Fun afternoon at the baseball stadium in Rock Sound

AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Mon 10 Feb 2014 21:29
24:51.84N, 076:09.89W Rock Sound
 
If an opportunity arises to mix with the local residents we're there if possible. Mention the availability of locally cooked food and we walk even faster to get there. So last Saturday a bunch of us found ourselves sitting on the bleachers (grandstand in proper English!) at the local baseball ground to help celebrate Rock Sound's Baseball club's season's achievements. 
 
    
They take their games of Baseball seriously in the Bahamas and reward the youngsters with their trophies after the campaign
 
Before settling down to watch a demonstration game we queued - well the Admiral queued for a food choice of either grilled chicken in a sweet barbecue sauce or a piece of steak that looked to have been put on the grill at the previous game! So it was the $10 chicken for 'Skip' and the $5 'not meat' selection for the 'Admiral' - all served with a baked spud, sweetcorn and beetroot in a polystyrene container with the usual plastic cutlery. Behind the high fence on the outside of the baseball ground cruised some hungry local 'potcakes'. This is the name given to the Bahamian dogs that wander the streets at least those that are unattached to families. A docile mutt mix from through the years reared on the remains from the cooking pots called potcakes hence the colloquial name for the dogs. They seemed to know that their place was on the outside of the ground especially when there's a good chance of becoming target practice for a hard baseball from the enthusiastic players.
 
    
Cruisers address more serious issues in life - such as the procurement and consumption of food - the 'Admiral' patiently queuing for lunch.........most of which quickly followed the usual route southwards through 'Skip's tummy.
 
Conversation in our area was difficult due to the organisers having invited a 'DJ' with impressive speakers and a computer hard drive full of never-ending Rap music. This was pumped out using an equally impressive amplifier. So we sat as far way as we could to consume our nosh.
 
A short while later a party of American students arrived and set up a table with their medical professor.  They offered free blood pressure and blood sugar level tests. They were from Oregon way over to the west of the USA and were in the final day of their tour of Bahamian schools testing as many children as they could possibly get to. The Bahamas has a much higher level per capita of such medical ailments as diabetes and they were following up from a previous visit a few years ago. In the name of 'practice' we were of course invited to roll up our sleeves and have air pumped into a collar to simulate an smallish Anaconda wrapping itself around your arm. We last had this done in Oriental and came through with flying colours as we did on this occasion. 'Skip'  then supplied a drop of his precious blood to an attractive young lady for his blood-sugar test. Had this been carried out prior to his devouring a large chicken drumstick liberally coated in a sweet barbecue sauce then the reading would have been slightly lower. But it was all good practice for the students to whom we all wished successful careers in their various chosen medical fields. All so young - said he.
 
    
The 'Admiral' having her arm pumped up........after which it was 'Skips' turn
 
    
Then......just a little prick...ouch !!!                                                        Now here's a proud fella showing his trophies to us all
 
Before we left the stadium we took a picture of a youngster aged 10 who was proudly parading his two medals around us. He was cute and loved the fuss we all made of him. Certainly liked having his piccy taken. Unfortunately for him whilst he was posing for the photographs the dogs found a hole in the fence and found his polystyrene box containing his chicken meal. That was soon gone.
 
We stayed for the prize giving. The 'Rap Man' still had much more music to blast out of his speakers before the afternoon was over so we drifted away en-masse to the local general store to ease the pressure on our eardrums. The ladies of the group had heard rumours of a delivery of broccoli. So they shopped for veggies whilst the men congregated round the motor section looking in fascination at drive belts for engines and generally getting in the way of everybody. Typical really.
 
All in all a really nice afternoon hanging out with 'the gang' before moving on to the Exumas a couple of days later.