We walk up to where the hotels are to book a hike up Gros Piton. No problem she says, it’s $170 each. That sounds reasonable, EC$170 each. She says, no, US$170, CAD$500. No thanks.

So instead we elect to do a free hike up the hill behind The Mango Tree resort. Takes us a few minutes to figure out which is the Mango Tree but we tie up to their dock and walk up the steps – there’s a sign with an arrow “To the Hike”. Nice.

The path seems to be well maintained/used but it is STEEP, goes straight up to the ridge above. They have ropes at certain sections otherwise you’d be hanging on to tree routes. Pretty hot, pretty steep, 45 minutes later we are at the top. Pretty scenic.

Nice walk back down via a different route and nice to cool off on Milu. We have lunch and do a bit of snorkeling.

Later in the afternoon we decide to walk into town to see a bit of the local vibe as opposed to the continuous tourist party vibe. The number of tour boats is amazing and everyone chock full of people who never get off but just listen to the tour guide’s story in between the very loud boom-chokaloka-boom music.

It’s a pretty steep climb up the road to Marigot town but not bad. Frankly, not much to see. We pass one bar that is starting to try and attract Friday evening visitors by playing the boom-chokaloka-boom music (that awful blend of rap/island music that all sounds the same) at volume 12. Not 10, not 11, 12. It is hard to walk by it on the same side of the street it is so loud. Can’t imagine wanting to go and sit inside.

There’s a little roadside restaurant a bit larger than a living room with a couple locals enjoying a Friday afternoon beer. We decide to patronize them and have a cold beer. The locals and the proprietor Janice give us a lot of history and tell us about the St. Lucia national dish, Figs and Cod. Figs are green bananas, cod is fried salt cod. We make arrangements for Janice to cook it for us tomorrow for lunch. I buy a round for a couple of the lads.

They tell us there’s no point in coming to St. Lucia if you don’t climb Gros Piton, although

Back down the hill, we stop at the restaurant where the dinghy is parked for dinner. Lots of space but too hot and sunny where we want to eat so we sit at the bar until the sun goes behind the hill. Sitting next to me is Chris, an American ex-pat who lives in St. Lucia, not far from Marigot Bay. He tells us all about it. He loves it, cheap to live, he has a small mansion it seems up on the hill with car port, swimming pool. Across from us at the bar is the same guy we keep running into from Mayreau days.

We sit for dinner and have perhaps the best chicken and beef rotis we’ve had anywhere. It’s quiet, turns out Thursday night is live music night which explains the big crowds and loudness late into the evening last night.