From yoga to hiking to gourmet dining

Today, I had a private yoga class, climbed a mountain, had breakfast with the Prime Minister and got married. None of these things were planned, but in St. Kitts one sunny Sunday filled with options filled up just this way.

My hotel offers two yoga classes every morning. I tend to take the 8 am class, which means that very few tourists are up and ready to go. It’s conducted outside next to one of the villas, on a stretch of grass where the cool ocean breezes flow by to keep you refreshed. I think it sets my day right and gives me energy. The class is not as difficult as my Ashtanga class that I take back home and Its Yoga Puerto Rico, but its solid mix of yoga poses, with some Tai Chi balances and Pilates core exercises gets my blood flowing.

My yoga class is particularly fun when Elston, my favorite instructor, teaches it. He is a large, perfectly- muscled instructor who calls out each pose using the Indian name and then tells me specifically which muscles are being worked on. Most of my poses get a sing-song "beautiful" at the end of each of them. Since the East Meets West flow, a more vigorous workout with resistance bands, isn’t until 9:30, we usually have a class that lasts somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes. That includes the closing meditation where every part of my body from the top of my head to the tip of my toes is talked through a guided meditation, which reminds me to take some time each day for myself and physically release the built up stress in my system.

After this class, I went back to my room, made some coffee in the coffee maker (Café Britt – a wonderful specialty coffee from Costa Rica is free in the rooms) and relaxed. But since I had actually made caffeinated rather than my regular decaf, I was ready for more exercise. I took my IPod and headed out the door to climb the nearby hill that leads to the unpopulated South East Peninsula. This area will soon welcome the Auberge, a boutique hotel group from San Francisco who purchased over 1,000 acres in this rugged peninsula, and a variety of other high end hotels and villas.

I hiked my way up and down the hill, about an hour total. As I walked, I passed the ubiquitous mountain goats who bleated a good morning to me. I grabbed some rocks just in case I had run- ins with the Vervet Monkeys, but the only other living creatures I passed were some people in their cars heading to snorkel and party in the beach shacks (where they drink Brinleys or Rum St Kitts and eat some fresh Caribbean lobster).

With my workouts over, I was famished, so I headed out in my pink rental car for Ottley’s Plantation and its champagne brunch. I should have listened to the Caribbean music playing on just about every radio channel, but I turned again to my handy IPod and some Country and Western instead.

Driving on the left side of the road, in an American style car with the steering wheel also on the left, was not as difficult I expected. I felt more as if I was in a toy car zipping along the well paved roads. Every now and again I had to slow down to come around a river curve, avoid a curious cow or allow some goats to cross to where the grass was greener. Though there is really only one main road, when I got confused at the roundabout (or a traffic circle for us Americans), I simply rolled down my window and asked the first person I saw. In less than half an hour I was arriving.

As I took the turn to head up the hill to the plantation, I made my first mistake of the day. I chose the paved, rather than well-worn, road. A quick phone call that instructed me to look for the coconut trees quickly got me back on track and I pulled up to a beautiful 18th century sugar plantation laid out on 35 acres.

I made my way to the Royal Palm Restaurant, which is on a balcony and nestled into the remaining stone walls of the plantation’s old sugar factory. Once seated, I was presented with a menu that included: Eggs Benedict with passion fruit hollandaise, French toast stuffed with pineapples and fruit and covered with a guava sauce and surprisingly, Mexican huevos rancheros. I chose my favorite, the Eggs Benedict.

First out was a tray filled with skewers of fruit and home baked breads. The moist chocolate chip coffee cake was studded with mini chocolate chips, the lemon poppy seed cake was meant to be slathered with the accompanying lemon curd and the sticky cake was rich with butter and glaze. I was almost full and I still had a whole course to go! While I was finishing my scrumptious, perfectly poached eggs on cured ham and French bread served with spicy chunks of potatoes, a family walked in. A few minutes later as I finished my goblet sized mimosa that comes with the meal, the owner came over and filled me in. It was Prime Minister Douglas and his family. They were relaxing and out for a Sunday drive.

Since I knew I’d be meeting the Prime Minister later in the week, I decided not to go over and bother him on his day off. However, when I told people at the hotel that I had "breakfast with the Prime Minister" they all asked me why I hadn’t said, "Hello." It’s a small island, they all explained, and we always stop and speak with Dr. Douglas, as he is fondly called.

Later that evening, a walk along the beach at the hotel led me to the last item of the day, getting married.

I was walking with Jaime, my significant other, who said that the view to the mountains and out to the ocean was so romantic that we might as well get married. We headed into the hotel and found out that it was easy to get married in paradise.

Both parties need to be in the country for two full working days (unless you come on a cruise and exceptions are made) and an $80 marriage license needs to be purchased (only $20 if you’ve been on the islands for 15 days). We didn’t even have to leave the premises to get things together. The hotel would arrange everything and we could buy or order the rest from the concierge, including a tiered wedding cake, duty free rings, an elegant dress and of course champagne.