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Winner of the photo album contest of the month Nov 2010
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I reached Mustique by boat. In Kingston, the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, I was told that I would be allowed to visit the island if I observed the rules, and the first of them was: camping is prohibited.
I knew that Mustique was a private island. In the year 1958 an English lord bought the island for about 67.000 US Dollars and founded the Mustique Company Island.
This lord gave several acres of land as a gift to Princess Margaret (sister of Queen Elizabeth II) to erect a mansion, and then many rich people from Europe and America started to buy houses in that island.
When I disembarked in Mustique, I was asked in which mansion I would spend that night.
My intention was to sleep on the beach, but I could not say the truth, so I said that I would spend the night not in a mansion, which prices are too high (about 40.000 US Dollars a week) but in the only hotel, called Cotton House, which cheaper rooms cost about 1000 US Dollars a night. I promised that I would book my room in that hotel in the afternoon.
The man seemed satisfied with my reply and let me alone.
In the only settlement, called Lovell Village, I saw shops selling elegant clothes from France and Italy, a supermarket offering the best wines of the world, like Rioja, and expensive products from all over the world, even Spanish Jamon Serrano and Iranian caviar. For payment they accepted, not only East Caribbean Dollar, but US Dollars, Yens, Pounds, Switzerland Francs and Euro.
In front of the shops I found a very beutiful bar and night club ornamented with wooden totems, which is a legend in the Caribbean Sea: Basil Bar. I went inside to drink a daiquiri, but the price was excesive for my economy, so I just ordered a glass of water from the tap, which I was given for free.
The streets were clean, I saw no beggars, no poor people, everybody greeted each other with courtesy.
The island is small and inhabited by about 500 souls. You can walk around it in a single day.
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