"SINT MAARTEN" Philipsburg by ISPARTACUS

Yeah, I broke up with my girlfriend and saw an ad on T.V. about Sint Maarten . So, I just got up and went there for a week. What was I thinking ? An island in the sun. I burn, I don't tan. I spent most of the day hiding from the sun in my hotel room. I did take a day trip however to the near by island of St. Bart's, via a catmaran. uuuffff.....all the women on the boat , one by one, got sea sick. It was a contagion. After two hours in chopy waters, with one after the other becoming ill, I too, soon felt as if I were about to become ill. Fortunately, land was now in sight and, manly man that I was (still am), I held firm until we landed in St. Bart's capital city of Gustavia [French protectorate]. Photos not availabe,sorry.

One odd thing about St Bart's is that the island, which is much smaller than Sint Maarten, has over 100 restaurants and a majority white population (85%) while the other islands in the Caribbean are majority black. That was 1983 however. Oh, while on the Dutch side of the island of Sint Maarten I stayed in a hotel in the capital city of Philipsburg [name unknown].

I rented an auto and was able to drive all over the island. From the Dutch side of Sint Maarten to the French side of the island ,Saint Martin. I chose to stay on the Dutch side of the island because the Dutch population on the island speak English, whereas the French population on the French side speak only French. The natives there speak "PATOIS" for the most part [ a native dialect in the islands] which is a combination of some French, Dutch, and mumbo jumbo...yadda yadda yadda.

I soon discovered that the best night life was on the [naturally] French side of the island. So most nights, after dinner on the Dutch side, I drove over to the French side of the island to bar-hop. The town of Marigot was a pretty little town with many resorts filled with tourist who did not speak a bit of French. Perhaps the staff spoke menu English.

One thing intrigued me however. Every night as I left my hotel in Philipsburg to stroll around looking for a restaurant to treat my palate I would notice a vendor with his cart of local food. The smell of that food would excite my nostrils to the point that one day I decided to throw caution to the wind [regarding food sanitation] and make a purchase.
I ordered the dinner plate of two pork chops smothered with rice & beans, local style. Hmmmmm.....deliciosa baby ! Muy sabrosa ! The woder of it all was that the local meal was 80 % cheaper than a restaurant meal , tastier, and double the portion. Again, sorry, but photos not available.

I rented a car and did a lot of sight seeing while driving around the island. I often went off the beaten path and wnet down dead end roads only to exit the vehicle and continue on foot with my sight seeing. That allowed me to see local farms and estates , one of which was un-occupied and wide open for inspection.

I did this in day-light hours when it was very safe to conduct such excursions. I did attract many an odd stare by the locals however. That gave me the impression that not too many tourist venture into these areas of the island and confine themselves to the tourist locals.

• Pros:Nice place to shop-sight see
• Cons:very sunny-wear sun screen