"Where Everybody Knows Your Name"
11 June 2013 | Proividencia, Columbia
Mark
Monday was a holiday with events planned throughout the afternoon and evening. Laura from Nilaya called on VHF to give us the schedule and encouraged us to get there early (at noon) as the food was often gone by 1:00. We followed her advice and dinghied in shortly after 1200. We walked over the the section of town where the festivities were to be and it was obvious they were still setting up and not yet organized. (It has become apparent to us that the words "organize" and "Central American festival" rarely go together.) We wer wandering about when we hear, "Always & All Ways, " in a strong woman's voice. As we looked around Orealia comes running up and hugs us both at once. (Orealia is wide enough that this was not a problem for her.) "You still got that sick humor?" she says to Deb. Last year when we were here, Orealia and her husband Orville were running the Bamboo bar and restaurant. They had been accepted for visas to Canada and were planning on moving there to better educate their children. We had heard that they were still here and wondered why. Orealia explained that she had won some type of lion fish cooking contest and was being sent (at govt expense) to Japan, The Philippines, and other South Pacific nations to spread the word and try to get the whole lion fish thing under control. Eventually the Canada plan is stil intact. Orealia asked about our kids and introduced us around to the women who were serving food. Deb had stew beans with pig tail and I had stew conch, both with rice and plantains. The drink hadn't arrived yet, but I walked across the playground to the pool hall and got two Hienikens for $6000p. The meal was $27,000p for both. It was delicious. I cannot imagine how they get the conch so tender! (but perhaps Saturday I'll find out as they have a demonstration of traditional cooking.) As we were eating, Jim & Laura showed up followed shortly by Alex & Yeoli from Misty Blue - he is Australian and she is LA, California. They are on their way to Bocas. We chatted for a while and as we were deciding to head back to the boat (The afternoon's lectures were still not organized and might or might not happen, but the live band (one of three as it turned out) started @ 5:00.), a voice rang out, "Is there a Mr. Mark here?" It was Orville who great me like a brother and kissed Deb. It is just amazing how having been her once, a year ago, we are family now. Back at the boat, I read in the hammock while Deb took a nap. Shortly after 5:00, I heard the band begin. (It is a straight shot from the bandstand to our boat.) Surprised that they actually started on time, I woke up Deb, we dressed and headed in. Surprise indeed! It was a CD of the band. They were still getting "organized." While we were waiting, there was food: Empanadas con Congrejo (crab turnovers), stuffed crab, conch fritters, and more. And deserts: rice cake, banana cake, corn cake, bread pudding. I tried the corn cake and it was quite good - sort of a sweet polenta. And beer from the pool hall. By about 6:15 all was ready and they began to play. The band included: mandolin (lead), guitar, washtub bass, maraca, and jaw bone as well as vocal. They were very good and did songs we remembered from last year about the beautiful island of Providencia. The second group was of similar composition but was composed of three generations of the same family - McClean. (A lot of the islanders are of Scottish decent.) The final group featured accordion as lead instead of mandolin and was composed of young musicians - probably teens and 20's. Interspersed with the numbers by the band was traditional dancing. Beautifully dressed couples performed traditional dances in traditional costumes. The ladies had long full dresses that they held to the side as they twirled. The men wore black pants with starched white shirts. In some groups the men wore vests and the youngest boys actually wore swallow tail tuxes. In each group the ladies/girls dresses were slightly different, but always featured the full skirt, a white apron and embroidered bodice. The groups ranged from adults to pre-teens. It was great. I will post pictures when I get internet. The impression was that of a formal ball on a Jamaican plantation, which is not surprising as many of the islanders are descended from escaped Jamaican slaves. What Deb thought wierd was the Providencians trace there "roots" back to Jamaica, but not Africa. They are truly Caribbean, not African. We had not expected such a long evening, in fact, we got up to leave after the first group and Orville said, "Where you going, Mark. We have two more groups and lots of dancers. You cannot leave now." Indeed, we were very glad we didn't. I had put the anchor light on before leaving the boat, but did not bring a flash light in the dinghy. It turned out not to be a problem as the anchorage is very sparsely populated and we easily picked out our boat and drove to it without incident. Tuesday we finally get our passports back and our official papers in the morning and in the afternoon there is a talk on herbal medicine that we hope to catch. I am hoping there will be time in between for a hookah if the wind cooperates.