St Lucia – A Special Island

The Caribbean islands are as different from one another as siblings in a family are. St. Lucia is distinct for its jungle landscape, mountainous terrain, and beautiful inlets along the island’s west coast. The people are good-natured and the food is fantastic.

However, as different as St Lucia is, in some respects it’s … just … like … Barbados, my home island. I refer, of course, to service. Being a Type A in the land of Type B service isn’t easy. My advice? Roll with it. Take it in good humor.

To wit: I visited the little store at our hotel this morning to get a snack…

St. Lucia Shopping

I walk in and poke around. Music’s playing, a warm breeze wraps itself around me, and I lose myself in the pretty hand-painted platters and other items.

Oh yes, the snack. I’m here for a snack. I spy a freezer. I make a beeline for it. I’ve learned that freezers in little stores in the Caribbean contain riches. I’m rewarded nicely: Dove Bars. I take one.

As I approach the counter it dawns on me that I’m alone in the store. There is no clerk.

The clerk’s on a bathroom run, I guess. No problem. I flip through coffee-table books on St. Lucia to kill time.

Wait … beneath the beat of the reggae, am I hearing what I think I’m hearing? The unmistakable sound of … a snore? The clerk’s not on a bathroom break. He’s on a nap. I find him behind and beneath the front counter.

I lean over the counter and gently, so as not to startle, and say, “Excuse me, sir ….” No movement. I say it again, quite loudly.

No response. A nap to envy.

Aha, I spy a receipt pad! I rummage through my purse for a pen. In large letters I write on the pad, PLEASE CHARGE ONE DOVE BAR TO ROOM 323. THANK YOU. I sign my name beneath and I leave.

St. Lucia Service

I wander the sunny gardens of our hotel while polishing off my Dove Bar.

Several hours later, my husband returns from his meetings. I notice he’s eating something … He’s halfway through … a … Dove Bar.

“Hey,” I ask, “where’d you get that?”

“From the little store,” he says. “Funniest thing, though.”

My ears perk up. “Oh?”

“Yeah,” he says. “I went to pay and said to the guy, ‘Just bill this to my room, 323.’ “And the guy looks at me, then says, ‘No worries, mon, it’s on the house.’

“How’s that,” he says, “for a super-nice St Lucian?”

Gotta love St. Lucia — indeed, all of the colorful Caribbean.


St Lucia All Inclusive Resorts

Travel to St Lucia