Often when I travel, I am broadcasting my journalist hat and ask a set of the same questions to everyone I meet. Do you know any farms? Beautiful flowers? Seen any dolphins lately? Many people pointed me toward the 'Rasta Farm' run by 'the Bushman'. Sounded like something I'd like, so I made it my goal. The three hours I spent there were some of the sweetest moments in the whole Caribbean. My first encounter with the Rastas of SxM was at the Ital restaurant on Bush road. A tiny house perched on a hill with 4 tables on an open patio is run by the Bushman's son, who taught me how to identify Purslaine (pictured below) that I gathered wild. For lunch I ate a curry roti-very popular all over the islands it was veggies wrapped in flour pancake. 100% vegan; ital = vital. Fresh juices were available in ginger, beet, or grapefruit. Once I made it to the farm on the French side of the island, I was greeted by a volunteer who was running the produce stand on the property. She was finishing a plum harvest. Also for sale that day were tomatoes, herbs, and other fruit. Two kids showed up because it was their day off school. We played together among the trees and shady pavilions. From what I understand, this is the only working farm that supplies locally grown produce. Which is surprising, because the island was originally inhabited and covered with sugarcane plantations. Later in the afternoon, I met the Bushman and his wife, both crowned with ancient dreadlocks. Real Roots Rastas. A nonviolent diet is one of my favorite elements of the Rastafarian religion. I try to eat vegan meals to balance my body and pursuit what I find agreeable. I learned that we can create our freedom through responsibility to leadership of ourselves. Like more sustained energy from plants. Learning new skills to feed myself from the soil and seeds is a blessing of freedom. I found a lot of signs for exploration among the weeds. these pictures below were taken during my walk across the Dutch, French border of Saint Martin.
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Saint Martin lovingly shares his cloak. Philipsburg, the Dutch capitol in the SE corner this two-nation island of Sint Maarten was my school for a week. The French claim Marigot as capitol of the French, NW side the island of Saint Martin. This cruise port city has the European comforts of gelato and great buses for $1 a ride. Even better, most business is conducted in American dollars. A few government workers receive pay in Eastern Carib dollars (EC), so don't freak out when you see grocery stores shelves labeling a box of cereal at $7 (the cashier will exchange and accept your currency). Note, Euros are only accepted on the French side where the grand marche is straight out of Paris. I couchsurfed here for 10 days prior to a flight to Jamaica. Each day was a new opportunity to get onto a boat for short and long term freedom rides. Boating, akin to biking, gives me a feeling of freedom. My body becomes lighter and my field of possibilities opens up into new heights. I can't talk about the plants on Anguilla without first mentioning the goats. They are everywhere. On empty lots, in front yards, in the street, on the cliffs, little tiny baby ones on laps indoors...you get the picture. So its amazing that anything grows here and is not eaten by the goats. Even more mind-blowing is the lack of goat on dinner menus. Everything that is alive here is using every ounce of determination to grow and stay alive. So the plant diversity is low and trees rare. I'm going to show you a few of my favorite specimens. On my last full day in "The Rainbow City" (as their license plates read), I stumbled across the Department of Agriculture. Their motto says it all, "Farm Today or Starve Tomorrow." How True! I was a little surprised to see orange soil, like in Georgia, but more surprised at how small all the plants were. The 'local' produce I saw for sale in a grocery store consisted of tennis ball-sized bell peppers and chicken. What I learned is that the limiting factor is water. This tiny island has NO natural fresh water sources, so of course farming is a challenge! Fresh water is even a challenge for residential use. I was oblivious to this fact while staying in rental tourist villas. Once I moved to a local resident's spare bedroom (through the couch surfing network) I learned that buildings served only by 'government water' often run out of water between noon and 8 pm. So she stockpiled plastic buckets full of water in case she needed it in those 'ration hours.' I stopped at a fruit stand one day and purchased a pineapple, mango, and green (but ripe) bananas from a neighboring island to the south called Dominica. Next time I travel to the Caribbean, I want to go to the lush jungle paradise known as Dominica. They supply most of the produce to the island nations that is not imported from Florida or South America. Let me take you on an architectural tour of Anguilla's homes. Like much of hurricane-prone south Florida, this tiny island finds refuge behind thick walls of cinder block and cement. Ancient relics of the colonial past stand among playful homesteads. It did not rain a drop the ten days I lived on this hot rock. One day I gathered up the courage to walk to the beach at mid-day. I didn't make it a block before someone stopped to ask me if I wanted a ride because it was too hot outside to walk. My destination was 10x farther than his but the driver took me the whole way. Hitchhiking (or car-angels as I like to think of them) was the best way to get around the island, as there is no public bus system. I don't consider myself a 'tourist' so expensive taxis are also out of the question. Everyone I met was super friendly and they want you to enjoy their island as much as do. On one such journey, my car-angel even let me drive his car so I could experience driving on the left side of the road. As a former British colony, Anguilla retains certain British affects, like the Eastern Carribbean currency with the queens head on it. Only government employees get paid in EC, and the only stores that list prices in it are groceries-everyone loves the US dollar :) Don't try to use euros, they are not welcomed. The wedding party has left the island; Alyson remains. The real adventure begins.
I'm couchsurfing again, with a Guyanese woman named Naomi. She has been on Anguilla for 5 years. Now I am seeing the local side of the island. There are goats everywhere, but I was not served any goat products to eat as a tourist. Not even sure yet if the locals eat them. The caretaker of our villa shared that he owns 5 goats as pets, to keep the yard maintained. He must have a nice yard because most people seem to have trash piles in their yards. The other thing everyone has are pvc pipes dispelling greywater from showers into the yard. Water is such a scarce resource on this island that it makes sense not to waste any more to treat greywater. The land is so dry, it doesn't seem to create any problems. Just like on the farms, chickens and rooster roam wild and scatter like the lizards when you step into the yard. I've also discovered, this is the land of hermit crabs! They leave beautiful shells all over. The national bird is a turtle dove and they are plentiful. People are looking forward to Carnival in June, but say it seems to be lacking in passion. Last year's Ms. Anguilla pageant had only 3 contestants. You need to be a native to enter. A lot of people I meet are from smaller neighboring islands like St Vincent and Guadalupe. Yet they all speak with a delightful creole/Caribe accent. The one love unity vibe permeates from Jamaica. Yesterday, I was snorkeling off Shoal Bay-supposedly the most beautiful beach in the world-and I saw a sea turtle eating his lunch on the bottom of the reef. Later I saw 4 squid swim past, glittering like the sun kissing the water. So many colorful fish, but the real star of the show are all the sea fans. Three-foot wide yellow, green, purple fans just waving back and forth in the underwater breeze of the reef. A few soft looking anenomies and spiny urchins that I stayed away from, as well as other surprisingly soft stuff that my snorkel guide let me touch. Rendezvous bay has the same white sand and crystal clear teal water that I saw all over the island PLUS an incredible view of the hills of Saint Martin. Almost looks like Jurrasic Park. My favorite beach trip was Little Bay. A natural slice of sand nestled in the hillside, only accessible by cliff diving or boat. We took kyacks from a nearby beach and also saw great snorkeling. This was the day before the wedding and the Ani Villa delivered us lobster wraps for lunch with umbrellas by boat :) Now I'm going to quiet down and listen to my heart. I want to move on from this scrub land and find lush jungles. I need to decided a direction to head: north or south. Ah the difficult decisions of island living ;)
View from hillside villa in Sandy Ground
Ahn-gwee-la, British Virgin Island, wedding destination of my childhood friend, Beth and her beau Tom. The story about how we ended up here is that Anguilla is #1 google hit for 'destination wedding.' Beth visited a year ago, toured the whole island and reserved the most beautiful and contemporary cliff-side home on the island, Ani Villa. The couple wrote their own vows and Beth's brothers provided acoustic guitar music. We dined al fresco on swordfish and crayfish. I gave a toast about believing in miracles. As a youth, Beth professed to not be a lawyer (like her mother) or get married... now she is both! Oh the power of love <3
swimming in the Caribbean Sea on my 1st day!
Netherlands Antilles or France depending on what side of the island you are on. I flew into the Dutch side and stayed with a Kiwi (New Zealand) on a sailboat moored on the French side of the lagoon. (The Frenchies let you anchor for free so that half of the lagoon is packed with Brits, Aussies, all kinds of English speaking cruziers, aka people who live on boats and travel the world.) On mainland, the french grocery stores are a beautiful deja vous of my time in Paris. You can buy chocolate waffles and Camembert cheese!
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