St. Kitts

Right now, I'm here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=saint+kitts+and+nevis&i
e=UTF8&ll=17.306516,-62.714145&spn=0.002453,0.003412&t=h&z=18

Well, ok, the truth is I'm writing from my hotel room, but the fact
remains that I'm in St. Kitts on business. I'm working at the Needsmust
Power Station, helping to commission a new generator for the island. My
second day in St. Kitts is drawing to a close.

I just had my first filling meal here - a large plate of pasta with
cheese and a plate of local spiced vegetables. Mmmmmm! So far the veggie
food selection has been quite limited, and unlike Westernized countries,
"customer service" is not a common concept. For example, when asked for
any simple vegetarian suggestions such as rice, rather than say "oh, we
can make that, no problem" or "how about ____ instead?", the answer is
simply "no....not really."

Sunset is incredibly early here. I was expecting long tropical island
days and instead the sun sets around 7:30pm. It doesn't rise any earlier
in the morning either. That means that when we leave work around 6-6:30,
it's already on it's way to being dark (think 8pm at home). Because of
the hilly terrain, the sun sets that much faster. Today I was hoping to
go for a run to explore a bit, but ran on the treadmill instead as it
was too dark.

I'm hoping to have Sunday off, or at least partially off, to have a
chance to explore. I'll see if I can find an easy way to get around, as
I don't really feel very comfortable driving (they drive on the left)
and anyway we don't have a rental car. Perhaps I can rent a bike
somewhere. I understand crime is not really an issue during the day, so
I'm not really worried about that. I'm also hoping to do some diving.

I found out that one of the guys I was working with in Cuba in March
just died last week. There is a long (10km or so) causeway joining Cayo
Coco to the mainland, and his car was found in the water in the morning.
No further details. He was Dutch and had been in Cuba about 2 years.

Things are very expensive (more expensive than at home) even when we
visited a normal grocery store today. Given the salaries (a supervisor
makes about $250USD a month), I have no idea how people can afford to
live. Unlike Cuba, there aren't two levels of currency, two levels of
stores and government handouts to make up for the low salaries. However,
it's hard to feel very sympathetic as most of the people you see around
(of all ages) are not doing very much at all. Unlike Cuba, there has
been little to no interest expressed by the locals to learn what we are
doing and how the system works.

Despite the negativity above, I'm thrilled to be here! Despite the work,
I'm on a tropical island and will have some time to explore. I really
wish I could do this longer-term, and with M here. The others I'm with
complain that after traveling a while, all hotels everywhere look the
same, all the food tastes the same, etc. They may be right; I don't
know. I suspect it's a matter of attitude. I certainly haven't done this
long enough to get sick of it yet.