Steeeeeeeeeerike Two! (plus: termites and ice cream)

That's right. For those of you who didn't see it on Facebook, I ate termites yesterday.

On Tuesday afternoon I received an email from Diane inviting other PCVs on an around-the-island bus trip Wednesday. I was very hesitant to go, for two main reasons. 1) I wasn't sure if the teachers (along with other civil servants) would still be on strike on Wednesday, which would allow me to take the day away from school if they did. 2) I'm on a pretty tight budget right now, since I transferred most of my savings to my US account to pay for my plane tickets for summer vacation.

Well, the teachers, with the rest of the Trade Union Federation (TUF), did indeed strike Tuesday, Wednesday, and today. They're also planning a meeting (another day away from school) for tomorrow to discuss their next couse of action. There are a few developments that makes the issue more complicated than I had described in previous posts.

A couple weeks ago the government offered a 3% increase now (the rest to add later when they have the money), which TUF rejected. The government offered a 3.5% increase, also rejected. Earlier this week TUF said they won't stop action unless negotiations start at 4.5%. Tuesday government said they could maybe go for 4%. No deal. The government called in church leaders to speak to the TUF strikers, trying to "appeal to their sense of humanity." It just made the civil servants more upset. Wednesday morning the Ministry of Education announced that parents should send their children to school, even though many if not most teachers wouldn't be there (this confused me when I saw children in uniform yesterday morning, since I hadn't heard the news that morning). The president of TUF complained about this, saying parents should sue the Ministry of Education if anything happens to their children while teachers are not there. Wednesday there was also talk that civil servants might have pay docked for days they're on strike instead of at work, which TUF president had already said absolutely wouldn't happen.

Though on Tuesday morning it looked like the impasse might be resolved by the end of the week, as the strike continues to me it looks like the two sides are struggling farther apart in their demands.

So Wednesday, as I said, the strike continued, so I considered the around-the-island tour. When Diane gave me the price for the trip ($10 for transport, instead of the $30-35 it would cost normally), I had to get in on it. I'm so glad I did.

Our first main stop was in Forestierre, to take a walk through the rainforest. We had a really good trail guide, Cristel, who knew a lot about the different plants and animals in her forest and on St. Lucia. We stopped for a break to eat some fruit at the end of the short trail, but not before Justin, Mary Ellen, (Eric? I don't remember,) and I ate some live termites, fresh from the mound. Honestly I could't even taste them once they were in my mouth, they were just like tiny crumbs of shredded wheat.

We then headed to the Plantation House Brewery, where I enjoyed a nice microbrew lager with an overpriced but decent hamburger. On to Mega J, where I suggested we buy a 5 liter tub of neopolitan ice cream to share among the 9 of us on the van instead of stopping at an ice cream shop later. Idea approve and implemented. Excellent idea. Too much ice cream, it was awesome. We headed down the West Coast, much of which I hadn't seen before. We stopped at Plas Kasav, where they make cassava bread in the old-fashioned way, on leaves in a huge 200-year old cast iron pot over hot coals; then a nice gift shop with local crafts between Canaries and Soufriere. Our last stop before heading home was a dip in the Sulfur Springs (I didn't go in, because I hate the hassle of the grime and the smell on my skin and bathing suit and everything blech). Plenty of nice lookout points along the way.

Excellent day, I'm very glad I went.

Today I'm working on my volunteer report for the current trimester. Looking back I've done a lot of things in the past four months. I'm sure you can look back and see that too!

Tomorrow we have an all-volunteer conference, so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. It has been quite a while, and I don't think I've been up to Castries in about a month!