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| TRAVELS WITH MY DINOSAUR 05 June - 05 August 2003 |
| Thursday 12th June Like yesterday, this morning broke grey and ugly over the island, spitting rain into the humid air. Natasha decided to order in breakfast (a new concept for me), and presented me with a large bowl of Chicken Souce and a quarter or watermelon - wow, how Bahamians can eat! Chicken Souse is a clear spicy soup, with whole pieces of chicken, pepper, onion and potato. It did taste very lovely, just not the kind of taste I associate with breakfast, and a little filling for one not too accustomed to eating so heartily at the beginning of the day! I feel I shall definitely need to avoid the bathroom scales when this trip is at an end. I had a few errands to run, so we decided that the day would be spent downtown. My first port of call was the Linen Shop, located on fashionable Bay Street - main artery of central Nassau�s shopping district. The store sells fine linens (duty free) as well as beautiful china and porcelain and smart children�s outfits. A speciality of this place are the hand made Bahamian soft toys, cats, dogs, fish and teddy bears made in bold bright colours with button eyes and moving limbs. These were what I had come for - a gift for an expected baby back home. A little way down Bay Street Solomon�s Mines is a mecca for those in search of duty free jewellery, watches and crystal. My wallet isn�t quite deep enough, but I enjoyed investigating its delights after replacing my watch strap in the workshop at the back of the store. Whilst waiting for the repair to be made, I chatted with a Californian man who, hours away from his wedding, was calmly waiting for his watch to be repaired. At least he wouldn�t be late for the ceremony! He and his wife have been staying at Atlantis since Saturday, with a party of 50 wedding guests. I mused that it would be hard to top the Bahamas for a honeymoon, and he replied that he thought they�d already had that, although entertaining 50 people for several days would surely require a holiday to recover! After Bay Street, I took a Surrey tour of Nassau. A Surrey Tour is a horse-drawn carriage ride, and guides enthusiastically canvas virtually every person who walks by. Earlier, one man had tried to convince me that the cost of tours had been forcibly increased by the government due to the high price of importing hay to New Providence - I decided to give him a miss. Later, I returned and found a less intrusive guide, who gave me an enthusiastic and enjoyable tour of the Bahamian Capital with his equine partner, Nat King Cole. Louis is a keen historian. After studying history at school with much pleasure, he continued to research Bahamian History at the central library of Nassau and the Government Archives. He also started tracing his family history, and was able to determine that his great grandmother had been born in Uganda, and married a Cherokee Indian from a nearby reservation, after escaping from the shackles of American slavery. He wondered how much more he might have learned about his forebears, but for a fire which destroyed many of the demographic records of the Bahamas. We considered the landing of Christopher Columbus in 1492, supposedly on the island of San Salvador. Columbus had been captain of a boat named the Santa Maria, which floundered on a reef en route to Cuba - in search of gold. It is possible that Columbus had been keeping two logs of his journey - one factual, the other a decoy. It is then also possible that the real log was lost with the Santa Maria? I asked Louis if he thought if was possible that Columbus`has actually landed on one of the other Islands rather than San Salvador. He was intrigued by the concept. I�m not a historian - was just playing devil�s advocate. After the tour, I took a closer look at the memorials of Parliament Square and the surrounding gardens. Queen Victoria sits regally on her throne, presiding over the activities of this very pretty town. Several tourists came by and asked me for directions to the central post office, which I was strangely able to give right away - feeling somewhat less like a tourist myself. On any given day, visitors to Nassau outnumber its residents by 3:1. Cruise ships dock almost every day, spilling their human cargo of thousands on to the Prince Charles Harbour-side, their cameras swaying and wallets bulging expectantly for the shopping onslaught to come. Almost every visitor I met was a cruise passenger, visiting for the day only. I met Natasha for a late lunch of conch fritters, rice and peas, and a delicious banana and strawberry daiquiri. She then drove me to the Water Tower, a tall water processing plant which affords fine views over the town. As the tower was close to closing, I opted instead to climb the Queen�s Steps, a steep series of steps carved out of the hillside by slaves. Originally 66 steps, only 65 remain as one has crumbled away. The approach to the steps takes walkers through a quiet, leafy corridor, its high stone walls providing welcome shade from the hot sun, an air so cool that I could almost taste it. At the top, I followed a long, winding path to Fort Fincastle. Built to protect the island from invading parties, the remaining cannons are only copies as the originals were returned to England when the fort failed to see any action. At its very top, the fort allows stunning views across the capital and the harbour to Paradise Island, the towers of Atlantis rising up from the sea. Several cruise ships lay anchored in the harbour, and tiny fishing boat dots bobbed happily in the pristine waters. Yet again, the miserable morning clouds and rain had evaporated into a deep blue sky. The air was hot and still, and the rails along the fort�s staircase burned my hands as I took my way cautiously back down. The peace of the afternoon was exquisite. Not another soul shared the fort with me for the twenty minutes before I left it to watch over us alone. I had the world to myself for a time, and it was heaven. I found myself thanking God again for the time He has given me here - such a blessing as I cannot describe. The words of the song �Speak Lord In the Stillness� came to me and, finding some shade, I sat for some time, meeting with God - my personal fortress and security. I reluctantly left that oasis of calm and headed back to the business of downtown. On the way there, I misjudged one of the curbsides - Nassau has extremely high curbs to reduce the problem of flooding curing torrential rain. My left ankle twisted round and the pain sprang tears, but even so, I pretended it didn�t really hurt, and continued walking, desperately trying to hold my quivering lips still. All composure was regained by the time I reached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet Natasha from work, and we drove home in sunny spirits. I'm very tired now, but happily so. Today has been wonderful. |