We went to Nisbet Plantations for lunch. It was a sugar plantation way back when, and now is a restaurant with an incredible beach, as well as a resort. I had a grilled fish burger with fruit relish on it. It was so delicious. After lunch we were able to spend some time at the beach, and then to tour the plantation house. My first thought was "wow, I could definitely have lived in this time!" But then I remembered all the crazy, heavy clothes they had to wear and I'm not so sure. I'm getting used to the heat here and learning to cherish the breeze, but it's still really hot.
The view from the plantation house
Afterwards we stopped at Newcastle Pottery, a pottery place run by native Nevisians. They make all of the pottery from scratch with dirt from Nevis at the shop, and the fire it in a huge pit out back. The woman working there explained the process, which was really interesting.
We left there and headed to Fort Charles, a British fort built in 1671 to protect the island from the French. Nevis was a key island in the sugar trade at the time, and came under attack by the Dutch, Spanish, and French. There's not much left of the fort today, just an old wall, a cistern, and a few cannons. It was still cool to see, though. A big piece of history.
Remains of the wall at Fort Charles
Our final stop was a natural hot spring pool. Emphasis on the word hot. Two brave souls in our group got into the water but I don't think I could have. The water is heated by the geothermal energy (the island of Nevis is a volcano). Local people actually do bath in the nearby streams, that are heated in the same way.
Hot springs
So it was an unusual 4th of July, but still a memorable one. I'll get around to posting about the field work, lab, and class soon. But everything is still going really well here. It's just going by too quickly, I can't believe a week is gone already!
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