So we slathered on bugspray and suntan lotion, donned hats and sunglasses, packed bottled water, a big handful of the cute Nevisian money and my cell phone and off we went for a Special Day Adventure. We made it to the end of the street before Ava announced that she was hot, her legs hurt and she wanted to go home. So I Special Day Insisted that she press on. We had to stop in every piece of shade to rest and drink water before we made it down to the main road, crossed it and staggered into Nisbet Plantation lobby. This should have been a five minute walk but I think it took us 45. They have games and a "help yourself bookshelf" so we sat in the lobby next to a window and played Jenga, Operation, tic tac toe, etc. I helped myself to a couple paperbacks before we started down to the beach. Ava had perked up by now, and was looking forward to gathering baby coconuts from beneath the palms that line the yard between the hotel and the beach. (It's really pretty--there's a picture on the link down there.) And today did not disappoint; it seemed like each palm tree had a baby coconut under it and Ava was in heaven. She loves these things. They are cute, and she plays with them at home. http://www.nisbetplantation.com/
We were able to find lots of shells on the beach, which was fun. I've never shell-hunted on this beach before, but the winds have been so high there was a lot of ocean debris to poke around in on the shore. We had lunch at their beach bar, and walked home. Of course, by then it was the heat of the day, and uphill, but Ava ran most of the way. We're just not morning people, but we rally.
When Bob got home we decided to go explore some neat ruins on the east (windward) side of the island. This land on this side is mostly government owned and undeveloped. Broad expanses of hilly pasture sloping down to rough ocean. We poked around in an old stone windmill base and other old buildings. A few had bats up in the top and I was able to find a bat skull for Ava. I had to pluck it off of the bat body and I could just hear a list of diseases being rattled off by Dr. House's team. So I held my breath and washed my hands in the ocean. On the way down to the ocean we had to cross a huge pasture and climb down through a rocky gorge. Ava found two bleached pelvis bones from a donkey (I guess) and then...jackpot! An entire bleached skeleton of a goat. In case you haven't been following, Ava *loves* finding bones, but she can't keep them unless they are bleached out. This skeleton was perfectly clean, and all parts accounted for. Ava exclaimed, and I quote, "This is the best day of my life!" Deal closed on Special Day commitment.
And that was before we got to the beach, where she found a dead sheep (not decomposed) and another skull that was very curious to us in that the horns were still on it, bleached hard just like the bone...usually horns don't do that. Anyway, it was quite a haul and Bob had to drive the car down the pasture to pick us up with all our loot. We never saw another soul on this entire excursion. Thank god!
