip, and I had just taken another spill down a hill and landed on my wrist.  At the beach, we met the famous boy from Laborie named Bill Clinton.  The story is that the boy's father liked Bill Clinton so much, he named his son after him.  That's the kid's first name.  But Alex topped that story.  In her town, Choiseul, there's a boy named Hilarious.  She said he's an unhappy child.

Later on, Lauren and I made dinner, then went and cooled out on the block and had ice cream with the fellas.

Today I went to meet with Ruby Yorke, who runs St. Lucia Save the Children Fund (LUSAVE). Margaret had been working with her. In the absence of any projects of my own, I thought I’d go see what she left. At the least I am thinking about having an after school story hour. Ruby liked that, and suggested even possibly a reading recovery program. That sounds good to me, so we’re supposed to meet for real on Wednesday.

My classes at the gym are going well. My target is to be RIPPED and HOT when all my visitors come in November J