CAT | Travel Writing
I’m sorting through a box of diaries today as I’ve been remiss about posting lately. Still, as I read my diaries I have the song “Who Let The Dogs Out?” by the Ba Ha Men in my head. So here’s a share: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He82NBjJqf8
My beloved potcake Tarpum
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The sounds of the island at sunrise…..Bahamas style
0 Comments | Posted by Rosalyn in Island Living, Travel Writing
Two choruses, at 6am and 6pm, punctuated my meandering days in Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera, Bahamas.
I resented the 6am one at first, pulling a pillow over my head to shut out the crowing competition from the dozens of cockerels who strut along the dusty streets. In true island style, I mellowed quickly, choosing to hear the noise as a herald for another beautiful day. I also loved the way their noise was joined by soft singing of Vodun spirit songs from one or other of the Haitian itinerant workers. They wait patiently each morning by the harbour wall for a lift to whatever toil they have secured for that day.
The 6pm sound of rhythmic chopping was always welcome. The fishermen, Dennis and Arron and their crews, had landed their catch for the day and were busy wielding their sharp machetes to cut and fillet Grouper, Snapper, Hogfish, Shark or Tuna for the locals and the smattering of brave tourists.
I had long ago made friends with them when I had told them, “Don’t be chargin’ me dem tourist prices an’ tinkin’ me a bank!”. My custom was now greeted with smiles and laughter and an exchange of crumpled Bahamian dollars when the t-shirt and shorts brigade of passing boat owners had moved away. Then it would be back home ready for an ice cool Kalik beer, sipped whilst waiting for the green flash of the evening sun sinking into the evening sea on an island called ‘Freedom’
Governor's Harbour Eleuthera
Found this, in my five years of journals during my time in the Bahamas. Thanks to whoever penned it. Brilliant. Love the way the Bahamians can be self-effacing:
30 Ways:
Drift wood painting...........Bahamas
1. Ya older dan ya uncle or aunt.
2. Ya Mummy still holdin ya passport and ya 33 years old.
3. Ya know what ’spry’ is.
4. Ya go ta a funeral to see da person face, but ya don’t know dem.
5. Ya call parts of ya body, bubby, bungy, and bread.
6. Ya ask for da worm outta da conch.
7. Potcake is a dog or burnt rice.
8. Ya say current instead of electricity.
9. Ya start shopping for hurricane supplies the day before the hurricane.
10. ‘Vel mudda sick’ means something to ya.
11. Ya point wit ya lips.
12. Ya refer to people as boss or chief.
13. Ya refer to the lunch lady at school as Mum.
14. Ya can direct an American to the nearest Walmart, Brandsmart or Florida Mall.
15. Ya call Coca-Cola, coke soda, and everything else sweet soda.
16. Ya say ‘reverse back’
17. Ya know what ‘pants gunin’, and ‘gun casin’ mean.
18. Ya use da word ‘destroyful’.
19. Ya buy food from a place called ‘Dirty’s’ and go dancing in a place called ‘da Zoo’.
20. Ya MP have more case in court dan you.
21. Ya only buy da Thursday paper (to see who dead).
22. Ya start off gossiping wit ‘chile guess wha’.
23. Ya call all dishwashing liquid ‘Joy’ and all washing detergent ‘Tide’.
24. Ya put dettol in da water da bade wit.
25. Ya grammy is clean house in pulled up slip or night dress.
26. Ya best comeback in an argument is ‘You like man hey’.
27. You get outta ya bed at 1am ta watch junkanoo, but can’t make it t owork fer 9am.
28. Ya go to da beach , not to swim but just wet ya foot.
29. When ya talk ya pronounce v’s like w’s and w’s like v’s, eg .vomen, wulgar.
30. Ya go Miami every month but have never visited another Bahamian island.
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Book synopsis – A Hummingbird on the Noni
0 Comments | Posted by Rosalyn in Memoir, Travel Writing
Mention the Bahamas & a glamorous image of James Bond, fast boats, bikini clad beauties, sand & azure sea, tropical drinks and smiling locals comes to mind.
After 20 years in the fast lane running one of London’s top PR agencies, I discovered over 5 years the REAL Bahamas: going increasingly native from the relative civilization of Bahamian capital Nassau to living on a 10-acre farm on a sparsely populated out island (run by former politicians and a network of extended families the source of whose money is never openly discussed).
See behind the gates of the millionaire communities in Nassau. A capital boasting the sophistication of giant casinos but with shanty towns. Open any daily paper & read stories of witchcraft and sweethearting (adultery) and fist fights in parliament.
Recovering from major surgery in the USA, I choose ‘Eleutheratherapy’: recovering on an organic farm on a pink sand beach on the island of Eleuthera. Here I discovered a Bahamas rarely seen by visitors: of nefarious locals, the displaced and forgotten and an eclectic mix of winter residents and ex-pats each with a funnier and stranger story to tell.
This is a vivid and engaging story of the real Bahamas and the characters who wash up on her shores. Scruffy billionaires and eccentric recluses who rub shoulders with local fishermen and a land, charming and frustrating in equal measure; a place at once quiet and more exciting than any invented story!
Coming soon (fingers crossed) to a bookshop near you…………..A
