Destination Antigua

In January, 2006, we embarked on a Caribbean adventure, living on the island of Antigua. We've started this blog so that our family and friends back home can share in our daily adventures living on a developing, tropical island.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Missing Ma Orr

My mom's ten day visit flew by faster than I thought it would, and I'm wishing now that we had planned for a longer trip. Madeline was thrilled to see her Nana, waiting patiently for her to get through the painfully long customs line (Antigua is the WORST in terms of long waits) and then greeting her with that loving smile. I was surprised that Madeline didn't even pretend that she was mad at Nana for a minute, given that she hadn't seen her for a month. They picked up right where they left off, playing Madeline's favorite game "bye bye" in the car on the ride home from the airport. Madeline liked to hide behind my mom's tiny purse -- it covers her eyes, so it's hard to find her ; - ) It was funny to hear my mom's first reactions to the island. They were the same reactions I had during my first visit over Thanksgiving. Driving through the capital of St. John's she said, "this isn't a third world country, it's a fourth world country." She had never been to a place like this before, where the hustling and bustling downtown is comprised of a lot of truly "ramshackle" buildings as she put it. I don't think she had ever seen a neighborhood of tin shacks, incredibly bumpy roads with abandoned rusted out cars lying on the edge of those roads, rastafarians with hair down to their waists selling fruit in the streets that looks quite unlike the perfectly shaped and colored fruit we see at home in Whole Foods. Then as pulled away from the town, she was equally surprised at how magnificent many of the sites were. It's an island of contrasts. We spent the week exploring the island's many beaches in the morning before the oppressive afternoon heat arrived, at which point we were off to explore the many wonderful resort restaurants for lunch. Our favorites turned out to be Indigo at Carlisle Bay and Harmony Hall. We treated ourselves to frozen cocktails at Curtain Bluff and Blue Waters (although we HATED the restaurant at the latter). Chez Pascal proved to be a favorite of my mom's too -- we visited them twice for lunch -- YUM.

We played Gin Rummy every night and my mom proved to be quite a card shark. And we made our way through two more books. Finally after a month, I no longer miss the tv, or even think about it at all, but I think my mom’s excited to get to her beloved Chris Matthews tonight. Nana's off to the airport now with a newfound appreciation of the island. "This isn't a fourth world country, Preston's right, it's really a two and a half world country." Now I just have to prepare for the Madeline meltdown when she realizes Nana has gone back to D.C.

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