My first detailed post from my trip to India is reserved for my favourite outing… a visit to Sanchi, a World Heritage Site. The only other Heritage sites I had been to are ones in London and our very own Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua.
Bhopal is a beautiful city with amazing scenery and is said to be one of India’s greenest cities. Bhopal is also home to 10 lakes and is aptly tagged as “The City of Lakes”. In this post, I’ll recap with words and images my picture perfect day trip to Bhopal’s Upper Lake.
Back in 2022, I secured an amazing Scholarship opportunity from the Indian Government to spend two weeks in the country learning about Women Empowerment, Policy and Vocational Training. I had the most amazing time and met amazing women who I still keep in touch with to this day. This post is an introduction, obviously, but over a series of post I will be unpacking how I spent my life changing two weeks in India
How Long Has It Been? Too Long! The last time I published anything on this blog was three years ago and in that time so much about me has changed. I feel as though I’ve let this Cotton Tree grow unwatered. I suppose I should take this as an opportunity to reacquaint myself with this space and reintroduce myself. It truly has been awhile.
A lot of toxic behaviours in relationships are deeply rooted in patriarchal thinking. The sense of entitlement men develop in these relationships as well as the desire to take more than necessary from men acting on the “instinct” to provide. Patriarchy has tipped the advantaged far into the male corner certainly but women also use the patriarchy and have developed “trash” tendencies because of it. Men and women are both toxic and “trash” and this has led to a very unhealthy relationship dynamic.
As usual, Sundays are filled with salt and adventure for me. This Sunday was no exception. True to the spirit of summer, my friend and I went to the beach to soak up the Sun and get a few shades darker.
Our feet took us to Windward Bay located in English Harbour in Antigua (the wonderful island i live on). The beach isn't really made for swimming, there are a few spots you can wade in, but its a nice place to go when you want to relax and clear your head.
We decided this time that we wouldn't be content staying on the beach, and took the initiative to climb the hill and get a higher view of the landscape. It took a while, as the hill is fenced separating beach from private property. We climb the rocky hillside, and tried but failed to climb over the wire fence. Then as if God himself put it there, we found a gap in the bottom of the fence on the hillside with ample space for us to pass through.
We climbed through and up the hill and like we guessed, the view was spectacular. The hillside was a garden of cacti and riddled with footpaths that led to intriguing dig ins and boroughs that we pledged to go back and explore. The view of the coast line from the hill was amazing and made for an excellent afternoon. The water was clear, the waves were friendly and the sun was happy in the sky which made the atmosphere even better for the Sunday of adventure.
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Here's to more Sunday Adventures and Summer magic
With the Weekend being blissfully lengthy, I had a lot of time to explore the hangouts on my island. The Pillars of Hercules are a notable attraction that is awe inspiring to both locals and visitors alike. Every time i take the trek to see the pillars, the breathtaking dominance of the stone never ceases to amaze. This structure, like most of the world's wonders, is a sign that the earth is an amazingly beautiful place, and that God has to be an artist. As i am a photographer, i took it upon myself to share with you all the wonders of my little island paradise.
I did have my canon, but climbing around with a DSLR around water isn't much of a good idea. So i entrusted most of the photography to my iPhone 5c. The camera could not capture the splendor as much as seeing it face to face would, but i can say that the photos still portray the beauty good enough for you to enjoy. I was suited up in all blue so i could blend in with the sea :)
I also took the time out to test out my new selfie stick and my under water pouch to get even more dynamic views. I had an excellent Easter Monday getting sun burnt and salty haired... which bite me in the butt later as my hair was hell to detangle and de-sand. Getting to the pillars isn't really all that hard. If you're familiar with the English Harbour area, you drive on down to Galleon Beach and keep walking around toward the rocks.... hop across some loose rocks.... then the mountain side starts to take on an interesting ridge shape... and BLAM the pillars begin to unfold before your eyes and it all appears. In the photo below you can faintly see a fisherman on the rocks behind me.
A little ways past the pillars, and a lot more climbing, you'd come across some really beautiful rock pools. The pool is shown below :). It's basically two chambers with the first always filled and pool like, and the second is only full at high tide as it is a sort of over flow chamber. It's a really calm place to just relax, chill and reflect. If ever i'm stressed, it's kind of soothing to just think about that place. I'm not really sure how the weather was able to shape the pillars, but i'm really glad that they exist.
Wednesday was my Mom's Birthday and being the wonderful daughter that I am, I decided it was best to take her to town and grab a bite to eat. She donned her best outfit, put on some make-up and we headed into town to do some exploring and have a bit of good ole birthday fun. We went to C&C wine house to get some delicious Chicken Alfredo Pasta, then restaurant hopped to Big Banana for some coconut crushes and butter rum cake. We ate till we were fat, but of course i always have time to snap a few pictures of the food before scarfing it down.
We did also do a little eye shopping in town too! We walked into this store called Island Gourmet Boutique and look at the wonderful goodies they had there. We looked at the Locally made Jams and cooking supplies and took in the tasteful decor that adorned the cozy little shop.
I was so happy to pose with their potted Aloe, which i thought was beautiful, and spazzed over the Cotton and Cane decorative elements that they used in the store. I really loved the vintage feel that the store had and wished i had photographed their calabash lights for this short post.
We made our way to another store on Heritage Quay which had lovely local soaps on display. They had the most amazing fragrance and only cost $8.00XCD which was a pretty good deal to me. The packaging was also quite lovely and was what attracted me to the soaps in the first place.
All in all i can say that we had a good day and i'm sure my mom enjoyed her birthday outing.
