The Magic Of St. Lucia's Bamboo

"Bamboo is taking over St. Lucia. I've seen it used to make vases, chairs, walls and (hit the brakes!) bicycle frames. But nowhere does it get my attention like it does on the massage table at the Jalousie Plantation. Not the bamboo cabinets or the bamboo light shades, but the bamboo club in the hands of a masseuse named Lucita. 'What have you been doing?' she asks, rolling the bamboo over my hamstrings. I start to tell her, just as something kicks loose from my legs. Whatever it is comes flying from my mouth as out-loud laughter. Still giggling, I tell Lucita I'd like to hike one of the Pitons later. 'Oh, the view is amazing!' she says. I ask how many times in her 47 years on St. Lucia she's done the Pitons. 'Never. But I hear people talk about it.' ∏hen, with club in hand, she tells me to roll over."