26 May 2009 Montserrat, or Monster Rat as it is known

No time to tarry in Nevis we're off to Montserrat, a place I’ve especially been looking forward to seeing for the volcano and because it was a where many musicians came to record their albums including The Police.  It’s a magical place, like a scene out of Jurassic Park, 100 foot cliffs rise from white beaches and on top of the cliffs trees perch precariously.   Local guide Joe gave us the tour of the ‘Devastation the Volcano Reeked on Montserrat’.  Twelve years ago the volcano blew it’s top and buried the capital under a deep layer of ash and effectively closed the southern part of the island.  Out of 11,000 inhabitants, 8000 left, some for England and they are now gradually returning. There’s an EU grant (that’s your taxes and mine) for the islanders to rebuild a capital and town in the safe north part of the island.   Hopefully they’ll build a new immigrations office.  The current one is a container with a standard B&Q door and a window, air conditioning and loud reggae music to keep the clients calm. And the immigration stamp in my passport is a shamrock.  The island claims Irish heritage and calls itself the Emerald Isle.   We did see lots of holes in the roads but didn’t hear any Irish brogue or see a group of men clustered around said hole with cups of tea in hand.  (With apologies to my friends with an Irish connection.) Customs procedure took over 30 minutes - I didn’t know it was possible to fill in so many forms.  Hey ho.  It’s al part of the slow down life so we don’t’ complain, just smile and say thank you.