Day Twelve

I've been off today so have just had an easy day, doing errands and laying in til 10am! Wow, that felt good. I thought I may show you some pictures of the apartment I'm sharing with Courtney (if blogger lets me upload them all!). We are in apartment 5 which is upstairs and about 5 minutes walk to the Marina. There is a shortcut through some other buildings to get there otherwise it means walking up to the road and then along through the Marina gates.


This is my bed and drawers. The mattress is quite squeaky so every time I turn over in bed I feel like I'm gonna wake Courts! :)


This is Courtney's bed (we are going to swap this weekend so I get to spread out - yay!!)


This is the kitchen area. There is a stove, microwave and small fridge. Occasionally the power goes out so sometimes we come back to a warm fridge! There is also a small sink - it really is dinky and just fits a full size dinner plate. :)


This is the patio/balcony area which we hardly use, although I have sat out there a couple of times when it's been nice weather.


This is the view! Shame the pool isn't filled as that would be so fab!! You can just see in the distance behind the trees a tall mast from one of the yachts in the marina.
There's no point showing the bathroom as it's a typical bathroom. The lighting in it is great though. There is a ceiling fan in the main room and also an AC unit which we have not really used as the weather lately has been pretty cold for BVI. Although for me it is still warm enough for shorts and a T. The only thing needed in the apartment is some better lighting (especially on my side of the room) and maybe a TV (there is a TV unit but no TV?!). Still we are usually so tired come the end of each day that reading for about 20 minutes is about all I can muster. Heheh.

I know when a lot of people think of the Caribbean they think it must be all luxury and amenities and so on. However there is the usual poorer side to it too. I spoke to an American couple who have been living on their boat in the marina for a couple of years and they said they thought the BVI was almost 3rd world in comparison to other Caribbean places they've been. I suppose I can understand that as you definitely will not find any Starbucks, McDonalds or other franchise type places. It is also quite wild with lots of active wildlife in the roadside. I've seen plenty of lizards, newts (a small one took up residence in my slipper the other night!), etc as well as the random chickens (who crow at all times of day and night), goats and so on. The roads are not perfect and you most definitely need a 4x4 to get about as Tortola is very hilly. It takes about 20-25 minutes to walk from the apartment to East End (where the nearest market and laundry are). It would take probably an hour if not more to get into Road Town on foot as there are at least 3 hills to get over/around. You definitely need a car or some other form of transport as although it is quite easy to get a taxi it can be hit and miss. There are some very friendly, helpful people who will stop and give you a ride if you're heading in the same direction but you can be waiting for a while or just a few minutes.

Hope everyone is well
Hugs
H x