St.Kitts Tour: Everything we learned today

We went on a lovely tour today. It took us about 4 hours and cost about 27$(US). We rode around in a tour van with our driver. They have a tour company called "Rose and Jim's: taxi and tour service". It's a husband and wife, we rode with the husband. He was very nice and knew about about the island.

Here is a basic history of St.kitts:

The island is 68 square miles. If you drive around the outskirts of the entire island it is only 32 miles!  It has a population of 40,000 people. Most people that we have talked to (in my opinion) have what Americans think of as Jamaican accent.

First we went to Black Rock, which is the side of the island where the lava from the volcano came down. You can still see the black lava rocks layers over some part of the cliff. The sand on the Atlantic shore is black from the grains of lava rocks that break off slowly as the ocean waves smash against them. Because of the lava rocks on the Atlantic side of the island is very fertile.
The volcano is 3,792 feet above sea level. It's name is Mt. Liamuiga.

The island originally was home to natives that were driven away and killed by Indians from the main land ( northern region of South America). The Indians were then driven out by British and French military forces. When the British and French killed the Indians there was so much blood in the water that ran down a side of the mountain out into the sea, it is now called Bloody Point. (Kind of creepy)

In 1493 is when Christopher Columbus landed on the island. (The island was originally called St Christopher but has sense been changed to St.Kitts). There are still old signs that say St. Christopher.

Then the island was ruled by the British,  who brought over slaves from Europe and Africa. The main income for the island was sugar cane.  There were 68 sugar mills. Whatever slaves that were not working in the sugar cane fields, we're used to build the military fort, Brimstone Hill Fortress.
The fort took 100 years to build! It was built in 1690. It is on 40 acres. It held 800 British soliders.
All of the villages are named after the sugar cane plantation owners, who are viewed very highly by the locals on the island. (So i was told)

The French laid seige to Brimstone Hill Fortress in 1782. The French were then in command of the island but the allowed the British to march out in full uniform (letting them keep their honor). After the Treaty of Versaille the French had to return it back to the British. It wasn't until 1982 (only 32 years ago) that St.kitts received their independence from England.

The main industry of the island, changed from sugar cane to tourism.  There is only one town on the island, it is called Basseterre (which means low land in french). There is only that one town, all the rest are villages. Sandy Point is the largest village and Kayon Village is the 2nd largest village.

There is another village called Middle Island (which my first thought was Middle Earth, from Lord of the Rings). This village is the resting place of sir Thomas Warner(1624-1648), the 1st birth governor of St.kitts.

St.Kitts has a sister island called Nevis.  If you go down the peninsula of St.kitts it is two miles to Nevis.

St.kitts is bordered by two oceans. On the east side of the island is the Atlantic Ocean and on the west side of the island is the Caribbean Sea. They are two different colors and you can see them smash against each other as they meet. Most people never swim in the Atlantic Ocean because it is rougher and can change on a dime and pull you out to sea quickly. 

A big place where many locals work is the stone quarry, the big boulders are used along the shore line and the small boulders are crushed for concrete.
The minimum wage is about $150.00 per week.

A really big things is they drive on the LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD! the speed limit is either 20 mph, 30 mph  or 40 mph. Everyone will honk at each other (short little beep or short double beep) to say hello. But if they hold their horn down for awhile then that is an angry honk.

A Huge Side Note:

DO NOT WEAR CAMOUFLAGE! that is the color of the army and you can be arrested for wearing it if you are not apart of their army. (Mom was about to wear her camouflage hunting hat and I had to tell her! I saved her been throw into jail! Best daughter of the year award goes to.....this girl right here ^-^ )

Next, you can take a trip of the island on the old sugar cane train tracks. It was a little costly so we decided to skip it.

They have community centers, churches and schools for shelters during hurricanes.  They have lots of churches here ( methodist,catholic, ect.). Our tour guide joked that "there are more churches than people". Every village had its own elementary school and the children wear uniforms. School goes from sam - noon then starts again 1pm-3:30pm.

Most all water comes from the mountains (which are protected against development by the government) for the island. When we went up the mountain sides, into the rainforest, there was a huge tree that was over 400 years old brought over from Africa.

They play football (Americans call it soccer) and cricket. When teams come to play they practice in the villages and play the games in Basseterre.

Another important note: there are only 7 gas stations on the island. There are only two hospitals on the island (one in Sandy Point and one is in Basseterre).

Along with Ross Veterinary college, then is also a nursing and medical (not US recognized) schools on the island.