Merry Christmas from the Caribbean!! Christmas in the Caribbean is a big deal. Huge. The festive drive of North American consumerism has nothing on the tradition of Caribbean holiday enthusiasm. Christmas carols began playing on the radio in the middle of October. And it wasn’t just that were played on radio stations, people actually intentionally tune in to listen. And by people, I mean everyone. I am talking about young guys and burly men blaring ‘Silent Night’ from their car stereos and singing along to Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas’.
While shopping is the focus of North American Christmas preparations, here the holiday season is synonymous with intensive cleaning. Drapes are washed, floors are polished, nooks are dusted and crannies are swept. On the weekends, everyone is out putting a fresh coat of paint on their fences and trim. It is their version of ‘spring cleaning’. The house must be spic and span inside and out, ready for the unannounced guests. Christmas, you see, is the only time of the year where dropping in on someone completely unannounced is acceptable, and moreover, is expected. Fruit cake, coconut water and malt must readily be on hand to serve visiting friends, family and neighbours. They are, unfortunately, very big on fruit cake here. I have had to repeatedly pretend to like the stuff. I had one piece which was relatively tolerable, but I think that was only because it made me half drunk – the baker had a heavy hand when it came to spicing it with rum or wine or whatever it is you put in fruit cake.
My fellow interns in Barbados tell me it is much the same there – which I will soon be able to verify for myself. I had originally intended to spend Christmas here in St. Kitts by myself. I didn’t have the funds to fly home to Canada, or anywhere really, and I had braced myself for being alone. I was mentally and emotionally prepared. Until, that is, I was struck with the horrible news. News that at any other time would be heavenly, that would make all my friends jealous, and might incite me to do the Dance of Joy: my work would, for all intents and purposes, be closed for three weeks over the holidays. I was seriously doubting the possibility of retaining my sanity during three weeks alone during the holiday season, but, to my great fortune, I had little Christmas elves working on my behalf. There was a regional meeting scheduled at the headquarters in Bridgetown for the week before Christmas, so my fellow interns in Barbados, along with one of their kindly supervisors, suggested to the big boss that I should attend, and then I could stay on and spend Christmas with them. So here I am, in the St. Kitts airport, suitably early, as I have been warned that the airline has an unpredictable sense of time.
The major airline that services the Caribbean islands is called LIAT – which locals claim stands for “Leave Island Any Time.” It is notorious for leaving late or early, but rarely as scheduled. The airport is small, as would be expected for a small island, with only 5 check-in desks; one for LIAT and the other four for American Airlines, Delta, US Airways and British Airways. The Caribbean provider stands out from a mile away (or, in the case of this airport, 20 metres away) - its desk and dividers are draped in festive red and gold Christmas decorations. The Caribbean holiday spirit putting the Rest to shame yet again.
The exact plans for my tropical intern Christmas are not set as yet, but I am crossing my fingers for sunshine, because what could say ‘Yuletide’ more than a beach bbq? Hell, it says tide right there in it. So to all of you, I send my warm wishes from the Caribbean (literally and figuratively) for a holiday full of joy and love! Enjoy the snow while I enjoy the sand!
P.S I just went to the bathroom in the airport and I had to share this as yet another example of the religiosity of this island:
Taped to the inside of the bathroom door was a hand-written sign that said, “Delight thyself in the lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. “
Thing is, when I first opened the door to the bathroom, I couldn’t located the light switch. After a moment of searching I noticed the sign on the door, except the curvature of the person’s writing led me to read it as, “Delight thyself in the cord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” So what did I do? I started looking around for a cord that would turn on the bulb and give me the light I desired. I thought it was just really poetic instructions.
Thing is, when I first opened the door to the bathroom, I couldn’t located the light switch. After a moment of searching I noticed the sign on the door, except the curvature of the person’s writing led me to read it as, “Delight thyself in the cord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” So what did I do? I started looking around for a cord that would turn on the bulb and give me the light I desired. I thought it was just really poetic instructions.
P.P.S I wrote this blog almost 6 hours ago when I was sitting in the St. Kitts airport, I thought I’d post it when I got to an internet connection. I am currently still sitting in the St. Kitts airport. I think I jinxed myself.
Remember how I said LIAT Airlines stands for Leave Island Any Time – well, this time, “Any Time” seems to be the next day. After 6 hours waiting, they cancelled our flight to Barbados. But, in two hours (10pm) they will fly us 20 minutes to Antigua where we then can get a flight to Barbados….at 5am. Not to worry - they will put us up in a hotel for the night. However, said night in said hotel will be undoubtedly be truncated (that’s my new favourite word, by the way) after clearing immigration, collecting bags and heading to the hotel. I estimate about 3 hours’ sleep then back to the airport to check in. But the worst part is that these small island airports don’t have any food. They have a tiny little canteen here with the obligatory airport array of sugary drinks, canned beer and dried-our bagels, but that closed hours ago. The vending machine sits unaccountably empty – taunting me with the possibilities of what ‘A5’ could have given me for a measly $1.25.
I have been to Antigua’s airport and am certain their canteen will also be closed, and I seriously doubt that the hotel we will be put up in will have food available at midnight on a Sunday. Oh, the joys of travel. However, given that I was stuck in Amsterdam for 8 days this past spring, due to the infamous, unpronounceable Icelandic volcano, I guess this is comparatively nothing. But in Amsterdam their vending machines were stocked. They even sold waffles and ice cream in the vending machines! (Not together, it wasn’t like a waffle topped with ice cream and strawberries, I mean separately). The upside is that it will be a sunrise flight. And the flight is gorgeous. On my way from Barbados to St. Kitts in September I couldn’t even count the number of rainbows we flew through. It was magical. So here is to rainbows –and the hopes of a large coffee and a bagel (preferably fresh) on the other side!
P.P.P.S - I was right. We checked in after midnight. I fell asleep close to 2am. No food. It is now 3:30am - I just got my wake up call. Cross your fingers my 5:30am flight goes as scheduled!
P.P.P.P.S - My 5:30 flight did not go as scheduled. Well, actually it did, but without any of us on it. Our 4am taxis sent by the airline were 45 minutes late. So they put us on the 6am flight to Barbados. It is currently 9am - we are still in Antigua. It was repeatedly delayed and then when we finally got on the plane there were engine troubles so we had disembarked. The plus side was that in the meantime the airport canteen opened and we all got to eat after 15 hours without any food.
Here's hoping I depart sometime today!
