Soufriere, Saint Lucia

The Great Pyramids of the Antilles


a sulphurous life
A moment in the street of Soufrière, the neighboring village of Pitons.
Silver sunset
Soufrière resident next to the village's silver waterfront.
in the shadow of god
Passersby in front of the Church of the Assumption, the main church in Soufrière.
hurried step
Girl walks along Frederick St. towards the Soufrière waterfront.
Fishing Public
Onlookers watch a community fishing in the Soufrière cove.
end of day fun
Friends and dog on a jetty, with the Petit Piton in the background.
Le Petit Piton
Bright Petit Piton, seen from the PN Tet Paul trail.
Craft skin and bones
Fisherman helps to collect the nets laid out in the cove in front of Soufrière.
marine operations
Fishermen guide the task of collecting a net laid out in the cove in front of Soufrière.
Soufrière & Pitons
Panoramic view of Soufrière at the foot of the Pitons of Saint Lucia.
Perched above a lush coastline, the twin peaks Pitons are the hallmark of Saint Lucia. They have become so iconic that they have a place in the highest notes of East Caribbean Dollars. Right next door, residents of the former capital Soufrière know how precious their sight is.

It's Sunday morning. McArthur Cornibert, the designated driver, fails to disguise how much this unexpected journey depressed him. We depart from the La Clery district and from the heights of Castries. We cross the current capital of Santa Lucia and conquer the slope that finishes it.

From there, towards the south coast that we had planned to explore, the paved road passes through a succession of valleys and slopes oriented from the center of the island to the Caribbean coast. An hour and a half of this lush roller coaster later, we reach the top of the zigzag route that leads to the Palmiste area.

Mac stops the car by a viewpoint and, even in his monotone of shy and irremediable annoyance, he encourages us: “Take a look over there. It's one of the best views of the Pitons you'll find.” We rescue the photo backpacks.

the first sighting

We dodge the ubiquitous souvenir sellers on the island's tourist route. Moments later, the balcony enraptures us with the first of Saint Lucia's sweeping revelations. Ahead, the prevailing rainforest gave way to multicolored houses that occupied a carving of the valley below.

Soufrière and Pitons, Saint Luci

Panoramic view of Soufrière at the foot of the Pitons of Saint Lucia.

It was delimited by the outline of a wide cove and a densely wooded hillside of which the villagers had claimed only the shore. By itself, the panorama would have everything to dazzle us.

As if that wasn't enough what we've described so far, on the other side of the valley, two huge, sharp boulders insinuated themselves over the ridge above the village.

Welsh settlers became accustomed to simply calling them the Pitons, as they did to several other peaks of their Overseas Empire. Since the village was located on the outskirts of a smoking volcano, they nicknamed it Soufrière. This term, too, is far from unique in the Caribbean.

Randy, a flamboyant and sensationalist tour guide we joined a few days later, made a point of putting the dots in the “is”: “You certainly won't know but I'll inform you: thanks to the French, only two of the seventeen volcanoes of the Caribbean is not called Soufrière. Check it out if you like!"

Les Pitons: the Geological Monument of Saint Lucia

From the colonial ends of Saint Lucia, Soufrière and its Pitons are inseparable. For programmatic reasons, we started by dedicating our attention to the peaks duo, symbolic of the natural exuberance of Santa Lúcia to the point of giving the name and brand image to the national beer “Piton”.

On the first day, we just crossed the city pointing to the Tet Paul Natural Trail, a route outlined at the top of the slope from which the Pitons rise: the Gros Piton (770 m) and the Petit Piton brother (743m), linked by the ridge why we walked, his name Piton Mitan.

The privileged viewpoints of Tet Paul revealed to us, in opposite directions now, the colossi of rock towards the good light and in all its splendor, stained by the vegetation that clings to them.

Petit Piton, Soufriere, Saint Lucia

Bright Petit Piton, seen from the PN Tet Paul trail.

The green blended perfectly with the turquoise emerald surrounding the Caribbean Sea, which is endowed with such preserved and rich flora and fauna that UNESCO declared the entire Ecological Reserve a World Heritage Site.

On the last of the panoramic balconies, the semi-sunken beauty of the Petit Piton forced us to stop walking. We sat down on a wooden bench and gave it a well-deserved contemplation.

At that moment, we thought we were alone. The hum of an approaching drone creates doubt in us. Activates the defense mode of a falcon that, upon feeling its territory invaded, attacks the flying apparatus with its beak.

Larger clouds, darker than the skeins that had hovered until then, steal the glow from the summits. When we noticed the extent of the cloudiness, we decided to withdraw.

The Past Ora Francophone Ora Anglophone de Santa Lucia

We crossed Soufrière again, on the way to the volcano that inspired the city's name, the only volcano drive in This is what the tourist authorities of Saint Lucia promote on the face of the Earth, committed to highlighting the easy access to the muddy, steaming, sulfurous and unusual slopes that, from the XNUMXth century onwards, surprised and delighted successive European visitors.

In the period before the Discoveries, Saint Lucia was inhabited by the Arawaks. Shortly before the advent of European colonization of the West Indies, these found themselves dominated and expelled by the much more aggressive Caribbeans who, in turn, made life miserable for the pioneers of the Old World.

It is estimated that Christopher Columbus sighted the island during his fourth and final expedition, when he sailed to the Caribbean Sea through the north of present-day Barbados and passed to the west of the Lesser Antilles, just south of the island that welcomed us. Columbus ignored her. It ended up landing in Martinique, the island that followed.

Street scene, Soufrière, Saint Lucia

A moment in the street of Soufrière, the neighboring village of Pitons.

It is known that shipwrecked people and – from 1550 onwards – French pirates led by the feared Jambe de Bois (François Leclerc) were the first settled European inhabitants of Saint Lucia, originally baptized as Sante Alousie.

By this time, any attempt at stable colonization was rebuffed by the irascible Caribbeans. In the year 1664, the British governor of nearby Saint Kitts tried to subdue the natives with a force of over a thousand men. Two years later, of these, there were 89 left. The rest succumbed to illnesses and attacks from the natives.

Two more years passed. The French West Indies Company decided to seize the island. He approached it with many more men and resources until the goal was accomplished.

Saint Lucia became a dependency of Martinique. It did not take long to arouse the envy of the British who, like the French, were eager to expand the profitable cultivation of sugar cane.

During the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, depending on the historical tides of each nation, Saint Lucia switched from the French to the British and vice versa. During this period, mainly the French settlers, established a series of large agricultural properties worked by slaves brought from Africa.

In 1774, the Gallic authorities hacked the island into seven administrative strongholds. Soufrière, one of them, developed according to the French-speaking standards of the time, with a rectangular layout of streets and neighborhoods, organized around the main church (of the few stone buildings) which had the homes of wealthier settlers and influential, yet, erected in wood.

Church of the Assumption, Soufrière, Saint Lucia

Passersby in front of the Church of the Assumption, the main church in Soufrière.

Since then, in visual terms, what has changed in Soufrière has been the gradual expansion of the village that became the island's capital and the shores of the bay that welcomed it.

The French stronghold of Soufrière

On the way back from Tet Paul, we stopped at yet another high observation point. From this other viewpoint, we can see, from a perspective opposite to that of the first day, the prolific houses of Soufrière, spread beyond a leafy section of coconut trees, in the central section of the valley and the inlet.

Even if cruises that ply the Caribbean, overflowing with vacationers, dock in the current capital of Saint Lucia, Castries, it is the Pitons and Soufrière that informed passengers want.

In Soufrière, at the same time, residents are yearning for the consumerist and excited heaps that fill their pockets with dollars. They sell crafts and trinkets Made in China. Too often, too dogged, they impose guide services for which they are unprepared.

Further north on Anse le Couchin beach, certain natives already referenced wait for the snorkelers coming from the catamaran tours in kayaks and lead the unsuspecting to the beach areas with the best reefs. Before they return to the boats, they present the account to them.

An animator of the catamaran on which we sailed from Rodney Bay to Soufrière assured us that he has seen elderly passengers forced to pay 50 or even 100 dollars.

Tired of putting up with them whenever she goes to the old capital, Maria, our Dutch hostess (married to a Martiniqueño) from Castries describes these opportunistic natives unceremoniously: “People are what they are!”.

When cruises are lacking, Soufrière lives the life he would otherwise have. It is in one of those relative peaces that we dedicate ourselves to the great city in the south.

Girl at Frederick St, Soufrière, Saint Lucia

Girl walks along Frederick St. towards the Soufrière waterfront.

Upon detecting our cameras, one or two “entrepreneurs” already too formatted for hunting gringos, cannot resist offering us their services. As if to emulate the island's fascinating bilingualism, one does it in French. The other in English.

Even today, Soufrière and the south of Saint Lucia express themselves in a closed French-speaking Creole. This, despite Saint Lucia having been a British colony from the end of the Napoleonic Wars until the emancipation of the United Kingdom in 1967, and being part of the Commonwealth.

It goes without saying that, as soon as they became the owners of the island, one of the first measures of the British was to move the capital from the French-speaking Soufrière to Castries, which would become an Anglista of no return.

A Fishing Late Afternoon

We left the main square and the Church of the Assumption to passersby, relieved by the late afternoon of work and in a good mood to match.

Silver case-Soufrière-Saint Lucia

Soufrière resident next to the village's silver waterfront.

As we descend Frederick Clarke St. towards the port, we come across the inevitable Rastafarian guests of the city, used to milling around the bars and businesses of this artery of the town and its airy seafront. In this golden closing of the afternoon, a communal task recruits dozens of hands and draws inquisitive souls to the cove's walled threshold.

Much due to the cruises being Castries and Soufrière's account, having stayed only with traditional fishing boats, small boats, sailboats and the like, fish abound in the sea in front of Maurice Mason St. and the seafront in general.

Net fishing, Soufrière, Saint Lucia

Fishermen guide the task of collecting a net laid out in the cove in front of Soufrière.

A mere twenty-five meters offshore, two fishermen with fins and diving masks guided a complex net fishing maneuver. They instructed an entourage of pullers ashore to retract the huge net in order to preserve the fenced school.

Initially, the work progressed according to plan. Two or three mishaps were enough to trigger the fury of the brains of the operation and multidirectional discussions that, in that wavy Creole, sounded to us the music, the themes sung between the dance hall and the boyoun punch.

Net fishing II, Soufrière, Saint Lucia

Fisherman helps to collect the nets laid out in the cove in front of Soufrière.

Finally, the net is collapsed. With the horizon almost capturing the sun, fishermen and spectators are left to the intricate distribution of the fish.

Satisfied with what we were taking from Soufrière, we decided to share the last attention with the Pitons.

Fishing public, Soufrière, Saint Lucia

Onlookers watch a community fishing in the Soufrière cove.

The Delightful Vision of Petit Piton Twilight

We got in the car. We cross the village towards the edge of its bay. Then, we proceed to the sand and to the nook where the black sand gives way to the tropical forest hanging on the slope. A group of young women determined to improve their shape undergo strenuous exercise.

A few meters away, under the also vegetal shelter of a leafy mango tree, three boys try to save their minds from the hardships of the day, given to their own weed fingers and that unique tropical setting that most of the world only dreams of.

We stop at the surroundings, surrendered to the scent of grass intensified by the Caribbean humidity. We appreciated how the sunset and the twilight made up the smallest of the Pitons.

Petit Piton, Soufriere, Saint Lucia

Friends and dog on a jetty, with the Petit Piton in the background.

Out of nowhere, four teenage friends appear, one with a pit bull on a leash. They walk to the T pier that stood out from the beach and inaugurate a session of acrobatic dives that not even the mascot can get away with.

Soon, the blackness of the night merges with that of the beach. We return to Castries. The Pitons are among the stars of the Caribbean.

Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

Virgin Gorda's Divine "Caribbeans"

Discovering the Virgin Islands, we disembark on a tropical and seductive seaside dotted with huge granite boulders. The Baths seem straight out of the Seychelles but they are one of the most exuberant marine scenery in the Caribbean.
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

The Dominican Home Silver

Puerto Plata resulted from the abandonment of La Isabela, the second attempt at a Hispanic colony in the Americas. Almost half a millennium after Columbus's landing, it inaugurated the nation's inexorable tourist phenomenon. In a lightning passage through the province, we see how the sea, the mountains, the people and the Caribbean sun keep it shining.
Samaná PeninsulaLos Haitises National Park Dominican Republic

From the Samaná Peninsula to the Dominican Haitises

In the northeast corner of the Dominican Republic, where Caribbean nature still triumphs, we face an Atlantic much more vigorous than expected in these parts. There we ride on a communal basis to the famous Limón waterfall, cross the bay of Samaná and penetrate the remote and exuberant “land of the mountains” that encloses it.
Maho Beach, Sint Maarten

The Jet-powered Caribbean Beach

At first glance, Princess Juliana International Airport appears to be just another one in the vast Caribbean. Successive landings skimming Maho beach that precedes its runway, jet take-offs that distort the faces of bathers and project them into the sea, make it a special case.
Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, Masai Convivial
Safari
Masai Mara, Kenya

A Journey Through the Masai Lands

The Mara savannah became famous for the confrontation between millions of herbivores and their predators. But, in a reckless communion with wildlife, it is the Masai humans who stand out there.
Herd in Manang, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 8th Manang, Nepal

Manang: the Last Acclimatization in Civilization

Six days after leaving Besisahar we finally arrived in Manang (3519m). Located at the foot of the Annapurna III and Gangapurna Mountains, Manang is the civilization that pampers and prepares hikers for the ever-dreaded crossing of Thorong La Gorge (5416 m).
Visitors in Jameos del Água, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain
Architecture & Design
Lanzarote, Canary Islands

To César Manrique what is César Manrique's

By itself, Lanzarote would always be a Canaria by itself, but it is almost impossible to explore it without discovering the restless and activist genius of one of its prodigal sons. César Manrique passed away nearly thirty years ago. The prolific work he left shines on the lava of the volcanic island that saw him born.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Adventure
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
Christmas scene, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Ceremonies and Festivities
Shillong, India

A Christmas Selfiestan at an India Christian Stronghold

December arrives. With a largely Christian population, the state of Meghalaya synchronizes its Nativity with that of the West and clashes with the overcrowded Hindu and Muslim subcontinent. Shillong, the capital, shines with faith, happiness, jingle bells and bright lighting. To dazzle Indian holidaymakers from other parts and creeds.
Elephant statues by the Li River, Elephant Trunk Hill, Guilin, China
Cities
Guilin, China

The Gateway to the Chinese Stone Kingdom

The immensity of jagged limestone hills around it is so majestic that the authorities of Beijing they print it on the back of the 20-yuan notes. Those who explore it almost always pass through Guilin. And even if this city in the province of Guangxi clashes with the exuberant nature around it, we also found its charms.
Cocoa, Chocolate, Sao Tome Principe, Agua Izé farm
Meal
São Tomé and Principe

Cocoa Roças, Corallo and the Chocolate Factory

At the beginning of the century. In the XNUMXth century, São Tomé and Príncipe generated more cocoa than any other territory. Thanks to the dedication of some entrepreneurs, production survives and the two islands taste like the best chocolate.
Jingkieng Wahsurah, Nongblai Village Roots Bridge, Meghalaya, India
Culture
Meghalaya, India

The Bridges of the Peoples that Create Roots

The unpredictability of rivers in the wettest region on Earth never deterred the Khasi and the Jaintia. Faced with the abundance of trees elastic fig tree in their valleys, these ethnic groups got used to molding their branches and strains. From their time-lost tradition, they have bequeathed hundreds of dazzling root bridges to future generations.
4th of July Fireworks-Seward, Alaska, United States
Sport
Seward, Alaska

The Longest 4th of July

The independence of the United States is celebrated, in Seward, Alaska, in a modest way. Even so, the 4th of July and its celebration seem to have no end.
Manatee Creek, Florida, United States of America
Traveling
Florida Keys, USA

The Caribbean Stepping Stone of the USA

Os United States continental islands seem to close to the south in its capricious peninsula of Florida. Don't stop there. More than a hundred islands of coral, sand and mangroves form an eccentric tropical expanse that has long seduced American vacationers.
Drums and Tattoos
Ethnic
Tahiti, French Polynesia

Tahiti Beyond the Cliché

Neighbors Bora Bora and Maupiti have superior scenery but Tahiti has long been known as paradise and there is more life on the largest and most populous island of French Polynesia, its ancient cultural heart.
ice tunnel, black gold route, Valdez, Alaska, USA
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

Sensations vs Impressions

Santa Marta, Tayrona, Simón Bolivar, Ecohabs of Tayrona National Park
History
Santa Marta and PN Tayrona, Colombia

The Paradise from which Simon Bolivar departed

At the gates of PN Tayrona, Santa Marta is the oldest continuously inhabited Hispanic city in Colombia. In it, Simón Bolívar began to become the only figure on the continent almost as revered as Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.
View from Pico Verde to Praia Grande, São Vicente, Cape Verde
Islands
São Vicente, Cape Verde

The Volcanic Arid Wonder of Soncente

A return to São Vicente reveals an aridity as dazzling as it is inhospitable. Those who visit it are surprised by the grandeur and geological eccentricity of the fourth smallest island in Cape Verde.
Geothermal, Iceland Heat, Ice Land, Geothermal, Blue Lagoon
Winter White
Iceland

The Geothermal Coziness of the Ice Island

Most visitors value Iceland's volcanic scenery for its beauty. Icelanders also draw from them heat and energy crucial to the life they lead to the Arctic gates.
Couple visiting Mikhaylovskoe, village where writer Alexander Pushkin had a home
Literature
Saint Petersburg e Mikhaylovkoe, Russia

The Writer Who Succumbed to His Own Plot

Alexander Pushkin is hailed by many as the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. But Pushkin also dictated an almost tragicomic epilogue to his prolific life.
Torres del Paine, Dramatic Patagonia, Chile
Nature
PN Torres del Paine, Chile

The Most Dramatic Patagonia

Nowhere is the southernmost reaches of South America so breathtaking as the Paine Mountains. There, a natural fort of granite colossi surrounded by lakes and glaciers protrudes from the pampa and submits to the whims of meteorology and light.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Wildlife, lions
Natural Parks
NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Wild Heart of Mozambique shows Signs of Life

Gorongosa was home to one of the most exuberant ecosystems in Africa, but from 1980 to 1992 it succumbed to the Civil War waged between FRELIMO and RENAMO. Greg Carr, Voice Mail's millionaire inventor received a message from the Mozambican ambassador to the UN challenging him to support Mozambique. For the good of the country and humanity, Carr pledged to resurrect the stunning national park that the Portuguese colonial government had created there.
Zanzibar, African islands, spices, Tanzania, dhow
UNESCO World Heritage
Zanzibar, Tanzania

The African Spice Islands

Vasco da Gama opened the Indian Ocean to the Portuguese empire. In the XNUMXth century, the Zanzibar archipelago became the largest producer of cloves and the available spices diversified, as did the people who disputed them.
Ooty, Tamil Nadu, Bollywood Scenery, Heartthrob's Eye
Characters
Ooty, India

In Bollywood's Nearly Ideal Setting

The conflict with Pakistan and the threat of terrorism made filming in Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh a drama. In Ooty, we see how this former British colonial station took the lead.
View of Casa Iguana, Corn islands, pure caribbean, nicaragua
Beaches
Corn Islands - Islas del Maíz , Nicaragua

pure caribbean

Perfect tropical settings and genuine local life are the only luxuries available in the so-called Corn Islands or Corn Islands, an archipelago lost in the Central American confines of the Caribbean Sea.
Fort São Filipe, Cidade Velha, Santiago Island, Cape Verde
Religion
Cidade Velha, Cape Verde

Cidade Velha: the Ancient of the Tropico-Colonial Cities

It was the first settlement founded by Europeans below the Tropic of Cancer. In crucial times for Portuguese expansion to Africa and South America and for the slave trade that accompanied it, Cidade Velha became a poignant but unavoidable legacy of Cape Verdean origins.

Chepe Express, Chihuahua Al Pacifico Railway
On Rails
Creel to Los Mochis, Mexico

The Barrancas del Cobre & the CHEPE Iron Horse

The Sierra Madre Occidental's relief turned the dream into a construction nightmare that lasted six decades. In 1961, at last, the prodigious Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad was opened. Its 643km cross some of the most dramatic scenery in Mexico.
Kogi, PN Tayrona, Guardians of the World, Colombia
Society
PN Tayrona, Colombia

Who Protects the Guardians of the World?

The natives of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta believe that their mission is to save the Cosmos from the “Younger Brothers”, which are us. But the real question seems to be, "Who protects them?"
Fruit sellers, Swarm, Mozambique
Daily life
Enxame Mozambique

Mozambican Fashion Service Area

It is repeated at almost all stops in towns of Mozambique worthy of appearing on maps. The machimbombo (bus) stops and is surrounded by a crowd of eager "businessmen". The products offered can be universal such as water or biscuits or typical of the area. In this region, a few kilometers from Nampula, fruit sales suceeded, in each and every case, quite intense.
Tombolo and Punta Catedral, Manuel António National Park, Costa Rica
Wildlife
PN Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Costa Rica's Little-Big National Park

The reasons for the under 28 are well known national parks Costa Ricans have become the most popular. The fauna and flora of PN Manuel António proliferate in a tiny and eccentric patch of jungle. As if that wasn't enough, it is limited to four of the best typical beaches.
Full Dog Mushing
Scenic Flights
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.
PT EN ES FR DE IT