Beautiful Places & Smiling Faces

Two weeks ago, I went on a cruise to the Bahamas,and I got the opportunity to get a glimpse into a lady named Jackie’s life. When we got off the cruise ship, we were stopped by a man who asked us if we wanted to go on a tour. He took us around the capital of Nassau and showed us various places. It felt different to be riding on the opposite side of the road than in the US but I was enjoying every minute of it. The cool breeze from the window was blowing my hair, and the smell of fresh fruits lingered in the air. The tour guide took us to the popular tourist attractions like: Atlantis casino and to the beach. But the main thing I wanted to do was to ride through the neighborhood and see how the Bahamians truly live.
As the tour guide took us through the nicer part of town, he described that the homes we were seeing were million dollar homes. All of the homes were painted bright colors like: pink, blue, and lime green. They were extremely beautiful. As we went to the lower-income side of town, which was not far at all, I observed that those houses were not as brightly colored and a lot of them looked abandoned. The school buildings were very small and the roofs looked like they were caving in. I took pictures throughout the whole tour because I was so intrigued at how everything looked and I wanted to capture everything. I also wrote down the things that I saw in my journal.
Towards the end of the tour, we stopped and talked to a woman named Jackie who told us about how her husband had been shot and killed a couple of years ago. She is now a single mother struggling to raise her three kids. She showed us her house and talked about her day-to-day routine. She introduced us to her three kids and they told us about sports they like to play. It was so interesting to me to hear Jackie’s story. Despite everything that she’s gone through, she kept telling us that she is so blessed. A lot of people on the island walked around with smiles on their faces, and that inspired me to have a different outlook on life and be thankful for things that I do have. As far as food, my friends and I tasted cracked conch, which is a popular cuisine in Bahamian culture, and it was pretty good! Getting a glimpse into another person life and sharing their culture is one of the most amazing experiences. It was so relaxing to be out of my normal environment, and I almost didn’t want to leave. I am excited to embark on many more journeys share my stories to the world.