Daily Adventures on Anguilla: Making New Friends

   Barnes Bay, sparkling once again

Wednesday morning started out with a beautiful clarity of light.  We had planned to eat breakfast at home that day, but DH didn't feel much like cooking, so we sipped coffee on the balcony until it was time to head back to Bonjour Cafe. The bread there is quite excellent, and we weren't at all surprised to learn that they source it from Le Bon Pain in Island Harbour.

Bonjour Cafe is surrounded by flowering plants

It was so pleasant and breezy that we sat and read, and then sat and chatted with Suzan and Verlyn, for a full two hours after we arrived.  We finally got up to leave and noticed that we were under-charged for our bill--they hadn't added on the extra cost for freshly squeezed orange juice.  Incidentally, this was the second time on the trip that we were undercharged somewhere, and I'm only mentioning it here because on various travel forums there has been much talk about service charges, taxes, and possibly deceptive business practices.  I'm happy to say that ALL of the places we dined had scrupulously noted their service charge on the menu and/or on the bill itself.  (Usually 15%, but both Geraud's and Bonjour Cafe only add 10%)

A goat on the road to Sandy Ground

It was late enough in the morning that Limin' Boutique was open on our way back to Caribella, so we stopped by to exercise our pocketbooks. We'd already heard a lot of positive feedback about this new gift shop, first from Nori on her excellent Anguilla blog (which is the best single source of information about Anguilla on the web) and later from other Anguilla visitors, and we knew that we wanted to stop by. It's located on the main road in the west end, across the street from the Sol petrol station and in the same complex as Devonish gallery.

When I asked our granddaughter, who was housesitting for us while we were away, what she wanted us to bring back for her, she jokingly replied, "I don't know.  Maybe some sand?"  But I had the last laugh because I knew that Limin' carries a line of jewelry that incorporates actual sand from Anguilla and that I would be bringing a likkle something back to her. I also picked up some earrings and a matching necklace with sand from a mixture of Anguilla's beaches, including Meads.

DH and I enjoyed chatting with Renee and Ken, the owners, about our mutual love of Anguilla and our dogs.  How is it that conversation *always* leads back to dogs?  They have a very nice selection of beachy gift items, most of which are on the higher end of the spectrum, but they've curated their shop carefully to have something for shoppers in every price range.  My eyes were drawn to the beautiful, brightly colored tunics, but all of the ones I liked best were $90 and up, which is more than I would pay for beachwear.  To be fair, they were also having a sale on lots of items, with discounts of 20, 30, and even 60% off, and I spied some good bargains. They accept the Anguilla card, so we saved a little over $20 on our jewelry purchases.

Renee fashions these fixtures out of thousands of coffee filters

A local schoolgirl crafts these pens

By that time, it was almost noon, so we parted with Renee and Ken to head back to Rendezvous Bay and The Place.  For once, we had An Agenda.  You see, we were to meet up with a woman named iluvdanny from one of the travel forums, along with Mr iluvdanny and iluvdannydottir. She and I had even been having online book chats beyond our love for Anguilla, so I was greatly looking forward to spending some time together.

Shaded lunch table, feet in the sand

We had a very nice time over lunch, which stretched out long into the afternoon. Turns out we have a shared love of the British Virgin Islands, too.  I asked them which their favorite island was, and it was Anegada, which led to my telling them about a book I'd just finished reading that was set largely in Anegada, which led to their sharing a story about this, which led to...and so on. Before we knew it, it was 4:00 and The Place was beginning to settle up all of their tabs for the day.

I can hardly believe it, but I have not one shred of photographic evidence of our time together--I vaguely recall that lunch was pretty good but I've no idea what we ordered. And so we parted ways with the iluvdanny family, feeling sure that our paths would cross once more before the stay was over. (They did. Twice.  That's just the kind of island that Anguilla is.)

Our lunch ran so late that we weren't particularly hungry for dinner that night, so we stayed in, observed a very subdued sunset, ate some cheese & crackers, and finished off a bottle of wine.  Such is our wild lifestyle.  Here are some random Anguilla photos to make up for it.

Rendezvous Bay

Again, with different camera in a different light

Palm tree at The Place

Are you lookin' at me?