A paradise for who

A typical view of a typical Caribbean house. Goats and people live in what seems like great harmony with one another and on most islands that we've been on, these animals come and go as they want. They run around in towns and villages, in the middle of the roads, by the beach or in the woods, they eat from wherever they find grass, branches and leaves until a dog chase them off but only to find another field of grass to enjoy before they get back home to their owners when the sun goes down. Life seems much easier and less complicated here in the Caribbean, both for humans and goats.

I got a comment by a reader the other day who wanted to point out that I was being slanderous and offensive towards the Caribbean people when I one day wanted to express how thankful I am for my/our life and I recognized that "we are where we are because we have taken us here" - and the next thing I did was to talk about Caribbean banana-farmers that "have had to deal with colonial masters since the beginning of the time" as she wanted to insist, and that my attitude and thoughts about my own life was viewed as offensive towards the people who, according to her, does not have the same possibilities to chase their dreams. 

Personally I haven't met this ignorant assumption before and that is because I believe most of us understand that a majority of the people around here on these islands are living a life that they want to, that there is no reason to pity or feel sorry for them. In fact the life of a Caribbean family or man is probably much more untroubled than the lives of the ones living in the Western world, where we have managed to create so many stressful problems for ourselves. Most of these people around in the Caribbean own their houses and land since many generations back as that was given to the people when the English and the French colonists left Caribbean -which means the people here do not need to pay rent for the place where they live. Most of the Caribbean locals grow their own food, they got plentiful of fish and veggies to eat and most of them seem to live in a comfortably slow and enjoyable pace. And who wouldn't be happy with such beauty around, possibility to swim the clearest waters, have all the time in the world to spend with their families as none of them knows what is the word stress.

Most of the people here doesn't chase more and bigger dreams, they are happy and content with what they have, something that we as well could learn something from. Also it is important to know that the slavery was abolished for around 200 years ago, I think I almost assumed that this was the general knowledge out there but there I was obviously wrong. On islands like these where women get kids in their late teenage years, it is as many as 12-15 generations back now, that the slavery disappeared. Should we pity everyone in later generations for something that happened back in the days, or should we try to see everyone as individuals and feel happiness for the ones that have found their way of living, when they're happy with their personal situation? Just like Alex and I are, just like the people of the Caribbean are.

Those of you who've been here in the West Indies, what are your general opinion of the people of the Caribbean, do you think we should feel sorry for them for the slavery of the 18th century or do you believe that they are happy as they are, with what they have today? Looking forward to an interesting conversation.

Neighboring islands

Beautiful vistas from Nevis with St Kitts in the background. Lovely cruising ground there, hoping to be back and explore also the main island of this two island nation one day soon. St Kitts was by the way the first island in the Caribbean to have English and French colonies back in the days.

Just another season in Antigua

Locals are preparing their goods and making themselves ready for the high season. Empty market places have got new cement floors and the stalls are being filled with colorful clothes, jewelry and what else that tourists might be looking for on their vacation to this "historical and tropical destination". It is funny to see the differences of each of the two seasons. These more touristy places of Antigua - English Harbor and Falmouth Harbor - are quiet and almost dead in low season as most of the locals are living in villages outside, and slowly slowly it will all be changed into a mass tourist destination full of American, Italian and British tourists, served by those mentioned locals from other places of the island. In the beginning when we arrived here we loved the place and almost could imagine to move up on one of those hills here one day. Now when we have experienced it closely for a couple of months in varied seasons, we can easily say that we wouldn't go on with that thought. It's not that we don't like the place as it is still as beautiful as always, but it is the apparent distance between locals and expats, the overly commercial feeling and sadly the lack of authenticy that we are not too fond of. 

Green Island and the whole area of Non Such Bay remain as our favorite destinations on the island of Antigua for its natural atmosphere and the remoteness to (almost) all things commercial, as well as some of the smaller local villages inside of the island.

Banana production in the Caribbean

Harvest of the day, Dominica.

The banana industry provides a very valuable source of foreign exchange for most Caribbean islands. In Dominica for example, the banana business is the second largest employer after the government, providing work for 6,000 farmers with another 700 employed at boxing plants. That's about one third of the country's total work force. Dominica exports around 30.000 tons of bananas each year and earns about EC$40 million (€10 m) annually. Perhaps these are the bananas you eat with your morning cereals?

West-Indian fast food

In other countries one might go to Mc Donald's, Subway, the local kebab or schwarma house or perhaps a pizzeria when the laziness wins over the desire to cook - here in the Caribbean you make sure to get yourself a spicy roti. Roti* was introduced to the Caribbean as early as in 1840 by Indian indentured laborers. A little side-note to the story for the ones of you who don't know this yet; after the slavery was abolished in the Brittish empire in 1833, plantation owners had to turn to indentured servitude to get inexpensive labor. These servants arrived from all over the world, the majority came from India. In fact that much, that from 1846 to 1932, an estimated 28 million Indians arrived to work in colonies requiring manual labor. Of course these people have influenced the West Indies in many ways with their culture and also their food and this specific dish that I'm talking about, was first introduced in Trinidad and Tobago, and has with time spread to other Caribbean islands.

The roti is a form of flour pancake/crepe/wrap and it is filled with either stewed chicken, lamb, channa (chick peas), beef, conch and/or vegetables. Curry is often included in the mix or choose to have it jerk style or with a spicy creole sauce. However you want it, it is always very very spicy. Make sure you try one out next time you're around, it is all very simple yet incredibly tasteful. Curry chicken is my personal favorite.

*In other parts of the world, Asia for instance, the name roti is used for only the flat bread, without the fillings.

Beautiful Saintes

We are back in the peaceful Saintes again. We've been around here now quite some times, so much that people have started to remember us in the bars and on the streets and it feels kind of homey to get back here once more. This main island of Les Saintes, Terre de Haut, is a lovely little fishing port where time moves slowly and people from an interesting melange of backgrounds seem to be living in a comfortable pace. Les Saintes is unique in the way that it is one of very few islands in the Lesser Antilles with a majority white population, the reason being that not much slaves were brought to or used here during the colonial times. Most of the early settlers were from Breton and Norman in France and apparently there is a strong Breton cultural influence on the island. Nevertheless they all seem to have mixed up well with the black/Caribbean people, and they have developed their own Saintois look which is quite interesting and equally beautiful.

Fascinating Barbuda

We made a stop in Barbuda the other day, remember? I don't think we were expecting to see much else than the famous pink sand beaches, crystal clear waters and maybe a frigate bird sanctuary which the island is so famous for, but our visit turned out to be everything but just that. 

Barbuda is the second largest of the three islands in the Antigua&Barbuda nation and with its small area of 160 km2 (61.933 sq ft) and the highest top being only 38 meters (125 ft) there isn't much on the isle. People come here to snorkel the reefs, to hunt the deers, to rest on the wide-stretched pink sand beaches and to get away from it all. There has earlier been a few more luxurious hotels here to attract high end clients to the tranquil surroundings, but today there is only one resort left on the island (on the top right on the picture above) and when you first arrive here you get a feeling of total desertion. 

There is a population of 1500 people on this colorful low land and most of them lives in the capital, and only city, Cordington. The name Cordington comes from the first English brothers who leased the island from the British government back in 1685. The Cordington family produced food on their new land and they also used the island to transport slaves to their sugar plantations over in Antigua. Most of the Africans who came to Barbuda as slaves are known to have come from the Ibo, Yoruba, and Ejo tribes of Nigeria, from Ghana, Gambia, and Sierra Leone. The Barbudians assert that the reason for Barbuda to still carry the name of their slave owners, is that one of the white brothers had a secret relationship with one of the black women sent to the island to work and that this very brother was involved in the murder of the British Governor Macknight the year of 1746 when all slaves got released. 

We were anchored on the W side of the island (see above) and just like many sailing visitors do, we carried our dinghy across the beach to the lagoon on the E of the picture so that we could get to Cordington for making our clearance and check out from the country before leaving towards St Marteen. 

The beach we crossed and the lagoon on the other side. Cordington is to the far right in the picture, a 5-15 minutes dinghy ride.

As we had imagined this island to be somewhat empty, and because no one had ever spoken about the colors of the actual town, we got very surprised when we got off the dinghy in the little fishing harbor and got greeted by a bunch of kids hurrying to buy fruits and snacks for their lunch break. They were so beautiful in all their colorful school uniforms and they were such friendly and curious little people. Giggling they asked if they could be in my picture and who am I to say no to such initiative.

Lovely boys. One obviously very shy. You see the one to the far left? He really cracked me up with his amazing facial expressions, I have a couple of photos of him where he changed posture and face from one to another in a twist.

We met a beautiful woman while waiting for the customs to open, she was one of the most friendliest people we met thus far on this Caribbean tour. Evelyn, as is her name, spent almost an hour with us while we were waiting in the steaming sun and she told us her story about the island, some history about the slavery and that her grand-grand parents were some of the first ones that were delivered here from Africa in the 1600 century. I read some more of the interesting history of the island after our meeting and found out that her surname appears in all of the early documents of the slave trading on the island.

Evelyn told us about her two daughters who she had sent to Canada for studying medicine and about her lovely grandchildren. Mrs Evelyn had spent most of her life in England and Canada and she was a very smart and well educated lady who now spent her days designing clothes and fabrics in her home here in Barbuda. She also gave me one of her favorite recipes consisting of land turtle, and before she left she hugged me and asked me to send her this photo taken of us. Her address being only her full name, Cordington, Barbuda - easy as that, why would one need street codes and postal numbers when the population practically all know each other and there are only around 400 households to deliver the mails to.

One interesting feature on the island, something that didn't really fit amongst the rest, was the huge amount of Asian people in town. Not that they can't be there as for that I don't have any complaints, just that it wasn't quite what one could expect of a tiny West Indian island. We asked around a bit to try to figure out what interest they could have here and some told us they were here to help rebuild the fishing harbor, others told us they had arrived to deliver buses and to help rebuilding the school and other establishments, all those things which Barbuda itself can't afford but what is greatly appreciated to get help with. That far all good, but later on we spoke with another Barbudian man who told us that the Japanese also were there to fish whales from the surrounding waters and in order to get the authorization from the nation to fish the humpback whales in the sea surrounding Barbuda, they come there offering to build all those things the island desperately needs assistance with. 

There has been a global ban against whaling in the Caribbean since 1986 but the affairs continue to grow and some islands with poor education and not much money are indirectly forced to agree on the pressure. Schools, infrastructure and fishing harbors are necessary for them, so how could they ever say no if someone comes to offer them all of what is needed for their every day life? The government of Antigua&Barbuda who seem to have the knowledge and intelligence for more does probably have additional (financial) reasons to support the japanese whale hunting but of that I do not know more than this. Here is some additional information of the whale hunting in the Caribbean if you're interested.

This whale hunting is apparent in many of the smaller islands in both here in the Caribbean and the Pacific waters and the Asians are still able to continue with their hunt of the whales and other fishes. A tragic and devastating truth for the nature and if a stronger global pressure from more governments aren't put into action, this will probably continue till the oceans are wiped out of the coveted spices. Just what's happening with the tuna in many parts of the world.

We're crossing the lagoon once again to get back to out boat. Here is some local fishermen hunting for lobsters. The guy at the bow spies the lobsters from above and when one is found, the big guy in the back jumps in to catch them. It is around 2-4 meters (6-12 ft) to the bottom.

Back on the pink/white sand beach.

And the turquoise waters...

This little trip to Barbuda was one of the most fulfilling journey's we've done thus far in many respects and Barbuda got a very special little place in our hearts after only being there for as short as two days. The island had most definitely the warmest people we met so far on our journey across the West Indian islands and I can't wait to get back to meet them again and to explore the woods and waters which we didn't have the time for this time around. I hope that all of you who have the chance will take it if you're ever around, to visit one of the most interesting, beautiful and welcoming places in the Caribbean sea. /T

Both Alex t-shirt and my dress and are from Permanent Vacation.