They say good things come in small packages. This might be the smallest nation in the Caribbean in terms of both land area and population but it certainly leaves a big impression. There’s 3 things I want to share with you about my recent trip. Welcome to St Kitts and Nevis.

So, I spent time in St Kitts and Nevis just before the pandemic and there’s some things I wanna share with you today that go beyond the usual top things to do. These are really reflections about this place.

In case you missed the previous post, you can check it here.

As always I’ll share my experience in 3 parts.

Before I forget, I’ve also made a video about this in case you want to check.


3. SWEET LIKE THE SUGARCANE

One of the conversation points when talking to locals was the concept of sweetness. Some of the Kittitians and Nevisians I met had this expression “We are sweet like the sugar cane”. But I was wondering if this was just a random local expression or there was something else behind. So I figured out that in St Kitts and Nevis:

A) They are one of the nicest people I’ve met in the Caribbean, for real. Very helpful, kind, friendly and humble. They smile very often and they are warm welcoming people. So I guess they can call themselves “Sweet” because they truly are! They have this local expression “Limin” which is the word for hanging out, chilling on island time or simply having a good time.

B) St. Kitts was known as a sugar-cane island. In fact, it was the richest British colony per capita in the Caribbean for long time and the world’s leader in sugarcane cultivation (an inspiration for the industrial revolution in the process). They had sugar production for more than 300 years before ending in 2005. And today they are still known as the Sugar City.

It’s worth mentioning that Saint Kitts is the larger of the two islands and in fact it was formed by volcanoes, all of which are now dormant. The natural landscape of this island is impressive. Literally we can do any hiking trail we want. The tallest volcano is around 1,200 metres and apparently erupted 200 years ago.


2. CARIBBEAN TIME

There’s something truly special about Time. This is not just in St Kitts but I’ve seen it in few other islands. Perhaps I started to pay more attention in St Kitts. Things just don’t always happen as quickly or as precisely as we might be used to.

Obviously this changes from island to island and feels like they have their own unique set of clocks. Potentially this can drive many visitors crazy the first few days.

I can imagine that after rushing to put things in order at work, running to the shop, packing and heading to the airport, some us might arrive to the island as if we were in a race mode.

So I think it’s important to understand and respect that people from the island don’t share the same sense of time pressure. I’ve seen visitors becoming angry if locals don’t respond as quickly or as efficiently as they want. And there are really two ways to deal with the situation. Either adapt to it, or fight it.

What worked for me was to find what the time flow was and go with it. Let’s say: things usually start 10 minutes late? Or is the average closer to 30 or 40 minutes? Fine, let’s go with it.

And this is how we all quickly start saying “No Problem”. This becomes part of our vocabulary in the island. This is the beginning of a happy time in the Caribbean.


1. EXCEPTION TO THE STEREOTYPE

When we think of a Caribbean island we might picture palm trees and white sandy beaches. Well St Kitts is an exception to that stereotype. While they do have all that, it’s worth mentioning that not everywhere in St Kitts is like that.

In fact, St Kitts and many other Caribbean islands are volcanic in origin, so the beaches are actually black sand beaches or a mixture of the black and white sand.

At the end of the trip we spent some time on the beach. I didn’t want this to end as I was enjoying everything about this island.

I personally learned a lot from St Kitts and their culture. In fact, it reminded me that there’s nice people everywhere, even more than we think. It took me back centuries ago and made me reflect about sugar production and slavery because even though St Kitts was a rich colony, the slaves had very harsh living and working conditions and many of them couldn’t survive.

This island also reminded me that optimising time is not always the best choice and sometimes it can even bring more stress.

We have the power to break stereotypes and whatever useless rules that society puts on us. At least for a moment… let’s be real, let’s be us.