A week ago today, I was in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a port day in the middle of a weeklong Caribbean cruise.  It was sunny and in the mid seventies, unlike today in Dallas where it is rainy and barely forty.  I will write a more general post about the cruise in another post, today I want to focus on St. Thomas.

Unlike St. Kitts, where we had been the previous day, the “main drag” in St. Thomas was not walkable from the pier where our ship docked for the day.  There was, however, an abundance of open shuttles waiting to carry people to the heart of the tourist district for a mere $4.  We hopped on one of these shuttles with fourteen other visitors and rode the the few miles to downtown St. Thomas.  When my friend and I disembarked, we handed the driver $5 each.  He offered us each a dollar back being that the posted fare was only $4.  We told him to keep it. Tipping is customary in the Virgin Islands.  He gave us a genuine smile and a heartfelt thank-you.  It made is think that most people must not tip.

My friend and I wandered around the shops for awhile.  If you have ever cruised, you know that all of the streets in the port cities are lined with jewelry stores punctuated here and there by shops filled with kitschy souvenirs.  We were interested in neither of these things.  As we were about ready to find a shady spot and something to drink, we wandered into one last shop.

This one was different.

This shop had no diamonds.  It had no t-shirts or magnets.  It was a small shop, well-lit, and neatly arranged.  It was filled with things that we had not seen anywhere else.  This was because this shop was selling one-of-a-kind handmade items.  The woman we met inside was not only the shopkeeper, but also an artist.  She was selling her creations as well as those of other local artists.  She made batik clothing, bags, and accessories.   She also created beautiful vessels, bowls and cups, from calabash that she painted.

This is the kind of shop I had hoped to find.  The things she was selling are the kinds of souvenirs I like to find on my travels.

The shopkeeper’s name is Tulip.  She is a retired English teacher, now following her dream to live a more creative life.  She was easy to talk to and was eager to share her story with us.  Tulip told us about her career as an educator and about how she is now enjoying making art in her retirement.  She told us the unique stories of many of the items in her shop.  Tulip also shared her creative process, both her thoughts as she was making things and the specific techniques that she uses.

I had to have one of her calabash bowls.  Tulip explained to me what the spirals that she painted on the bowl meant to her. She told me about the calabash tree and the paint colors she used.  I love the bowl itself, but I love it even more because of the person, the face, that I now associate with it.

In addition to this beautiful bowl, I also had to have a batik headband and a handpainted linen shirt that were also made bt Tulip.

I was quite happy.  Happy with my purchases and that I was done shopping for the day…and really for the rest of the cruise.  Meeting Tulip in her shop is a significant memory that I want to hold on to from  this vacation.

At this point, we decided to head back to the ship even though we still had four hours before all-aboard.  I wanted to find a comfortable place to knit the afternoon away.  I think my conversation with Tulip ingnited my desire to make something right then.

We had to find a shuttle to take us back to the pier.  We made our way out to the main street to wait.  It didn’t take long for an empty shuttle to pull up and the driver ask if we needed a ride back to te pier.  We jumped on.  The driver slowly moved down the tourist-packed street looking for others who were also ready to head back to the ship.  No takers.  We figured that we would have to sit on the shuttle until he had a full load.  Understandable since that is how the drivers make their living.  But nope.  He headed back with just the two of us.  This should have been a $64 run for him since the shuttles held sixteen people at $4 a head.  He was willing to make it an $8 run with just us.  We were surprised…and most appreciative.

To show our appreciation, we each gave the driver ten dollars.  My friend handed him her bill first.  I then handed him mine.  He wouldn’t take it, explaining to me that my friend had already paid for both of us.  It took some doing for me to convince him that we wanted him to have both ten dollar bills since he made the trip for just the two of us.  He thanked us many times.

We often hear how “locals” prey on tourists, looking for any opportunity to take advantage.  That was not the case at all in St. Thomas.  All of the local people that we encountered were friendly…even the ones trying to lure us into their jewelry shops by offering us free diamond earrings. 🙂

A little kindness goes a long way.  St. Thomas was definitely the port highlight of my trip.

More about the rest of the trip in a later post.