St. Augustine, worth a visit

When I first heard about St. Agustine in Florida, I was a bit reluctant about visiting,  as I had become so tired of hearing Americans telling a story of their country, as if it was the white man's story. And more, I had heard of that city being described as America's oldest city.

Anyway,  since I was trapped in Florida, as the coronavirus is out of control here which makes international destinations out of reach at this time,  I decided to kill some time visiting that location.

I was pleasantly surprised as everywhere I went, it spoke to it being "The oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the USA," not America's oldest city as others had described it.

                               

That is exactly right.

This was originally a native American village called Seloy,  but the Spanish put down their roots in 1565 after the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon, who is reputed to be the first European to set foot in Florida, came ashore there. As the Europeans came with diseases that the native Americans had no immunity to, in the old part of the city, you see a native American cemetery which bears witness to the fate of the toll their arrival had on those early people. Besides, the Native Americans just did not have the wherewithal to repel the European invaders with their superior ships and weapons,  so the rest is history.

The first thing the  Spanish did was to build a wall encircling their settlement, and most of it is still intact today. 

They occupied the area 200 years but in 1763, they ceded it to Britain after the 7-year war.

 Britain returned Florida to Spain in 1783 but Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1819.

The wall still looks quite intact 

This city, therefore, plays an important role in displaying history in action, and in Florida (pre carnivorous) all third-grade children were taken to this important city to see and feel the history of their state.

The oldest marina in the USA

St. Augustine is also the site of the oldest marina in the USA and of course, the impressive vessels you see there today are nothing like what existed in the olden days. 

There is a huge modern bridge over the marina which attaches the mainland to the 14-mile long island of Anastasia, where numerous hotels are now to be found, but in terms of history, only the lighthouse is of interest. 

Matthew did this

In 2016, a category 5  hurricane named Matthew created havoc in the region, and although many streets could only be navigated with canoes and small boats, today there is very little evidence of the damage except for this building at the entrance of the marina which had been a restaurant. There is one building close to the sea, where the 5-foot tall watermark is prominent, to remind all of that devastation. 

Replica of the original look-out tower

My favorite place was "The Fountain of Youth" which is actually a very impressive archeological park where a bunch of peacocks has now taken a shine to. 

There, it is said Ponce de Leon first came ashore and in the 1990s, they actually found archeological evidence of it being the first Spanish settlement.

Images of the native American lifestyle are all over

 Naturally, hoping for a miracle, I actually drank some of the water from the well which is supposed to be the fountain of youth. The water was awful, as it had a salty taste but neither Ponce nor I were lucky enough to revert to our youth😀!

It was really an interesting experience touring the park though and I actually needed another day as after trying to take in everything.

A demonstration of how a crossbow was used

 I got my first experience of seeing and hearing a cannon being fired and some information on the workings of a crossbow. 

Of course with each European conquest came the church and a replica the oldest catholic is there and of course a huge cross on the property next door.

 To be fair, in St. Augustine, there has been a commendable to record actual history, and not downplaying the role and of slaves and Native Americans as one often encounters in the written history in the USA.

Outside of the Fountain of youth, what I also found intriguing was the excellent architecture representing the various periods. 

And as a matter of interest to music lovers, especially soul music lovers, the late Ray Charles who was born in Alabama,  went to school there.  For at age seven, when he started to become blind, his eye had to be removed. When he became totally blind, he was sent to the school for the blind in St. Augustine where he learned to read Braille and started to play the piano, clarinet, and saxophone.

We who continue to revel in Ray Charles' music, give thanks to the school for the blind in St. Augustine.

Bridge to Anastasia island

Talk like a Jamaican-Jamaican dictionary

A modern, comprehensive Jamaican dictionary is now available that not only gives the meanings of words, but also popular Jamaican phrases and proverbs. Available in paperback and ebook format.

https://wwhttps://www.amazon.com/s?k=talk+jamaican&ref=is_s

w.amazon.com/s?k=talk+jamaican&ref=is_s

 ebook link; https://www.amazon.com/TALK-JAMAICAN-CHAT-LAKKA-WI-ebook/dp/B01K83Z224

Cartoons make it easier

https://youtu.be/Bae7DGI0qRs

Believe it or not

Replica of Michelangelo's David

For many years, I have been fascinated by Riley's. Without giving away my age, this love stemmed from the days when the newspapers used to carry daily, snippets from the fascinating world of Ripley's. Some pictures and stories were so bizarre that one really had a problem believing the claims.

Over the years, Ripleys has morphed into a franchising business, so many cities now have museums bearing the name. Wherever I see one, I do try to take it in to get a top-up of the grotesque and bizarre happenings throughout the world.

On a recent trip to St. Augustine, Florida, the minute I saw the ads that this city had one, it went to the top of my "to see list". And they did not disappoint.

As if one needed a drawing card, right at the entrance is a huge replica of Michelangelo's renowned statue of David and in the yard is a 4 room house carved out of the trunk of a monstrous 1900 hundred-year-old redwood tree. The inside of the house is 247 feet high but as happens with wood, the termites have discovered it and the damage they are doing is now quite visible on the outside.

Inside the 4 room house carved from a redwood tree trunk

Wherever you go and see

 Ripley's, take a look as they never disappoint!

This stallion displayed in the yard was made from chrome bumpers of old cars.

                        

What can I say here?

Whites inherently evil?

An afro-American millennium really had me thinking this weekend.

We were discussing the increased racial tensions in the USA and the decades of struggles of people like Representative John Lewis, who recently died, for racial equality. Lewis's achievements were being celebrated all weekend as a precursor to his burial which will take place around mid-week.

That's when he sprung this question on me;  "Did you know the term racism was coined by whites?"

Taken aback I told him I had never given it a thought, but racism in the USA is certainly toxic.

Then he added, "whites are inherently evil."

My initial reaction to that was one of amusement since I had been around when the late Elijah Mohammed, founder of the black Muslims, used to declare that the "the white man was the devil".

More specifically, according to the Independent, with reference to the white people in America,  Elijah's often declared that "The white man is the Devil. We do believe that. We know it he is a  blue-eyed, blond-headed Devil! No good in him, no justice, he’s gonna be destroyed!"


Even my hero, the late Mohamed Ali who was an ardent follower of Elijah Mohamed, had often repeated such sentiments, but since the death of Elijah and the divisions in his organization, I really had not heard that argument again. In fact,  as a student of the late Malcolm X, I had dismissed or rather, ceased to give it even a second thought since Malcolm's rejection of that philosophy after he returned from Mecca, where he discovered that, unlike in the USA, Muslims came in all colors, and it was illogical to brand any one race as all bad.

Anyway, I decided to engage my young thinker in further discussion.

His philosophy was that white people are inherently evil since from the beginning of written history, each generation of whites has tried to either enslave or commit genocide against every other race. This as they pillaged and stole their possessions. To detract from this inherent evil as a race, he continued, some devious white person coined the word "racism," so we would become distracted from the real issue and instead waste time arguing about which whites, groups, or parties were more racist!

Well, that certainly stopped me in my tracks and the more I thought about it, the more I realized how correct he could be! And now I understand perfectly, the sentiments expressed by Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tom-cotton-slavery-necessary-evil-1619-project/)that;  " US founders viewed slavery as a "necessary evil upon which the union was built".

Yup, necessary in the view of whites, as it comes naturally to them to either erase every other race or work them to death, so the white race can prosper! 

I am sure we all know some really good white people so may very well reject this thesis, but before we do we need to remember always,  that there are exceptions to every rule!

The child is surely the father of the man (woman).

https://youtu.be/9nWaAEZi8SM

More testing less results?

While the governor of Florida is talking about speeding up testing, no one seems to be paying any attention to getting the results back quickly, to effectively stem the increase in coronavirus.

For the long time it takes to get results in Florida, make them totally useless.

In my case, I did my corvid test on the 10th of July but up to the 21st,  no results had come back so I resolved never to check for them again.

I needed a negative test result to be able to travel to Jamaica and it could not be no older than 7 days, so they would have no use to me now anyhow.

In fact, in the period of only a few days between getting the appointment to do the test and the actual testing, the wait time for results had theoretically increased from 4-6 days to 7-10 days.  But even on the 21st of July, when the 7-10 day wait had passed, I could not get any results. 

My experience is not unique for I have actually seen people on local television saying they have been waiting two weeks for results. A NBC  news report dated July 21, not only confirmed that 7-10 days or longer, was now the norm, but it went further, stating; "Demand in testing has caused shortages in swabs, chemical reagents, and equipment.

Florida, one of the worst-hit states in the country right now had a record number of hospitalizations Tuesday. Hospitals took in an additional 517 patients since Monday. The death count was recorded at 134 and the state reported 9,440 new cases. The positivity rate among new cases in the state is now over 13 percent, though in Miami-Dade County it’s averaging about 20 percent."

So clearly, in Florida, everything is going in the wrong direction, 

What purpose can results that take so long serve? During the interim, one could be without symptoms but pass the virus to dozens of people. Worse there is no track and trace in Florida, so if your results come back positive in even 5 days, those who contracted it from the silent carriers who did not even know they have it,  are not quarantined so quickly pass it on to others.

That's what happens when incompetent politicians are the ones who are in charge of things they know nothing about and are too arrogant to take advice from qualified scientists.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, even other states in the USA are wary when people travel from Florida as are international destinations like the Bahamas next door. These islands were once the playground of Americans but effective July 20, 2020, all Americans are banned from those islands.

Maybe when the entire world puts up signs saying "Americans not welcome, " Trump and his incompetent minions will take this deadly pandemic seriously.

Who's third world now?

There was a time, not too long ago, when those with the 'Yankee dollar' were not only welcomed throughout the world but also vigorously courted. 

Not anymore, thanks to President Trump  and his band of arrogant incompetents, whose denial of the COVID virus has caused it to spread like wildfire throughout the USA, with no end in sight. So today,  Americans are persona non grata on many foreign shores!

On July 17th, of the almost 14,000 million confirmed cases of coronavirus throughout the world, almost four million are in the USA. And of the over 590,000 deaths worldwide, more than 140, 000 are in the USA. 

That is over 20% of the deaths worldwide.

But none of that concerns Trump and his minions.  In fact, in a move that can only be described as extremely partisan and stupid,  Georgia's republican Governor Brian Kemp, has sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over the city's mask-wearing. I say partisan because the leader of the Republicans has firmly scoffed at setting the example of protecting others and slowing down the spread of the disease, by wearing a mask.  (The CDC now says mask-wearing can  cause the virus to be eliminated in a few weeks if everyone wears a mask.) But those who consider themselves real trumpists, firmly refuse to be masked.

Granted, initially, scientists knew very little about the disease and how it was being spread, so there were contradictions in the scientific community about mask-wearing. However, on the  7th July 2020, the CDC) Center for Disease Control),  the agency which "works 24/7 to protect people from health problems associated with natural disasters and bioterrorism attacks and keeps Americans safe and healthy where they work, live, and play every day." (according to their web site) said in part; "all people should wear face coverings when they’re out in public and around people who don’t live with them, especially when social distancing isn’t feasible. This recommendation is based on what we know about the role respiratory droplets play in the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, paired with emerging evidence from clinical and laboratory studies that shows face coverings reduce the spray of droplets when worn over the nose and mouth,”

Despite this, those who put more emphasis on politics than science have overtly sabotaged the message.

So Florida, which is now dealing with the largest confirmed coronavirus outbreak of any state during the pandemic, does not have a mask mandate in place. Florida's governor is the notorious Ron DeSantis who gained notoriety during his 2018 campaign for being a Trump toady, when he aired ads in which he played with his baby daughter with blocks, coaching her to “build' the wall.” He also  ran another in which he was teaching her to talk by pointing out the “Make America Great Again” words on a Trump campaign sign and reading sections of Trump’s “Art of the Deal” book to his baby son!

Since DeSantis goes by the Trump playbook, is it any wonder therefore that Florida has the worst coronavirus outbreak in the country, with a 60% increase in contamination since the beginning of July.

Unfortunately, this is where I am stuck and as much as I would love to come home to Jamaica, could not do so as I have been frustrated at every turn.

In view of the facts outlined, I don't at all blame the Jamaican government which has done an excellent job at containing the virus on our shores,  for demanding that before one can travel there from Florida, one must get a certificate, no more than 7 days old, showing a negative result for coronavirus.

Well, I am here to tell you that Trump's regular boast from March this year that anyone who wanted to get tested for corvid could do so, is absolute trash.

Having seen the madness on tv where people were lining up from 5am to closing in Florida to try and get tested and not being able to, I decided that was not for me, so would make an appointment.

In late June, after trying for days to contact different testing centers, including CVS, Walmart, and urgent care centers in Broward county and being met with nothing but phones which rang out or web pages declaring loudly" no testing appointments available at this time,"  I finally got an appointment to be tested on July 10th, and was told the result would be available between 4-6 days. This was at a drive-through facility at CB Smith Park in Pembroke Pines, but it was not easy. For when I first called on the  27th June, after about a 20-minute wait on the phone,  I was told that they had no more slots for appointments so I should call back on the 1st July when they would be doing their new schedule. I called at midday on the 1st, only to hear that the roster for the week was full so I should call back on July 5 th, when they would be doing the roster for the 10th July. Well you know I was on the line at 8.30am, on the 5th, the time I was told they opened. But no one answered the phone at 8.30 or at 9am. It was not till after 10am that the phone was answered and I was given an appointment for July 10th at 12.30. Interestingly, after they took my info, I was warned not to come early as I would be sent to the back of the line!! 

When I asked when the result would be ready I was told 4-6 days, so confidently I booked a flight for the afternoon of the 16th of July. (remember the negative certificate required to travel to Jamaica from Florida, should be no older than 7 days.)

The testing process went through like clockwork, only taking about 45 minutes to be completed, with the worst part being when they pushed the swab up my nose, almost up through my eye! But when it was over, my bubble burst as when I asked when the result would be ready I was told 7-10 days. In shock, I told the lady that I was told 4-6 days when I made the appointment but she told me that was before the test requests almost doubled.

Living in hope, I went through with my arrangements to travel, confident that I would make it during the 4-6 day period. But it was not to be, for up to 18th July, a day after I canceled my flight and had heard a lady complaining on tv that her results were not back although her test was done 2 weeks before, my results still were not posted. Of course, no one answers the phone on the results line either. 

A friend who took the test a day before I did, told me she got her results on the 16th, but her husband's had not come back up to the 18th, although they were both tested at the same time. He, she said, would be taking over the test as the person who looked after their house in Jamaica had died so they had to get home. 

I wish them the greatest luck as things are deteriorating rapidly in Florida so I don't see many people making the 7-day deadline to travel to Jamaica.

What is absolutely amazing is that in Florida, by the time one gets a result, if one is positive for the virus, one could spread it to hundreds without knowing, because of the tardiness in getting results. Further, there is no track and trace in place, despite the rapid spread in the state.

There was a time when the USA was said to be first world and Jamaica 3rd world, but in the area of disease containment, the roles have definitely been reserved.

 

So near yet so far

There are two reasons why I decided to pick Florida to hang out when in North America. Firstly, their weather is similar to ours in Jamaica and secondly, it is only an hour and a half flight to my home.

Well, all that made a lot of sense before an invisible plague hit mankind in 2020, showing proud humans that they are not as all-powerful as they thought. So,  although the coronavirus has been with us for over six months now, some idiotic politicians just cannot learn!

One of those politicians is the Florida governor, Ron Desantis, a follower of the imbecilic president whose handling of the virus has caused the USA to suffer unnecessary deaths, and devastation.

For both Desantis and the president, have not only refused to adhere to the primary  recommendations of knowledgable scientists but even the basic wearing of a mask, which has proven to help contain spread the virus, they have politicized, to the detriment of the entire country. 

So now Trump's rabid followers who take their every cue from him, have been spreading the virus in Red states, as they adamantly refused to wear masks and are even scoffing a social distancing. This has caused confrontation in some business places and on the streets. Granted in the USA it has not reached the point it did in France recently, where it was reported that in the city of Bayonne, a bus driver was severely beaten and later died, when he demanded  that four passengers wear masks when traveling on his bus. That is tragic but I actually expected to see that type of a report coming out of the USA before anywhere else!

 What's the big deal about wearing a mask if it can save lives? 

The people of Vietnam have been wearing masks for decades, not because of the virus, but because that absolutely beautiful country is being destroyed by smog. Actually, one of the masks I now wear, I bought there about two years ago.

Many scientists are now convinced that it is the widespread use of masks there, which has led to their amazing success in fighting the virus, for according to reports, with a population of over 95 million, as of 11 July 2020, they had 370 confirmed cases, 350 recoveries, and no deaths.'

Jamaica too has been doing quite well at managing the virus, since with over 737 positive cases of coronavirus detected, there have been only 10 deaths. In other words, these two so-called third-world countries have learned how to contain the spread of the virus.

 On the other hand, at this time, Florida, population just under 22 million and a supposedly first world state, has over a quarter-million cases of the virus and more than 4,100 deaths thus far. Interestingly, the government refuses to say how many people are critically ill in hospital, but reports are being leaked to the effect that most of the hospitals are running out of beds for critically ill people. All this is because of the governor taking his cue from Trump instead of qualified scientists. 

What started me on this rant is the fact that I wish to visit my beautiful home, but since I am presently in highly contaminated Florida, I have to take a test which should be no older than seven days, showing that I am virus-free before I will be allowed to go to my home.

However, the slothful authorities in Florida have caused the testing process to be a total mess.

To begin with, it took me about four days to find a place where I could get an appointment to do a test and when I actually did it, the time period to have the results returned, had moved from 4-6 days to 7-10 days. 

In other words, I am stuck here. 

I wonder how many people you can contaminate if you are going around with the virus for 7-10 days but don't know that you have it?

Of course, I am not blaming the Jamaican government for putting in place, stringent measures to curb the importation of the virus.

Oh yes, I have long maintained that we should learn to live with it, for it may be with us for years, and we certainly can't keep our country locked down. The fact is, this virus kills and severely affects very few who get it, but keeping the country locked down will be too devastating for the majority of the Jamaican population, some 17 % of whom already live in poverty. So if the government decides to open up tourism but bans people coming from severely contaminated places in the USA, I totally agree with them, even if it means that for the first time in my life, I will be unable to go to my home at will, although Florida remains, so near yet so far.