The Bahamas trip started on a whim to act on dreams that some of us had, of traveling to a beautiful Caribbean island and forgetting normal life, even if it was only for a few days.
The time was May 2008 and the place was Nassau, the capital of the Republic of The Bahamas.
The experiences from those 4 days were so complex, myriad and colorful that I have taken it for granted that I will probably never be able to successfully capture them in my words. All I intend to do here is just put in a few markers to stimulate my memory for a later time so as to recapture the stories and happenings engraved in the secret language of my mind.
Admittedly, its not comfortable for me to extol my virtues or the heights of my feelings of achievement or joy. I don’t even like seeing many ‘I’s in any of the content written (which is probably wrong grammar too).
But in order to best capture the fact that it was me who went about doing these incredible things and seeing beautiful sights in this island that still retains its quaint and picturesque British Colonial flavor, I suppress this aspect of me, and narrate the highlights of my trip-
I smiled non-stop for 2 hours at the sheer familiarity of the land (which seemed a dead ringer for some coastal Indian town) when we landed in Nassau,
I lived in a room which let me gaze into the ocean when I opened my eyes in the morning,
I dove down the Caribbean (where the depth was 65,00 feet, just a trench after where we were) and swam with the Reef Sharks,
I kissed a bottle-nosed dolphin called Salvador who proceeded to show off his football skills,
I swam among the rainbows of fishes in the blue-green lagoon,
I lost $60 dollars in 2 magical nights at The Atlantis,
I jigged on the road side when the parade of drummers and dancers passed us by and they called us to join them.
I drank unbelievable amounts of saline water and still held on to my bearings,
I was stung by Jelly fish while I gazed at a sunken Cessna Airplane made famous in Jaws,
I shopped in straw market where bargaining was the way of life and realized how much I had un-learned it in my time at the US,
I took a self portrait snap, underwater, while snorkeling which was universally reviewed as ‘scary’ among orkut friends,
I felt gratified when the local people called me ‘Pretty Girl’ in their oh-so-exotic lilting Caribbean English,
I ate every lunch in a Thai place which was the solitary source of quality vegetarian food, I played the demure damsel protected by the boys, on the night about town, when we were the only non-locals in Arawak Cay,
I splashed around with my friends in the hotel pool and was unsuccessful in teaching a certain person to swim (to his satisfaction),
I had my photograph taken swinging on a street lamp a-la ‘Singin in the Rain’,
I saw in my minds eye how clearly two people in love just seemed to ‘belong’,
I noted to my surprise that I didn’t mind 4 days without cell phone and internet,
I was happy to jump off the boat into the welcoming waters like a small uninhibited child,
I bought rum cake that Bahamas is famous for (Bacardi factory is situated in Nassau)
All this and a thousand more lovely moments- all of which I remember, most of which I have not documented, forms My Vacation to the Bahamas (a lovely addition to my passport entries). I thank the four other co-travelers for making this very special time so much more wonderful than I had ever hoped. The Bahamas is one place I would definitely revisit in a heartbeat; having said that its only fair to also point that some of us made a pact that when we come back for trip#2 we would be able to live in Atlantis resort (Which has to be seen to be believed)
Travel is the best education and I hope to be a world scholar in that way J
To this world, and beyond!
Rain
