The home of the Mexico Weblog and life in Boston and the Bahamas
I saw these two men sitting with their conch shells at the end of the dock. They were just hanging out in the middle of the day talking and I walked on the dock to see the view. They didn’t pay any attention to me but continued their conversation as I stood taking photos.
Some sloops out in the harbor.
I have a soft spot for these boats and maybe its because they harken back to when I saw boats like these or similar ones in the harbor and waters of the Bahamas. Now we see different boats, motorized large hulking beasts that move fast and seem to take over the natural sound of the ocean with a persistent hum of engine whine. These boats however have a grace about them even though they are roughly made. They are boats that the haitians who live in the Bahamas use to get to and from Haiti. The Haitians who live here come to this country under extreme hardship, escaping their country packed in small boats and many times sinking before they reach land and sometimes reaching land to be hauled off to jail or sent back to their home. They come here to make money, to live a better life and are generally treated like dogs. They are the workers, the people who are expected to do work that no one else wants to do. They are just above slaves in that they get paid somewhat. The Bahamians are fond of talking about their haitian who works for them. They don’t have names necessarily and a phrase, “I’ll get my haitian to weed the yard,” is common fare.
I was struck by this image, the small boats bringing back goods from the sloops while in the background looms Atlantis, the mega hotel that graces our shores.
I went out to the dock at Arawak Cay to take photos of the sloops. On the dock were a group of haitians loading up from there boats. They take supplies from Nassau, generally empty bottles and plastic containers back to Haiti to use. I have seen them loading up small boats to go out to their sloops to pack them with our trash which becomes their treasure. If you are lucky you can see a haitian sloop leaving on a late afternoon full sail, filled with people who are going back to give money and things to their families who are still there. There is no motor sounds as they float past in a warm afternoon light. I wonder what their lives are really like, these Caribbean souls that seem to exist but almost not in our eyes. And yet their culture is vibrant and filled with song and art and stories and laughter and passion. One day my people will stop fearing them, will stop thinking of them as non humans and will sit and listen to them and learn from them and collaborate with them and maybe we will create a stronger culture as a result of this.
Tonight we went to have dinner with Jane Lewis on their 150 Ft yacht. First of all the yacht, I can’t call it a boat because that would be an insult, is more like a palace on the water. It sits in the harbor at Lyford Cay and you have on clue that you are on something that moves.
The bar was very cute, a combination of red and black ceiling with stars resembling the night sky with two bar maids willing to serve anything desired and after awhile I covered my glass with my hand to stop champagne from being poured. I was waiting for wine at dinner.
We were 9 guest including Jane and included was Sheila Haley, Arthur Haley’s wife. They have lived here for years and he died last year. The others were people who have also lived here for many years though most of them from England.
The meal started with an appetizer of quiche with a small salad to the main meal of grilled snapper on a bed of spinach and a fruit compote on the side.
The wine was a Pulenta Estate Malbec, a lovely rich malbec filled with berries and spice. After we had a plate with vanilla ice cream and a chocolate mousse and the espresso was perfect.
It is a different life. A life that is difficult to enter into for us though we live around it when we are here and thankfully the people who are in this life are comfortable and real and so we are comfortable though we drive away and wonder how it can be so different and so easy at the same time. Jane is so down to earth and at ease and natural that one forgets that surrounding her is more money than most nations will ever seen or know of. And yet the stories that each person told tonight was as normal and general as anyone I know, filled with laughter and some with pathos. One of the guests had to leave earlier than anyone else, he is always the one to leave early. Sheila told the story of how her husband would go to bed early even if people were at their house for dinner, he would appear in his pajamas and say that they could stay but he was going to bed.
We drove home late, full with good food and a lovely evening with new acquaintances.