Off to the rainforest

Today, as a conclusion, we explored a completely different side of St. Lucia, namely its interior. Although the majority of St. Lucia is forested and an unknowing observer wouldn't really see a big difference, only a rather small part of the forest is original rainforest. The French and English simply needed too much wood for their ships when they fought over the Caribbean islands for centuries, so they couldn't leave the rainforest standing. They were really evenly matched, because St. Lucia was French 7 times and English 7 times. Now back to the topic, we drove into the rainforest into the mountainous interior. And this time we did it ourselves, so our little Chevy, skillfully guided by Tim, slithered up the serpentine roads among chickens, dogs, and potholes. Besides the left-hand traffic itself, the ditches that drop perpendicularly on both sides of the road and replace our channels and don't forgive any deviation from the road - not even for evasive maneuvers - seem quite threatening to Europeans. If you look forward instead of at the road, you will be greeted with no less spectacular but more pleasant views of colorful houses, banana plantations, and large green valleys. So the journey alone is already a great experience. We wanted to arrive at the Rainforest Adventure. There we were given helmets, harnesses, and carabiner equipment together with a Canadian family, and then we went uphill through the rainforest with an open cable car while Terry explained a lot about the flora, fauna, and geography of the country. It looked like a television report with gigantic roots, lianas, parasitic plants, and much more that you associate with a rainforest. Once we reached the top, we walked through the forest for some time until we reached our first zip-lining platform. From there, we zip-lined through the treetops with a lot of fun over 8 stations. It got particularly exciting when a gigantic tarantula sat just a few centimeters (!) next to us on the tree that carried the platform. The guides thought it was particularly cool and remained extremely cool themselves. Fortunately, it stayed where it was. But it was exciting nonetheless. After the long last zip-line, we walked back to the cable car through the forest in a beautiful walk, which offered us a great view of the entire north of the island downhill. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling on the balcony and now we are heading to Gros Islet for Fish Friday, the weekly and apparently huge street fair that everyone is talking about here. We are excited. Tomorrow we will unfortunately already go to the airport, but we are also looking forward to Grenada. But St. Lucia has really left an unforgettable impression. It is truly a little island paradise with picturesque bays, mountains covered in mystical twilight, and super friendly and open people - a fantastic slice of earth.