Much improved

 This is my second visit to the Native American festival and it has certainly improved.

This is an annual Indian festival hosted by the Miccosukee Tribe on the grounds of their casino. 

This is one of the many active native American tribes operating in Florida.

The first time I went to the festival, it struck me as only a way of increasing traffic to it's casino,  but this year it was far more family oriented.

There were far more rides for kids and even a petting zoo.

 They  also had many more stalls with native crafts and food.

It's quite a difficult task, but Indians from the over 500 tribes still existing in the USA, are working hard to not only maintain their cultures but also sharing it with the rest of the world, we were informed. 

One tool used is through dance rituals.

At the festival today, a number of dances were exhibited. Dancers are drawn from all over the nation, including  Oklahoma, Florida, Wisconsin etc.

The sole female dancer did a rain dance.

The dance troops not only use their craft to entertain Americans, but also, they go on tours all over Europe, we were informed.

My personal favorite was the alligator wrestling show though.

This year, the alligator was a bit more aggressive than the one I saw when I attended a few years before. 

It was a 9 foot critter.

The theme this year depicted a young brave going off by himself to capture a gator for food. His only weapon was a stick and after tiring out the gator for a bit, he moved in to hold it and tie its mouth with barks from a  tree. 

But the gator got agitated and the M.C had to jump in and help him.

 After the gator was subdued, the brave turned it over on its back so it would go to sleep.

 It actually did, or so it appeared to me.😕

Only then could he be able to put it in his canoe and take it home, he explained.

I am sure that in the olden days, many braves were killed before they perfected that technique!

It was interesting but a bit heart stopping at times.

Incidentally, I learned that the Miccosukee have their own police force but when I saw an African American driving one of the cars and asked about it, he told me it's called that but there are no native Americans in their squad.😊.

 Interesting!

What would the festival be without a ride in the swamp on the air boat?

Lacking😊.

 So that topped it off for me.

Good day, great entertainment and educational too!

Youtube link; https://youtu.be/twP3Zzns6R8

Naples, Florida

 My interest in nearby Naples, Florida, stemmed from the fact that I love the beach and had heard they had wonderful beaches there.

Wonderful is relative though, for what is wonderful to North Americans is certainly not wonderful to people from the Caribbean, who are accustomed to white sands beaches with clear, warm, beautiful waters. So, although the sands are pretty and widespread, the water there just does not meet our standards.

Nevertheless, like much of southern Florida, Naples, (a Trump city (?) an assumption made because no business requires masks!) is a playground for snowbirds and persons with many vacation homes. And the city caters for them with some 450 restaurants to suit every palate and more than 100 golf courses.

 On a tour, some prominent names of home owners were floated as having homes there. Among them was the famous Judge Judy, who we were told was often seen driving around in her convertible Bentley.

A view of Naples from the roof of Baker Museum

It wasn’t only the beach I had a misconception about, but also the city itself, which I thought was a huge metropolis with high rise buildings like many other Florida cities. However, it proved to be quite delightful with attractively designed neighborhoods, moderately tall buildings, with a green and lush environment.

We enjoyed touring the Baker Museum which has some really good art, the luxuriant botanical gardens and the Zoo.

This amazing work of art at Baker Museum looks like a bunch of wires until you see the shape of the mosquito beneath!

I was particularly impressed with the zoo, where I saw an anteater in the flesh for the first time and was introduced to the Gibbon.

Seeing this particular ape in a tree at first, I thought it was hanging upside down, as its arms are so large and strong, that I thought what I was seeing were legs.

I so fell in love with this creature that I had to do further research in “Monkeyworlds” and learnt ;

Anteater

·     *  A Gibbon is often described as a Monkey but most classify them as Apes. The controversy often continues and so you will find information out there about them in both categories. You may hear them called the Lesser Apes at times too. They are smaller than Apes and they don’t have the size differences.

·      *  The Gibbon is the fastest of all mammals that live in trees for they have a body that is designed for speed and movement.

·        *The molars are sharp which can help them for fighting off predators and for food. Some species have two fingers on each hand that are stuck together.

·      *  Northeast India, Indonesia, and Southern China are home to the Gibbon. They live in both the tropical and sub -regions. They are arboreal which means that they only live in the trees.

From Naples, we journeyed over to nearly Ave Maria town which we were told, was built around a cathedral constructed in the shape of a bishop’s miter.

It is a new clean, attractive town which already has a university by the same name. Interestingly too, every business has incorporated the name Ave Maria, so if you want coffee, you go to the Ave Maria café etc. The town is undergoing massive development and I suspect it will be considered a major city soon.

From there we also visited nearby Immokalee, a Seminole reservation in the Everglades with casino and all.

Now that was a surprising experience, since I have always found casino food reasonably priced as that is one means of ensuring that the patrons stay inside. Not here though, for it was the most expensive menu I have ever seen outside of a gourmet restaurant!

A quick drive around the town, indicated why this was so though. For the fact is that it seemed to be the only decent place in town to grab a meal. So, what do you get when there is no competition? Ridiculous prices.

This is clearly a farming community though with a high percentage of persons who looked like Caribbean farm workers and very few Native Americans in sight.

Even in the casino, the workers appeared to be Afro Americans.

The trip to Immokalee was the only disappointment, for although Naples was not what I imagined it to be, the surrounding areas were really interesting and pleasant, including nearby Cape Corral where we had the most wonderful eco-tour.  

 

                                                                            The Gibon monkey on the move

 OTHER MEMORIES

Immokalee hotel and casino

AMERICAN INDIAN DAY

On Saturday 28th September 2019,  I obediently followed my GPS to Micccosukee Casino, somewhere in the Everglades, for as someone who just loves other cultures, I was hoping to learn a lot about the native Americans who populated the state of Florida before the violent immigrants arrived.

Big disappointment.

For this event turned out to be more a promotional affair for the casino and a play day for kids than  anything else.

Oh no, I have nothing against play days for kids, but how about some education instead of just rides that they could get at any third rate amusement park?

Yes, there were some clothes and crafts on display which were quite good and reminded me once again how close the culture of native people from far-flung places all over the world, from south east Asia to Latin America and north America are entwined.  What still remains the big mystery in the world though is for how and when
did all these people who are clearly related, end up in such diverse places all over the world?

But this event did not even try to address this or any other issue.

There were lots of food stalls there too, but indigenous food? I couldn't find any to sample!

One thing that grabbed me in the ad about the day too was Alligator wrestling, and I really looked forward to that.

The alligator in the corner never moved a muscle!

Yes there was, but it was a big joke as one alligator seemed to be so drugged that it never moved at all.

The other with which they did the tricks, though weighing over 500 lbs they claimed, never even moved his normally lethal tail but just opened his mouth on command.

So harmless were these so called monsters that they even charged $5 for kids to sit on their backs and take photos'. The gator's mouth was bound but it was mostly for show I suspect.

On display was a monster vehicle used to maneuver through the everglades

Anyway I am happy I went, for it means next year I wont be conned into putting it in my diary as an 'event not to be missed'!