Well the trip down was an adventure, albeit a long and boring one. We both slept for a good portion of the flight from Denver to Miami and the skies were smooth. Miami, however, was trouble from the start. We got off the plane and had a couple of hours before our fligth to Charlotte Amalie and all we wanted to do was sit down and have a relaxing meal. This task proved more difficult than it sounds. We spent about 30 minutes wandering around, unable to find anything more than a kiosk-snack stand. We perused 3 different concourses and found many areas under construction. After quite a while we finally found a sit-down restaurant. We were soon to find out that cheap cafeteria-quality burgers and terrible service were included in their ridiculously high prices.
We finished eating and started back to our gate with about an hour to spare. During our first flight, my travel pillow proved to be a popular item between the two of us, so on the way back to the gate we stopped at a shop and bought another, along with a couple of novels as reading material (this proved to be a wise choice). We sat in the gate area for some time, with the flight having been delayed for an hour. We boarded our flight for Charlotte Amalie and proceeded to sit on the plane for 2 hours. It turns out that two of the three toilets on board weren't working properly. Early on, the pilot came on and made an announcement, badmouthing the ground crew saying they didn't want to fix something that needed to be fixed because they didn't want to do the paperwork. He said he was making them fix it and would kep us updated. 2 hours later, we learned that the problem was fixed, but we had lost our cabin crew. It seems they had already been on flights for 16 hours that day, and by the time our plane was fixed, it would have put them over the threshold of being able to go on our flight due to the length.
We sat on the plane for another hour and a half or so after that awaiting a new cabin crew. Mike and I just happened to have gotten lucky- we had an empty seat in our row, which gave us a little extra room to stretch out and be more comfortable. That wasn't MUCH of a consolation, because by that time we both had an upset stomach from our overpriced burgers.
We finally took off over 3 hours late, losing our chance to pick up the rental car in the process. The flight was turbulent, and we had more to come. We landed and picked up our luggage without any problems. We proceeded to the taxi line and were squeezed into a 12-seat van with 15 other people, luggage piled to the ceiling behind us. As we pulled aay rom the airport, the guy in front of us remarked, "Ready for the roller-coaster ride??". Apparently he'd been there before, because that was an accurate description of the next 35 minutes. We darted and weaved through side streets, and flew around the hilly, winding switchbacks of the main highways at about 45 mph (speed limit 10-20).
The drive certainly was interesting. there's so much old construction. Most of the buildings are so run-down that they look ancient, and make me think of what I've imagined New Orleans looks like. There are churches everywherer, complete with graveyards full of above-ground crypts & elaborate monuments- surrounded by anything from dilapidated white picket fences to ornate wrought-iron handiwork. The drivers here seem very reckless, and at one point we stopped abruptly in what appeared to be the middle of the highway because the driver of the car in front of us had to back up his driveway which was hidden from our view at breakneck speed, almost paralell to the road and at a 40+ degree incline.
We arrived at the resort where security checked us in. We got up to our villa and came inside. We were immediately disappointed- opening up the door to be greeted by a wall of hot air. It was mostly like the pictures, except everything was now painted a dingy white instead of the beautiful exposed-wood vaulted villa ceilings. Aside from one small wicker dresser, the storage in the room consisted of Wal-mart style particle board and white laminate cabinets. There were several things that didn't seem to be working right, not the least of which was the air conditioner. I very much meant what I said while trying to cheer Mike up- that I was still very excited to be there with him. Seeing how disappointed he was, and the condition of the villa, at that point I worried that this could be a very long week...
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