Nelle's Stuff

Reflections of Antigua

• the colours of the ocean - a beautiful range of aquamarine, turquoise, silver and navy, depending upon the beach, the time of day, and the weather. No matter how many times I've seen the beaches here, I still can't get over how beautiful they are (and I'm not even a "beach" person).
• every trip in the car (even on the same road) holding surprises. Will we see wildlife? Mongooses, goats, horses, cows, sheep, chickens, donkeys, dogs (mangey or otherwise!). Will the potholes be bigger than last time? Will we see a truck with people riding in the back? Will anyone fall out?! Will we get stuck behind a car being driven by someone on crack and therefore driving about 10km an hour down a main road and zig-zagging back and forth?
• the Australian Ice Cream shop at Redcliffe Quay - Belgian Chocolate - need I say more?
• walking around St John's, looking in the little shops, and avoiding the gigantic, man-eating gutters.
• The Beach restaurant - for reasons outlined in an earlier blog entry. Oh, and also for the Chocolate Souffle! Cakey on the outside, gooey on the inside! Yummo!
• being neighbours with Mack and Kerri, and popping up to their place for a cooking lesson, pretzels, a yummy dinner, lots of laughs, and watching "America's Got Talent" which is sort of like Red Faces (and, actually, from watching the show, it seems that America doesn't really have that much talent!)
• four-wheel driving through the bush just to see what we can see, and stumbling across the most amazing things (spectacular views, gorgeous private beaches, etc).
• the cute little Antiguan girls with their heads full of braids, all tied with tiny bright ribbons.
• hummingbirds.
• Brucelina.
• the Antiguan sun, which although can be very hot, has not burnt me even once!
• restaurants right on the beach with tables and chairs directly on the sand.
• the colourful characters we have come across: OJ who collects objects from the ocean to decorate his restaurant; Gavin - the funny waiter at Bay House restaurant; the friendly staff at Dickenson Bay Cottages; Frankie and Charlie (I think) who sing and play at The Beach on Tuesday nights ("Oh island in the sun, willed to my by my father's hand, all my days I will sing in praise of your forests, waters, your shining sands"), etc, etc...
• McPhiltons - we get these at a local bakery/cafe called Philton's. A McPhilton is like a McDonald's McMuffin and consists of a muffin (well, duh!), bacon, egg and lettuce (and tomato, but I give that a miss). Yummy.
• the very "character-ful" churches, forts, buildings, and ruins.
• the laid-back way of life of the locals. In Antigua there are only two speeds - slow and stop!
• the weekend explorations of different sections of the island, and stumbling across gorgeous little villages that are filled with teeny Antiguan houses and little old Antiguan ladies with their mismatched patterned blouses and skirts (for some reason, in Antigua, mismatched clothing "works").
• taking photos of sunsets!
• reading the local papers, and getting an Antiguan perspective on common issues. The letters to the editor are particularly fascinating!
• the adventure of the whole Antiguan experience.

• really, really unreliable wireless internet connection requiring me to stay up past midnight to get an email to send, and which means that doing absolutely anything requiring a connection to the company network takes about 10 times longer than normal.
• the boredom when you can't get online, and there's no work to do off-line. I am now the Sudoku Queen!
• needing to go to three grocery stores to find all the items for a single simple meal - we even once had to go to three or four different shops just to find milk! Took us well over an hour! Getting the groceries could practically be a full-time job in Antigua.
• finding dead rodents on the footpath in town. Euwwwww! Largest rat I've ever seen!
• the unfriendly staff at the Epicurean (the local supermarket). Dave once got a laugh out of one girl and we were so excited - it could be done!
• getting rained on when I go for a walk with Dave!
• going to tourist attractions and finding them closed.
• the areas that smell really, really bad (i.e., the pond behind Runaway Bay).
• gutters full of putrid smelling water.
• the humidity.
• getting our clothes washed via the hotel laundry service and having them come back smaller or faded.
• the Chicken Satay at The Beach.
• very few things tasting as they normally would.
• having to spray myself with OFF! every time we go outside in the evenings so we don't get eaten alive. No need for perfume, when you are wearing "Eau de OFF!"

I'm sure that there are heaps more missable and unmissable things that I haven't thought of (and maybe I'll add them when I think of them). But, as much as I'll miss Antigua, I will certainly appreciate living in Australia so much more when we get back!

posted by Nelle @ 1:34 pm