Classic cars

My late father

I just love classic cars.

This interest probably came about because I adored my late father more than anything else in the world, so I was constantly tagging along behind him and from as far back as I can remember, he fixed his own cars.

After another upgrade, the Mercury on the left sits in the garage

The first car I remember seeing him tinker with was the 1938 Plymouth he owned.

According to my cousin Barry who was a bit older than I,  that car had only one trafficator (which is what a turn signal was called) on the driver's side which he would activate by pulling an electrical cord. He also said it had one red tail light and no park lights.

My dad  did everything on it from changing the oil, changing spark plugs, turning up the carburetor and even fixing punctures and pumping the tires with a hand pump. 

I was right behind him at every turn.

Later he upgraded to a second-hand 1946 Mercury. This was a black car with a round back and a big window at the back and to me it was extremely ugly but he loved that car.

Over the years he kept modernizing until the family shrunk and he finally bought a brand new VW bug.

One of the restored autos at the Sunrise show

By then however, he had begun to get all sorts of ailments so I never saw him working on that car although I recall that it gave lots of problems so it was always going back to the dealer.

Although he is long gone, I have always maintained an great interest in period cars, despite the motor industry moving to mass production and improving by leaps and bounds.

I suppose it is because of my upbringing why in 1987,  I enthusiastically got together with a few friends of like-mind, and established the Jamaica Classic Car Club. 

This club was family oriented and quickly gained national recognition.

All our families really looked forward to Sunday runs, where we would all proudly line up our vehicles at a central point in Kingston then drive slowly in line to some town in the countryside. There we would meet up with other classic lovers from  various parts of the island, who had also spent a lot of time and money also having their cherished cars restored. They would drive to the selected spot to participate in a mini-show with us on the designated day.

 People would come from all over to admire our prize vehicles then later all the families would go to a restaurant to socialize.

Some of the great classics in the club at the time were, Model T Fords, Porsches, E type Jaguars, Mustangs, MGAs and B's and some other really great cars from bygone days.

1964 MGB convertible. Mine was red though

I started out with a red British-made MGB convertible but later bought a rare sports Volvo, similar to the one driven by Simon Templer in the British detective series The Saint.

There were only two cars of that type in the island and I really loved mine but was it every heavy and thank heavens petroleum was fairly cheap at the time as it gave probably five miles to the gallon!

A few years after the club was established, we  organized Jamaica's first Classic Car Show at the National Arena. It was an overwhelming success and our cars became the talk of the town for months afterwards.

For that show, I was lucky enough to have been able to convince the international paint company Sherwin  Williams, to restore my wonderful Volvo, red of course.

 It came second in the show. 

Of course, maintaining classic cars is a very expensive affair, so as my kids grew older and things like college had to be financed, I had to find a cheaper hobby.

First I got rid of the MG and devastatingly, the Volvo next.

Despite not being able to participate in classic car treks any longer, I have always maintained a solid interest in those vehicles. That is why I attended one in Sunrise, Florida last week and dragged my grandson along in the vain hope that he might love to appreciate the beauty in these carefully made cars of old, but I don't think he was particularly impressed.

 I guess it's because to young people, details are not really important, as all they want in a car is good mileage, speed and of course automatic transmission, a/c and power steering!

At the Sunrise show, they had quite a few real classics but a number of the cars on display were just old American cars that proud owners had restored.

 The greatest collection of such vehicles that I have ever seen in my life though was at the motor vehicle museum in Santiago de Cuba, although most were not really immaculately restored.

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My thrill for the day however was when a proud owner allowed me to pose for a photo inside his immaculately-restored Ferrari, while most other owners had stickers on their vehicles saying "Look but please do not touch!"

High tea?

The last place I ever expected to be invited to tea was in the United States. After all, didn't they dump a boat load of tea into the Boston Harbor in 1773?

Well, they always say that to assume means to make and ass of you and me, and that is obviously correct, for by assuming that the historical act of defiance by the Americans against the British colonial power would mean they wrote off tea forever, really proved me to be an ass as far as my ability to interpret history goes!

Anyway, I was educated recently when my daughter invited me to accompany her, my granddaughter  and a friend to the prestigious Brown Palace Hotel in  Denver for tea.

Now, having been born during the period when Britain was still the colonial power in the tiny island of Jamaica, I grew up having to get all dressed up for tea at 4 pm daily and absolutely hated it.

 Of course not all Jamaicans hated that ritual as I actually have cousins who often told me how they loved to spend vacation at my house as they so enjoyed dressing up for tea every day and getting all the fancy cookies my mom used to bake.

 For me though it was total torture and I could not wait to leave home and leave that British tradition behind.

Here I was many decades later however, in the last place I expected, having tea.

It was quite pleasant though, for not only is the Brown Palace an exquisite place to hang out, but also, the tea room was extra attractive as they had not yet taken down the Christmas decorations although it was almost the middle of January.

Brown Palace is a landmark in Downtown Denver Colorado. It is located on 17th street beside the very attractive and old Methodist church.

 I am very familiar with the hotel as it was that establishment which recruited my daughter from the hotel management school in Switzerland and got her a work permit to train there, thus causing her to fall in love with the beautiful state of Colorado which ultimately became her adopted home.

 The hotel has an interesting history, as in 1911 a murder involving lovers and infidelity, took place there and several books have been written about it. More interesting, is the legend that sprung from that incident that the hotel is haunted.

In fact, while my daughter worked there, a famous musician from England, visited with his young baby and wife and in the middle of the night, scared out of their wits,  they contacted the front desk to demand a new room, as something strange was interfering with their baby.

Now, I don't really believe in ghosts, but the only time I was ever kidnapped by an elevator, was at the Brown Palace hotel.

It was quite a terrifying experience for my young grandson and I. We were taking the lift down from the roof to the lobby, along with a flight attendant who entered halfway down.

After she entered, the elevator refused to open when it got to lobby but instead took off upwards. Quickly, we punched all the buttons but it wouldn't stop, instead, it carried us all on a very scary ride, bypassing the floors as it careened wildly up and down several times for what felt like hours, but probably it only lasted for a few minutes. 

Finally, without warning, it returned to the lobby floor, stopped and the door opened as if it was the most normal thing to do. 

Shaken, we all rushed out the minute it stopped and I don't think I ever went back to that hotel until we went for tea n 2019.

My granddaughter stayed close to the pianist, John

So while I may still have qualms about taking the elevators in that hotel ever again, I do recommend their high tea. 

The sandwiches and pastry were good, the service fine and pianist extraordinaire John and his three fellow band members provided soothing and entertaining music which was particularly thrilling for my granddaughter, a budding pianist herself.

And of course having the once-despised tea with my daughter, granddaughter, and friend Cheryl,  was a wonderful and entertaining experience,

A bitter/sweet vacation

I can't say I have ever had a bad vacation in my life and despite the title of this piece, that remains true.

My daughter-in-law Michelle, unfortunately, has a horror story to tell about our latest get-together.

She should have arrived  from New York at 10pm on Boxing Day night 2018, at the
Denver International airport, so we could all drive to a warm-water resort in Colorado Springs the next day.

US Air force Academy and sections of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains are clear from the resort's balcony.

Lo and beholed however, as the time drew close for us to pick her up at the airport, we got a call that the flight had been diverted from its stop in Dallas, due to floods. She would be diverted to New Orleans on the same flight but could get no information about how and when she would arrive in Denver, her distressing text read.

The entire night we monitored the phone for word of her progress. We eventually heard early next morning  that she was at the New Orleans, airport but all the restaurants were closed, so she was tired and hungry and  would be transported to a hotel in New Orleans shortly,

You see, she was unfortunate enough to have been one of the hundreds of passengers who had flown on Spirit airline, the airline notorious for providing nothing or as little as possible for its passengers despite the over five hours they had been held hostage inside the plane.

At the early hour of the morning when they were transported to a hotel, they had nowhere open to feed the guests but a helpful worker told her, there was an all-night gas station across the road where she could get a snack.

Desperate for something to eat, she went out, only to find that it was quite far, not "across the road" at all and the only food they had was junk food. 

Having no choice, she bought something.

That was when her stomach started to rebel.

Worse was yet to come for at the hotel where Spirit put her up,  she was told she had to check out at 11am the next day, despite the fact that Southwest flight they booked her on to fly to Denver, was not departing until 6pm.

To make a long story short, she never arrived at Denver Airport after midnight on the 27th December.

Since by then, we had already departed to Colorado Springs (we left out on the morning of the 27th) she  made a reservation with Uber to transport her to join us.

When the driver arrived however, he declared ominously;  "If you are going to the mountains, forget it." 

Clearly when he accepted the job he had no idea where Great Wolf Lodge was!

Fortunately, after consulting his GPS and discovering it was in Colorado Springs, just under fifty miles away and not in the mountains as he had initially assumed, he decided to respect his contract. 

She arrived at the lodge just after 1.30 am on the 28th, tired and unwell.

We were relieved and happy to have her finally arrive safely to join us, but for the next two days, it was torture for her, as she had bouts of vomiting, diarrhea  and no appetite, naturally resulting in spells of weakness.

That's no way to spend a vacation, no matter how cold it is outside and how wonderful the resort is, but she put up a good front  anyway, as the holiday was really one for us to bond with my young granddaughter, in a place designed to give children ultimate pleasure. 

One of the "kid-friendly" magic stations.

Great Wolf Lodge surely delivered for while it was freezing outside, 1degree Fahrenheit (which the weatherman said felt like minus 12), inside was warm and toasty and you could see that an unbelievable amount of planning went into the design of that two-year-old resort.

A huge shower of  warm water pours over a section of the water park

The magic setup was really thoughtful, intriguing and challenging for children of different ages who were required to accomplish various magical feats before finally earning certificates to show that they were now master magicians.

This regime had the kids enthralled for many hours and even days,  it being far more well-thought-out and actually magical, than the offerings at  Disney World.

A simulated tidal wave  in one pool.

The water park was also extremely popular with the children as they had around five different types of pools, some with water slides, others with water polo, one with an obstacle course across the pool plus one with rock climbing on the side wall of the pool.

Then there was the pool that even simulated tidal waves.

This appeared to be the most
popular attraction among the kids even surpassing the large gaming arcade and the mining site where the kids learned to wash out sandy ore to recover actual semi-precious gems.

High wire challenges overhead for adults

Anyway, since it is really supposed to be a family resort, I give them nine out of ten for creativity.

Naturally, as it was still the Christmas holidays,  the place was teeming with adults who accompanied their kids to ensure that they had the maximum enjoyment.

Miniature golf

However, for those of us not having that role to keep us occupied, the only adult activities were miniature golf and some high wire challenges which really only seemed to attract "macho" men.  

But it was surely wonderful to be able to wear a swimsuit while all outdoor was freezing.

But I did learn an important lesson during this period and it is that I should avoid flying during the busy holiday season, especially when the flight involves traveling into areas where the weather is notoriously unstable.

 Most importantly, one should avoid Spirit Airlines, unless taking short direct flights!

San Andres island

View of a section of San Andres from the steeple of the First Baptist church at Mission Hill

San Andres is a Colombian-owned coral island in the Caribbean Sea. This and the nearby islands of Providence and Santa Catalina form the department of San Andres, Providence and Santa Catalina of which San Andres is the largest. These islands are however closer in distance to Panama than Colombia.

A brief  history

According to Wikipedia, the Dutch went to these islands at the end of the 16th century and British settlers arrived in 1628.  

It is also mentioned that Columbus ran into the islands during his fourth voyage. 

Inside the Baptist church

During the 17th century, English Puritans from Barbados and England settled in San Andres and i they later brought in African slaves from Jamaica.

Signs of Jamaican culture visible almost everywhere

Around that period too, the competitive Spaniards saw the economic potential of the islands and attacked the archipelago but were driven out shortly after.

Pirates including the notorious Henry Morgan also used the area in the 1670s as a center of his operations. They attacked Spanish ships carrying gold and other precious material that sailed in the Caribbean waters and also attacked Panama and Santa Maria.

After the temporary Spanish occupation of the islands, they were controlled by the British from 1740 until 1787, agreeing to respect the Creole population.

 In July 1818, the independent forces of Simon Bolivar occupied the islands, and it became part of Gran Colombia on June 23, 1822.

In 1821, the issuing of the Constitution of Cacti determined that every child born in Colombia was born as a free.

When the construction of the Panama Canal ended in the early 1900's, thousands of Jamaicans (and a few other West Indians) workers who had toiled on the project, settled in Colon, Panama; San Andres; Bluefields in Nicaragua and Limon in Costa Rica instead of going home.

 The extremely pervasive Jamaican culture and use of patois in those regions are lasting
reminders of this history.

My introduction to San Andres.

My late cousin-in-law Harris

I first heard of the tiny island of San Andres (it is just over 10 square miles with a population of around 80,000) from a cousin-in-law, Harris, who was born there.

Lifelike statues are all over the island

As a ship's engineer, he had traveled extensively and always insisted that his island was just like mine, Jamaica, so I should go there and see for myself.

Unfortunately, I procrastinated until he died. However, I met several of his relatives at his funeral in August 2018 and they too insisted that I respect his wishes by visiting their island soon.

Finally, in December 2018, I made the trip and was not at all disappointed, for indeed the similarities are stark, especially the similarities to my favorite parish-Portland.

Scooters are the most popular mode of transportation

Downtown San Andres, Centro, also bears a remarkable resemblance to our own western tourism city of Montego Bay with the proliferation of hotels, tourists and great white-sand beaches.

The immediate contrast though is that San Andres has smooth pothole-free roads throughout the island, because unlike our flimsily built asphalted roads, their roads are made from  hardy concrete.

The Mule

There is significantly less traffic there too with the most popular mode of private transportation being scooters, whereas tourists use a larger and hardier variation known as the Mule.

 Anyway, the island does resemble Portland a great deal in that it is extremely green and fruitful with wonderful white-sand beaches.

It is not quite as mountainous though and most importantly it has no rivers or waterfalls.

They, therefore, get their water from wells and have also constructed a desalination plant at place called Cove.

 We visited that area where I was re-introduced to the lifelike statues that the government erects throughout the island to beautify it, and also something called  Babia.

Downtown with its numerous hotels, beaches and tourists reminds me a bit of our own Montego Bay

These tiny croc-like creatures clearly do not like red meat!

The Babia is a small crocodile-like creature that lives in the pond close to where the desalinated water is processed.

What fascinated me about these tiny reptiles is how tame and peaceful they are!

 I just could not believe my eyes as they swam around looking for fish to eat while small dogs and birds were in close proximity, each ignoring the other.

Because the island is so beautiful, I was not surprised that despite their small size, they welcome over half a million tourists annually. 

The attractions that I personally found extremely enticing were the Cays, the stingrays and the Blowhole.

I had always thought of stingrays as being extremely dangerous creatures because of their lethal tail,  even if they do not mean to do harm!

The young man plays with a huge stingray.

However, the captains of the boats that take visitors to nearby Aquarius and Rose Cays apparently do not think so, as they had no problem interacting with these interesting creatures that heavily populate an area close by.


Rose and Aquarius Cays are close to each other, allowing visitors to easily walk

from to the other.  Rose Cay has great beaches and Aquarius, a wide variety of restaurants mainly specializing in seafood.

They are both visited by hundreds of visitors daily as boats arrive and leave in droves non-stop, up to 4pm.

Other Cays that also attract hundreds of visitors are Johnny Cay and Rocky Cay.

A section of Aquarius Cay

While you need to take a boat to Johnny Cay, you can actually walk from the huge white sand beach on the mainland to Rocky Cay.

The attraction that I found most fascinating however was the Blowhole.

The western side of the island is extremely rocky and the water is quite rough but it is still very beautiful.  This is where you find the blowhole which is in fact a big hole in the rocks through which the huge waves forces the water upwards, dousing all who are close by, much to our enjoyment..

Getting doused by the fierce sea spray coming up out of the blowhole

I really enjoyed the bath there.

I think Harris is finally happy that I followed his suggestion to visit his homeland as not only is it as absolutely beautiful as he described but I discovered such a warm and welcoming "family" there. Well, all except for this goose that lives at his cousin Kathleen's home, where I was hosted for my entire stay on the island.

The only unfriendly inhabitant of San Andres that I met!

 He made it known every time he saw me, that I was unwelcome.

However, the humans showed the very opposite attitude as cousins and new friends, made every effort to ensure that my stay was comfortable and most rewarding.

I have rarely felt more welcome and loved elsewhere and considered this visit a mere taste of what I hope will become a giant meal one day. 

Hopefully, San Andres will remain as quiet and peaceful as it is today, although based on some troubling information I garnered during my visit,  I am having a few doubts. 

I enjoyed riding around on the back of 'cousin' Colagio's scooter

As I understand it, there seems to be a major thrust by some "Spaniards" from the mainland to take over the beautiful island and even introduce racism in what I found to be the most integrated society I have ever seen.

Posing with some of my new 'family members' at Cove

 Due to the threat of over-population and excessive pressure on the infrastructure, the government passed laws a few decades ago preventing people from the mainland, living or working on the island unless they marry a native there or have a skill that is not available locally.

 However, an ominous sign that autonomy on the island is in danger arose from the government in Colombia, recently imposing a military person from the mainland to replace the civilian governor on the island.

Further, they have built  a huge police station downtown, which is mainly manned by "Spaniards" from the mainland, many of  whom are not shy to make racist statements against
the local people, it is reported.

 Troubling too is the fact that many from the mainland who sneak into the island through the porous beaches, are wanted for crimes on the mainland and are accused of escalating the drug smuggling industry and introducing a really scary form of extortion to vulnerable local young people on the island.

You can walk from the mainland to Rocky Cay

Hopefully, these trends will be nipped in the bud as San Andres is too close to being a real Garden of Eden to be destroyed.