Day 18: St. Thomas

A little too built up, but a great jumping off point. Pics and the difference between PR and VI ferries as soon as they dont want me to pay for internet.

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I got up, almost walked into the projects, turned around, and got onto the ferry to St John. The VI ferries are unsubsidized, so it was a little different. Some of the diferences: AC, an extra hull, 15 more knots, and 48 extra dollars. But it was smooth enough to read, so it was totally worth it. I did go outside for a little bit, made a girl scream (by spotting some dolphins, what did you think?), and went back in.

In St Thomas I went to the Galleon House, and was rewarded yet again for waiting till the last minute. I ended up getting a bayview room at just over the hostel rate. Take that, conventional wisdom. Then I collapsed onto my bed because it is oppressively hot down here. I, um, read somemore. And learned things. Things like: If I replace meals with honey roasted peanuts they will be gone in 18 hours. Freezing yourself in Carbonite is a viable escape from deadly explosions... you know, useful things.

After it cooled down a bit, I headed out to go to Blackbeards Castle! Its not actually Blackbeard's castle, its a old observation tower that's they turned into a tourist trap... that was closed today. Maybe becaue it's Saturday? Yeah, I dunno. AND it was up the historical "99 steps" - an odd name for 103 stairs. They built it out of bricks the Dane's brought over as ballast. Other than that, it's nothing special. To get from the street to (the restaurant to the pool to reception to) my room is 93 steps up the same hill.

Then I went to go look at the old fort... also closed. (Y'all should be impressed, I've not jumped so many fences recently) and gave up walking in the heat. I settled down in the park to read and watch the homeless guys feed pigeons/chickens. I saw two pigeons court (Tip to guys: make your neck fat, cut them off whenever they walk anywhere, then puke on them) and saw one chick chase its brother for an hour, intent on stealing the bug the former had caught. The hen just watched.

I walked through some (overpriced) stores, checked out a few restaurants, and went back to my room to shower and change before heading out to dinner. I set off to eat some dead cow. It's good to have achievable goals. Dinner was during happy hour, which means they doubled my beer... and I started planning a soap-box podracer, and then podracer-type jet-engines for a soapbox cart. You know, achievable goals and all that.