Falling Out of Time
By Nelson Campbell
15 July 2008
DO NOT leave behind cash - this is a cash economy and nearly everything is very expensive and can be paid for only with cash; DO be flexible and polite; what you get presented with may not be what you expected, but wonderful and different opportunities await. Be aware that there is very little fresh drinking water - you will have to supply some of your own and you will need to drink a lot because it is so hot. Be aware of your own cultural judgments - while there seems to be a great deal of poverty, there seems to be a lack of despair, a sense of community and family, low to no crime, no homelessness, no hunger. There are no police, no pharmacies, no ATM's, no place to buy souvenirs or even a postcard. Rent a car. Be aware that there are some good roads and some unpaved, rough roads, although both lack much signage - but explore, take blind, unmarked turns, wave when you end up in someone's driveway, push yourself past your comfort level and you will often be rewarded for what you find. Understand that the map you may be given is over 10 years old. Be looking for oddity - you will find it. Be looking for characters, you will find them. Note the fundamentalist churches - they are prolific. Be prepared for polite evasion, secretiveness and feigned ignorance. Rejoice in the richness and complexity of the island accent. Visit The Crossing Place Trail and Conch Bar Cave System on Middle Caicos. The caves are the largest sub-aerial (above water) cave system in the Bahamian archipelago (you need a guide to stay alive), the deep blue hole at Cottage Pond, in North Caicos where the bodies of slaves were tossed and where legend says that the spirits of the dead maintain the ferns at the side of the pool because they are so beautifully kept. If you have an adventurous palate, ask to eat local food, and you will get served up delights like Okra Soup, with pieces of sparerib, plantain, cassava, dumplings and pig tails. Acquire a taste for rice and peas (beans) if you don't have one. Scratch your head at the construction that seems to have come to a dead standstill all over the place, and no one can or will tell you whether it been abandoned or not. Scratch your head over the profound littering problem – everything from cars and trucks, to bottles and cans and furniture have been abandoned anywhere and everywhere. Explore the settlements on Middle Caicos – Conch Bar, Bambarra and Lorimers, the most remote. See the ruins, the homes, the places that qualify as both, the scratched out crops of corn and okra growing in sand. Explore the graveyards and wonder why there are so many open and empty sarcophagi at marked graves. Go to Wade's Green Plantation, and tour the ruins with only the deafening cicadas and darting lizards to keep you company. Be prepared to go all these places and have no one know or really care where you are. Snorkel and laze at 3 Mary's Cays. See thousands of pink flamingos in Whitby, but bring good binocs because they are so far away, all you can see is a long line of shimmering pink in the distance. Be prepared to read, to slumber in a chair on the porch in front of the green ocean for hours, losing time. Be prepared to understand that you cannot be prepared for this – for falling out of time.
