8 hrs, 11.8 kms
Day Totals: 16 hrs, 18 .8 kms

About 2 kilometers off the road is Marigot Bay, an important tourist attraction--a film location for a couple of movies. I'm making good time, so I figure I can afford to do a little side trip.

I hike up and over a steep hill and can see the bay far below, surrounded by lush vegetation. At the bottom there are a couple of restaurants... but it seem no way to get to the bay! Finally I figure out that you have to walk through the restaurant and onto an elevated walkway through a mangrove swamp and finally out to the open water where a couple of yachts are docked and there's another restaurant built over the water.

Kind of cool to reach a bay through a swamp like this--and I'm glad that they've preserved this mangrove swamp. I take a few moments to soak in the swamp experience--albeit from a wooden walkway... then I continue on my way.

The road continues to wind through the mountains with scattered houses and churches tucked into the jungle . Finally it coasts down to another flat valley where there's a little bit of industry going on... then up another steep hill where the suburbs of castries are. These hill suburbs don't have the dangerous feel like Port of Spain or Kingstown, St Vincent... In fact, the beautiful president's mansion is at the top.

An odd circular structure on a ridge catches my attention. I go and check it out and find the reinforced turrets of artillery guns. This is Apostles Battery, a strategic defensive position overlooking Castries harbour over a mile away.

Many battles were fought here between the British and the French over control over this island. The French fought for it fiercely until they were forced to give it up. It's a symbol of the struggle between the great, greedy global empires.

Now it's just a relic of history. The present rulers of this country are descended (at least in part) from the African slaves who were brought here against their will .

There's a grassy, shady area here where I can rest, ponder and gaze down to the city, before making the hike down the steep windy roads down to the city center.

On my van back to Soufriere, I sit next to an older fellow with thick glasses and a plaid bandana. He immediately spots my guitar and strikes up a conversation.

"My name is Aagee Simpson, I'm a musician--I've been playing music all my life around the Caribbean." Suddenly I realize that he's the face on the poster of a new album release plastered all over the country. This must be my lucky day.

We talk for the better part of our ride... about the struggles of being a full time career musician. He's done all sorts of things--acted in movies... he's a radio DJ... played on cruise ships... tonight in fact he's playing music at a restaurant in Soufriere. If being a full time musician is tough in the United States, I imagine it must be much more difficult here in St Lucia!

I would like to come here him play, but I feel a bit uneasy wandering around Soufriere late at night. We have our photo taken together... a veteran Parkbench musician and a veteran St Lucian musician.