Not much new happening here in Florida. It has been cool but sunny here all day but the forecast is for a hard freeze in the area tonight. It is suppose to get better, meaning warmer, starting tomorrow and on into the new week.

     Other than going for a nice walk this afternoon I pretty much hung out here around the trailer and read my book. A good book will often do that to me.... keep me so occupied that everything else falls to the wayside. Since I've loved to read since the age of 3 or 4 it probably isn't going to end any time soon either. Hope not any way.

    To return to last week on St Croix.... and who among us wouldn't like to, Thursday and Friday passed by with the usual great weather. Warm and slightly humid during the day, the sea breeze kept it from becoming to warm most of the time. I still suffered from a bout of discomfort in my lower G.I. tract. It was starting to get better, but still could only manage the 1st half of dancing on Thursday night. Bummer!

    Woke up sometime in the night on Thursday after having a dream about cheese burgers and fries. At that point I knew I was well on the way to being much better. Had lunch over at the local beach cafe on Friday afternoon and had my hamburger and fries and did indeed feel all better. Never had a problem with any of it after that.

    Friday had us doing our dancing in the afternoon so that we could eat dinner and then head into town for a local celebration called 'Jump Up'. Basically just a big street carnival that is held 2-3 times a year, all the roads in downtown Christiansted were blocked off and lots of street bands and vendors came in to sell their wares to people passing by. All of the regular merchants also stayed open later to accommodate shoppers. I've been several times now and it is always fun to go in and walk around for a bit. I always enjoy the steel bands that are set up on several streets and which are played by the local school children.

   Of course one of the major draws are the 'Mocko (Moko) Jumbies', or stilt walkers, that wander the streets dancing and showing off their skill at performing on their stilts. Originally coming from  Africa the Jumbies had been used as a means to scare wayward children into obedience. The practice was outlawed once they came to the Caribbean as being to Un-Christian and unnatural. This from the Dutch settlers who thought it was okay to steal people from their own country and keep them as slaves in a foreign land. Anyway; the custom simply went underground for several hundred years until it finally emerged again in this century. Now the elders on St Croix teach the art to many of the young kids on the island as part of their heritage. It is wonderful to watch and amazing to see some of the moves they can make while perched on their home made wooden stilts. There are several pictures of them posted below.

   So between bouts of dancing and street fairs and such, most of my day was taken up with just hanging out on the beach reading and talking to various people who would come by. I did a bit of snorkeling nearly everyday and that was a lot of fun. There is a nice 'tire' reef right off the beach in front of our condo units and it is really starting to attract a lot of fish now that it has been in long enough. Several people saw rays, turtles, lobsters and assorted other rarities. I didn't see anything in particular that I haven't seen before. Did see a couple of 'Lion' fish this time, where in the past I have only seen one or two. They are a very beautiful, deadly and invasive fish that got loose into the waters off the east coast and are now wrecking havoc where ever they go. They aren't all that big but they eat everything and nothing in this area eats them. They also have poisonous spines which can do real damage to you if you aren't careful. Right now everyone is trying to keep them in check by killing all they can find and by trying to get other fish interested in eating them. So far it is only partially working.

    So here are a few more pictures from St Croix. Enjoy!

 

Jump Up on St Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Feb 8, 2013

Waiting for the taxi to pick us up at Sugar Beach Resort. George even had the taxi service organized so that they would take you down and pick you up again for $5 and a tip. Note the constellation 'Orion' is shining through the palm leaves.

Downtown Christiansted looks a whole lot different by night.

One of the steel bands the school kids play in. They are really very, very good. Fun to watch also. 

Another view.

The music is so infectious that everyone starts to dance after awhile... even the very young. This young one was really having a good time.  

A different steel drum band.

Finally caught up to the Mocko Jumbies and had a chance to watch them dance a bit. Sorry the photo's aren't any better but my flash was not up to the distance so I had to crank the ASA factor way up and hope for the best.  

I'm thinking that if I saw something like this coming at me out of the bush in Africa I might just pay more attention to what my elders were trying to tell me.

This gives you an idea of high tall the highest ones are.

A hot and humid night and these guys are dancing and walking around on stilts while covered from head to toe. Fortunately there are always balcony's to lean against or archways to sit in.

Moving on to their next place to dance.

 

So I can't even do this standing on my own two feet let alone 10' in the air on top of wooden stilts that are made out of 2"x3"s and held on with rags tied around your legs.

Their ability to gyrate and bend would put many a regular dancer to shame.

All of them together. The younger members are on the shorter stilts while the more seasoned veterans get the taller ones.

And in a flash of color they are off down the street to another place to dance.

At one street corner was a DJ and his sound system playing a bit of dance music. In this case it was some warped cross between 'Simon Says' and the 'Hokey Pokey'. Having had a couple of 'Pain Killers' earlier on, several of the contra dancers joined right in with the locals. They then went on to a very spirited version of the 'Electric Slide'.