Letter from the Caribbean ( West Indies) 1998

England and West Indian teams on the ground at Kensington Oval Bridgetown 

According to the travel brochures The West Indies also referred as The Caribbean is a magical place of palm trees, white beaches, turquoise waters and sunshine throughout the year. It is also known to be a paradise for the super rich. I once refused a very cheap ticket to the Caribbean because it was not a place for me to be frolicking around the beaches inhabited by those who have far more wealth then me. Well twenty years later I decided to pay a hefty price (to the same company who offered me a cheap flight in 1978) for myself and my husband so that we could visit Bridgetown on the Island of Barbados and watch a game of cricket.  That was sheer unconditional love from me, not for the game but for my husband who had unconditional love for the game!!

 

 Yes, we were there every day for five days, fighting the crowd to find our way into The Kensington Oval of Bridgetown, Barbados. We were also there when West Indies cricket players were super stars and we could and did bump into big names like Vivian Richards in the local bar. We were there when non stop reggae music was being played throughout the games deafening those like me who wanted to watch the gentle game in peace. We were also there on Sunday to pay a visit to the local Catholic Church for our Sunday Mass. I hired a taxi to get us to the church but unable to find a taxi for our return journey, I asked for help from the priest in charge of the congregation, what followed my request could only happen in the friendliest Island on the planet. The priest well known to people like Paul Getty (who just happened to miss the Sunday mass when we were there), had a quiet word with a member of his congregation dressed in a suit and tie; we were then led to his car Mercedes-Benz. I had a second thought about accepting a lift from somebody I hardly knew but got in the front seat whilst my husband sat in the back. On our drive back to our hotel I found out that he was a local MP and had returned from England after some meetings with his counterpart in England. Could this generosity ever take place in England?

The people of Bridgetown were friendly and laid back but for the majority, times were hard on this paradise Island. We were fortunate to have our hotel in safer posh aera of the city but my travel agent who has been travelling to Bridgetown for a long time lived in a poorer area and was robed on the first day of her arrival to Bridgetown.   

 

 Away from the cricket we made time to visit the Harrison’s Caves in Barbados and then caught a flight to Grenada to the capital city of St. Georges. Grenada well known for its spices, especially nutmegs and very tall people, certainly different built to those in Barbados. We had quite few days in a hotel overlooking the sea and met up with friendly local taxi men whose forefathers came from India. Over the years they had adopted the local life style and married the local women and yet they felt that were still treated as foreigners, life is not fair sometimes?