There is no order to these observations; I wrote them down as they occurred. Also, they were written as reminders for me since I know that I will be cruising the Caribbean again one day. I keep a journal when I cruise (or travel anywhere), and throughout my journals I make random observations as well that are specifically designed to alert me the next time I read the notes.
1) Take plenty of sunscreen. Every place you go is hot, the sun is intense, and most places are humid as well. If you are wearing sandals make sure you protect your feet from the sun as well as the back of your neck. I remember being on the deck of a car/passenger ship between the northern and southern islands in New Zealand. Although we were warned of the dangers of the sun, the cool breeze and clouds seemed to ameliorate its effects — temporarily. Not true! We (meaning my family members and myself) received severe, very uncomfortable burns.
2) Most ports — meaning countries — are desperate for tourist dollars and, thus, watch out for tourist safety and happiness. You find little trouble in most ports, but travelers must always be careful. This means you carry your wallet in your front pocket where you can keep your hand on it, carry your driver’s license with its picture and leave your passport in the safe in your room, and refrain from going into places that look unsafe. Use your head. (Everywhere pickpockets have been active, we have been warned to be extra careful.)
3) If you carry drinking water and snacks in a fanny pack or back pack, you don’t have to be dependent on local places for drinks or food. We carry our own empty plastic 10-12 ounce plastic bottles that we fill with ship water before going ashore. When rooms have their own refrigerators, you can even carry cold water by wrapping it in a towel. Also, there are places like McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC in most ports that can be trusted for their food, water, and “clean” restrooms. (“Clean” is a relative term.)
4) If you purchase items from local vendors, bargaining is expected and, inevitably, you can reduce the cost of various items. Another theory is that the local people in these countries are much poorer than we are and need the tourist dollar far more than we would. For that reason (and to avoid having to bargain), you can pay the asking price (knowing that it is a bit high). The important thing is that you are happy with your purchase. (It seems, after our fourth Caribbean cruise, that all shops will bargain.)
5) Pack light. On sea days, for men, bermudas, sandals, and a tee shirt is all that is needed. The “smart” casual style requested by cruise lines for evening dining, means slacks and a knit shirt with a collar. You’ll need comfortable shoes for walking, plus “dress” shoes for the restaurant and for the evening.
6) You really don’t need a great deal of background study and preparation for understanding most islands/countries. The cruise line offers brochures on each port that includes general information (e.g., capitol, location, size, population, language, currency, time zone, and tourist information). The brochure offers a map of the location of the island as well as a history, information on how to get to town, store hours, bank and post office hours, and emergency numbers. The brochures we receive include a close-up map of the main town/city of each island as well as recommended stores and restaurants — more information than most people need, want, or even will read.
Now, it must be said here that by not taking any excursion away from the port area, you get a very skewed impression of an island/country. A port city doth not a country make! On most cruises we schedule an excursion of each of the new places we visit (e.g., on our Mediterranean cruise we took an excursion at every port of call except for the small Greek island of Mykonos. That meant nine excursions (two on our two-day stay in Rome) for ten ports — with none in Barcelona nor in Venice, our beginning and ending points.
7) Some useful items to take with you that we have discovered during our travels include books, writing materials, magazines, a hat, back pack, fanny pack, plenty of single dollar bills (you can get more onboard ship), some U.S. change, walking shoes, band aids (for blisters or for protecting blisters), flip flops (especially if you plan to swim), and plastic bags for protecting lotions from spilling, for taking food from the cafeteria for room snacks or excursions (e.g., we took muffins, cookies, and fresh fruit for our walks into town), and for keeping food from the souvenirs we put in the back pack as we travel.
8) Do not bring a knife, letter opener, or any sharp metal object (e.g., a nail file). Sitting near a woman in the Princess Theater, we overheard her say she bought a rather fancy letter opener for a friend, and they confiscated it at the runway and told her she could retrieve it in Fort Lauderdale (at the end of our cruise). I showed her the pocket knife I had been taking through security (you and everything you carry with you are scanned every time you board the ship). I have a steel-cased glasses case which goes through the scanner on top of my backpack. The small knife conveniently fits into the case along with my dark glasses.
As a short aside, you may wonder why I even need a small pocket knife? I must cut apples or corn-on-the-cob before eating them because I cannot bite into them with my expensive, front-teeth implants. I have found having the small pocket knife has been an invaluable tool.
9) Plan to use the room safe for any valuables. While on board, we keep our wallets and money there. It is where we store our passports at all times. It is easy to use; you need a four-number sequence to open or close it; we use our house number because it is easy to remember.
10) If your goal is not to gain weight on a cruise, one way to avoid some of the calories is to avoid all bread and potatoes (and most desserts!). Your ship cook will make it very tempting! By avoiding bread and potatoes, you can concentrate on the main foods. It is also easy to avoid all deep-fried foods and pasta. If you are thinking as you read this that it is precisely these items that make up the cruise-food you expect for the cost of your cruise, then you will check onto your ship as a cruiser, but you will surely leave it as cargo!
There are, of course, many potential “random observations,” and just as each set of my own might be different if written at different times, each person will have a different set as well. For example, take naps, avoid ship charge-card expenses (they add up fast — especially drinks), and book your own excursions off the ship, might be some additional “observations.” These are just some thoughts to help make your Caribbean cruise more enjoyable and more successful. You just have to be prepared for pleasure!
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At Cruise Travel Vacations, just before you get to the direct sales-pitch information, the site includes some useful suggestions especially designed for first-time cruisers.
At Cruise Critic, there are links to many useful websites. For example, there are quick links to: Cruise Deals, Cruise Ship Reviews, Community, Cruising Regions, Cruise Styles, and US Homeports.
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Copyright April 2010 by And Then Some Publishing L.L.C.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
“If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all”
A number of people who have cruised the Caribbean have said it: “If you’ve seen one Caribbean island, you’ve seen them all.” First, this statement is untrue. Each island has its own distinct culture, geography, and sights to see. But, if you are not interested in such distinctions, or, if your desire is simply to enjoy the cruise experience without leaving the ship, then such a comment is easy to throw off, for it is obvious you are not concerned about the veracity of the statement.
Having visited more than ten islands, there is no doubt this comment could apply to some of them — if you don’t explore beyond the port cities. For example, I might group the port cities of St. Vincent, Granada, St. Kitts, and LaRomana in that category for these port cities, unlike Aruba, Curacao, San Juan, Barbados, St. Martin, St. Thomas, and the Bahamas, are really under-developed when it comes to handling tourists in their port cities — and that is the criteria I am using to render this judgment. (I think most people who live in the Caribbean would find such a comment (“If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”) offensive — like grouping all people of the same race or all people from the same country.
Now I have to admit there is a difference when you visit a port where you have previously been. In Grenada, for example, we walked from the ship through the Sendal tunnel — a tight squeeze, one way (for cars), pedestrian walkway — and followed Carenage Street around Carenage Harbour. This is a very scenic, but very local area of St. George’s.
Back through Sendal Tunnel (the local van drivers seem to enjoy scaring the hell out of tourists using the tunnel), we walked along Bruce Street/Melville Street (it changes names), to Branby Street, and then down just a block to Market Square where there is a large local market that sells food, spices, and a variety of local merchandise. We visited it last time we were in Granada. This time we stopped at Maggie’s Spice Shop and picked up 5 nutmeg seeds (for $1.00) and took a picture of Maggie.
There wasn’t a single person from the ship in this large market. Also, Maggie said she must get her nutmeg from other places because the nutmeg trees on Granada were destroyed by hurricane Ivan in 2004 (over 90% of the nutmeg crop was destroyed), and it takes from 7 to 15 years for nutmeg trees to mature. (Just an aside: one of the seeds had worms in it, and the sealed plastic bag in which we kept it was full of worms when we wanted string it to put on our Christmas tree the following winter.)
In walking from the market back to the terminal, my wife and I stopped in a shop looking for a Granada tee-shirt. Two local teenage boys saw me go into the shop, recognized me as a potential target, followed me into the shop with the intention of getting my wallet out of my back pocket. Although I didn’t notice it, my wife did, and she stepped between them and me, and seeing that their intention was foiled, they immediately left the shop.
I’ve said it before, but if your only impression of the island of Granada (and this goes for all other Caribbean islands/countries) is gained just from walking around the port city, you have a very partial, incomplete picture of the island/country. Our excursion the last time we visited Granada took us through a destroyed nutmeg plantation, a lush, beautiful arboretum, and the hilly, attractive interior of this volcanic island.
I watched as our ship left the port of Granada from the 18th deck of the Grand Princess, and as I watched it grow smaller, you could see the clear demarcation of a volcano. Clouds hung over the center part of the island as we left, and not only was it raining in the interior of the island, but there were several beautiful rainbows as well, adding to the luster and grandeur of the topography.
Granada is a beautiful island — the smallest independent country (just 21 miles long by 12 miles wide or only 133 square miles) in the world. It is part of a three-island nation that also includes Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Grenada lies 75 miles southwest of St. Vincent and 90 miles north of Trinidad. We visited Granada on this trip because of civil unrest in Trinidad.
Barbados, the island we visited immediately following Granada, is another island we visited on a previous trip. It is the eastern-most island of the West Indies lying 270 miles from the Venezuelan coast and about 100 miles east of St. Vincent. It is a 14 by 21 mile haven covering 166 square miles. While Grenada has only 93,000 people of African (75%), East Indian, and European descent., Barbados has 279,000, is one of the world’s most densely populated nations, has one of the highest standards of living and literacy rates in the world, and has a distribution of ethnic groups typical of the Eastern Caribbean; 90 percent of the population is black, 5 percent mulatto, and 5 percent white.
Looking at Barbados and Granada from 18 decks above the sea, Granada looked quaint, natural, and lovely. Barbados, on the other hand, looked flat, or, it might be more accurate to say, it is composed of low, undulating hills (four or five) that are fairly heavily treed. It doesn’t look nearly as flat or arid as Aruba or Curacao, however.
But, once again, this is an island where the impression you get from walking the city of Bridgetown (an austere, European, rather pricey, high-class (very British), expensive stores), is not an accurate picture of the island as a whole. Our excursion, the last time we were here, gave us an overview of the island, and the tour painted a much different (and more varied) portrait.
Our excursion on February 20, 2005, began at 8:25 a.m. There were 21 of us on an air conditioned bus, and we headed to the east coast through rolling hills and farmland. We saw a Giant Baobab Tree and stopped at Park’s Farm to see the Barbados Black Belly Shop. Next, we went to the Andromeda Garden. This 6-acre garden had orchids, palms, ferns, heliconia, hibiscus, bougainvillea, begonias, and the Toci Pot palm tree. We spent one hour in the garden with our guide, then went to the Bathsheba Rock formations, a place popular for surfing. We saw the last working windmill in the Western Hemisphere at Morgan Lewis, then the bus took us back to Bridgetown, the island’s capital, and to the docks where the ship was located. My point in detailing this excursion is to prove my point: you must venture out beyond the port cities if you want a complete feeling about what these islands are like.
Even though it is unfair to say, “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” it might apply to the less-developed islands/countries and, too, if you do not venture beyond the port city. It is more accurate to say that each port is totally unique in its own way, but the more tourist-friendly they become, the more homogenous they appear. If your goal is to gain a sense of the local culture, ethnic diversity, and local merchandise and food, then it is clear where you need to go.
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This is a cool web site. It results from an essay contest in cooperation with the Caribbean Tourism Organization. Want to read what these essayists find unique on a variety of Caribbean islands? If you think “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” then read this information.
At Cruise Critic: Cruise Reviews and News, there is at this site, specific information about Aruba, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Barth’s, St. Kitt’s, Granada, Antigua, and Dominica. By just reading the descriptions here, you will quickly come to the conclusion that the cliche, “if you’ve seen one Caribbean island, you’ve seen them all,” is way off base, unfair, and ignorant.
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Copyright April 2010 by And Then Some Publishing L.L.C.
Having visited more than ten islands, there is no doubt this comment could apply to some of them — if you don’t explore beyond the port cities. For example, I might group the port cities of St. Vincent, Granada, St. Kitts, and LaRomana in that category for these port cities, unlike Aruba, Curacao, San Juan, Barbados, St. Martin, St. Thomas, and the Bahamas, are really under-developed when it comes to handling tourists in their port cities — and that is the criteria I am using to render this judgment. (I think most people who live in the Caribbean would find such a comment (“If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”) offensive — like grouping all people of the same race or all people from the same country.
Now I have to admit there is a difference when you visit a port where you have previously been. In Grenada, for example, we walked from the ship through the Sendal tunnel — a tight squeeze, one way (for cars), pedestrian walkway — and followed Carenage Street around Carenage Harbour. This is a very scenic, but very local area of St. George’s.
Back through Sendal Tunnel (the local van drivers seem to enjoy scaring the hell out of tourists using the tunnel), we walked along Bruce Street/Melville Street (it changes names), to Branby Street, and then down just a block to Market Square where there is a large local market that sells food, spices, and a variety of local merchandise. We visited it last time we were in Granada. This time we stopped at Maggie’s Spice Shop and picked up 5 nutmeg seeds (for $1.00) and took a picture of Maggie.
There wasn’t a single person from the ship in this large market. Also, Maggie said she must get her nutmeg from other places because the nutmeg trees on Granada were destroyed by hurricane Ivan in 2004 (over 90% of the nutmeg crop was destroyed), and it takes from 7 to 15 years for nutmeg trees to mature. (Just an aside: one of the seeds had worms in it, and the sealed plastic bag in which we kept it was full of worms when we wanted string it to put on our Christmas tree the following winter.)
In walking from the market back to the terminal, my wife and I stopped in a shop looking for a Granada tee-shirt. Two local teenage boys saw me go into the shop, recognized me as a potential target, followed me into the shop with the intention of getting my wallet out of my back pocket. Although I didn’t notice it, my wife did, and she stepped between them and me, and seeing that their intention was foiled, they immediately left the shop.
I’ve said it before, but if your only impression of the island of Granada (and this goes for all other Caribbean islands/countries) is gained just from walking around the port city, you have a very partial, incomplete picture of the island/country. Our excursion the last time we visited Granada took us through a destroyed nutmeg plantation, a lush, beautiful arboretum, and the hilly, attractive interior of this volcanic island.
I watched as our ship left the port of Granada from the 18th deck of the Grand Princess, and as I watched it grow smaller, you could see the clear demarcation of a volcano. Clouds hung over the center part of the island as we left, and not only was it raining in the interior of the island, but there were several beautiful rainbows as well, adding to the luster and grandeur of the topography.
Granada is a beautiful island — the smallest independent country (just 21 miles long by 12 miles wide or only 133 square miles) in the world. It is part of a three-island nation that also includes Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Grenada lies 75 miles southwest of St. Vincent and 90 miles north of Trinidad. We visited Granada on this trip because of civil unrest in Trinidad.
Barbados, the island we visited immediately following Granada, is another island we visited on a previous trip. It is the eastern-most island of the West Indies lying 270 miles from the Venezuelan coast and about 100 miles east of St. Vincent. It is a 14 by 21 mile haven covering 166 square miles. While Grenada has only 93,000 people of African (75%), East Indian, and European descent., Barbados has 279,000, is one of the world’s most densely populated nations, has one of the highest standards of living and literacy rates in the world, and has a distribution of ethnic groups typical of the Eastern Caribbean; 90 percent of the population is black, 5 percent mulatto, and 5 percent white.
Looking at Barbados and Granada from 18 decks above the sea, Granada looked quaint, natural, and lovely. Barbados, on the other hand, looked flat, or, it might be more accurate to say, it is composed of low, undulating hills (four or five) that are fairly heavily treed. It doesn’t look nearly as flat or arid as Aruba or Curacao, however.
But, once again, this is an island where the impression you get from walking the city of Bridgetown (an austere, European, rather pricey, high-class (very British), expensive stores), is not an accurate picture of the island as a whole. Our excursion, the last time we were here, gave us an overview of the island, and the tour painted a much different (and more varied) portrait.
Our excursion on February 20, 2005, began at 8:25 a.m. There were 21 of us on an air conditioned bus, and we headed to the east coast through rolling hills and farmland. We saw a Giant Baobab Tree and stopped at Park’s Farm to see the Barbados Black Belly Shop. Next, we went to the Andromeda Garden. This 6-acre garden had orchids, palms, ferns, heliconia, hibiscus, bougainvillea, begonias, and the Toci Pot palm tree. We spent one hour in the garden with our guide, then went to the Bathsheba Rock formations, a place popular for surfing. We saw the last working windmill in the Western Hemisphere at Morgan Lewis, then the bus took us back to Bridgetown, the island’s capital, and to the docks where the ship was located. My point in detailing this excursion is to prove my point: you must venture out beyond the port cities if you want a complete feeling about what these islands are like.
Even though it is unfair to say, “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” it might apply to the less-developed islands/countries and, too, if you do not venture beyond the port city. It is more accurate to say that each port is totally unique in its own way, but the more tourist-friendly they become, the more homogenous they appear. If your goal is to gain a sense of the local culture, ethnic diversity, and local merchandise and food, then it is clear where you need to go.
-----
This is a cool web site. It results from an essay contest in cooperation with the Caribbean Tourism Organization. Want to read what these essayists find unique on a variety of Caribbean islands? If you think “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” then read this information.
At Cruise Critic: Cruise Reviews and News, there is at this site, specific information about Aruba, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Barth’s, St. Kitt’s, Granada, Antigua, and Dominica. By just reading the descriptions here, you will quickly come to the conclusion that the cliche, “if you’ve seen one Caribbean island, you’ve seen them all,” is way off base, unfair, and ignorant.
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Copyright April 2010 by And Then Some Publishing L.L.C.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
The St. Vincent Incident
We did not engage an “official” Princess-supported excursion on the island of St. Vincent because my wife has a cousin, Ben, who lives outside Toronto, Canada, and winters on the island for four months every year. He and his wife, Sheila, agreed to be our hosts and guides during our seven-hour stay. We met them as they drove through the dock gates in their little, red Toyota Ben bought on the Internet. They loaded us into the back seat, and we were off.
After a brief tour of Kingstown, the capital of St. Vincent, we headed toward the leeward side and to their home. Their home will be located (in 2011) on the other side of a massive new airport runway being built to accommodate the biggest jet liners. The many small mountains in the area are being leveled, homes in the way are being destroyed, roads are being diverted, and the geography and ecology of the area is being radically altered. Their home will sit near the end of the runway where jets are decelerating for their forthcoming landing.
After lunch at their home and additional sightseeing on the northern end of St. Vincent, we drove beyond the airport project to a small road that leads up to the volcano. St. Vincent is a volcanic island, and the still active volcano dominates the northern third of the island. It last erupted in 1973, and the destruction it caused is still evident in the small villages you pass along the main road on the northern end.
Ben and Sheila turned left onto the small road, looked into the back seat, and asked us if we wanted to go up. Without hesitation, we took their obvious lead and said, “Sure.”
The single-lane road was heavily rutted, full of pot holes, and rough. It went up through an active banana plantation where large bunches of bananas were wrapped in tubular poly vinylchloride (PVC), blue plastic to enhance fruit development, resist bad weather and sunburn, and avoid blemishes. Workers were evident on both sides of the car as we progressed up to a small parking lot where the trail to the volcano began.
Ben was surprised there were no vans carrying excursioners from our ship. The government was building a small picnic pavillion and restrooms, but they were far from finished and there were no workers present. A single, old picnic table sat where the trail into the lush growth began, and a native St. Vincensian was sitting there, his pack on the table’s seat and a large, well-worn machete showing from within it. We all engaged in informal chit-chat with him, and he not only suggested a place where we could take a better picture of the volcano, but he introduced me to the small pear-like fruit from the tree under which the table was located.
While we were talking, an old white car came up to the parking lot, turned around quickly and headed back down the mountain. We thought nothing about it nor about the fellow at the table walking down the road from the parking lot.
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, the fellow with whom we had been talking and a second native fellow (this time with no front teeth) came walking up the road to the parking lot. The new fellow carried a very heavy backpack on his head. Clearly the two native fellows knew one another, and we chatted with both of them as the fellow threw his backpack down onto the picnic table and unzipped it. Inside were large brick-like, rectangular blocks wrapped in heavy dark green plastic. My wife thought the fellows were especially concerned about keeping their clothes dry for in our talks with the two of them, they said they planned to hike the trail up and over the ridge to the other side.
Because we were in a hurry to get back to the ship by 4:30, we all got back into Ben’s car and headed down the mountain road only to find the white car that had come up and into the parking lot, had crashed off the left side of the road, blocking the road completely. Just beyond the car was a small police van, and five police officers were already out surveying the car. The female police officer had just found a cell phone and was waving it in the air.
Just as we could not proceed down the mountain, the police could not come up. Ben explained to the police that we needed to get by the car so we could get back to the cruise ship.
There was an additional dilemma as the officers tried to move the car. The steering column was locked, so when the police officers tried moving it, they could not get it out of the road. It was clear Ben and I needed to help. I ordered the police to get stones to put under the back tires, then it was decided we needed to lift the back of the car out farther onto the road. On the count of three by one of the police officers, all seven of us lifted the back of the car and moved it five inches. We did this about five times which improved the turning radius so the car could be pushed off the road. Expanding the turning radius worked, the car was pushed aside, the officers drove their van alongside the damaged car, and the road was clear for us to pass.
It turns out the police officers were part of the D.E.A. (Drug Enforcement Agency), and they told us they had been following this fellow. The fellow with the backpack was carrying bricks of marijuana worth, according to Ben, somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000 (street value), and knowing the police were blocked from coming up, they chatted leisurely with us.
We proceeded down the narrow access road to the highway to get back to the ship. People in St. Vincent drive poorly. The main road is a narrow highway with many hills and turns, and most of the road is marked by a solid white line, although cars pass randomly solid line or not. One black car passed us, and when we turned the corner ahead, he had just crashed into an oncoming car and, thus, blocked the main road. With no police there yet, and the accident still fresh, we crept around the crashed vehicle on the far left and soon after that encountered a car with an “L” on the back. Ben said the “L” meant “learner,” and, by law, could not go faster than 20 miles per hour. We were finally able to get around this car only to find ourselves behind a small bus full of older people. Determining that it was an excursion from the ship, we felt a bit relieved, even though the time for getting back to the ship was tight. We arrived at the dock at 4:25, just in time to wave goodbye to Ben and Sheila, show our identification, make it through the gates, and hurry up the gangway onto the ship.
In the end, we had to compliment our hosts for having “arranged” such an exciting incident. We were told, in retrospect, that the cultivation of marijuana in St. Vincent is a common phenomena, and its exportation helps support a very poor nation and needy farmers.
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At id 21 insights, an essay by Axel Klein entitled, “Growing cannabis in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” explains the situation in St. Vincent far better than I could.
At the web site, Crime and Society, the essay there by Dr. Robert Winslow of San Diego State University, on St. Vincent and the Grenadines states, “St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the largest producer of marijuana in the Eastern Caribbean and the source for much of the marijuana used in the region. Extensive tracts are under intensive marijuana cultivation in the inaccessible northern half of St. Vincent. The illegal drug trade has infiltrated the economy of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and made some segments of the population dependent on marijuana production, trafficking and money laundering.”
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Copyright April 2010 by And Then Some Publishing L.L.C.
After a brief tour of Kingstown, the capital of St. Vincent, we headed toward the leeward side and to their home. Their home will be located (in 2011) on the other side of a massive new airport runway being built to accommodate the biggest jet liners. The many small mountains in the area are being leveled, homes in the way are being destroyed, roads are being diverted, and the geography and ecology of the area is being radically altered. Their home will sit near the end of the runway where jets are decelerating for their forthcoming landing.
After lunch at their home and additional sightseeing on the northern end of St. Vincent, we drove beyond the airport project to a small road that leads up to the volcano. St. Vincent is a volcanic island, and the still active volcano dominates the northern third of the island. It last erupted in 1973, and the destruction it caused is still evident in the small villages you pass along the main road on the northern end.
Ben and Sheila turned left onto the small road, looked into the back seat, and asked us if we wanted to go up. Without hesitation, we took their obvious lead and said, “Sure.”
The single-lane road was heavily rutted, full of pot holes, and rough. It went up through an active banana plantation where large bunches of bananas were wrapped in tubular poly vinylchloride (PVC), blue plastic to enhance fruit development, resist bad weather and sunburn, and avoid blemishes. Workers were evident on both sides of the car as we progressed up to a small parking lot where the trail to the volcano began.
Ben was surprised there were no vans carrying excursioners from our ship. The government was building a small picnic pavillion and restrooms, but they were far from finished and there were no workers present. A single, old picnic table sat where the trail into the lush growth began, and a native St. Vincensian was sitting there, his pack on the table’s seat and a large, well-worn machete showing from within it. We all engaged in informal chit-chat with him, and he not only suggested a place where we could take a better picture of the volcano, but he introduced me to the small pear-like fruit from the tree under which the table was located.
While we were talking, an old white car came up to the parking lot, turned around quickly and headed back down the mountain. We thought nothing about it nor about the fellow at the table walking down the road from the parking lot.
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, the fellow with whom we had been talking and a second native fellow (this time with no front teeth) came walking up the road to the parking lot. The new fellow carried a very heavy backpack on his head. Clearly the two native fellows knew one another, and we chatted with both of them as the fellow threw his backpack down onto the picnic table and unzipped it. Inside were large brick-like, rectangular blocks wrapped in heavy dark green plastic. My wife thought the fellows were especially concerned about keeping their clothes dry for in our talks with the two of them, they said they planned to hike the trail up and over the ridge to the other side.
Because we were in a hurry to get back to the ship by 4:30, we all got back into Ben’s car and headed down the mountain road only to find the white car that had come up and into the parking lot, had crashed off the left side of the road, blocking the road completely. Just beyond the car was a small police van, and five police officers were already out surveying the car. The female police officer had just found a cell phone and was waving it in the air.
Just as we could not proceed down the mountain, the police could not come up. Ben explained to the police that we needed to get by the car so we could get back to the cruise ship.
There was an additional dilemma as the officers tried to move the car. The steering column was locked, so when the police officers tried moving it, they could not get it out of the road. It was clear Ben and I needed to help. I ordered the police to get stones to put under the back tires, then it was decided we needed to lift the back of the car out farther onto the road. On the count of three by one of the police officers, all seven of us lifted the back of the car and moved it five inches. We did this about five times which improved the turning radius so the car could be pushed off the road. Expanding the turning radius worked, the car was pushed aside, the officers drove their van alongside the damaged car, and the road was clear for us to pass.
It turns out the police officers were part of the D.E.A. (Drug Enforcement Agency), and they told us they had been following this fellow. The fellow with the backpack was carrying bricks of marijuana worth, according to Ben, somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000 (street value), and knowing the police were blocked from coming up, they chatted leisurely with us.
We proceeded down the narrow access road to the highway to get back to the ship. People in St. Vincent drive poorly. The main road is a narrow highway with many hills and turns, and most of the road is marked by a solid white line, although cars pass randomly solid line or not. One black car passed us, and when we turned the corner ahead, he had just crashed into an oncoming car and, thus, blocked the main road. With no police there yet, and the accident still fresh, we crept around the crashed vehicle on the far left and soon after that encountered a car with an “L” on the back. Ben said the “L” meant “learner,” and, by law, could not go faster than 20 miles per hour. We were finally able to get around this car only to find ourselves behind a small bus full of older people. Determining that it was an excursion from the ship, we felt a bit relieved, even though the time for getting back to the ship was tight. We arrived at the dock at 4:25, just in time to wave goodbye to Ben and Sheila, show our identification, make it through the gates, and hurry up the gangway onto the ship.
In the end, we had to compliment our hosts for having “arranged” such an exciting incident. We were told, in retrospect, that the cultivation of marijuana in St. Vincent is a common phenomena, and its exportation helps support a very poor nation and needy farmers.
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At id 21 insights, an essay by Axel Klein entitled, “Growing cannabis in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” explains the situation in St. Vincent far better than I could.
At the web site, Crime and Society, the essay there by Dr. Robert Winslow of San Diego State University, on St. Vincent and the Grenadines states, “St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the largest producer of marijuana in the Eastern Caribbean and the source for much of the marijuana used in the region. Extensive tracts are under intensive marijuana cultivation in the inaccessible northern half of St. Vincent. The illegal drug trade has infiltrated the economy of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and made some segments of the population dependent on marijuana production, trafficking and money laundering.”
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Copyright April 2010 by And Then Some Publishing L.L.C.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Curacao
I had never heard of it, I did not know where it was located, and I knew of no one who had ever been there before. For me, it was just another stop on the ship’s itinerary. That may reveal the very narrow world I live in, or it may reveal the fact that after oil was discovered off the Venezuelan coast in 1920, a new era opened for Curacao. Curacao’s Royal Dutch Shell Refinery, built to distill crude oil imported from Venezuela, became the island’s biggest business and employer. This is when immigrants from other Caribbean nations, South America, and Asia headed to Curacao, and the refinery was considered important enough during World War II, that the Allies established an American military base at Waterfort Arches, near Willemstad. Tourism was not on the island’s radar screen nor was it a significant part of the island’s economy.
One Internet site described Curacao’s history in this manner: “Long lasting colonial dominance, looting, pillaging, plundering, busy slave trade, slave riots, prosperous times, Dutch trade spirit, feuds and invasions all characterize Curacao’s lively history.” Notice that no mention is made of tourism; “prosperous times” relates to the long economic boom that resulted from the establishment of the Shell oil refinery. The 1970’s oil crisis, however, ended the long economic boom and a reduction in international investment in the following decade led to a further economic decline. Shell closed the refinery in 1985.
In the history lecture onboard the Grand Princess, Thomas Judson, a southern California “educator” (his label), told us that Curacao is a prosperous island that, because of the refinery, didn’t need tourism, and this created a mindset that is completely wrong — “wrong” in the minds of tourists today who visit the island.
The island may not have needed tourism, however, once you traverse the Queen Emma Bridge from the “mega Pier” in downtown Willemstad, and enter into Punda, you realize what a cosmopolitan, diverse, and exciting venue this is for tourists.
Punda, on the east side of the St. Anna Bay (Annabaaï) is full of bright, pastel-colored, former merchant houses along the channel front. They adorn many of the postcards available in the souvenir shops, and they are one of the photographs on many of the Internet venues designed to attract tourists to Curacao. Today, those houses are occupied, at least on the ground-floor level, by boutiques, shops, and art galleries.
Punda’s main commercial streets of Handelskade, Breedestat, and Heerenstaat, are lined with beautiful, freshly painted, stores with their typical curved baroque gables and arched galleries. It is picturesque, clean, attractive, and tourist-friendly.
We walked most of Punda, visiting the floating market, central market, Willhelmina Park, the Governor’s Palace, Fort Amsterdam, and a McDonald’s before heading to Otrobanda on the other side of the St. Anna Bay.
We went to the local McDonald’s (following a sign to its location) to use their restroom. We were planning to buy a coke as well, but the lines were too long. There were no tourists at all in the place, and it was clear, because it was slightly off the beaten track, that it was a popular local hangout. From McDonald’s we headed back to the bridge.
I found it fascinating to watch as the Queen Emma Bridge, which lies across St. Anna Bay, swing open to allow ships into Willemstad harbor. It was built in 1888, and rebuilt in 1939 and 2005-2006. The footbridge is a low, wide, paved walkway that floats on 15 pontoons. To open, the entire bridge is swung open by an engine on the very end of the bridge that simply floats it and each pontoon section to one side, much as a straight arm (no bending at the elbow) is moved ninety-degrees from an extended position at one’s side, to a position in front of your body. While the bridge is open (which can last from 15 minutes to a half hour), pedestrian ferries take people from one side to the other. The whole operation is delightful to watch.
We waited only a moment while the Queen Emma Bridge was re-positioned (it was open for ships to move through while we roamed through Punda), and we walked to Mathey Werf (where another large cruise ship was docked) then along Klipstratt to the Kura Hulanda village. Although we didn’t go through the museum, we strolled through the streets where some 65 historic buildings had been restored. Some of the tropical garden areas were lush with falls and pools, and secluded areas for people to sit. It is a delightful area, and according to the literature, “a shining example of some of Curacao’s best 18th- and 19th-century architecture.”
What thrilled us even more, however, than seeing early Curacao architecture, is that we walked along Breedstraat in Otrobanda on the west side of St. Ann’s Bay, which is not designed for tourists. It is where locals congregate and shop, and we saw only three couples (from the cruise ship) in walking almost a mile in the area.
Even the local shopping area was clean. There were a number of places to purchase liquor, but the shops were much as you would expect in any large city: small sports shops and restaurants, numerous clothing stores, a pharmacy, but no tourist shops of any kind. School had just let out, and there were many kids in bright turquoise knit shirts with bermuda khaki shorts walking the sidewalk toward the local bus terminal. Many had already arrived at the terminal as we walked through the area to get back to the ship — docked in the distance just beyond the bus area.
As we leave Curacao in the distance as I am writing this, several things are clear. First, Curacao is only 40 miles long and 10 miles wide at its widest point — just 171 square miles — with a population of only about 150,000 people. It is located just 40 miles off the coast of Venezuela, 42 miles east of Aruba, and 30 miles west of Bonaire. (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao are the islands that make up the ABCs of the Netherlands Lesser Antilles). Second, it is not a lush, tropical island. (It gets only 20 inches of rain annually.) Rather, it is flat. Less than a dozen hills (no mountains at all) can be seen across the whole island. Third, the refinery smokestacks (I can count 15 that dot the interior; however, they are fairly tightly bunched together) make up part of the horizon as one looks out over the whole island.
Because we took no excursion on Curacao, we did not see the large desalinization plant on the south coast, the beaches on the northwestern part of the island, any of the 40 dive spots, the Hato Caves where the geologic history of Curacao can be learned, the ostrich farm, the cactus, divi-divi trees, or Christoffel Park (4,500 acres) that contains Mount Christoffel (1,239 feet), the highest elevation on the island. But we had a chance to look at the waterfront, observe the local people and their activities, and we found what we did to be a pleasant way to pick up the flavor of the Caribbean and Curaçao.
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For a quick summary of Curacao’s past history, check out Curacao Central, a site at which you can locate hotels, restaurants, snorkeling locations, and beaches.
This website, Curacao History, offers essays (other websites) that will take you through specific periods in Curacao’s history. Dates are provided with brief summaries, but in-depth information is a mere click away, and you get a complete examination of the particular dates and events.
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Copyright April 2010 by And Then Some Publishing, LLC
Thursday, April 1, 2010
High-end, High-tech, And Then Some
And Then Some Publishing, LLC, has joined forces with Tahwyas International, LLC, to produce and distribute luxury high-end, high-tech gadgets for the world market. Because technology makes our lives better and most everyone today is involved with technology in some capacity, we have been in search of a compatible company for some time, and when we discovered Tahwyas, we immediately pursued a relationship. Although somewhat reluctant at first, once they discovered the breadth and depth of our publishing interests, it became a foregone conclusion and a perfect match. The agreement has Tahwyas marketing and distributing the wide range of And Then Some’s publication list, and And Then Some doing the same with Tahwyas’ high-end, high-tech gadgets.
Let’s just say for a moment, that you're enjoying your new high-definition television, have your work and personal appointments organized on your computer, your fully-loaded iPpod is bringing your selections of music using your iPod dock and satellite speakers, and your Torq mobile phone with its hand crank, re-chargeable AA battery concept, which comes equipped with a touch-sensitive LCD panel instead of a regular keypad, that allows you to answer the handset by simply holding it to your cheek, and lets you send messages by swiping them off the screen with your finger. Also, you pay your bills electronically and save time and money. Tahwyas has combined all of these elements into one palm-sized computer with the smallest HD-LCD screen available. This new instrument is so new, so high-end and high-tech, that it is impossible to bring you all its characteristics in this one short essay; however if you visit the Tahwyas’ AllOne.com website you will acquire all the information you need to understand and purchase this new piece of equipment.
I know that you might believe it couldn’t get any better than this (if you read and understood the equipment described above), but it does. If you watched "Star Trek," you will remember seeing the crew of the Starship Enterprise live out their fantasies in a room called the holodeck. The holodeck is a giant, holographic, projection room that allowed the crew to touch and interact with projections as if they were in a big video game. We have developed a new communication technology that allows you and your friends to interact inside a simulated environment even if you are thousands of miles apart. Our holographic technology depends on the use of holograms, holographic discs, and holographic memory. By combining cameras and Internet telephony, our videoconferencing technology allows the real-time exchange of information without physically bringing each person into one central room. Our teleimmersion process takes videoconferencing to the next level by creating a central, simulated environment that allows everyone to come together in a virtual room, and no one will have to leave their physical location to do so. This technology is available at once, and it can be yours to better understand and purchase by visiting our website, Holographyworks.com
We have developed a high-end, high-tech speech recognition program as well. With this software it will allow you to dictate to your computer and have your words converted to text in a word processing or e-mail document. You can access function commands, such as opening files and accessing menus, with voice instructions. People with disabilities that prevent them from typing use our speech-recognition system. If you have lost the use of your hands or eyes, or for or when it is not possible to use a Braille keyboard, our system allows personal expression through dictation as well as control of many computer tasks. Our software saves your speech data after every session and allows those with progressive speech deterioriation to continue to dictate to their computers. Our software, Speechtechworks.com has a vocabulary in the tens of thousands and allows you to speak at a normal, conversational speed.
We have an electronic display screen that is as thin as a sheet of paper that requires low power usage, allows complete flexibility, and is more readable than a book. It replaces all books, newspapers, and magazines, and can be used for cell phones, PDAs, pagers and digital watches. Not only can it hold a display of the same text for weeks without any additional charge applied to it, it can be changed in an instant. An advantage of our electronic display is that it can be printed on any surface, including walls, billboards, product labels, and T-shirts. Homeowners can change their digital wallpaper instantly, and its flexibility makes it possible to develop roll-up displays for electronic devices. For greater understanding and the purchase of our software, go to Tronicdisplayworks.com
You may think all this thus far in this essay is surprising, but you haven’t experienced surprise until you read about our next high-end, high-tech gadget. Have you ever wondered, why do human beings do the things they do? Until now, the connection between the body and the mind has remained a mystery. How we perceive the world and learn new things will no longer fascinate and confound you. The answers to questions like, “Are you born with certain qualities, or are you the product of your experiences and upbringing?,” or “How do you form an idea, gather information, and learn to adapt?” MindTech is a simple way to see what goes on in your mind and make sense of it. MindTech takes theoretical psychology to a new level. It allows you to hypothesize about something you can't visualize. MindTech gives you tangible data, or psychometrics, to grasp the more intangible aspects of your psyche. Its uses are broad for it will assist you in education, the workplace, counseling, and health. MindTech will help you understand, predict, and even control your human thought processes and emotions. To understand and then purchase this high-end, high-tech gadget go to MindTechWorks.com
You can understand now why we at And Then Some Publishing, LLC, are so excited. Not only have we developed a wonderful, tight relationship with Tahwyas International, LLC, but we have now on the market a group of products that are outstanding. Not even discussed above is our convergence device that combines a cell phone, digital camera, radio, camcorder, GPS receiver, MP3 player, portable video game device, television, and allows you to surf the Web. This one includes a printer as well. It is a multi-functional device and can help you save space when you pack for a trip. Go to Convertechworks
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See Crystal Campbell’s “High tech meets high-end cuisine” (April 1, 2009) at Content for Reprint
At Unique Homes luxury is being redefined. Camilla McLaughlin writes in “REDEFINING LUXURY: High-Tech at the High-End,” that new technology is changing the way we buy, sell, and live.
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Copyright April 2010 by And Then Some Publishing, LLC
Let’s just say for a moment, that you're enjoying your new high-definition television, have your work and personal appointments organized on your computer, your fully-loaded iPpod is bringing your selections of music using your iPod dock and satellite speakers, and your Torq mobile phone with its hand crank, re-chargeable AA battery concept, which comes equipped with a touch-sensitive LCD panel instead of a regular keypad, that allows you to answer the handset by simply holding it to your cheek, and lets you send messages by swiping them off the screen with your finger. Also, you pay your bills electronically and save time and money. Tahwyas has combined all of these elements into one palm-sized computer with the smallest HD-LCD screen available. This new instrument is so new, so high-end and high-tech, that it is impossible to bring you all its characteristics in this one short essay; however if you visit the Tahwyas’ AllOne.com website you will acquire all the information you need to understand and purchase this new piece of equipment.
I know that you might believe it couldn’t get any better than this (if you read and understood the equipment described above), but it does. If you watched "Star Trek," you will remember seeing the crew of the Starship Enterprise live out their fantasies in a room called the holodeck. The holodeck is a giant, holographic, projection room that allowed the crew to touch and interact with projections as if they were in a big video game. We have developed a new communication technology that allows you and your friends to interact inside a simulated environment even if you are thousands of miles apart. Our holographic technology depends on the use of holograms, holographic discs, and holographic memory. By combining cameras and Internet telephony, our videoconferencing technology allows the real-time exchange of information without physically bringing each person into one central room. Our teleimmersion process takes videoconferencing to the next level by creating a central, simulated environment that allows everyone to come together in a virtual room, and no one will have to leave their physical location to do so. This technology is available at once, and it can be yours to better understand and purchase by visiting our website, Holographyworks.com
We have developed a high-end, high-tech speech recognition program as well. With this software it will allow you to dictate to your computer and have your words converted to text in a word processing or e-mail document. You can access function commands, such as opening files and accessing menus, with voice instructions. People with disabilities that prevent them from typing use our speech-recognition system. If you have lost the use of your hands or eyes, or for or when it is not possible to use a Braille keyboard, our system allows personal expression through dictation as well as control of many computer tasks. Our software saves your speech data after every session and allows those with progressive speech deterioriation to continue to dictate to their computers. Our software, Speechtechworks.com has a vocabulary in the tens of thousands and allows you to speak at a normal, conversational speed.
We have an electronic display screen that is as thin as a sheet of paper that requires low power usage, allows complete flexibility, and is more readable than a book. It replaces all books, newspapers, and magazines, and can be used for cell phones, PDAs, pagers and digital watches. Not only can it hold a display of the same text for weeks without any additional charge applied to it, it can be changed in an instant. An advantage of our electronic display is that it can be printed on any surface, including walls, billboards, product labels, and T-shirts. Homeowners can change their digital wallpaper instantly, and its flexibility makes it possible to develop roll-up displays for electronic devices. For greater understanding and the purchase of our software, go to Tronicdisplayworks.com
You may think all this thus far in this essay is surprising, but you haven’t experienced surprise until you read about our next high-end, high-tech gadget. Have you ever wondered, why do human beings do the things they do? Until now, the connection between the body and the mind has remained a mystery. How we perceive the world and learn new things will no longer fascinate and confound you. The answers to questions like, “Are you born with certain qualities, or are you the product of your experiences and upbringing?,” or “How do you form an idea, gather information, and learn to adapt?” MindTech is a simple way to see what goes on in your mind and make sense of it. MindTech takes theoretical psychology to a new level. It allows you to hypothesize about something you can't visualize. MindTech gives you tangible data, or psychometrics, to grasp the more intangible aspects of your psyche. Its uses are broad for it will assist you in education, the workplace, counseling, and health. MindTech will help you understand, predict, and even control your human thought processes and emotions. To understand and then purchase this high-end, high-tech gadget go to MindTechWorks.com
You can understand now why we at And Then Some Publishing, LLC, are so excited. Not only have we developed a wonderful, tight relationship with Tahwyas International, LLC, but we have now on the market a group of products that are outstanding. Not even discussed above is our convergence device that combines a cell phone, digital camera, radio, camcorder, GPS receiver, MP3 player, portable video game device, television, and allows you to surf the Web. This one includes a printer as well. It is a multi-functional device and can help you save space when you pack for a trip. Go to Convertechworks
-----
See Crystal Campbell’s “High tech meets high-end cuisine” (April 1, 2009) at Content for Reprint
At Unique Homes luxury is being redefined. Camilla McLaughlin writes in “REDEFINING LUXURY: High-Tech at the High-End,” that new technology is changing the way we buy, sell, and live.
-----
Copyright April 2010 by And Then Some Publishing, LLC
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