Let me apologize for being M.I.A. for the past couple of weeks. After a much needed family vacation to St. Thomas, I'm ready to get back to the productive lifestyle. Don't get me wrong. Lounging on a water raft, having a painkiller (a rum cocktail, an island favorite) and worrying about where to dine after a day on the beach do have shades of productivity.
St. Thomas is absolutely beautiful. Before our trip, I read so many reviews on tripadvisor. Some made me scared and some made me really, really scared. I found some of the reviews honest and true to what I experienced while others bordered on written pandemonium meant to scare tourists...really scare tourists. Reading others' reviews inspired me to set-up my own account and offer my two cents.
If I can share one story with you and give it a title, it would be called "In Search of KFC." After several days of sampling island cuisine, my mom asked if we can get fried chicken for dinner. I told her that I saw a KFC on our way home from Magen's Bay (truly one of the world's most beautiful beaches). Oh, before I continue, it gets dark around 7 p.m. on the island; most stores close at 5 p.m.; and locals do not recommend walking around town after 8 p.m. So being the best daughter and son-in-law, my husband and I went in search of KFC. We headed out, on foot, towards Market Square (north side of Main Street where vendors gather to sell their wares). No clue why we went that way but when we got there, we asked two vendors who were packing up if there was a KFC near by. Indeed there was but on the other end of town near Nisky Center. We crossed the street (in order to travel to the other side) and took a safari bus (read about them here) to the KFC near Nisky Center. By now it's about 7:30 p.m. We got our to-go family bucket (mixture of original and spicy--they don't call the crispy, "crispy" but rather spicy) with two sides and headed out to catch a safari bus back to the hotel.
Easy, right? Not quite. In order to catch a safari back to the hotel, we had to cross the street again and go to the other side (traffic moves to the left). Unfortunately, by now, it was around 8 p.m. and the safaris stopped running for the night. We decided to walk back to the hotel (a little more than a mile). Actually, we didn't decide. We had NO CHOICE as we couldn't find one taxi or safari bus.
We were definitely hustling back to home base. I won't lie. I was a little scared. A lot scared.
And as we were feeling the need for speed (literally), a car slowly approached us from the right and a man called out, "Excuse me, what are you guys doing?"
We turned around, and he flashed a badge of some sort. My initial thought? Great! We are going to get kidnapped and my mom will never get her KFC!
My next thought...OMG! WE ARE GOING TO GET KIDNAPPED AND WE WILL NEVER SEE OUR KIDS AGAIN!
But after seeing a lady passenger, who also flashed a badge, and realizing that the couple were in a sports car (not enough room for two kidnapped adults), I calmed down just a bit.
The couple? Off-duty police. They said that they followed us after we crossed the street from Nisky Center because we looked lost, and more important, we looked like lost tourists. They advised us to turn around and walk on the main road. Then they said that they would follow us by car until we got to the lighted main road. But then they decided against that and instead had the lady officer walk with us until we got to the main road. Then...I kid you not...they decided to deliver us to the policemen's hub, the local gas station. Yes, we were interrogated, but more like scolded (kindly). What were we doing? Where are we going? Do we not know that it's not safe to walk at night? Do we not know that we look like tourists?
Once the lady officer delivered us to the hub, we were chauffeured back to the hotel in a police SUV. Yep. My first time ever. My one observation: very, very tight. And very scary. No air conditioning. No door handles. Just bars everywhere. Not your typical limo.
I must say that all of the police men and women (about 20 or so) were super nice and genuinely concerned about our well being. I wanted to give them a huge hug.
We apologized for inconveniencing them, but the lady officer's response was, "Don't worry, Baby. Enjoy your chicken."
I never thought that getting KFC for dinner could be life threatening.
Hope you have your chance to have an adventure in Paradise soon.
Best,
H.
Some pictures of the trip!
