Category Archives: Spouses Organization

Fort Willem

American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Blog, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Nature, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Uncategorized

Breathlessly, we broke through the trees and cactus patches. Below us, the island spread like a lazy sea otter, floating peacefully on the blue ocean. Above us, we could see the antiquated stones peeking out from among the brambles. We had found it: the lost fortress.

Sound like the beginning to an adventure novel? Well, sometimes living on Sint Maarten felt like being a character in an adventure novel. I didn’t stick to the beaten path much when I lived there, so I often found myself on some old goat trail leading to a lonely summit (fun!), the dump (not fun), or a tangle of poison apple trees (even less fun). Today’s hike, though, led me and my husband, Ben, to the ruins of the island’s original fort.

Fort Willem was the first of three forts built on the island. It was constructed by the British in 1801 to protect the new territory from invading colonists and pirates. Apparently, it wasn’t particularly effective, because not long after, the fort was captured by the Dutch. The Dutch named it Fort Willem, after their king, but didn’t use it for more than a few decades. The fort offered awesome views of the bay, but unfortunately was too high and too far inland to effectively cannonball the enemy. Fort Amsterdam, built near Fort Willem but much closer to the water, was constructed to replace it.

View of Great Bay from Fort Willem

Fort Willem is on every map of the island, and it’s advertised as a fun outing by several websites and tour companies who have apparently never been to Sint Maarten. Just because a location is labeled on a map and it looks close to the tourism district does not mean it’s a great little experience for every tourist. Especially when you’re on an island made of really tall HILLS. Fort Willem is ridiculously hard to find. And you’re guaranteed to end up bleeding in at least one place by the time you reach the fortress.

Giant shoe-penetrating thorns

That being said, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t go anyway! If you like hiking and don’t mind a little adventure, you’ll have a blast hunting for the fort.

How Not to Get There:

I spent weeks asking around about the location of Fort Willem. The map I had wasn’t quite clear about which labeled hill corresponded to the undulating mounds of earth near Philipsburg. But nobody, local or expat, had been there or could tell me where it was. A lot of people didn’t even know what what I was talking about. But I was determined to visit every accessible location labeled on my SXM map (which I eventually did!), so I didn’t give up.

Fort Willem is located on- surprise!- Willem Hill, next to Cay Hill. There are two ways to get to the top. The first way includes near-death experiences and trespassing on a TV tower. This was the way we got up. We parked across from Sonesta Great Bay Resort and followed a winding road- deceptively named Fort Willem Road- up the hill. It was incredibly steep. When we got to the end of the paved road, we followed what started out as a well-worn dirt path. As the path went on, it became narrower and less beaten down. I guess there had been a lot of relic-hunters like us who gave up and went back at this point. They were smarter than us.

The path started to lead us along treacherously steep drop-offs and through tiny gaps in the thorn trees. I don’t even know how we squeezed through while fending off the wasps, but we did.

“I think this is a goat path,” I told Ben, who agreed with me and wondered aloud if we should go back. We decided we might not survive that trip a second time, and continued on. The best part thus far was the STUNNING views of Philipsburg and Pond Island.

If you find yourself here, you’re in the wrong place

Once we’d scrambled up some slippery dirt inclines, followed an ancient boundary wall built by people enslaved by the Dutch, circumnavigated a cactus forest, and bushwhacked through the thick undergrowth, we finally came to what looked like a really old building wall. Finally! We climbed up, and to our dismay, found ourselves on the foundation of a TV tower. Yikes!

At this point, I started worrying that we’d trespassed AGAIN and might get in trouble this time. Vowing to only follow human trails from then on, we got out of the TV tower area as fast as possible.

What did we find on the other side of the tower? Why, a road, of course. A nice, beautiful paved road leading up the side of the hill from the street below.

Armed with this new discovery, and now feeling much better about the trip down, we began to search for the fort.

WE FOUND IT!

To be honest, there’s not much left of Fort Willem. I heard a rumor that some of the stones were used to build Fort Amsterdam once Willem was abandoned. We could now see Amsterdam below us…. hundreds of feet down, it stood like a LEGO structure on the end of its peninsula. Maybe they just rolled the stones down the hill?

Fort Amsterdam

After a few minutes of searching, we finally found the ruins of the wall and battlements of Fort Willem. Overgrown by bushes and invisible from the road below, the wall offers a breathtaking view of the island and the sea. Wow! It did require a climb, but the end result was worth it. We sat on the wall and tried to imagine what it must have been like to man the guns from all the way up here, long before the buildings and cruise ships appeared below.

How to Get to Fort Willem

Now that I’ve described the first way to get up, I should probably tip you off on the second, and far better, way up the hill. The road we found was a much better route. We followed it down and back to our car without incident.

Walking back to our car…. down and around the hill

If you’re going toward Philipsburg from the Simpson Bay area, you’ll go right past the road leading up to Fort Willem. When you get to the part of the road between the hospital and Little Bay, look for Otter Road. Otter joins up with Camel Road, which is the road you need to take.

You’ll find the turnoff on this road

You can drive most of the way up, or park in the neighborhood below and hike up.

Old Battlements

This is definitely one of the most painful and more random excursions available on Sint Maarten. If you’re looking for a cool hike and you only have a few days on the island, go to Pic Paradis or Belvue. If you want to see a fort, go to Fort Amsterdam or Fort Louis. But if you want to go off the beaten path and do some Indiana Jones type exploring, Fort Willem is always waiting for you!

Post Hurricane Thoughts

American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Blog, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Third Culture Kids, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Well, I’m probably over-posting on Facebook about Hurricane Irma and the devastation it caused in Saint Martin. I have an awful lot to say about it, though, especially as new updates keep coming through. I figure if you want to know what I have to say about the situation, you’ll read this. And look– here you are!

 

Med Students are OK

After a semi-sleepless night a couple days ago and plenty of tears, I finally started hearing from friends who had been out of contact for a day after the storm.

The people who sheltered in American University of the Caribbean are safe, and not only that, anyone with any medical training (even first semester med students) are volunteering in a makeshift clinic! They even delivered a baby! What a birth story.

Many of the students, spouses and kids were able to evacuate to Puerto Rico. Many others, mostly students, stayed behind.

 

 

 

Tom and Lisa are OK

If you follow me on social media, you probably know a bit about Tom and Lisa Burnett, who ran Player Development Program in Sint Maarten.

I used to go there most days to tutor and mentor the kids. Player Development blew away and the pieces are yet to be found.

But Tom and Lisa (plus their four dogs) are safe! I could breathe easier after I found that out. Their neighborhood was hit very hard.

They survived the storm huddled on a mattress under their table, both of them plus of the four dogs. They stayed there all day, through the storm and even after their roof was ripped off. I am shaking right now just thinking about it.

 

 

 

Still Waiting to Hear from Local Friends

I started following more SXM residents on social media to keep up with videos and photos. Many people seem to be OK and in shelter, but strictly rationing food and water, and in perhaps in pain.

The need help but it is hard to know what to do. Samaritan’s Purse has a fund now, and I they are delivering much needed help! If you want to help, give to them. But I haven’t heard much else, although a friend of mine with a Canadian Rotary Club is planning to try to ship down supplies and suggested that I call my local airport to see which airlines are willing to ship relief supplies down.

I haven’t heard from too many people since the main cell tower was taken out by the storm, and the power company as well, I believe.

Our former foster son, Roland and Laura Richardson, the families from my baseball team, the foster homes, the staff at the medical school, and many other friends still aren’t online yet. So keep praying.

I just keep thinking about how bad I’ve been at communication lately. My life is so out of control right now and I put everyone else on the back burner. I guess you don’t realize you’re doing that until your friends are in a life-threatening situation and you remember that the last thing you said was some stupid thing about doughnuts or worse, nothing at all for the past few weeks.

There’s nothing like the fear that you might have lost someone to make you think of all the stuff you wish you said to them last week.

 

 

 

I’m Grieving

I think I’m going through the stages of grief. I’m partially in denial, because how can those photos be real when they don’t match my memories? That flooded street covered in debris was a sunlit lane when I walked down it just a few months ago.

I can close my eyes and go back to the way it was. I can see and hear and feel and smell every part of the island.

I can hear the way it sounds to knock on the door of one of my baseball kid’s house. In my mind it is still there.

I can feel the gravel at player development under my feet and see the books and toys and everything.

I can see the view from my old balcony like I am standing there again. Pretty sure that balcony blew away.

I can taste the shawarmas at Little Jerusalem and hear the “clink, clink” of Abe and Cathy chopping up meat on the grill.

But then there are those photos of the destruction, the videos of the looting. It’s hard to reconcile.

 

 

 

I Should Be There

And there is this overwhelming sense of guilt, because somehow I feel like I am supposed to be there.

Maybe I wouldn’t be saying this if I’d actually gone through it, but I’d rather have stuck out the day in AUC, where the hurricane shelter was strong and safe, than be here wondering and waiting and watching from afar.

I’d rather be out dragging palm fronds off the street right now. Or something else useful. Maybe that sounds dumb, and maybe it is dumb.

It’s stupid to want to be stuck on an island when so many people are suffering and desperately awaiting help and wanting to leave.

I feel stupid. And useless.

People reading this are probably going to think I’m trying to be some kind of weird martyr or something, but I think I’m just really emotional and stressed out.

I actually called Jet Blue yesterday to find out if I can fly down and when, but I couldn’t get through because they’re too busy handling the crisis.

I don’t even know what I would do if I did go. It’s not like they need more people to use up rations, anyway.

So anyway, now we’re both depressed, you’re welcome. Maybe I should go back to journaling instead of blogging.

That’s what things look like from my perspective.

Now just waiting for Irma to hit Florida, and I can’t wait until that is done and the power is back and I can hear from everyone.

 

Photo Credit Flash Meteo Antilles

Camping in the Middle of Detroit: Michigan Day One

American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Blog, International Travel, Michigan, Nature, Spouses Organization, United States, , , , , , ,

Have you ever camped in Detroit? I didn’t think so! As it turns out, camping in Detroit is pretty hard to find. However, it is there, if only you look close enough. Believe it or not, Detroit does have its pockets of green wilderness!

 

 

Our pocket of green came in the form of an Airbnb backyard campsite in the middle of a pretty rough-looking urban area. The surprisingly beautiful neighborhood was tucked into an overgrown-looking street not too far from downtown Detroit!

 

 

The people we stayed with are pretty cool. They are both circus performers, and they created a wildlife sanctuary/ backyard campsite out of an old, boarded-up house that had been long forgotten. Inside, the house is a delightful explosion of homey Pinterest-type creativity, which the outside is a woodsy wonderland.

 

 

When we arrived, I was absolutely thrilled to walk from the dark street into a romantically-lit backyard wildlife space with room for campfires, stargazing, and wildlife watching! A people-sized wooden structure was nestled into one corner, surrounding a cozy tent. It looked like a sylvan fairyland.

Good thing our hosts provided a tent, because we accidentally left ours in the moving trailer and probably would not have survived the mosquitoes in our hammocks. We said good night to our hosts and their one-year-old son, and crawled into the tent with Kito.

 

 

Kito was not overly thrilled with the tent life. I, however, was delighted to have found an affordable and outdoorsy option for a night’s stay! After all, how often do you get to move to a new city, make friends, and stay in their backyard wonderland?

 

 

Of course, a new day brought new realities. The stars disappeared into a blue sky and out came the spiders. Did you know that Michigan has about 47 spiders per square inch? I was contemplating whether I would rather have Arizona’s scorpions or Michigan’s spiders as I watched them crawl their creepy little bodies over the outside of our tent. I bet demons have eight legs. However, a quick search on my phone revealed that none of the said spiders were poisonous– 4G is a definite perk of city camping.

The more important concerns of the day came soon enough as well. Long story short, we eventually found a perfect apartment. We had thought to buy a house since there are a lot of cheap ones on the Detroit market, but a safer apartment in the metro area is probably a better bet as we settle in.

 

 

My parents drove the entire 2,000 miles from Phoenix to Detroit with us! I don’t know what we would have done without them. Just handling the Kito factor alone would have made it tough to get anything done. While we were apartment hunting, my parents took Kito to about seven dog parks and playgrounds to run around! By the end of the day, she was wiped.

 

 

Things are starting to fall into place! It’s still pretty surreal that we are actually in Michigan right now. Do you know how long I’ve wanted to try out Midwest life? Maybe I’ll be regretting that sentiment around, say, November, but for now I’m pretty excited to see what it brings!

Moving to Michigan … To Who Knows Where

American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Spouses Organization, Uncategorized, United States, , , , , , ,

Surprise! We are moving to Michigan! Actually, it was more a surprise for us. 


Now that Ben is done with the first two years of medical school, the books and exams are behind him. Now he gets to do the fun part- shadowing doctors in hospitals! 

Ben’s medical school, American University of the Caribbean, has partnerships with hospitals all over the United States. While students do get to submit a list of prefered locations, the school assigns us to the hospital that fits best, depending on availability. It feels like one of those surprise grab bags we used to get at convenience stores as a kid. And while it made me a little nervous, it was kind of fun to have someone else decide where our next home would be. 


We had hoped to go to Bakersfield, California, the closest hospital to our home in Phoenix. However, we heard rumors that it was full, along with Baton Rouge and Detroit. That left Miami as the only available location on our list, so we planned for a Florida move. Tank tops and Spanish! We were getting prepared. 


Imagine our surprise when we got a call telling us that someone dropped out of the Michigan clinical rotations and we were next in line! We would be joining the previous class’s schedule, starting a few weeks earlier than Ben’s class and making up the Pediatrics rotation at another hospital later. We agreed! 


Ben’s clinical rotations start on August 14, so we had to leave 10 days after we got the news. Not a lot of time! We left Saturday, and we have been driving for two and a half days. We are almost there! 


We still don’t know where we are going to live, and the more we hear about Detroit, the less we know what to do. Go for a 15 thousand dollar home and risk the rough neighborhoods? Let more money slip into the black hole of rental properties but live in a safer area? I don’t know anything about Michigan, except for a little town called Fruitport that so visted two years ago for a wedding. Fruitport is a long way from Detroit. 


Well, I guess that is what we will figure out in the next couple days. We’ve know what it’s like to move far away to a place we had never been, but we’ve never showed up in a new place as a couple of homeless people and a dog! What will Michigan bring? I guess we will find out soon! This is all part od the adventure. 

Fort Karl in St. Barth’s

American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Blog, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Spouses Organization, St. Barth, , , , , , , , ,

St. Barth’s is the French Caribbean’s premier vacation destination. It’s so fancy (you already know)! The world’s rich and famous flock to its white sand beaches all year round! When I had the chance to visit with my friend Emily, however, I was more excited about the historic forts than the upscale resorts. Are you a history buff, too? Read on to see the stunning views from St. Barth’s Fort Karl!

Fort Karl is located in the town of Gustavia. It’s pretty easy to find. St. Barth’s is only about nine square miles, and Gustavia is the port city where just about everybody arrives. A quick ATV ride or brisk walk will bring you to the foot of the stairs. Take the brief climb up the stairs, and you’ll be on top of the world! Well, on top of the island, at least.

Fort Karl has been around for quite some time! It was built in 1789, when the island belonged to Sweden. Since then, it has become rather overgrown with bushes, cacti, and scrubby trees. In recent decades, the island has made the ruins of the fort a popular tourist attraction, creating paths through the fort and signage to interpret the history and nature of the area.

Although the fort is no longer necessary for island defense, it is an excellent vantage point for sightseeing! You get great views of the town, and apparently it’s also a popular place for whale-watching. We didn’t see any whales, much to our sadness, but we did see a bunch of boats arriving for the annual St. Barth’s regatta.

The view from the top really put the tiny size of Gustavia in perspective! It’s incredible how tiny and old this charming historic town is. They’ve really kept it nice through all these years. It’s a tiny place with a whole lot of history! I wonder what it was like to live here during the era when it was all but forgotten by Europe?

From the top, we could also see our next destination: Shell Beach! This beach is entirely carpeted by tiny shells. We could hardly wait to get down and zoom over to this beautiful beach! St. Barth’s has so much to see.

Stay tuned for a photo-filled post about beautiful Shell Beach! You don’t want to miss a taste of this stunning Caribbean destination. Like and follow for more posts on St. Barth’s and the Caribbean! Until next time.

 

Unicorns and Starbucks and Pop Stars

Arizona, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Spouses Organization, Uncategorized, United States, , , , , , ,

So… I ate my words this week. Or rather, drank my words. As many of my friends moved back to the States over the past several months, they looked forward to one thing above all else: Starbucks. Oh, they were obsessed! They talked about the pumpkin chai latte all fall (I totally didn’t miss fall because we don’t get it in Arizona anyway). They talked about pepperminty drinks all winter (another thing we don’t get). They talked about iced coffee all summer. A couple of them went to St. Barth’s for the purpose of Starbucks, because they had heard there was one there (there isn’t). Oh, and when it was time for them to move home, they talked about Starbucks all the time, posted Instagram photos, and drank it every day!

I rolled my eyes.

I don’t really like coffee, and I’ve probably had about five coffees in my entire life. So I didn’t really get the whole thing.

So, then I moved back to the States. Guess what was the first thing I bought on U.S. soil? Yup, Starbucks. Hypocrite that I am. And it was GOOD. But I did some pretty stupid things in the process, which I am blaming on the ridiculously long trip we were in the middle of. It addled my brain, guys.

The only reason I even went to Starbucks was for this sweet thing: the UNICORN FRAPPE.

This is a photo of my friend Jordon’s Unicorn. (Hey Jordon.) I am posting this because I did not get my Unicorn, friends. So I have to use someone else’s photo.  I am also posting it because, apparently, Jordon’s alter-ego is Lord Voldemort. But back to the Unicorn.

I’ve been in the Caribbean for a long time, so going up to Starbucks in the Miami airport was pretty exciting, not going to lie. Equally wonderful was the smile and greeting that I got from the barista, because I have gotten used to the customer service culture on Saint Martin. That’s a nice way of saying that there is an island-wide epidemic of poor customer service in Saint Martin. However, on Saint Martin, you don’t usually pay a whopping six bucks for, like, two ounces of coffee. The Unicorn Frappuccino was $6.50 for a tall (by the way, non-U.S. friends, a “tall” is the smallest microscopic cup of coffee you’ve ever seen). Six dollars and fifty cents! No way.

In Saint Martin, there are usually two columns for prices at restaurants and store. The left column is the price in guilders, which is roughly twice as much as dollars, and the right column is the price in U.S. dollars. At Starbucks, there are also two columns. The left column has the price, while the right column has the calories.

I looked at the menu to find something cheaper than the are-you-freaking-kidding-me-six-and-a-half-dollars cup of pink unicorn magic, and I decided on the caramel frappe. Why? because while the left column said “5.00,” the right column said “300.” Oh, $3.00 in U.S. money, right? I ordered it.

I was a little surprised when my total was $5.50-ish. I paid it, while trying to figure out the math. Oh tax. That’s right. We don’t have sales tax in St. Marten. Still, that seemed a little expensive. Who raised those sales taxes while I was gone? Politics really have gone down the toilet in this country. It wasn’t until I walked away– sleep-deprived, dragging a hyper dog, and probably looking like a crazy person– that I remembered that there’s only one currency in the United States, and that Starbucks is just really expensive. I was ordering something worth 300 calories, not $3.00. Oops.

I have another funny Starbucks moment (I actually went twice in the first week I came back– sorry to everyone I judged, either mentally or verbally, for doing this very thing). I’ll make you wait for that one, though, because my Sint Maarten friends need to know about a wonderful thing called Dutch Bros. Guys, you’re Dutch, and you have no idea what Dutch Bros is! I know, because I asked some of you. Well, as you can see, the cups have windmills and tulips on it, which, according to Stuff Dutch People Like, totally makes it Dutch. It’s also home to the one and only coffee I will ever drink, the Carmelizer. So get some Dutch Bros, Dutch people! You need this in your country.

Back to the Starbucks. I actually went back to a Starbucks in order to get that Unicorn Frappe. And much to my sadness, the barista told me that they are literally sold out all over the Valley! I somewhat suspect they’re actually just sick of making them, based on this video, but either way, I had to settle for a cotton candy frappe. Which, by the way, is really good. It isn’t as colorful as the Unicorn Frappe, though, so it didn’t look as good as my Instagram Feed. Here is a shameless plug: follow me on Instagram!

While the color didn’t make it Insta-worthy, the name on it did. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t even get a clear photo.

This is just about as good as my friend Lord Voldemort’s cup, and it wasn’t even intentional. I’ve had all sorts of interesting spellings of “Breana” on my Starbucks cups, but this is a first.

That’s all for today, guys. I have to go work work work work work now. Let me know your funniest Starbucks moment in the comments!