P&O Britannia, St. Lucia
Just a nice shot of our traveling hotel!
We'd been to St Lucia before so we headed out to a local craft market, the idea being that Niccy might find some nice fabric there. We found no fabric but we did see a lady who was doing some sewing so we asked if there was a fabric store nearby. She said "Wait here, don't leave" and took off into the bowels of the market. She came back a couple of minutes later and said "Michael will take you to the fabric store, you might get lost on your own. That's how we met Michael.
I'd say Michael is an "entrepreneur" who I'm pretty sure would do (or get) you anything for payment. He came out, said "I'll take you to the store" and took off out into the street with Niccy and I following behind.
It seems that EVERYONE knew who Michael was and greeted him as we made our way. He took us down some side streets (and a couple of dodgy alleys) and we wound up at the fabric store.
Niccy got here fabric, along with a little advice from one of the shop ladies, "Be careful with that man, he's trouble". Well, Michael wasn't any trouble (at least for us) and once Niccy had made her purchase he took us back to the pier after a stop at his "friends" bar for a nice cold local beer. I gave him a fiver for his service and he went off on his merry way.
Should we find ourselves back in St. Lucia again I'll certainly be asking around for Michael and his tour guide services. Now I'm sure that some would have a real issue taking off through the back streets in a new country with a guy that you've never met before but for us, that's part of the adventure of exploring. Had he abandoned us I had been keeping a close eye on landmarks and could have gotten us back with no issue. We weren't worried about anything bad happening since there were plenty of cops around and St. Lucia really doesn't want the publicity that would come from tourists getting mugged.
PS:
For those in the Show Your EXIF group you should note that the actual lens used is a Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC All-in-One Zoom for Canon APS-C Digital SLR. For some crazy reason it always shows up as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8, a lens I've never owned or used!
P&O Britannia, St. Lucia
Just a nice shot of our traveling hotel!
We'd been to St Lucia before so we headed out to a local craft market, the idea being that Niccy might find some nice fabric there. We found no fabric but we did see a lady who was doing some sewing so we asked if there was a fabric store nearby. She said "Wait here, don't leave" and took off into the bowels of the market. She came back a couple of minutes later and said "Michael will take you to the fabric store, you might get lost on your own. That's how we met Michael.
I'd say Michael is an "entrepreneur" who I'm pretty sure would do (or get) you anything for payment. He came out, said "I'll take you to the store" and took off out into the street with Niccy and I following behind.
It seems that EVERYONE knew who Michael was and greeted him as we made our way. He took us down some side streets (and a couple of dodgy alleys) and we wound up at the fabric store.
Niccy got here fabric, along with a little advice from one of the shop ladies, "Be careful with that man, he's trouble". Well, Michael wasn't any trouble (at least for us) and once Niccy had made her purchase he took us back to the pier after a stop at his "friends" bar for a nice cold local beer. I gave him a fiver for his service and he went off on his merry way.
Should we find ourselves back in St. Lucia again I'll certainly be asking around for Michael and his tour guide services. Now I'm sure that some would have a real issue taking off through the back streets in a new country with a guy that you've never met before but for us, that's part of the adventure of exploring. Had he abandoned us I had been keeping a close eye on landmarks and could have gotten us back with no issue. We weren't worried about anything bad happening since there were plenty of cops around and St. Lucia really doesn't want the publicity that would come from tourists getting mugged.
PS:
For those in the Show Your EXIF group you should note that the actual lens used is a Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC All-in-One Zoom for Canon APS-C Digital SLR. For some crazy reason it always shows up as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8, a lens I've never owned or used!