DAY TWO: Thursday, 25
October 2007
I’ve always been a morning
person. I was up before Lee, and sat on
the patio and watched the area. I saw a
few people heading down to the beach in the morning, but only a few. We hadn’t figured out our routine for the
visit yet, so I didn’t want to leave the room to head for the beach, and have
Lee wonder where I was. My phone was
locked in the safe, and neither of us had the international calling feature
activated (so it would’ve done any good if I had it on me). The sound of the wind blowing through the
trees, and the gentle crash of the ocean waves, were the only sounds I heard.
Once Lee awoke, we headed back over
to Mango Reef for breakfast. The
breakfast was very good, but we didn’t want to break our budget by eating every
meal there. If we could have something
light for breakfast (something we could eat on the beach), we could eat lunch
at one of the places on the island, and either snack in the evening or have an
actual dinner (whichever we chose).
Now was the time to see how well I
remembered the roads coming in. We were
going to the Graceway IGA. First, I have
to note that driving on the left-hand side of the road with a right-hand drive
vehicle felt odd at first. All the
controls are reversed. Instead of having
the turn signal on the left of the tree and the wiper controls on the right,
turn signal on the right and wipers on the left. Shifting gear on left, too. Coming up to a roundabout, you would veer to
the left the same way you would go “right on red” in the States. It felt odd at first, but I got use to it
quick. When coming up to the major
intersection, I did have to think momentarily what side of the road I needed to
be. Usually an additional moment of
waiting to watch what the rest of the traffic was doing was enough of a
reminder.
Stepping inside the Graceway IGA
was another reminder that we were in a different world. It’s not that it wasn’t clean, it could’ve
been cleaned better. It wasn’t slummy,
just very well-used. I noticed there
wasn’t any Dr. Pepper on the shelves, and Lee pointed out there’s drugs
available her over-the-counter which are illegal back in the States. Read nothing into the observation, as it was
simply an observation. Since we couldn’t
have our DP-products, we got a six-pack of Mountain Dew (for me) and a six-pack
of Diet Coke (for Lee), in addition to a loaf of wheat bread, turkey cold-cuts,
sliced cheese, and some snack items. I
made sure to save the receipt to show Mum later.
While there other shopping areas
nearby the store (like Unicorn Bookstore), and not far from Royal West Indies
itself (The Saltmills), we didn’t want to spend all day going around the stores
when there was a beautiful beach nearby to take advantage of. We decided we’d check out a different
shopping area each day while we’re out and about exploring the island. We dropped the groceries off in the fridge,
and went headed back out to the closest little of shops to RWI, called Ports of
Call.
Ports of Call was a small plaza
with two or three large two-story buildings which housed shops, some offices,
and a few eateries. In the plaza were
some wooden stocks, which I’m sure only got used by tourists now. One of the “recommended” places was a
touristy souvenir shop called Mama’s. A
few small things were gotten there to bring back for people. But I’d read in the Discover Turks & Caicos 2007 magazine that while the U.S.
Dollar was the accepted currency, the local treasury had produced three
coins: A “Crown” (equivalent to a
Dollar) and a quarter. As our driver the
previous day had mentioned to us, these were minted any more, but you still
might be able to find some at a local establishment.
I asked about these at Mama’s and
was able to score a “half-crown” piece and a “quarter-crown” piece, as that was
all which was hidden under Mama’s register.
As Mama said there were too many of these left, I was lucky to find the
ones that I did. Both coins were from
1981, and Queen Elizabeth on front. The
half-crown had a salt windmill on the back, and quarter-crown had a spiny
lobster (which was also on the coat of arms on the TCI flag).
After wandering around Ports of
Call a bit more, we returned to RWI in order to enjoy the beach. I swim and play in the water, as Lee sits on
the deck chairs to soak up the rays.
We’d also discussed some future things we wanted to do this week. I’ve been wanting to try parasailing for a
bit, and Lee said she’d watch me. There
was a boat tour Lee wanted to do, where we’d get to see a local critter, known
colloquially as the “glow worms.” Seems
these marine worms perform a mating ritual just after sunset a few nights after
the full moon which releases a bio-luminescence. That sounded like it would be fun to do.
A little bit before sunset, we
decided to walk from RWI back to Ports of Call to have dinner at a place called
Jimmy’s Dive Bar. It seemed rather
irreverent in attitude, even though it was pretty much just a small sports
bar. Other than a small bar, a room with
a pool table, and about a dozen tiny tables, there wasn’t much to the
place. I’d been listening to Jimmy
Buffet on my Ipod on the flight down, and that was on my brain. When the waitress asked what I wanted, I
quoted the “Cheeseburger In Paradise” song exactly. She was amused as no one had ever ordered
that way. It was a decent meal, and
worth the humour value.
When we walked over, it was still
light out, and we’d been able to stay on the sidewalk and walk the half-mile to
Jimmy’s. This section of Governor’s Road
hadn’t been developed yet, so there weren’t too many buildings we passed. We could really see the chalk-like nature of
the ground, and the spare shrub that clung to it. It was after dark when we left, and were glad
there were street lights along the way.
We’d heard some stories about the “Haitians hiding in the bush” which
might occasionally mug tourists, but since the area seemed pretty when we were
wandering around it during the day (and it was well-light for the walk back to
the resort). We didn’t worry too much
about that.
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