Antigua

I arrived in Antigua on July 21st 2002, which was three months ago. Antigua is a much flatter island than Grenada. In consequence it is also much drier and has less vegetation. It is however a wealthier island and visitors can shop for just about anything they want or need in St. John's, the capital city. I started working in an area called Heritage Quay where many of the cruise ships dock and so it is a very touristic area with restaurants, stores, souvenir shops and vendors. It isn't quite typical of what one expects in the Caribbean since it is a city it is also devoid of plant life and beaches. The island boasts 365 beaches however, I question that number (but they do have many).

The city is quite beautiful in its own right and has a very distinctive architecture. It is interesting to see these old and colorful wooden buildings among modern buildings. But, you don't see any buildings taller than a few stories with the Saint John's Cathedral as an exception. Like many of the other islands, Antiguans are very religious and you will have no difficulty finding any churches. The city seems to become a ghost town on Sundays with barely any activity at all. Forget doing anything on Sundays because everything closes with the exception of hotels, some pharmacies and of course KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken).

Chicken Rules

Antiguans and Caribbean people in general have what seems like a single minded obsession with chicken. If there is any obvious American influence in the Caribbean it is from KFC. Fried chicken is absolutely everywhere. Another popular chicken restaurant chain is the Royal Castle, Trinidad's version of the KFC invasion. Every restaurant I ate in has chicken meat on the menu. Goat and pork is also popular but not to the extent of chicken. Many other fastfood chains like McDonalds or Pizza Hut have come to the Caribbean and failed. KFC rules here!!!

Dickenson Bay

Carnival

While I was in Dickenson Bay, Carnival had started. Carnival is always during the last week of July and the first week in August coinciding with the abolition of slavery on August 1st 1834. All seriousness aside, Carnival is about the freedom to have fun! The whole island comes to life while steel drums beat to traditional rythms and calipsonians compete to be the Calypso King of the year while women compete to be Carnival Queen. Everyone takes to the streets during the "jump ups". My most memorable event was the J'Ouvert Morning jump up.

Every night during Carnival, people hoard by the thousands to the Lions club to dance and party. Eventualy, on the last Monday night, after the Lions "jump up", around 4:00am, every one takes to the street for J'Ouvert Morning. Since I was working the next day I skipped the Lions club, slept a few hours and woke up at 3:00am to join the party. I was a little apprehensive at first since I was alone in a crowd of thousands on the street but I blended in.

Basically, Steel Drums and Calipsonians alike play music on the flatbeds of big trucks with their loud speakers blasting. While slowly making their way around town, each truck takes a different route and their own crowds with them. I followed the Blue Devils at first and by daybreak I had meandered into a couple of other groups to finaly settle near Redcliffe Street where I met up with some friends that worked at the hotel. We stayed and danced in that area for a few hours. By 7:00am beer was flowing profusely but people were not drinking it, they were drenching each other with it, me included! I may as well have taken a bath in the stuff, every square inche of me was soaked. The heat of the rising sun made the spraying welcome and quite alot of fun since I did my share of drenching others. Unfortunatly, by mid morning I had to leave for work. I wasn't very productive that day.

Under the sea

The next couple of weeks were rather uneventful. If anything they were quite relaxing. Candle lit dinners by the sea shore. Putting on my captains hat and taking out a Sunfish for a little sailing. Midnight swims in the bay, reading on the beach under the shade of a palm tree and even a little snorkling. Actualy the snorkling was relaxing up until I tried to impress a girl with my free diving abilities. She had one of those waterproof disposable cameras and was afraid to leave the surface. So I told her I would dive and take some shots for her. As I followed a beautiful blue Angel fish through the reef I rubbed up against some red coral. Of course I ignored the pain and pretended nothing happened. But by the time I surfaced and boarded the boat, I was bleeding so much that I couldn't hide it. My mind was racing to come up with a cool story like I wrestled with a man eating shark or I was attacked by a school of baracuda but the cuts were just not big enough to substantiate the lie. Three months later I still have the scars.

Barbuda

Forget about TV, AC or even a telephone. I had electricity... some of time... and running water somewhat haphazardly. It's not like the salty, highly mineralized ground water was even drinkable but at the very least I did need some for cleaning myself and my clothing. So every night I managed to fill a bucket with water so that I would have some ready for the next morning. Showers, when there was enough water pressure to take one, were quite interesting. Imagine turning the tap just enough to go beyond drips but not quite a full stream...this was a good high water pressure morning. Incidently, water pressure in Barbuda was often in direct corelation with the tides and so low tide ment low pressure. Hot water was obviously another luxury this house didn't have. The mosquitos were relentless and so every night I would fumigate the house with mosquito coils and bug spray. I couldn't help but finally feel a kinship with my Netcorps commerads all around the developing world that didn't have the opportunity to stay in nice hotels like I did most of the time. However, outside of the hardships of my home in Barbuda, the work was quite rewarding and the the people lots of fun.

Barbuda is a small and mostly flat island except for the Highlands which skyscrape to a breathtaking 128 feet above sea level! It is hot and dry (somewhat desert like) and quite poor compared to Antigua. Barbuda is probably as ignored by Antigua as Newfoundland is by Canada. In fact, many Barbudans don't even like Antigua. There is definetly a rivalry between the two islands ever since they were forced to merge by the British. Despite all the hardship in Barbuda, the small population of approximately 1000 people are extremely friendly and there is a real sense of community and family there. Most people live in the village of Codrington named after the rich British plantation owner whose family controled the island for almost 200 years.