A true friend for life🙏.

The Miracle of Friendship by Mayo Angelo.

A Miracle called friendship Dwells within the heart

You don't know how it happens Or when it gets it's start

But the happiness it brings you, Always gives a special lift

Then you realize that friendship Is one of God's most precious gifts!

It was my special blessing and precious gift from God to have had Ann Marie Hinds as a friend, for as I often tell everyone, she virtually saved my life.

So while her death from her point of view was a great relief, for me, her friends and family, it's a great loss. 

 For if there was ever an irreplaceable human being, it was my late Guyanese sister Ann-Marie Hinds nee Defreitas.

I first met Ann Marie around thirty five years ago when she and her young children accompanied her then husband Bill, who was transferred from Guyana to Jamaica, to head a division of the corporate office of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. (CIBC).

Ann Marie with one of her twin boys, Gino and I in November 2024.

 They had three very young children (including twin boys) but when the British High Commission in Jamaica needed someone who spoke English and Portuguese urgently to fulfill a temporary assignment,  they prevailed on her to assist them as she had lived for years in Brazil.

 However what should have been a temporary role there soon evolved into permanent employment and she spent quite a few years working there and living very nearby.

With Shadrach (partly hidden) on same occasion.

The Miracle of her importance to our lives was played out in July 1995 when Thor, my only son, who had just fathered his son Shadrach, was murdered.

If you have never trod that path, the effect of such an occurrence can never be understood.

For during that agonizing period of tragedy and shock, neither Michelle (Shadrach mom) nor I were capable of doing anything.

 And I mean anything, much less tending to the needs of a six week old baby.

But it was during period that God's special gift to us stepped in. For every afternoon after work, Ann Marie would drive past her own home without stopping, to head straight to our home, to bathe, feed and tend to our new born.

 I don't recall how many days or weeks she continued that absolutely essential act of mercy and goodness, but the blessings of having such a friend when we most needed it, can never be forgotten or repaid.

We were so happy to see her on Thanksgiving Day 2024.

As the years went by and some memories of that tragedy faded, our friendship grew stronger and when she returned to Guyana, I went and spent three wonderful weeks there with her.

But I have never been able to come even close to repaying her for the critical, life-saving role she played in our lives when we needed it most.

It was therefore especially devastating when around eighteen months ago, she visited Florida and during her time here, got ill and and was diagnosed with cancer. 

Guyana has a very advanced cancer treatment center, so she returned home and had to have two operations and undergo painful and debilitating bouts of chemotherapy.

 I was however overjoyed when she called in November 2024 to say she was feeling a little better, so was coming to Florida to again see her family and spend a few weeks with me.

It was during that visit that she started to feel unbearable pain and when we went to the ER, they discovered that the evil disease had gone into her liver. 

But the woman of courage that Ann Marie was, decided to accept her pending death, for as far as she was concerned, the treatment was worse than the disease.

(L) granddaughter Rayane, (R) daughter Anjeta.

If you have ever felt you owed someone your life but are unable to do anything to help them in their time of suffering, you may begin to understand how inadequate and useless I have felt during the months of her intensive pain and suffering.

For the agonizing pain she bravely confronted for months on end, was excruciating and heart-wrenching.

Yes, now her pain is finally gone but the impact she had on our lives will forever live on in our hearts.

Till we meet again, walk good mi fren.😥.

We are unwanted 😡

 We Jamaicans tend to hold ourselves in high esteem and based the performance of many of our nationals at home and abroad, we have some reason to feel so.

For on an individual basis, so many Jamaicans tend to be world beaters!

This is s especially so in sports, music, the arts, etc although when it comes to, operating collectively, especially in sports, we tend to bomb out.

I am not at this time thinking about sports though but our reputation as a country.

A paradox is that despite our terrible reputation at home and abroad because of crime, we remain among the most desirable vacation destinations in the Caribbean

 But that’s for another debate.

The latest statistic which gave me a jolt recently, was when at I heard on Radio  Jamaica (RJR) that in the Caribbean, our passport is one of the least desirable. It’s something, I have never really mulled on, although I travel a lot.

This is demonstrated by the extent to which countries are prepared to refuse to take a chance on us, by allowing us into their countries without visas!

According the report, Barbadians, can travel to over 160 countries without needing a visa and Bahamians are next on the high list with over 150 countries not asking them to get visas.  However, Jamaicans can only travel to 90 countries without a visa. (The entire list and ranking are online).

Even other Caribbean countries don’t particularly like those of us trying to travel to their countries with a Jamaican passport, despite us holding something marked a Caricom passport.

I remember the last time I went to Trinidad, how they scrutinized my documents from top to bottom.  I was just attempting to get home next day after leaving Guyana!  This while other Caricom nationals just ‘zoopsed’ through. 

At that time, I had to catch a connection through Trinidad .

 I was just overnighting there to catch my connection!

As I have been mainly been travelling to Africa recently, my esteem was lifted a bit by the fact that quite a few countries on the Continent, welcome us without visas.

These include Botswana, Zambia, Ghana , Kenya, South Africa.

 I must admit though, I was shocked when no such privilege was extended to us by Ethiopia!

 Shocked, because so many Jamaicans hold Ethiopia in such high regard, with some of our nationals even considering their former King a high prophet.

Besides, quite a few Jamaicans have made that country their home.

Could it be because of the actions of the Jamaicans there why they put in the visa restriction?

On the other hand, more Jamaicans have made Ghana their home and they haven’t slapped any visa restrictions on us!

(According to my research, 1000 Jamaicans live in Ethiopia and around 4000 in Ghana).

Our government needs to tell us why we are the personae non gratae in the Caribbean and why they are not negotiating bilateral agreements for us to travel more easily?

Visas are quite expensive documents and considering how we open up our country to the rest of the world, isn’t it time we get a break?

I forgot, politicians travel on diplomatic passports so don’t have the hassle of getting visas.

Anyway, our passports are probably blacklisted because the world knows our governments are so notoriously corrupt with no one ever being held accountable for anything, so they don’t want people who consider corruption the norm, to visit them!

So, I guess we will continue to be the pariah of the Caribbean.

 

 

 

 

---

 [jw1]

HERE WE GO AGAIN?

For in excess of forty years, Jamaica has been knocking around with the troubling issue of whether we should sever relations with the British Monarch as our head of state.

For years too, I have been a voice in the wilderness calling for us to do it before Queen Elizabeth died, for whereas I considered her quite harmless, the thought of having her son Charles as our head of state has always been for me, very repulsive. Not least because I consider that, the non-executive head of state should at the very least, be a good role model and neither Charles nor his “Queen Consort” can fill that bill.

Well, the inevitable is on us and instead of running full speed ahead to get rid of them and appoint a local person as our head, the political nonsense which has always stymied our progress, is evident again.

The more things change the more they remain the same.

In the initial stages, the sticking point between our alternating governments led by the Peoples National Party (PNP) and the Jamaican Labor Party (JLP), has always been the kind of republic we should replace our monarchial system with. For the PNP has always wanted an executive presidency and the JLP a ceremonial one.

I have no idea if that issue has been ironed out yet, but because little England (Barbados) took the step to get rid of the British monarchy in 2022, the ruling JLP, to tek shame outta dem eye, said they would follow suit and even appointed a minister of Constitution Affairs, to lead the process.

There is good reason why we should never cheer too early, for it appears now that those two idiotic institutions (JLP and PNP) are again going to stymie the country’s progress.

For the PNP has now refused to appoint members to the Constitutional Committee to discuss the extent of the constitutional reforms to take place, as getting rid of the monarchy requires serious reform and a referendum.

This time, the distraction is that the PNP wants the country to adopt the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to replace the British Privy Council as our final court of appeal, and will have no discussions unless this is agreed up front.

Omg. But shouldn’t the idea of a Constitutional Committee be that they negotiate these issues, not lay down hard lines?

I will be honest, when the CCJ was first established in 2005, I opposed it totally. For in my book, the interest of the Jamaican people was not properly represented by the Patterson regime (which led the PNP Government at the time) and it had all the appearances of being just another attempt to foist elements of a ‘federation’ though the back door.

For readers will recall that the PNP had supported the West Indies Federation but in 1961, when a referendum was called to sanction our membership, the Jamaican people said no way.

In the initial stages, the CCJ was a lopsided agreement between Jamaica and the other former British colonies. My main grouse was that although Jamaica contributed almost US$29 million of the $100 million fund established to fund the court, NOT ONE MEMBER OF THE JAMAICAN JUDICIARY WAS APOINTEFD TO SERVE ON THE COURT!

On the other hand, Guyana which contributed less than $9 million, had two judges, including the Chairman of that prestigious body.

That to me was a disgraceful insult to our judges, for by no measure could Guyanese judges be said to be twice as competent as Jamaicans.

That was my major turnoff, but over the years that situation has been rectified and the court has handed down some solid judgements and have proven themselves just as good or better than the UK privy council in terms of its competence.

So now I have no argument against us getting rid of the privy council as our final court of appeal.

But if the CCJ has to wait a while, so be it.

The refusal of the PNP to participate in the talks could mean we will be stuck in the monarchial rut again because our politicians seem incapable of sitting down together and ironing out simple issues.

In my book however, if it comes to that, the JLP needs to realize that it is the government and therefore has the responsibility to move full speed ahead with a referendum to get rid of the monarchy, with or without the PNP.

We really can’t allow political squabbles to cause this matter to drag on for another 40 or so years!

 

 

Jamaican Culture

Jamaican culture is so exotic, contagious and endearing, that the world just doesn’t seem able to get enough of it.

This includes our language, so now many typical Jamaican words like irie, dem, nevva etc are now in dictionaries on line.

Our language also sports many other expressive and catchy words which successive iidiat Jamaican governments have continued to censor and fine persons for using them.

This is a hangover from the actions of oppressive British colonialists, who had banned their use, as they thought they were being used to curse them. 

They probably were but we have been independent for 60 years and have seen these words become part of our normal language, not to curse but because they are so descriptive.

Parsons use them, police use them, judges use them etc. But they remain banned in our law books.

You can journey to Guyana, Antigua etc. where every second adjective you hear being used is the harmless Raass. Yet in your own country you can still be dragged off to court and fined by a judge for saying it.😡

The same applies to my favorite word to express surprise. That is bumbo.

Many years ago, when my grandson was in prep school I heard him saying bumbo. Horrified, I inquired how he learnt the word only to have him present me with his school book entitled; “ Bumbo the Elephant.”

We have always known the elephant to be Dumbo in kid’s books, so I immediately realized it was probably a misprint. I therefore went to his teacher the next day to point out that if a police heard him talking about Bumbo, he could be in trouble. 

She however informed me that all their books were sanctioned by the Ministry of Education so she could do nothing.

This was over twenty years ago, yet Bumbo still remains a tool of oppression by police.

In fact, it was probably twenty years before that incident that the late, great Peter Tosh (singer/musician,) recorded the classic chant; ‘Oh bumbo claat, oh raass claat.’ (Listen to it on you tube at; https://youtu.be/tYDfqIhPxCw.) 

He however probably suffered the most oppression in Jamaica under what he appropriately described as the shitstem!

Now, while aspects of our precious language are designated bad and censored by iidiat governments, the rest of the world embraces and profits from them.

How stupid can that be?

So, now if you want a shirt to explain the meaning of bumboclaat, you have to enrich the foreign-owned Amazon, while poor people in my bumboclaat country are being oppressed for using it.

Tell me I am dreaming!

 

 

Big up the Jamaican experience

I often get so upset about the crime, the rabid corruption in government and other problems in my country, that sometimes I forget to give thanks for the small mercies here.

So today, I will.

One great blessing in my motherland, is how we as women have personal freedoms and our rights are generally respected.

Be clear though, these rights are not given to us by government or the benevolence of the male population, but by virtue of the region and the period in which we were lucky enough to be born.

Let me start with a trivial example of how it is for some women elsewhere.

I will never forget how perturbed I was at a simple scene I saw in Guyana, which has quite a large Muslim population.

It was an exceptionally hot day and there was couple walking in front of me. It was really annoying to me personally, when the man took off his shirt because of the heat of the boiling sun, while the poor woman beside him was covered from head to toe with only eyes showing, and the garment was black to boot!

In situations like this, I have had to remind myself that it is really none of my business.

That example however, is just the tip of the iceberg, for, in some countries, being born female can be a death sentence or an entire life of misery.

Take China. For years the communist government there had a “one child” policy which led to female babies being murdered at birth, as for some strange reason, families there maintained that boy babies were more valuable/desirable than girls.

This policy was only changed this year to one allowing families to have three children. I am prepared to bet my bottom dollar however, that if a family has three girls, all or most won’t make it past their first birthday!

Look at what happens in India where it is such a widespread practice for young girls, some as young as six years old, to be married off to old grey tone men.  The very thought of that practice gives me the shivers, for that must be such terrible fate for the young girls there.

That is nothing but officially sanctioned pedophilia.

Then there is the widespread practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), there are the approximately 200 million females in around 30 countries who have had their genital organs partially or totally removed to prevent them from enjoying sex.

Some of the countries in which this primitive cultural practice still exists are; Yemen, Iraq, and Indonesia and in some places in South America such as Colombia, India, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The practice is also found in pockets of Europe and in Australia and North America.

UNICEF further expounds; "In most of the countries, the majority of girls were cut after the age of five. In Yemen, 85 percent of girls experienced female genital mutilation within their first week of life."

The World Health Organisation (WHO) gives the reasoning behind this evil practice as; “FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered acceptable sexual behaviour. It aims to ensure premarital virginity and marital fidelity. FGM is in many communities believed to reduce a woman's libido and therefore believed to help her resist extramarital sexual acts. When a vaginal opening is covered or narrowed (Type 3), the fear of the pain of opening it, and the fear that this will be found out, is expected to further discourage extramarital sexual intercourse among women with this type of FGM.”

Lord of mercy. Can you believe that girls are still being subjected to this wicked, painful, primitive cultural practice?

I don’t think anything else done to the female surpasses this in wickedness, for many children die or are maimed for life as a result of the insanitary means under which it done.

It was watching a recent demonstration in far-away Afghanistan that really put me on this path of giving thanks for my beautiful country and its civilized cultural practices.

In that newsclip, it showed a small group of women being beaten for simply staging a demonstration to protest the new rules which prohibit girls from going to school and women from returning to work, since the Taliban took back that country.

While the press would have us believe that the Taliban are extreme zealots who are acting against the will of the majority, I beg to differ. For if they didn’t have the support of the masses, how could a group of an estimated 20,000 fighters take over a country of almost 40 million people so easily and without serious resistance?

So maybe in that country, it is just those small groups of demonstrators who pop up from time to time who have a problem with women there being treated as less than equal there, while to the majority, that is how it should be!

Culture can really be deadly.

While I can never endorse some of the disgraceful things that are happening in my country in the name of governance, as a woman, I certainly have to stop and give thanks occasionally, for where I was fortunate enough to have been born.

 

https://youtu.be/I1E9rtbEYMA

The case for republicanism

Jamaica used to be the most independent and progressive of what was known as the West Indies, but on the issue of becoming masters or mistresses of our own destiny, we are 
certainly falling behind. 

While we were the first of the former colonies in the Caribbean to declare independence from Britain, on the matter of totally breaking away from those who oppressed out ancestors for centuries, we are acting like morons. For the Queen of England remains our head of state although we have been independent for almost 60 years.

In the meantime Dominica, Trinidad, and Guyana have become republics and the prime minister of Barbados, announced that in November 2021 Barbados will also ditch the British monarchy as its head of state. 

Yes Barbados, which has always been considered more British than the British. 

The insignia given to black Governor's General by the Queen shows the Archangel trampling Satan who is black!

Even in white Australia, the topic has resurfaced, with ex-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, tweeting that in light of the very 'sad revelations' by  Megan and Harry in that famous interview with Oprah Winfrey, it should bolster the call to cut ties with the British monarchy.

In the meantime, Jamaica seems doomed to remain forever hanging on to the skirt tail of the British monarchy, even with a governor general representing the British Queen and wearing an insignia that depicts the archangel St. Michael trampling Satan, who is drawn with dark skin.

In light of the recent revelations where Megan and Harry confirmed what we should already have known, (that the British monarchy is a racist institution,) I again wondered out loud on facebook about when or if Jamaica will seek republican status.  The responses were many, swift and diverse. While most respondents rued the fact that we still maintain the royal family as the head of our country, one respondent declared that Jamaica will never change this situation as it is a racist country!

I had to disagree with that respondent, as I really don't believe that Jamaica is still a racist society although there is no doubt that we still have a number of racists among us. And we have a handful of monarchists too, (some of whom contend that such a move will spell economic disaster, although there is no evidence of this in the former west indies territories which ditched the monarchy.) who believe it would be a sin to remove the royal family😁 and replace the head of state with a local person.

Yes, mental slavery is still alive and well among a few.

 Let me make it clear that despite the fact that Queen Elizabeth is a descendent of those who committed the most serious atrocities against our ancestors, I have nothing against her personally. In fact, I dare say she has done her job with good grace, dignity and diplomacy. Even she however realizes that her type of character will no longer be displayed, once she steps down and her son, Charles takes up any role, including in the predominantly black commonwealth, so she is holding in for as long as possible. 

I am personally repulsed by even the thought that Charles, that despicable person, could become Jamaica's head of state and his wife Camelia, the first lady! For it is no secret that the cold fish Charles, drove Diana to her death.

In the famous interview, Prince Harry said that it was neither the queen nor her husband, who were upset that he and mixed race Megan may have a black child, but he refused to say who it was. In my book, such a petty concern, would fall right into Charles' character. Besides why else would he stop taking Harry's phone calls after he opted to stand up for his wife and child?

While I agree that the queen has been unobtrusive and diplomatic in her role, that second generation of hers, including Andrew, the alleged pedophile, have nothing to contribute to Jamaica!

You know, for around three or four decades, we have been debating this issue of republicanism, but both the JLP and PNP have been standing in the way of progress. For while both parties claim that they support replacing the monarchy, they cannot sit down and agree on the type of president we should have, executive or ceremonial. 

Good god, this is not rocket science. If the two parties were really in for of republicanism, they could take the gradual route Guyana did, or some variation. For Guyana first started with a ceremonial president to remove British, then moved on to the executive presidency.

It is totally disgraceful and demoralizing to majority of Jamaicans who do no to wish to have any further association with the despicable British royal family, the racist oppressors of our ancestors, that our politicians continue keep skirting around the issue.

https://youtu.be/oCqHflj4SNE

Being quarantined is no fun

As a joke, on the 21st February 2020, I put a post on my Facebook page asking if anyone wanted a free cruise. I was absolutely shocked by the number of persons who replied yes, considering that the horror stories about people being quarantined on cruises ships and ports of call refusing them landing, had started to surface.

I don't think anyone in the world loves cruising more than I do. Or just travelling for that matter.

I got my first cruise when I was 14 years old and was so excited about the experience that the first job I applied for on leaving high school was to work on a cruise ship.

Thank god I never got the job for I learnt later in life that working on these floating hotels is no fun.

For the workers seem to work almost 24 hours per day. Also, they live in cramped quarters on the bottom of the ship and have to be nice to all sorts of assholes.

Not getting that job was probably my best luck in life for apart from the horrible conditions under which cruise ship employees work, lots of them pick up dangerous viruses.

But back to quarantines.

I am claustrophobic so being quarantined is a fate worse than death.

 I have been quarantined twice and thank god it was for short periods of time.

The first time was when I developed a fever after returning to Jamaica from vacation in Guyana. On that trip I did the exciting trek through the forest by minibus over to Brazil.

When I went to the doctor after developing a fever shortly after returning home, it created panic with the damn doctor who swore I had developed dengue, malaria or yellow fever, mosquito borne diseases that were no longer in Jamaica at that time.

That's when she said I must be quarantined in a hospital, public or private.

At least I could go on my balcony

 I had never heard about the process before so called a friend who was a GP, to find out what would happen if I refused to turn myself in. He soberly advised me that they would send the police to bodily take  me in. That was enough for me so reluctantly I checked into a private hospital and was confined to bed under a mosquito net for three whole boring days.

It turned out to be a colossal waste of money as nothing was  wrong with me except some ordinary damn flu.

The second time was in 2018 when a group of us went on a cruise of the Canal zone. The  night before we arrived in Old Cartagena, Colombia,  I had gone to watch the show on board and had to comment how a man behind me was coughing non stop.

The next day we took a tour of the old city and after we had finished  visiting the square, I stood on the sidewalk waiting on my friends when Bam, I collapsed on the sidewalk. nearly bashing my head on raised section. Maybe I was temporarily out as when I came to, a crowd was standing over me with everyone offering to help. My friends secured my belongings and put me in a taxi back to the boat.

I had not been feeling ill but when  they took my temperature it was 104 degrees. Long story short, I was then quarantined to my room for two days. It was so boring. I did not really want to come off in Limon, Costa Rica as I have visited it quite a few times, neither did I want to come off in Colon as I had also visited that town once and did not like it.

That's all I could see of Colon from my balcony

But being confined to my room while everyone else was out having fun was a killer.
I later learnt that 40% of the passengers on that ship had gotten the flu and some even had to be airlifted off.

I recall all this as I listen to the horror  stories of people being quarantined on cruise ships for up to fourteen days during  this corona outbreak and I sympathize with them as I think I  would die if I was confined to a cabin for such long periods!

 I really love taking cruises and was looking forward to doing the river cruise down the Rhine later this year, stopping in Northern and central Europe on the way, but I think I might just give cruises a break for a while.

For while cruises are fun, quarantine is hell.

Big Cypress Nature Preserve

Thanks to the Happy Hoofers chapter of the Florida Trail Association, under the leadership of Steve, some 48 of us happy troopers enjoyed an invigorating 7.5 mile huke at Big Cypress Nature Preserve.

Photo of  the happy troopers (photo provided by Steve)

The preserve is located in Collier County around fifty miles from Ft. Lauderdale on the way to Naples and Alligator Alley.

Because it is part of the Everglades, the area is rich in flora and fauna.

This was the dry season so luckily we were spared the insects but in terms of animals, we only saw quite a few large and small gators and one turtle.

The gators which seemed quite well fed and shy, were all by the water bank  which we hiked beside when we first set out going south.

                                                                                                                                                             After we reached approximately 

One of the large gators we saw

 halfway, we had a bathroom stop  where women  were directed to the bushes at the east side and the men to the west).

We then headed inland towards Carpenter campsite, where we had lunch which we brought along and hung around fr a while, getting to know each other.

A discarded pot left hanging

While there, I noticed that someone had hung a saucepan on a tree. I guess after cooking they just couldn't bother to lug back that utensil! Or maybe they had burnt it so badly on open fire it could no longer be used.

After lunch we headed back towards our parking lot by a much more forested but dry area,  minus gators.

In this section, the numerous fallen trees lying across the trail reminded us that there had recently been a hurricane in Florida. As we wended our way slowly, we met a gentleman who had been hiking with a young boy and two other adults  who stopped by a large fallen tree along the track to help the ladies go safely over it.

I asked him if he was a boy's scout and he replied "I try to be." Very helpful and pleasant young man.

Christina (Cuba) Terry (Guyana) Sue (Uganda)

The best part of these hikes in my book is meeting new people and Florida is quite a melting pot.

 Celia (Romania) Stephanie (New Zealand)

The interesting thing is it is a state of migrants as very few people living here are actually born here or even in the USA.  I spoke at length to quite a few people along the way but only one was originally from the state. Four were from  Kentucky, Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania and N. Dakota but the others were originally from overseas......... New Zealand, Romania, Cuba, and Uganda and of course me, Jamaica.

I really don't know how come Trump has his favorite (?) home in Florida when he hates immigrants so. Oh well, I guess he only hates non -Aryans so  he can survive here!. (Now why did I spoil my thoughts of a day pleasant day by thinking of him! Darn)

Back to more pleasant thoughts. I was excited to learn that the Bietram's (Terry from Guyana and his wife Sue from Uganda) had just recently returned from a safari in Kenya, which I plan to visit later this year so I really picked their brains about what to see and do there.

I just love the great outdoors. I love hiking, I love going to new places and most of all, I love life.

Another great day in the magnificent outdoors.

A Swinging Hindu Wedding

I always considered Hindus conservative so  I never expected to have such a swinging time at Danraj's wedding. Everything was wonderful except I kept feeling a bit sad that his mom Karla did not live long enough to be there.

Danraj is the son of the late uncle Joe and Karla and he got married in Stanford, Connecticut to Anjana, who is from India but who has been living in the states for many years. She like he has her PhD and she is really a full of life person. 

I have been to Hindu weddings before but the difference here is that liquor flowed freely and the music was fantastic. The only place I have ever heard this version of Indian music is on the minibuses in Guyana as they tend to be operated by young Indian men who play modern, blaring music. This music seems to be a very lively mix between traditional Indian music with a Caribbean/pop beat, so there is no way you could sit down as it drags you to your feet. Just like dancehall and reggae. Just about everyone there was on the dance floor at the Italian Centre which was the venue. And the liquor was certainly talking for at one time as I went outside an Indian man approached me to congratulate me on the speech I had made. I never made a speech, it was my daughter Michele who was even in a sari while I wasn't so his eyes were really blurred!

Michele in a sari sits with Michelle and Madelyn

But as I said, the liquor was flowing so I made my blooper too, hugging a lady sitting beside Danraj and telling her congratulations. Only problem it was not his bride but what the heck, after several glasses of red wine, Indian ladies in saris all started to look alike!

Incidentally, I don't think I will be eating Indian food for some some and it is not because it was not delicious, but on or arrival in Stamford, we stopped at a restaurant with an  innocuous name for lunch,. only to find it was an Indian restaurant with a great buffet. Then there was Indian food at the reception and an Indian brunch put on by the bride's parents the next day so after three  consecutive Indian meals, I need a break!

A family photo at Lincoln's memorial in Stamford

Stamford is quiet and clean, no way as developed and bustling as Hartford but apparently the very rich live there as I have never seen so many Porches, convertible sports BMW's and Ferraris being driven on the streets downtown and that includes Manhattan.

Stanford is also literally just around the corner from Mt. Vernon where we stayed with Michelle...a mere 20 minutes drive on the I95.

 What I found interesting is that we had to pay toll on the same highway going up but not on  the way back. Strange indeed.

Danraj is such a wonderful person that people came from Jamaica, Atlanta, Colorado and many other far flung places to share the day with him.

Michele and family came from Colorado and we spent a great week together. I think we only quarreled once, a miracle indeed.

We took Madelyn to Central Park and  she really had a ball.  I had no idea it was so huge in the middle of Manhattan, 800 acres, the guide told us with everything brought in except the rocks!

Then we went lyming in Times Square  and thank heavens there were  no exhibitionists around this time.

 

The huge rocks are the only things which were not imported into Central Park

Actually, my  trip to 

New York this time challenged all the stereotypes that I had always had about that city since spending a few months there before escaping to Canada when we migrated many decades ago.

For the subways are now clean and I was alone at the bus stop at 10 pm one night and felt no fear. Then when I took the trolley at La Guardia and did  not have a metro card, the driver took me free. Then a young lady helped me with my suitcase without me even asking and a young man swiped his card to let me into the subway for $$2.00 when the fare is $2.50, when he saw I no metro card and there was no one selling there.

Hanging out in Times square

If someone had told me they had such pleasant experiences in New York I would have marveled.

The experience that knocked my breath away however was when we went to the beach ( ie. the cold, dirty Atlantic ocean which we went to visit, not to swim) in Stamford. Two young men were arguing nearby and using some M....F....and a man pointed to the baby and told them to stop using that language. Later as Michelle and I walked around, they came up and apologised for using that language near us! Absolutely amazing. 

Anyway I don't see myself going back up north for a long time as my grandson has now relocated near Tampa where he goes to university and I don't know of anyone else getting married or any other important function up that way soon.

For more photos, see https://www.facebook.com/gratestj/media_set?set=a.10151881714136823.1073741837.763366822&type=1

Shadrach on the grounds of St. Leo's in Florida

OF ATLANTIC CITY AND LESBIANS

After seeing how hurricane Sandy had devastated Atlantic city, I had the urge to go see for myself what it looks like now, since I had seen ads saying they were again open for business. Although I am too much of a cheap stake to gamble, the fact that the casinos give back a large proportion of the greyhound bus fare in cash in the hope passengers will gamble in their hotel, spurred me even more to take the two hour trip. 

However, if these casino owners had more people like me, they would go bankrupt, for the last time I went there I got back my full $22 in cash and only gambled $5. This time I noticed that they only gave back $25 of the $37 fare, but what the heck.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how normal the place looked, no sign of the devastation less than  a year ago. It seems to me too that they have brought in a whole pile of white sand, (the sand looked grey the last time I was there) probably from Guyana which has an over- abundance of white sand which they export to as far as South Africa.

What was really great too was seeing Red Stripe beer billboards on the along the boardwalk, although the signs made no mention of Jamaica anywhere.

Anyway, the rest of the world does not seem to be aware that they are back in business as the numbers were really low with the majority seeming to be older retired folk many with walking sticks and other walking aids. But I guess that is normal as it was a Tuesday when most younger people would be at work.

The casinos and hotels are really fabulous and because Donald Trump is such a prig, I hate to admit it but the Trump hotel complex was really the nicest.

So they are back in business but it still remains a secret!

On the return to New York I had to go to Times Square as it is really one of my favorite places in the world and although I know everything goes in New York, I really was not prepared for this.

Two black lesbians in the middle of the street topless and feeling up each other.

Ugh, disgusting and all this while young kids and families were around in abundance.

Suriname

If you are planning a trip to South America, forget Paramaribo!

Naturally that is my opinion and if someone had said that to me, I would have ignored the advice! You see, I have to learn everything for myself! 

Supposedly the largest wooden church in the world.

 Seriously though, unless one is interested in seeing some nice Dutch Colonial Architecture, poverty and underdevelopment, Paramaribo can easily be overlooked. Actually, it is not as poor as Haiti and come to think of it, I did not even see one beggar but while you can visit Haiti , check into an all inclusive and have a wonderful time on the white sand beaches  on a beautiful Caribbean coast and never know that poverty was the order of the day, Paramaribo is not like that. True they do have a small resort where you find Eco inn, Terrica etc. but in Caribbean terms, they are way behind.

I get the impression of poverty there because of the proliferation of derelict looking wooden houses. Granted some of them has expensive looking Japanese cars parked in front or even inside the yard but I still get the impression of poverty. Or maybe they are not really poor but just not into houses. I never went inside one so can't say for sure. But this is the first time in the 21st century that I have been to a city and seen so many derelict looking wood houses with dirt lawns and dirt sidewalks, not even a blade of grass anywhere.

Paramaribo is of course the capital of Suriname, the smallest sovereign state in south America. It is approximately 64,000 square metres with a population of just over half million. It is very much like its neighbor Guyana in terms of climate, religion, proliferation of rivers, population make up and terrain although much more of Suriname is virgin territory, 90% I am told. Also, like Guyana, no retailer takes the mighty US$ and Jamaican music, especially dancehall is king. I was totally amused to hear Vybes Kartel music being played at a store in Paramaribo which sells Hindu paraphernalia including religious material!)

A moslem temple in Paramaribo

To get there we travelled east on excellent roads for about 3 hours to the Berbice bridge. It was when we were in New Amsterdam that I realised for the first time that Guyana once had a motor vehicle industry, for all over the place we saw a vehicle shaped like a fully covered Land Rover being used as taxis. I learnt that when  Guyana had its socialist experiment like we did in Jamaica and there was a shortage of cars, the enterprising 'Guyanese made the Tapir and twenty years later a number of them are still in very active use in the Berbice county.  After crossing the Berbice bridge, we took a ferry at Molson creek to Suriname.(You know when you are in Guyana however by the proliferation of animals on the roads, something you don't see in Suriname.) One does not have to take the ferry however as there are speed boats which also take passengers from one side to the other as there is a great deal of traffic between the both countries, despite the fact that in Suriname most people speak a dialect called Tacky Tacky, a mixture of Dutch, African  dialects. English ....everything. Anyway, most people there speak English to some degree.

Ready to board the ferry at Molson Creek

Then we travelled about 3 hours, excellent roads, scenic country side but far less developed and populated than Guyana, to Paramaribo.
 Paramaribo like Georgetown is not into zoning, so houses and business places exist side by side all over. However while in Georgetown the wooden houses are being replaced at a rapid rate and are rarely seen in the commercial areas, the opposite is true in Paramaribo.

On a morning walk I saw smoke coming out of one of the wooden houses and people frantically kicking in the doors before realising that the place was on fire. I expected  the wooden house to go up in smoke as well as the other two other wooden structures on either side but I must say, their firefighting ability far exceeds ours. For withing 5 minutes 4 fire trucks and dozens of police were on the scene. Within minutes a truck with water was there too but it was not needed and a few minutes later another fire truck arrived.

I was absolutely amazed how quickly they got that fire under control and saved everything else. I guess when you have that many wooden structures you really have develop great fire fighting strategies. Another thing I found interesting was the  many sidewalks which were mainly cobblestone and very wide. It didn't take me long to realise however that they were not only for pedestrians but also bicycles and motor bikes and cars parked all over them too.

What I found most amazing about Paramaribo was the number of casinos, from Royal Princess hotel Casinos and Best Western to non- chain hotels. but they all seemed greatly under utilised!

I just could not come to terms with the underdevelopment of the place considering they export bauxite, agriculture (we saw thousands of acres of rice on the way) and oil. Of course it could be because of the politics as my short visit there gave me some serious insights into the place.

Board houses like these are all over commercial districts

I have long been curious about how Desi Bouterse could have become President after the 2010 elections and even more amazed that he could have been accepted as Chairman of Caricom, considering his credentials. But after hearing the serious allegations about his predecessor,  if these are true, I can see why he could be acceptable to the Surinamese people. (I still can't see how he could be acceptable to Caricom leaders however).

At this time, it seems the Chinese are having a serious influence on Suriname and hardly a corner you pass that does not have a retail outlet with Chinese writing on it. It is alleged that the Surinamese, even the Chinese born are resenting this invasion and they blame the former president who is reputed to have taken away unused land and given the foreign Chinese titles for those properties, making a lot of money for himself privately. When the native owners saw structures going up on their land and checked, they found that their titles were no longer any good! Now such a scenario could really make someone like Bouterse look good although in early 1980 he had led a military coup which overthrew the democratic government and declared a socialist republic.

In what is now recognised as an infamous period, on 8 December 1982, the military under his leadership, rounded up several prominent citizens who were accused of plotting against the government and executed them during the night.

Where the "enemies of the state" were executed.

You know, the late, great Motty Perkins used to say that if robbers could make the law, stealing would not be a crime. 

 Well, I understood the full implications of this in Suriname, for while Bouterse and other officials are currently standing trial for the December murders of 1982, (the trial started in 2007 but has been stalled for several reasons), on April 5th 2012, the government (headed by Bouterse) passed an Amnesty law giving immunity to persons who committed   Human Rights violations between April 1, 1980 and August 19, 1992. 

Naturally the United Nations Human Rights Commission has objected to the legislation, but this seems to have no effect in Suriname or with Caricom Leaders. 

Further, although Bouterse was convicted in absentia in the Netherlands for drug smuggling, this too has had no effect on the electorate or our brave Caribbean leaders.

The president's mansi

Interestingly, I was told by a supporter of his  that the only reason why the Netherlands Government came after him was because he had been acting as their agent in 1980 when he led the coup and he should have neutralized the country's independence status and put the Dutch back in control of the country. (they gained independence from the Dutch in 1975) but he double crossed them.

Boy from what I have seen and heard here about Surinamese politics, all things are possible!