---

---

Today was a very relaxed sort of day. Our morning began with good conversation and an incredible breakfast of coconut pancakes, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, and sausage made by our Airbnb host, Lecia.

After this, I spent some time taking in the sight of beautiful Bolongo Bay from the patio. Our stay is only reaffirming the opinion we formed last year, that Airbnb is the best way to travel. Staying with a forty-plus year resident of the island has given us a profoundly deeper experience than we would’ve had otherwise.

Today, I finally began to decompress and shed the stress accumulated from a year of extremely hard work. After a full day of sunshine and salt air I noticed my breathing became naturally deeper, the muscles in my face began to relax, and my body felt fully rested. Even after twenty-plus years of meditation practice stress it still amazes me how sneaky stress can be in our modern world, building up in such minuscule layers a person doesn’t even notice. It happens so subtly that you don’t realize how intensely the rigors of modern life affect you until you can just have a couple of days to just be.

Lunch was at a Mexican restaurant in Red Hook called, Melt. It’s a fun little place “where it’s always happy hour.” We enjoyed a healthy burrito bowl there with some nuclear scotch bonnet pepper salsa (the best I’ve ever had.) A local IPA was the perfect way to extinguish the intensity of the heat from the Caribbean pepper salsa. So good, in fact, I had two.

While in Red Hook today we bumped into, Kris, a woman who tends bar at a restaurant we live right across the street from back home...small world! She and her friend looked as blissed out by the sun as we were.

After lunch we traveled to an area called Yacht Haven Grande for a stroll along the harbor for a little exercise and to see the insanely humongous yachts. Whenever I see such displays of extreme wealth I can’t help but think about the huge disparity between the “haves” and the “have nots” of this world. This gap is growing larger by the day.

@denmarkguy, I was able to snap a partial picture of The West Indian Trading Company building I mentioned in yesterday’s post. This particular building isn’t as old as I thought, it was built in 1918. This photo was taken as we were careening down a steep and winding hill on the way to Yacht Haven.

After we got back to our temporary homebase I hiked down through the grounds of Lecia’s property to capture a picture of something quite unique. This is a turpentine tree. The tree is where, you guessed it, turpentine comes from. When Lecia pointed this out to us during breakfast this morning I knew I had to post a picture of it. I always thought turpentine was a petroleum product.

Along the way to the turpentine tree I walked by this bush that was in full bloom. I have no idea what it is but the color stopped me in my tracks so I had to take a picture.

This island is teeming with such a vibrant and diverse mix of life...at the moment we're extremely grateful and happy to count ourselves among that mix. Today, I read a quote on a t-shirt in one of the tourist shops that said, “A job is nothing more than the means to buy a ticket to a place where you can fall in love with life.” Something interesting to ponder.

Until next time, be well. Tomorrow is a beach day so I’ll have more adventures to share with you very soon.

Did you miss my previous post about our first full day on St. Thomas? If so click here to read it.

---

I am an American novelist, poet, traveler, and blockchain enthusiast. Your Upvotes, Comments, and Resteems are always appreciated!

Eric Vance Walton - Media

www.ericvancewalton.net
Steemit
Twitter
Facebook