This is Karen. I've had a great time with Flat Erika and her blog. I just took Jay and Kevin to the airport and with tears in my eyes said goodbye to the two flat girls and the boys.

This morning we woke early, drank coffee on the balcony and went for a walk. We walked over to my favorite beautiful spot in my village and sat there in silence for quite sometime.

I thought about the last six weeks and how much fun it has been to "link up" with Flat Erika.

First, you learned about history

You came to the island as we were celebrating Saint Lucian Independence. You learned about the first people on the island, the peaceful Arawaks and then the Caribs, the fierce fighters who practiced cannibalism.

Then I took you to Pigeon Point so you could see where some of the battles between the French and English were fought. You heard about slavery and how hard it was for the people. You also know the people of Saint Lucia are bi-lingual, speaking both Kweyol and English; and of course you know about the traditional dress as both Flat Erika and Flat Autumn will return with a new outfit.

Next you learned about nature and the island's beauty

Wonderful critters, volcano's, and natural hot springs are things locals never tire of. You also learned about the very special Rastafarian, Sly Joseph, who is making his own electricity and growing his own food on the land.

Third, I hope I was able to capture the wonderful people in my village

They are gentle, warm and caring. Some are very poor with no electricity and running water. They live in a perpetual state of camping. You learned about fishermen and how they fish. You learned that a fisherman is not afraid to cross the rough sea, taking his family to visit friends and family on Martinique. You heard the music that can be heard every day while riding the buses or passing by restaurants.

Then you learned about Peace Corps Volunteers and what they do

I took you to Monroe College; we welcomed the newest group of Peace Corps Volunteers on the island. We went to Castries to escort the girls in Junior Achievement; attended the games of disabled people on the island; and we toured visitors from a ship around our village.

That was just Saint Lucia. We went to Martinique and Dominica

We learned that Martinique belongs to the French; their money is the Euro, and it feels a lot like visiting Paris. Then we went to Dominica and hiked through the rain forest summiting at the second highest Piton on the island and then visited Trafalgar Falls.

I enjoyed every minute of it and I will see all my 3D family and friends in December!

So I will leave you with our last morning together in the village with the sounds of the furious Atlantic Ocean.

Love,

Karen

Everyone here is so nice. We are spending our last night with a best friends on the island.

Bea and Neil came to say goodbye. They were Karen's host family when Karen was in Peace Corps Training.

John and Elizabeth had us over for dinner. They are Karen's friends. Karen rents her house from them. Jay was happy because Elizabeth made Dasheen, a root vegetable. It tastes like a potato and is one of Jay's favorites.

Well, after we left the island in Martinique we took the boat to Dominica. A lot of people don't pronounce Dominica correctly. It sounds like "dominoes" It's pronounced "Dom-in-ee-ka".

We all loved this island! We want to come back. Dominica has a lot of rivers and waterfalls. It is only 29 miles long and 16 miles wide. That's not very big. It is the most under-developed island. It also is the home to the a very small population of Caribs, the people who inhabited the land hundreds of years ago!

We stayed in a retreat in the rainforest. The retreat had waterfalls and beautiful plants. There were also four natural hot springs; one right outside our door!

There were a lot of land crabs. Karen was in the hot spring one night and a crab came right up to her and just stared at her! She said that she moved closer to it and it started threatening her with it's pincher. It made Karen laugh because the little crab thought it was so tough!

Our room had three bedrooms and it was very nice. One night we came home and there were four gecko's in our room! They were pretty big. The rooms had no windows; only shutters and so they came in when the shutters were open. At night we could hear all the sounds of the rain forest. It was really pretty noisy!

A short walk from the retreat is Trafalgar Falls. It has two very big waterfalls! We climbed over the rocks and spent a lot of times just thinking about the beauty there.

Then we climbed around the rocks and found some hot springs to soak in. The springs are hot because of the island is volcanic.

The next day we hiked to the second of the tallest mountain; The Morne Trois Piton! It is 4,450 feet. The second largest boiling lake is there. It took six hours and we were all congratulating ourselves when we finished the walk. Today, none of us are walking too well. We are all very sore!

As we left the dock to come home, we spotted a real Pirate Ship! Flat Autumn and I were scared, but Karen told us not to worry. This ship is used to entertain tourists and so we were in no danger. Both Flat Autumn and I were really relieved.

We boarded the boat and came back for our last night in Saint Lucia.

Hi Everyone! Flat Autumn and I went to Martinique with Karen, Jay and Kevin. We got on a boat that carries about 250 people. The boat is called a catamaran and it moves very fast through the water. It took 1-1/2 hours to get there. Martinique is another island in the Caribbean. It belongs to France. They speak French and their money is the Euro.

The water was very rough and sometimes people even were screaming like they do when the ride roller coasters!

Martinique is a lot like France. They have many outdoor cafes and lots of chocolate pastries! Karen really liked those!

We got to Martinique in the late afternoon and spent the night at a hotel. They were very nice there. They told Karen she did not have to pay for us to stay there. They said they never make Flat People pay because they don't take up much space.

The next morning we got up and went to another island!

Hey everybody. Here's some real Saint Lucian music to listen to. I hear these all the time on the island.

I'm going to bring a CD back for us to listen to. That way we can remember Saint Lucia! I Hope you enjoy this.

Well, 3D Erika, I have to tell you that now I've seen everything.

We met a real Rastafarian named Sly Joseph. He has land near Karen's village. His land has a waterfall and pools of water. There is a rope that Jay and Kevin used to swing into a very large pool of water. It was very beautiful there.

Mr. Joseph is very smart. He wrote a grant to the University of Vermont and they gave him money to build hydroelectric power on his property. I know hydroelectric is a big word and means that electricity is made by pumping water downhill. Then the water is sent back up the hill. Mr. Joseph's electricity is all made by pumping water from the waterfall. That means he doesn't have to pay an electric bill, but it also means that he is environmentally conscious.

Mr. Joseph eats mostly fruits and vegetables that are grown on his land. He shared a soursop with us and it tasted so good! It is a very sweet fruit.

Mr. Joseph also has a lot of pets. He has a donkey and a dog and fish that swim in his pond. He is a very nice man.

Mr. Joseph has an outside classroom where he brings children to teach them about sustainable living.

We learned that Mr. Joseph is far ahead of his time and we wish everyone could learn from him. He really cares about the earth and doesn't want to hurt it.

Hi 3D Erika and friends.

We had such a nice time yesterday. We had a very nice lunch at a very fancy restaurant between the two Pitons in Soufriere. Everyone is very proud of the Pitons. They are a national symbol here. The Pitons were considered sacred to the island's first inhabitants, the Arawaks and the Caribs. They are two huge volcanic mountains.

This is where we had lunch. Isn't it pretty? Jay didn't really want his picture taken, but Karen did it anyway. I think she is funny.

Well you will not believe what we did after lunch. We went right into a real volcano. It is right next to the Pitons in Soufriere which is on the western part of the island. You can look on the map to see where we were. The western part of the island is known for its beauty.

First we went to the Mineral Springs. It is so beautiful there. The springs are very warm because the water is heated in the volcano!! Lenny is our friend and couldn't wait to hold us for the video. Everyone had so much fun with us.

Anyway, we went right into the volcano. It is the worlds only drive-in volcano. How scary is that! Karen said not to worry because the volcano is dormant and we would likely be safe.

Anyway, we went into a stream where there are pools of very hot water and lots of mud from the ashes of the volcano.

Jay wanted to cover us with mud, but Karen said we could only watch here because she didn't want us to get dirty.

Karen, Jay and Kevin got mud all over their bodies! We all laughed very hard when we saw how silly they looked!

Hello everyone. My new friend came over yesterday. Her name is Yvette. She is eight years old too! She lives across the street from us.

Before she got to know us, Jay and Kevin were telling her how much they love us. Yvette laughed because she doesn't know any men in the village that have flat friends. Then she got to know us and now we are good friends. So now she doesn't laugh at Kevin and Jay when they play with us!

Yvette just returned from Martinique. It is another island that is 25 miles from here. That's about the distance between where you are and Catalina island.

But here is the crazy part. You know how we take a big boat to Catalina? Well Yvette's dad is a fisherman and he takes the whole family there on his small fishing boat like the ones here!

Yvette says she likes it when her dad gets air. I think Yvette's family is very brave.Fishermen are very brave people. They go out early in the morning before the sun comes up. They travel way out to sea and fish all day long before coming home.

Hi Everyone. We had a good day today. Karen invited some people who she met on her blog to come to Micoud. They came on a big cruise ship that docked in Castries. They wanted to tour the village and eat some authentic Saint Lucian food. William and Denise and their children Rebecca and Ben came by taxi. They arrived early in the morning.

While we were walking we met Darnley. Karen works with him. Darnley is telling them the story of Sir John Compton. He is the Father of Saint Lucia. Sir John was a banana farmer from Karen's village. He stood up to the people who owned the sugar plantations. He drove them off the island in the 1970s. He worked hard for the people and showed them how to grow banana's. When Saint Lucia gained their independence from the United Kingdom, he became the first Prime Minister. He died in 2007 and everyone really misses him.

William bought everyone lunch today! Wasn't that nice? We really liked meeting his family and it's something we will remember for a long time. Their children were so nice that when we took a picture they asked if they could hold us.

After lunch William and his family had to leave. We were sad to see them go. We ate so much food that we decided to go for a walk out to the point where the sea is rough. It takes about fifteen minutes to get their from Karen's house. We saw some cute goats and there were also a lot of cactus along the way. We were surprised to see all the cactus!

We finally got the sea. It is VERY scary! There are very big waves. It is beautiful and Karen says she likes to go there often.

Listen to Jay. He's talking to the goats. Isn't he funny!

This picture is of a rock. If you look very carefully the rock resembles the shape of Saint Lucia. Everyone likes to go there and admire the beauty!

Hi everyone! We got dressed up today. I felt a little jealous because Flat Autumn had a pretty necklace and I didn't. Flat Autumn felt a little jealous because I had traditional dress and she didn't. Karen fixed that problem. She made a nice "EK" necklace for me and a new dress for Flat Autumn.

Today we went to Soufriere to help with the games that Special Ed students play on the island. While we waited for everyone to arrive we talked with other Peace Corps Volunteers. There were also volunteers from Japan! Their Volunteers are called JOVC or the Japanese Overseas Volunteer Cooperation. It is a lot like the United States Peace Corps.

The children came to Soufriere by bus and some even came by a Catamaran! Can you imagine, they took a Catamaran (a large water taxi) to their field trip!

Once every year they meet at a village or a town to play for medals. We had a wonderful time. We started with a parade!

We cheered a lot for the Vieux Fort Team because Karen is friends with the Principal of the Vieux Fort Special Needs School.

These students are from Vieux Fort, which is the town on the southern tip of the island. Vieux Fort (pronounced View Fort) It is a manufacturing town. Many companies come to Saint Lucia and the people assemble their products.

We stopped at a few places and the children cheered for their teams!

The children were very excited and had a lot of team spirit. They ran relay races, sprints, one hundred yard dashes and other sports. We had a great day. When we got home Kevin and Jay took a nap. They get real tired when they travel. They needed their nap because The Aztecs play tonight.

Hi Everyone! We had a lot of fun at Pigeon Point. It is one of the most important spots in St Lucia if you want to learn about history.

Pigeon Point is a place where there were battles between the French and the British more than 200 years ago! It had a fort and prison. We explored the look-out point where the British watched to see if French ships were coming to Saint Lucia.

They had big cannons that they used to fight the French when they saw them. The island switched from French to English possession 14 times until the English finally won!

We had to walk up a very steep hill to see it. Look at us, we are in the underground chamber where they stored their gun powder.

There were a lot of birds eating things on the ground. Their feathers are good camoflauge. Can you find the bird in this picture? It's hard. You can click on the picture to make it bigger.

Hi Erika and Autumn! We've been having a lot of fun.

Jay, Kevin and Flat Autumn were happy to see Karen and I at the airport! The airport is named Hewanorra. Hewanorra is a native Amerindian word meaning "where the Iguanas are found". The Amerindians were living on the island when it was discovered. They used to think that Christopher Columbus discovered the island, but they don't really know.

Yesterday we learned a lot. Flat Autumn and I went to Castries early in the morning. It took an hour to get there. Karen teaches a class at Monroe College on Saturday mornings.

Jay and Kevin took us around Castries while we waited for her. We found Rituals, which is a coffee shop like Starbucks. We were glad we found it because Jay didn't have coffee before we left!

After Karen was finished teaching we had lunch at Karen's favorite restaurant near the college. It is a vegetarian Rastafarian restaurant. We had rice, macaroni and cheese, plantains, pigeon peas, a salad and yucca.

After lunch we took a bus to Pigeon Point. I will tell you about that on my next post.

Guess who is here? I am so happy. Flat Autumn is here with me in Saint Lucia. We have been catching up for the past couple of days! I am so happy to have a flat friend with me. Do you see the pins we have? We are officially unofficial temporary and honorary Peace Corps Volunteers. Isn't that exciting?

3D Erika - Look I'm in jail! But don't worry. I didn't do anything wrong.

Karen is working for a foundation and the Saint Lucian Government has given them permission to use the old Police Station. The real jail is at the new police station. We went to the Old Police Station to take pictures of what the building looked like before cleaning it up.

Isn't it a scary place? I promise to be VERY good!

Bonjou! Mwen ni ywit lanne. Ki laj ou ye? As you can see I am learning a lot of Kweyol. I just said, Hello, I am eight years old. How old are you? I am feeling more grown up since my birthday earlier this week.

This is a picture of the village. Ask Jay to show you where we are living. He knows.

We have a lot of animals and creatures in our village and in Saint Lucia. Here are some of them:

Look at this tiny frog. There are lots of them here in the village. They have very big eyes. I wonder if it makes them see better. What do you think?

Butterfly’s are always fun to look at. They are so pretty.

There are lots of goats. People tie them up so they don’t wander off. They sleep most of the day! Isn’t the baby goat cute? The mother goat was calling her baby goat in this picture. The baby goat was upset because it could not figure out how to get to her mom.

Do you see the little hermit crab? He is hiding in his shell.

There are lots of humming birds on the island. Can you find him in the picture? You can click on it to make it larger.

Look at the crab! There are lots of them. People set traps, catch them and have them for dinner. Ah, poor crab.

Here’s an ant. They are smaller than ours. They are brown and there are lots of them. Karen set traps and killed them. Now she feels kind of bad.

Mombo and Crystal, our neighbors have a dog who just had puppies. Aren't they cute?

At night we hear crickets - lots of crickets. They sing all night long. About 4:00 in the morning the roosters start crowing. Roosters and chickens walk up and down our street. They are very noisy.

Well, that's about all for now.

Hi 3D Erika. I hope your birthday is as good as mine. Karen had a cake for me with eight candles - well, they were sort of like candles. She sang Happy Birthday to me. You can see it on the video.

We had a nice day today. The cable stopped working and there is no water so we went to the Library and helped Egbert, the Librarian with his homework. He is very nice and really likes to see me.

I hope your day was as fun as mine. Write and let me know what you did. I love you!

Bonjou! Sa Ka Fet! That means "Hello, what's up?" I heard that Mrs. Schneider is going to let the class visit my blog. I think Mrs. Schneider is very nice. I’d love to hear from you. I miss all of you. You can send a comment at the bottom of the post. Just click on “comment” and ask me a question or tell me what you think. I’ll write you back! At the end of each post you can tell me if you think I’m having a “Good Time” and if you “Wish you were here”. Just check the box.

Well, Karen and I had a big day today. We went to Castries, the capitol of Saint Lucia. As we left our house, Karen told me how happy she is because the men were here to finish making screens for her windows. She says she’s happy because she won’t have so many mosquito bites now. The man is making her screens at the house across the street.

We met with a lot of the volunteers at the Peace Corps Office. They put me right in the center of things as they discussed Peace Corps business. They are all so nice and were so happy to see me. They loved my new Kweyol clothes.

You can click on the pictures to make it bigger so you can see me better.

I thought you might want to know a little bit about how I live. One thing you might find strange is that we don’t have hot water here. No one does. We take cold showers and Karen heats the water in her electric kettle to wash the dishes.

Karen says she doesn’t worry too much about hot water – she just wants water. Many times, the water system breaks and we don’t have any. We have buckets in the shower filled with water. We use them when there is no water. Karen says that sometimes they don’t have water for two or three days at a time!

There are a lot of people without much money here. Most of the people in the village make money by fishing or growing bananas. Some people don’t have indoor plumbing or electricity. They have public facilities where people go to get water and take a shower or use the bathroom.

The man in the picture is a fisherman. He is cutting up his catch and will sell them to the local people here. Fisherman are very brave because they go way out to sea in very small boats to catch their fish.

Karen and I went to a conference last week in Castries. That’s the capitol of Saint Lucia. We brought seven girls with us. They were very excited and lots of fun. The conference was at a very nice hotel called Sandal’s. None of the girls had ever been there and so we all explored the pool and beach area. It was really very beautiful.

The girls are the officers in a Junior Achievement Project at the Secondary School. Junior Achievement teaches students how to create a business, make a product and sell it. They are making dog tags and key chains and have sold a lot of them. They are very popular.

Junior Achievement is in schools all over the world! Karen said she was in Junior Achievement when she was in high school. She said that it was so much fun that’s why she wanted to work in the business field! She said that when we get to high school it is likely that we will have the opportunity to be part of Junior Achievement. I can hardly wait!

Hi everyone! Well, Karen and I have been very busy lately.

I learned about the people and their traditions during Independence Day. Do you remember the video of the children dancing in their traditional clothes? Well, Karen and I went to Castries yesterday and she bought some traditional material at one of the stores. Today, she made me a new outfit.

Karen says that it looks like I'm going "native". That's what they say when you change and become more like the people in the country you are visiting. Do you like my new outfit?

Boujour! So, here is the next part of the story. After the French took the island from the Caribs, the the English came and decided they wanted it! They fought for years and the island went from French to English seven times. The English finally won and they ruled the island until 1979!

In the meantime business men came to produce sugar cane. They needed people to work in the fields. So, do you know what they did? Men with ships went to Africa and caught African men and women. They put them in chains and forced them in their boats. They brought them to Saint Lucia and made them slaves. They were forced to work in the fields and beat them if they didn’t work. Slavery lasted for over one-hundred years! Many of the traditions they have come from the days of slavery. They have traditional dance. They wear special dresses. Here’s a video Karen took of children dancing in their traditional clothes.

Bonjou! Kouman ou ye? Mwen byen mesi. That means “Hello! How are you? I am well thank you.

Well, since it’s Saint Lucia’s 30th Anniversary of their Independence from Great Britain, I thought I would start to tell you a little bit about their history. A lot of children came to the Micoud Library to learn about Saint Lucia. The picture is of some of the students. They wear uniforms to school. Even students in the community college wear uniforms! They call Karen "Miss". This is to show respect. The teacher in the picture is also called "Miss".

So let me tell you a very exciting story.

Hundreds of years ago the first known people on this island were the Arawaks. They were very peaceful people. This fished and hunted and also farmed the land. Did you know they had flat heads? When a baby was born they tied two boards on the baby’s head; one in front and one in back. After awhile they took them off and the baby's head was flattened. They thought that was beautiful. I wanted to laugh when I heard that, but I had to remember how bad I felt when people looked at me for being flat, so I didn’t.

Anyway, they were living a good life on a very beautiful island when another tribe came from Venezuela. They were called the Caribs. They thought the island was beautiful and they wanted it. They were very different from the Arawaks. They were fierce fighters. They killed all the Arawak men. They took the women and children and made them slaves! But, there’s more. Do you know what they did with the Arawak men? They ate them!!! But don't worry about me 3D Erika, they aren't around anymore, so I won't be on anyone's dinner plate while I'm here!

Then the French discovered the island and they decided they wanted this paradise for themselves. So they fought the Caribs. The Caribs won three times, but the forth time they lost and now the island belonged to the French!

Karen said her village was a place where many of the Caribs and Arawaks lived and they found pottery and other things right near her house! These things were made hundreds of years ago.

Karen and I helped Egbert, the Micoud Village Librarian put up an exhibit to teach the children about history. Here I am next to the part that tells them about early Saint Lucian Life.

Next I'm going to tell you the next part of their story! It's about more fighting for the island and slavery!

Well, this has been a busy day. Karen and I got up early and went to the Library to help set up an exhibit for Independence day. There is so much to tell you. I’m going to tell you stories about cannibals and slaves, and heroes and freedom! But you have to wait and keep checking my posts to find out about these things!

After we were done at the Library we went to the Hewanorra Airport. We went there to welcome the new Peace Corps Volunteers. They are going to be here for over two years! Karen’s been here for six months and will be here until October 2010. The Peace Corps Volunteers come to help people who have ask for help. Peace Corps Volunteers help start small businesses, they help people learn how to eat properly and take care of themselves and they are teachers and sports coaches.

Karen is helping her village to start tours for people who are staying on ships and in hotels. This will bring money into her village. There are a lot of people who don’t have jobs here. If tourists come here there will be more jobs. Karen said that when Jay was in Honduras he helped farmers learn how to plant different things to eat. Maybe he will comment on my blog and tell you about it!

We are living just like the people in her village live. I will tell you a lot more about that later. Well I guess that’s all for now.

Karen and I went to Castries where Karen teaches a business course.

The people on the streets stared at me because I’m different. I'm flat. No one else in Saint Lucia is flat and I felt bad. Karen made me feel better. She told me that people are just curious. Karen is different too and people stare at her. Karen says that there are a lot of differences when you visit another country and being flat is just one of them. It's really alright to feel different.

The students in Karen's class loved me. We are throwing the PEACE sign to show friendship.

Do you know how to pronounce Saint Lucia? Well, I didn’t know either until I got here. Saint Lucia is pronounced “Saint Loosha”. It is an island in the Eastern Caribbean and we are very close to the equator. Look at the map. I am living on the eastern side of the island in the village of Micoud. Can you find it? You can click on the map to make it easier to see.

Being close to the equator means it is very hot here. You can find the temperature in Saint Lucia anytime by just looking here on my blog. Do you see it? Don’t worry about it being hot, the island breeze keeps me very cool. Did you know that where I am is four hours ahead of your time? So, when you are starting school at 8:30, I’m having lunch because it’s 12:30 here! The island is very small. Los Angeles is 4,061 square miles and Saint Lucia is only 231 square miles! Karen said that when Jay and Kevin get here we are going to hike across the island. The population of their whole country is just a little bit more than the people who live in Torrance! There are only 160,000 people on this whole island. There are 138,000 people living in Torrance. Oh, and one more thing. English is the official language. The people also speak a kind of French Patois which they call Kreywol (pronounced creole).

Hey Everybody, I'm here. This was a long trip. My trip began at the United States Post Office in Torrance on January 24, 2009. I arrived in Saint Lucia on February 18, 2009.

I have been waiting for two days for Karen to pick me up from the Peace Corps Volunteer Office in Castries. I've been well taken care of by Hermina who is the Administrative Assistant. She was very gentle with me when she put me into Karen’s mail slot. Karen had to get on a bus and travel to the capitol which took about an hour. I was very excited to see her! She got her camera out right away to document my trip.

I will be mostly resting until Jay and Kevin arrive on March 19. That’s when the real fun will begin. In the meantime this is Saint Lucia’s thirty year anniversary of their independence and there are a lot of celebrations on the island. Next week, I will be attending the Micoud Village Library exhibit that Karen helped create. I will tell you about what I learn.

We listened to a lot of Raggae music on the bus back to the village.

You can follow my adventure. I will post something once a week. You and your friends and teacher can become a follower of my blog. Everyone can make comments or ask questions and I will answer you! I hope this blog will allow you to be part of my adventure.