Dreadlock Plant
10 May 2012 | Soufriere, Saint Lucia
Elizabeth
We took a taxi up to the Tet Paul Nature Trail but it started to pour as soon as we hit the trail. We carried on with our knowledgeable and good-natured tour guide, Natasha (Ed asked her if she knew about Boris and Natasha....I told him to zip it because how in the world would she know and how would he ever explain who Rocky and Bullwinkle were?) and although the view was lousy, it was a wonderful place. We were scheduled stop at a few other sites but asked the taxi driver, Dickson to bring us back into town and said we'd reschedule once the sun comes out. Because you know, it is going to come out again. We feel certain of this.
Soufriere means "sulphur in the atmosphere". After a volcano erupted here in the late 1700's, it brought with it the lasting smell of sulphur. We hope to go to the mud baths and sulphur springs as soon as that rascal sun pokes its face out again.
The formal name of this plant escapes me, but Natasha said they call it the Dreadlock Plant. We saw pineapples, mangos, cashews, papayas, nutmeg, bananas, bay leaf trees, sour sop, herbs, lemon and lime trees and a variety of other plants including cocoa. We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant in town before heading back to our wet and soggy boat, greeted by a mostly dry dog who was extremely glad to see us.