Nevis
There are wild donkeys here. And I don’t mean skinny, weak creatures. They are good-looking, healthy, and highly independent. They are smart enough to walk along the verge and not in the middle of the very narrow roads. We saw one on a patch of grass next to the ocean, and couldn’t figure out how it got there. On the way back I saw it on a path in the underbrush which serves the purpose.
The Irish start every sentence with, “After eight hundred years of British oppression….(you can catch the number 4 bus over there).” Nevis and St. Kitts (a country of about 50,000 people) gained independence from the British after “only” 300 years, so they’re a tad happier than the Irish. Nevis has the exact number of people as our hometown, East Greenwich, RI: 17,000.
I had imagined Nevis to be a West Indies Nantucket, a place of charm and grace and catering to the wealthy. It is not. It’s not even my favorite Caribbean Island, and I’d rate the Four Seasons we’re in, despite our ocean view suite, as an average one in the system.
As in the other islands here and in the Pacific, the obesity of islanders is astounding. I’d guess that 85% of the women and 75% of the men are seriously obese, and many morbidly obese. While I always imagined a fish diet to be healthy, there is tremendous starch in these diets and the lack of any kind of urgency makes for a very lethargic lifestyle.
The food is okay, but not great—very spicy. The hospitality is quite good, and people are very friendly, though highly inefficient. (Even at Sunday Mass, which is highly consistent all over the world, there was confusion about the sequence and which hymns were to be sung!)
Alexander Hamilton was born here, a couple of miles from where I’m writing this. He was slain in a duel a mile from where Maria and I grew up (Weehawken, NJ).
There are two conventions at this sprawling property, which I never anticipated. But they are not near our side of the resort. We’re at an “adults only” beach and infinity pool. I was carded.
The great thing is that, while I can keep up with my business from here with some email and a few coaching calls, there are no other demands and we can just relax. The weather is fine and the water refreshing. Last night I had a Manhattan that was served in one of those huge Margarita glasses for some reason. That’s almost worth the flight.
