Saint Lucia is a mountainous island with lots to show: sandy beaches, colorful towns, historical places, rain forest, amazing nature trails and a drive-in volcano. Small as it is, at 46 km long, it is the largest of the Windward Islands. The most famous of St. Lucia’s landmarks is the impressive and iconic Pitons, twin volcanic plugs covered in dense vegetation which rise sheer out of the sea.

The island’s first European settlers were French, but it changed hands back anf forth thirteen times between the French and Brittish. It gained independece in 1979—at which time it was ruled by the U.K. The official language is English, but most St. Lucians also speak Kwéyòl, a French-based creole.

St. Lucia has the peculiar distinction of being the country with the most Nobel Laureates per capita: two (literature and economics) for merely 178,000 inhabitants. For comparison, Chile also counts two Nobel Prizes, but with a population 100 times larger it ranks 48th.

Marigot Bay

We used Marigot Bay marina as a luxurious base camp for most of our stay and took taxis and buses to explore the island.

Rodney Bay

Rodney Bay is named after Admiral George Rodney, who took St. Lucia from France, expelled all the Arawak people, cut all the trees on Pigeon Island, built a fort there to spy on French Martinique, and went on to win the Battle of Les Saints in 1778, consolidating British ownership. Quite an overachiever.

Soufrière Area

Our volcano guide, Monty, asked us where we were from. We said “Chile”, and were prepared to add “South America”, since many people are kinda lost in the map. We didn’t have to. “Ah, Chile! Where the Atacama Desert, the driest place in all earth, is”. We were impressed.

Climbing Gros Piton

Gros Piton is 770m high, slightly taller than its sibling Petit Piton. The climb is a two-hour strenuous upstairs workout; it’s so steep that climbing down is no faster than up. It took us two days to recover.