in march, ann and i decided on short notice (ie. late the night before) to burn some of our hard earned airline and hotel points and fly to st. kitts for three nights! it was a very good decision! we got in late and stayed the first night at the island’s only budget hotel, located in a crumbing colonial boarding house in the suburbs of the capital, basseterre. the host was a super nice dreadlocked guy who has met nearly every country-counter in the world, as his is the only cheap place to stay on the island. the next day we explored basseterre and ate some to-go fish for lunch in the main square, before heading to our points-redemption prize for two nights, the marriott! it was great as one would expect a marriott on the beach in st. kitts to be, though be prepared to eat off-site if you are on anything resembling a budget. this is not hard as there are some great barbeque joints along the beach.
st. kitts and nevis is famous for a few things – it is the smallest country in the western hemisphere, and offers citizenship to anyone from anywhere if they make a large investment in the country. the island of st. kitts is shaped like a cricket bat. just to the south of it is the smaller volcanic island of nevis (pronounced neevus, like a mole), which interestingly has a nascent independence movement of its own, and was the childhood home of alexander hamilton, one of america’s founding fathers. it was also the home of frances nesbit, a plantation widow whose allure inspired the british naval legend horatio nelson to sail the 90 km from his base in antigua with regularity, so the story goes. i went on a glorious run to the top of a hill near the marriott for amazing views over nevis. great weekend!
