Up High in Banana Tree

I'm blogging from Saint Lucia!

Not really a big fan of flying--my stomach feels kind of sick up in the air. But now I'm glad to be here.

From Newark to Miami, I noticed a "manlady" with an adorable infant baby girl. I could not tell if the person was a man or woman. The face said man, the boobs said woman. He or she looked to be about 60, so I found it strange that said person was traveling alone with a newborn. Was this a grandparent, a foster parent? The baby was adorable, strapped to Manlady's chest in a baby carrier.

The Miami airport was also intriguing--saw a young brunette with a much older man. She was talking on the cell phone to her mom about finding something in the drawer "where my wedding rings are" and that if any calls came, mom should tell the realtor to show the house.

The older man approached her in the boarding area with a rich pastry in a white paper bag.

"I can't eat that, baby," she said. "I know, but you should sometimes. It's good for you."

They sat in first class--it just made me wonder, what about her husband? What happened with the rings, the house, the marriage?

Saint Lucia is a popular honeymoon destination. Saw lots of couples waiting to board. My favorite sighting was the young woman wearing a white hoodie with ruffle-trimmed hood. The word "Bride" announced her status in silver sequins on the back.

On the 1 1/2 hour drive to our hotel from the airport, another writer and I saw so much native color--banana, orange and grapefruit trees, rainforest, rugged hilly terrain, little kids in school uniforms, and vibrantly colored roofs [aqua, red, pink] framed against the beckoning blue sea.

The dark-skinned, rope-thin driver, Bernard [who turned 55 today, and fishes every night with a fishing pole], stopped at a roadside stand where a group of young men were selling young green coconuts, mature husky brown ones and green plantains.

One man hacked a coconut in two and handed each of us half with a plastic bendy straw so we could sip the thin coconut water. The price: Fifty cents each.

What really interested me was the coconut oil, extracted in a slow careful process right there by the side of the road. It smelled so good!

"You can cook with it, or rub it on your skin," one of the men said. They were selling water bottles full of it. The fragrance was toasty and tropical. I would have bought a bottle, to use as a leg moisturizer after shaving, but I knew I wouldn't be able to use it all up or bring it home on Thursday.

There's a pretty serious drought on the island. At our fancy resort, they're not watering the grounds.

Bernard said his niece, who is a teacher, was planning on making him a cake tonight. I asked about the typical birthday cakes here. Bernard wasn't too forthcoming. "All kinds, yellow or brown," he said.

I like the other writers on the press trip. Tonight I had the world's best pina colata, and the others sipped rum on the rocks with passion fruit juice. We had fresh grouper. Somebody had Pepper Pot.

The conversation was stimulating--about work, cooking, magazines, dating, marriage. Around the table tonight: A writer from Atlanta, working on a new magazine for the African-American audience; a writer/recipe tester from Rachael Ray's magazine; the person in charge of the Weight Watchers website; a travel writer from Florida; the very nice young PR person from Chicago who arranged the trip; and a woman from the Saint Lucia Tourist Board.

Good night.