How many people can you get in to a St Vincent bus?
Stream
Darrell Jackson and Sarah Barnes
Mon 12 May 2014 21:56
Sunday 11th May
After a leisurely breakfast and catch up on jobs, we slipped our mooring without the boat boys noticing and escaped from Wallilabou heading south. The sea and winds were back to what we normally have when trying to sail. Light winds as it had said in the forecast, unusual that it was correct, but obviously not in the best direction for our sail, so we motor sailed. However we ended up beating into a force 5/6 within half an hour, so the forecast was wrong and we were glad we had kept the reef in the main. The sea was decidedly lumpy adding to the unpleasantness of the sail down the coast. We also were treated to the odd shower of rain, however, the conspiring weather conditions did not detract from the beauty of the St Vincent coastline. The eight mile journey took about three hours. We arrived at Young Island Cut a narrow channel between the south coast of St Vincent and the island, just before 2pm and were helped onto a mooring boy in the the narrow channel by Sparrow, who was a rather helpful and quiet boat boy, unfortunately not Captain Jack! We then settled to have lunch and people watch.
Young Island is a private island with an exclusive resort on it! The sort Bill Gates takes over or the cast of the Pirates of the Caribbean stayed at, so out of our range! As it was Mother's Day here, it was very busy with elegantly dressed people enjoying a meal and the beach. This part of the south coast of St Vincent is covered in large elegant houses, apparently owned by the locals, dotted on the gentle rolling hills overlooking the sea. It has a very genteel atmosphere. The shelter of the islands and reefs make it a nice place for yachts. We were entertained by the comings and goings of the ferry to the island and the filming that was happening on one of the private resort yachts circling near us. A young boy who paddled out to the moorings on his board to do some early evening fishing. On the beach opposite a lively game of football with full eleven-a-side teams was taking place, although it ended up as water polo!
We had a pleasant evening on board, with free wifi in the bay Darrell was able to catch up on the sport news, especially with Man City winning the title.
Monday 12th May
We dinghied across to the mainland for a trip to Kingstown. We settled up with Charlie Tango, the owner of the moorings, who was seated at the end of the jetty keeping an eye on his business. We then wandered up the hill to get a local bus, which arrived very quickly. This bus was like the others we have been accustomed to in the Caribbean, except that it had a 'conductor', who ensured you were on the correct bus, took your money and helped you onto the bus. We took the last seats on the bus and were welcomed by everyone. Even though the bus was full, this didn't prevent it stopping for more passengers. This is where the conductor came into his own, his main role was ensuring that every one who wants to get on the bus is squeezed into a seat. We have become used to the fold down seats, but this was different. He moved people around to ensure that even the very large newcomers could find a seat. By the time we got to Kingstown we were four to the pair seats, all the fold downs were in use and extras were squashed on knees and between the two seats across and aisle. Mind these were the large people with a cheek on each seat! The bus had twenty passengers, plus the driver and the conductor lying across the people in the first row in the back of the bus. Bearing in mind this was a fifteen seater mini bus he had done his job well! Thankfully, the passengers were all friendly,cheerful and seemingly used to the cramped conditions. Darrell had a EC$5 note in his hand as he was talking to his neighbour. He was slightly bemused,when he informed him that the driver might not have enough change for the note. Darrell said he was paying for the two of us, the young man continued by asking if he could pay for us. Darrell's confusion continued as we all piled off the bus at 'Little Tokyo' and his friend went to the driver to talk about Darrell paying, after a discussion the conductor started giving Sarah lots of change. Darrell asked how this worked, as we seemed to get more change than we had handed over in the first place, when it was pointed out he had paid in Euros! What a plonker! At least Darrell's friend had ensured we got a favourable exchange rate.
'Saint Vincent,' our guide says, 'is the island of convenience. In Kingstown behind the hospital, you’ll notice, is the graveyard, and by the courthouse you’ll find the prison. And next to the high school... the psychiatric ward of course.'
Kingstown, the capital city of St Vincent, has wide avenues that make up its one way system. It has some charming corners with old stone buildings, cobblestone paths and handsome arches. The older buildings date back to the 1700's and are well looked after. A feature of the architecture is that many of the buildings have pillars on the outside of the pavements supporting the floors above, leaving a cool covered walkway underneath, with market stalls along them. Very different to other cities we have been in in the Caribbean, but Kingstown has a 'comfortable' feel despite the streets busy with traffic and street vendors selling everything from fruit and veg to cool drinks and souvenirs. It also has some very dramatic churches within a stones throw of each other. The Roman Catholic cathedral looks like something out of a fairy tale, with a mixture of architectural styles and features; Italianate, Moorish, Byzantine, Flemish spires, turrets, towers, belfries, crenellations and castellations are in abundance. Opposite it is the old Anglican cathedral with its wonderful stained glass windows, which feature red angels. We passed these on our walk up to the Botanic gardens, which are the oldest ones in the Western Hemisphere, founded in 1765 to propagate spices and medicinal plants. We were guided around the 20 acre site by "The Professor" who told us the history of the trees and plants, their local names, uses and where they originated. There is a 50 ft breadfruit tree that came from Captain Bligh of the Bounty. Within the grounds of the gardens is the captive breeding programme of the St Vincent Parrot, which was thought to have been nearly extinct, but they found an isolated breeding group in the rainforest near the volcano. There are now nearly 900 in the wild on the island. The parrots in the garden were large, dumpy specimens and not as brightly coloured as the parrots we are more familiar with, being browns, greens yellows and blues. Very attractive.
Sarah still hopes that she will get to see parrots in the wild on this trip, but the odds are not looking too good.
We wandered back down through the town, passing several schools all painted the same green. As it was lunchtime we popped into the stone built Cobblestone Inn for a drink and a meal. This is a converted sugar and arrowroot warehouse and we enjoyed a light local lunch before heading off for the bus. Our timing was perfect as we managed to catch the bus that had brought us into town, allowing us to once again experience the game of "How many people can you get into a St Vincent bus?" This time, to add to the excitement, most people were carrying large bags, as we were, and this made getting people on and off in the confines of the small bus quite an exercise!