Day 3 - Health Ministry

Day 3 (December 3rd) What a day! The owners of Summer’s Inn, the gorgeous place we are staying, drove us to the bus stop and taught us how to ride the bus into Castries (Castries is the capital city). The buses are white 12-passenger vans; it cost us $1 US to ride the bus into Castries. We rode the bus into Castries to the Health Ministry. We met with Lisa Hunt, chief nutritionist at the Ministry, and two of her staff, Mary Ann and Melva. We also got to visit with Natasha Lloyd Felix, department head of the Bureau Health Education, and Sharon, the chief medical officer. It is so interesting to discuss the island and its culture, and how those factors influence health. Everyone we talk to reminds us to enjoy the island and have a little fun while we’re here – Dr. Hansen keeps shhhing them! I will be specifically working with Lisa Hunt during my capstone project. While at the Ministry we planned our schedule – we get to travel to Soufriere with Lisa on Thursday. I think we are all looking forward to that! The island is beautiful – so glad we’re getting to experience different areas and travel. From the Ministry we went to lunch at Auberge Seraphine; we enjoyed cream of vegetable soup and homemade bread. We had fresh citrus juice, a blend of grapefruit, lime, lemon, and passion fruit – delicious! The entrée options were fish (tuna) or chicken. I dislike tuna and not a huge fan of chicken but I choose chicken and it was good. We had a tossed salad, plantains, steamed veggies, peas (Lisa enjoyed my peas), and sweet potato (it was white). As always, the food was fantastic. We had spiced rum ice cream and fruit cake for dessert. The spiced rum ice cream was very strong. I only had a few bites – it was a little much for me! After lunch we head back to the Ministry to fetch our belongings and then took a taxi back to our place. We had a break – some of the students needed to finish homework, I napped – and we are meeting as a group tonight to work on our projects. So glad I have time to post at night and my Wi-Fi works on my phone! I don’t want to forget anything about this trip. Peace, love, Saint Lucia. Things to know about Saint Lucia: • Dengue fever is very prevalent, as is the flu • Fruits that are in season: citrus fruits! Grapefruit, oranges, lemons, limes