Ralph the Llama's Caribbean Cruise Quiz

Answer: Dominican Republic

Baseball was brought to the Caribbean by US sailors working in Cuba. The game spread from there to the Dominican Republic among other islands. Other noted baseball players from the Dominican Republic include Rico Carty, George Bell, Pedro Guerrero, Tony Fernandez, Joaquin Andujar, Juan Samuel and Mariano Duncan.

Both deputygary and Ralph forgot that Kyle is Canadian. He would more likely be someplace where they play hockey, eh.

Answer: Antigua

The mixed party of 268 llamas and alpacas was imported from Chile to Antigua with an intended ultimate destination of America. According to the New York Times: "...when a group of local people, feuding with the Antigua Government and angry at one of the Americans, blocked access to a quarantine station, the animals were shunted to a barren chunk of coral rock and scrub brush, off the east coast of Antigua, where there is little shade and no fresh water" (April 23rd, 1989).

More than a year later, in August 1990, less than one half of the party remained and the World Society for the Protection of Animals was preparing a rescue bid (Source: "Los Angeles Times", August 23rd, 1990).

Please inform Ralph if you know how this story ended. He would be very grateful. As would be glendathecat.

Answer: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Kingstown, on the island of Saint Vincent, is the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The island is dominated by the active volcano of La Soufriere, which is over 4,000 ft high. La Soufriere last erupted on 'Black Friday' (also 'Good Friday') - 13 April, 1979. Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, is located in a bay on the southeast coast of that island. Originally founded by refugees from an earthquake in 1692 that destroyed the town of Port Royal, it has grown to be the largest English-speaking city south of the United States of America.

Kyle was nowhere to be found, nor could Ralph locate any local llamas - a disappointing stop for Ralph and looney_tunes!

Answer: Grenada

Spices are such an important product for Grenada that nutmeg is featured on the country's flag. The tropical country is blessed with rich, volcanic soil, so besides spices, Grenada is also an exporter of fruit and cocoa. The capital of St. George's is located on the southwest coast of Grenada on the Carenage, a large inner harbor. The harbor was once an inland lake and is believed to be the crater of an extinct volcano.

Ralph met PDAZ in St. George's, and she told him that Kyle was neither in Grenada nor in the Cayman Islands, so Ralph had to look elsewhere.

Answer: Plymouth, Montserrat

Beginning in 1995, the Soufriere Hills volcano began to erupt, culminating in 1998 with a massive eruption that buried Plymouth under almost five feet of volcanic ash. The town was abandoned, with an exclusion zone created that encompasses the whole southern end of Montserrat. No new capital has been named so Plymouth remains as the de jure capital of Montserrat; most administrative functions, however, have been moved to Brades.

Teammate maninmidohio hopes that Ralph doesn't get permanently lost in the maze of confusingly-similar Caribbean names!

Answer: St John, US Virgin Islands

St John's is the capital and largest city of Antigua, which Ralph had already searched fruitlessly. Fortunately, he was not retracing his steps, but moving onwards to the island of St John in the US Virgin Islands. Two-thirds of St. John is national park, including Trunk Bay Beach, a popular snorkeling spot. The endangered brown pelican is a common sight here, but no llamas, and no Kyle.

On all of the Virgin Islands, including St. John, St. Thomas, St. Croix and Water Island, as well as smaller islands, cars are driven on the left side of the road, a holdover from the practice at the time when the US acquired them from the Danes after World War I. Looney_tunes prefers to drive on the left in countries where they make cars with the driver on the right, instead of importing American cars designed for driving on the right!

Answer: Hispaniola

Hispaniola, known as Santo Domingo in colonial times, is made up of the sovereign states of Haiti (the western third of the island) and the Dominican Republic (not to be confused with Dominica, the northernmost of the Windward Islands), which Ralph had already visited. The Dominican Republic is the second largest country in area of the Caribbean, behind Cuba. Christopher Columbus founded La Navidad on the north coast of what is now Haiti in 1492; on his 1493 voyage it had been abandoned, and was replaced by the town of La Isabela in present-day Dominican Republic. La Isabela became the first permanent European settlement in the Americas.

Saint Martin, which contains both the Collectivity of Saint Martin (French) and the Island Territory of St. Martin (Dutch), is the only other Caribbean island to include two countries.

Ralph and looney_tunes report sadly that Kyle isn't in Haiti, either.

Answer: Basse-Terre, in Guadeloupe

The islands of the Caribbean were named by European sailors with reference to the prevailing winds on which they reached the area. As a result, the terms 'leeward' and 'downwind' were applied to the western side of islands or island chains, while the eastern sides were labeled 'windward' or 'upwind' (in various languages, of course - English, French, Dutch and Spanish being the most common). Originally, the name Basse-Terre referred to a city on the western side of the island called Guadeloupe; it subsequently came to refer to the entire island, and the name Guadeloupe expanded to include a second (smaller and lower) island to the east, Grande-Terre ('Large Land'). Grande-Terre Island is so named because it is significantly larger than the much smaller Petite Terre Islands ('Small Land' Islands) nearby. Confused yet?

Basse Terre, the capital of Saint Kitts and Nevis, was also named for its location on the western side of its island. La Grande Soufriere (not to be confused with La Soufriere in Saint Vincent) is the highest mountain in the Lesser Antilles.

Looney_tunes and Ralph are staying on the beaches to look for Kyle!

Answer: Trinidad

The country Trinidad and Tobago is made up of two main islands - the larger, Trinidad, which is just seven miles from the South American mainland coast, and Tobago, which is located north-east of its neighbour. There are, however, several smaller islands which collectively form this nation.

It is thought that the name Tobago is derived from the Spanish name for tobacco, due to the island's "cigar-like" shape. Some sources mistakenly claim that it was, in fact, the name tobacco which was born from the name of the Caribbean island.

Amongst the impressive animal life on these islands is the stunning scarlet ibis - the national bird of Trinidad. Although helped by the bird-watching doublemm, Ralph is unable to find Kyle amongst this kaleidoscope of colourful creatures.

Answer: Cuba

Beatriz Llamas is a Spanish cook and author who has lived in Cuba since early in the 21st century. Her book "A Taste of Cuba" describes the history of the development of a cuisine that fuses the flavors of Spanish settlers and African slaves (as illness eradicated almost all the indigenous Arawak people and their customs very soon after Spanish settlement in 1511). Havana is the capital and largest city of Cuba, which is the largest island in the Caribbean.

Ralph and looney_tunes both enjoyed exploring all the different ways in which rice and beans are prepared in Cuba. And we found Kyle!