Where the sun is shining all the time, the breeze is blowing and where the beaches are stunning!
Arriving through Customs is always an intersting thing for me as i tend to get finger pointed at within most locations. Having to declare my personal tobacco and laptop, camera's etc it actually went priddy smoothly. From what i hear, its usually a real hard issue trying to bring in tobacco into the country. After explaining i purchased it within Australian duty free on the way over to the USA he seemed priddy chilled about it and realised it was just for personal use; he lst me keep walking.
The hotel is real basic with all the essentials with a small view towards the sea. Its about a 2 min walk to the ocean and about a 5 min walk to all the bars within ST Lawerence Gap. Walking out of my hotel it took no more than 2 min for someone to offer me any sort of drugs and smoke. it was interesting to interact with these people along the road during the whole evening cause most people just want to chat and know abit about you and where your from AFTER the fact that they are trying to rip you off with sky rocketing prices for their drugs. After refusing and advising that im not interesting they tend to ease up alittle. There have been a few moments where i have had to walk away from people calling me a faker and that i aint rusta (which is fine cause i aint rusta... im Aussie with olive skin and dreads). There was one old guy that said hello as we were walking past each other and after knocking him back for smoke he called a leso. Frankly i didnt mind too much cause im in their country where there aint no education nor no real openly gay community here. For me i think its just a time to keep walkin on and find new things to discover about this amazing island.
I have met this local rusta guy here last night, Tony. He is like 6'8" with dreads and a mad-ass accent. He's all about peace and one love, keeping it real and direct approach rather than sugar coating shit. He was skating around and started chatting with me and walked me back to my hotel once he seen i was getting abit of mouth from the other guys on the street. He stepped up to the plate and spoke to those guys last night and sorted em straight, to ease up on me and let me just do my thing. I seen him out on the street the morning and he was tellin me all about how spoke to them to back up and let me be which was fucking cool. I seen the guys this arvo and all they said was hello which was proof enough to me that shit is sweet around here.
Tony meet me out this arvo and he walked me over to his parents place so we could grab some bread fruit. Its like a big custard apple tree and the fruit look priddy much the same as it too. I spoke to his mum for ages and talking about her beautiful garden, the island and the local way of life. She has a fantastic outlook on life, even though she is very poor and living in a tin shack. She said that i will see her again before i leave and tell her all about how i loved this bread fruit that Tony climbed up the tree (carribean styles) and roasted it and made me an amazing lunch. I was thinkin that i wasnt sure how a roasted fruit would be, and a little skeptical as there was going to be tuna in it. No joke, after leaving his place we walked through what they call a pasture which is more like bush land and headed over to this little forest to collect some fire wood and take it over to this small cliff where there was like a place where you could build a fire and roast these fruits. Tony built this crazy square fire he calles it the Rusta Roasting Styles. Using all but natural resources and a ligther to start her up. These Breadfruit took approx 10 min in the flames to blacken. once the outta skin cracks, its ready to eat.
He mixed up a small tin of tuna, about a table spoon of ketchup, a small onion diced and a table spoon of sunflower spread. He opened the Breadfruit which has a nut on the middle of it about the same size of your fist. You pull the flesh out around the nut and remove the blacken skin. he placed this "sauce" on it and thats priddy much it. By far this meal was a hearty meal. The breadfruit is like a massive chestnut. the texture and the flavour without the sauce was exactly like a chestnut. Roasting it over the flames gave it this suttle smoke flavour which really complimented the tuna and onion. I havent tasted anything quiet like it in my life and im not a tuna fan at all but THIS was fucking fantastic! We grabbed a small flask of Mout Gay silver Rum and mixed it with some juice. Wow it was strong but it just complimented the meal. I'm thinking to myself after the meal, not only have i met a local who took me to meet his mum, he cooked me lunch and we ate it as we looked over the beautiful beach, drank a few drinks and laughed alot about the diffences wihin our worlds.
I feel that "my world" that i live in its too materialistic now after experiencing the way of life here. I value and appreciate what we have and how we succeed in our day to day life in Australia. I have nothing but made respect for people that survive in conditions we could never understand until we see it with our own eyes. I feel for Tony and his family but i also feel that they are one of the richest family i have met. Not with money but with love, peace and appreciation on what they have. They kept saying to me that only God can judge you. That if i get a cut on my arm and he gets one too, that we bleed the same colour. that our lives are so different but ultimately we are all the same.
Day 2 has started on a trip and im loving every minute of it. Tonight we are heading off to the Fish Market for some traditional Flying Fish sandwhich, some Carribean music and the famous Banks (local) beer :)
