Jan. 2 New Jerusalem Mineral Baths
I got up early and went to the square for a local breakfast of cocoa tea, fish cakes and bakes; I took them down to the waterfront to eat while watching the day begin. I was returning to the hotel my when friend, Boomer, was waiting outside as I had texted him yesterday that I was going to Soufriere.
We exchanged greeting and asked about each others family as I gathered my stuff for the beach. It was a nice walk down to Hummingbird Beach and I enjoyed my morning swim. It started to rain so we went over to the little rum shack to sit under a tree until it passed. I grabbed a couple Pitons and a flying fish to tide me over tide me over till lunch. We first stopped at Skippers for a beer and then went to Archies for a chicken meal, excellent as always.
Boomer asked if I had ever been to Jerusalem Falls, and since I hadn’t we were soon on our way walking along the road in hopes of catching a passing bus. The walk is probably over a mile, all uphill, and the view is nothing special just a lot of houses. At the last bit a French family stopped to ask directions, so we rode with them to the entrance. It is a nice walk down into the valley, Boomer picked a cocoa pod off a tree and I sucked on the sweet and tangy seed coating, a good energy source. At the bottom we crossed a small stream and then went up some stairs to the baths.
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The small stream

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Relaxing in the hot baths

There isn’t a real waterfalls here, and I think some people are disappointed to find that out; it is a series of bathing pools fed by hot water from a thermal spring. The water is as hot as bath water and felt good after our long walk. I swam for a bit while Boomer chatted up the French girl who gave us a lift. When I had enough we walked the trail back to the road and started making our way down the hill to town. The same family that had picked us up earlier stopped as they were passing and gave us another lift all the way back to town.
We each went home for showers and made plans to get together later. After a shower and aggravating my facebook friends with more vacation pics, I went to Skippers to meet Boomer.
We were full from our big lunch so for dinner I just grabbed some chicken and a bake from a street vendor. We made our way to Whistlers and started on the homemade spice rum, I should have know better, having been bit by that dog before. From there it was back into town and more spice and Guinness; around 11:30 I had enough, so Boomer followed me back to the hotel and we made plans to go to Laborie tomorrow.
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De Belle View Creole Restaurant, one of my favorites in Soufriere <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Drink all day at home, your friends worry about you; do it on vacation and they say "what a good time you're having". Save your friends needless worry, travel more!