tinnesda@mhd1.mnstate.edu (Tinman) wrote in message news:<a40fa4b2.0402091430.777f48ea@***************** com>...
> I have just been accepted for the work exchange program at Maho Bay in
> the virgin islands (St. John). I was wondering if anyone else has
> done this, or is doing it, that could tell me what its like, and some
> cool things to do while I am there. I will be there through June of
> 2004.
> Thanks in advance
> -Dave
Nobody else answers, sooo...
Stairs, lotsa stairs.
If you like rustic and local, and want to get away from
the Touristo Resorts, Maho Bay has to be one of the true
gems of Carrib. Very laid back, very smooth.
{There are lots of stairs, there)
I did not work at the place, I was a refugee from the
Touristo Hoards, but I did hang out with the workers, some.
The workers were in on all the tours, Beach tour, Plantation
tour, Island tour, and all starting with a huge cooler full
of that lethal native rum punch, at 9:00 AM.
Then there was Wed. Night dining out and partying in Cruz Bay.
Rum, lotsa rum. Cruz Bay has rum like Maho Bay has stairs.
The midnight ride home was beyond belief.
There were 18 of us packed into this pickup truck/jitney type
of thing, and all of us rummed up to the gills.
The mountain road is all frightening steep and
hairpin curves. With a sheer cliff on one side, no guardrail.
Scary, very scary. The brakes are borderline between working
very poorly and not working at all. The driver is loaded worse
than the passengers. Some of the passengers start jumping up
and down in rhythym, getting the truck to bounce around.
(Is this a good idea?) One of the workers is a kindergarden
teacher. She starts leading the crowd singing nursery rhymes.
Most scariest thing imaginable.
We *all* start jumping up and down, and singing nursery rhymes.
Jitney creeping down the road at 15 mph, tops, 18 crazy people
crammed in, jumping up and down and singing nursery rhymes, and
drinking that lethal rum punch. All the way to Maho Bay.
Most insane thing I have ever seen in my life.
Then there was the midnight skinny dip. Two of the workers ran
into the water and tripped over a huge nurse shark that was
snoozing in the shallows, right at the water's edge.
After getting tripped over a few times, the shark moved off a bit,
where some other people tripped over it.
I don't think any of it is all too rough, but any manual labor
out in the mid-day sun is going to be *hot*.
Getting up to cook breakfast for the guests, after the Wed. night
Cruz Bay adventure, may well be the worst of it.
Did I mention they have lots of stairs, there?
You'll see.
Cheers,
Tony.
Maho Bay Work Exchange 
