La Soufriere, St. Vincent: Before my trip to the Caribbean, I gathered some information online. I was confused between St. Lucia and St. Vincent, both countries are very similar. Saint Vincent has a volcano mountain called ‘La Soufriere’ and St. Lucia has a beautiful bay and town called ‘Soufriere’. Both places have active volcanoes with volcanic gases (volcano sulfur). Hiking to La Soufriere in St Vincent is very adventurous. As recommended, hiring a local guide is a smart decision. Otherwise, it is easy to get lost as the hiking path is not obvious and some paths are covered with tropical bush like a jungle. We started from the West side (Hard Path) of the mountain, passing through many marijuana plantations and seeing many ganja farmers with machetes. At the beginning of the hike, we had to take off shoes and cross the river. Wearing shorts is cooler but your legs (even arms) get scratched by bushes during the ascent. On the way, the guide picked some bananas and sugar cane and shared them with us. He also bought some marijuana from a ganja farmer and enjoyed it whenever he could. La Soufriere is about 4,000 feet high. On the top, it was much cooler and windy but there were no human beings other than ourselves. Hiking down the East side (Easy Path) is a good choice. The trail is well maintained on the east side but it was a long way to walk down to the town, Georgetown where we could have a cold beer ‘Hairoun’ (another favorite beer discovered) and take a bus back. It takes 45 minutes of bus riding to the capital city Kingstown from Georgetown. Public transportation is mainly minivan buses in St. Vincent, usually loaded with as many people as it can hold. I counted the heads in our bus: 29 people including, driver, fee collector, babies, and children in ONE minivan.
Ganja Farms and Houses
Bare Foot Hiking Guide in Saint Vincent
Trail on the Top of La Soufriere, Saint Vincent