Brimstone Hill

Today was our last day of orientation lectures. Ironically, of all the interesting facts about St. Kitts they shared with us in the last few days, they failed to mention any information about the customs displayed here (tipping for example; what is the customary amount, when to and when not to, who to tip and who not to) and nothing about public transportation. Considering I'm living on campus for the first semester without a car, it would be nice not to get scammed by the taxi drivers. Since transportation has been provided for us since we got here, no one knows the important things like how much taxis are allowed to charge (government regulated), is it customary to tip them, do you pay first or when you get off, and are there "fake" taxis that you should watch out for like in NY? Call me paranoid, but this is important stuff when you're on a budget in a foreign country!
The school nurses lectured about the health services on the island, what to do if you are injured, and how the insurance works. Basically, if we are injured beyond a bandaid, they fly us to Puerto Rico or Florida. Apparently it costs $15,000-20,000 just for emergency flight transfer, so good thing about requiring insurance! If we are admitted to the hospital, they will arrange for a private ward, and one of the nurses will be there with us all the time to facilitate speedy service. They could not stress enough that sports related injuries are not covered by the insurance. I wonder if that includes Beer Olympics?
I was really stunned by the statistic that over 25% of the islanders have HIV. Wow.
There was some chitter chatter from the security team, as well as the IT/library group. Then we were released to lunch held by the school (ie. FREE) at Brimstone Hill! This fort was built between the 1960s and the 1790s, and is around 750 feet above sea level. This makes for fantastic views. The fort was constructed during the years when the fate of St. Kitts lay between the French and the English. Since the island was a financial benefit to both (due to its fertile lands, and lots of sugar cane!), it was considered worth defending. Interesting blurb from the main website for the fort:


Brimstone Hill, so called because of the strong smell of sulphur emanating from underwater vents nearby, is a solid extrusion of cooled lava which emerged as a result of underlying volcanic activity from beneath the sea about 6,000 years ago. The limestone crust at the bottom of the ocean was ruptured by the emerging dome and displaced along its sides. Brimstone Hill therefore is a mass of hard volcanic andesite covered by limestone along much of its slope. Therein lies one explanation for the massive structures which were later built at the top and upper levels: the building materials are right there on site, from the stone from which the blocks were fashioned, to the limestone from which the mortar was produced to cement them together.

"The prominent Citadel is one of the earliest and finest surviving examples of a new style of fortification known as the 'polygonal system'."

Would have been a fabulous pic without the picnic table.

This is only the 4th cat we've seen since landing. Despite the feral notched ear, it was surprisingly sweet.

This is the Kittitian flag.

Christin #2 taking pics on top of the citadel.

The interior of the citadel.

Chris, Kristen #3, Christin #2, Me, Chris, Kristin #1, and Eve.

Feel free to comment all you like.

Christen #2. Unless you know her, so keep your comments clean please. :)



Kristin #1 was the only one brave enough to hang. I would have slipped off from the sweat.

Kelly and Matt, our beloved orientation leaders.

We wandered around for a few hours, taking some fabulous photos. Then I received a call from our orientation leader; it seems only myself and the three Kristin's found the fort interesting enough to actually tour it (and read the history). The others just wanted to head back for Beer Olympics. Nice.