As a lovely follow on from inviting Janice and Ahmed Popo on board Trilogy for a drink after the jazz concert, we were invited to their home for dinner on Tuesday evening. They had both lived in New Jersey for many years and had come back to the USVI for their retirement years. They are still very active: Janice is a practicing real estate agent and Ahmed is keenly pursuing the history of St Thomas which is now available through online reference sources. Janice is the entertainer, traveller and organiser and Ahmed is the academic and both are lovely people.
We presented ourselves to American customs on the Monday morning to complete formalities and this is when we had the realisation that our ETSA visa waivers good for 90 days in the USA, were ticking down rapidly. We had been unaware that the 90 days starts when the flight from Australia touches down on US soil. We had only spent 24 hours in the US en route to Granada, but the countdown had begun. This was quite a shock and we immediately contacted our travel agent to seek advice. We did some brain storming to think through the implications, but to date the answers are not forthcoming. We concluded that the best thing was to continue with our planned trip until we had received a definitive statement from the American Consulate in Australia.
We busied ourselves with getting the usual marina tasks completed and then, on Tuesday we completed more tasks and relaxed a little with pedicures for the girls and haircuts for the boys. It was Peter and Sue's 41st wedding anniversary and Kat and Bridie departed late morning for the airport and we bid them a fond farewell. We were picked up at 18:00 by Ahmed and given a tour of Frenchtown, the west side of the island, where their married daughter lives and over Crown Hill to the northern side of the island where the Popo's live. On the way, Ahmed was happy to discuss politics and history with us, which confirmed much of what we had been coming to understand. He certainly didn't like the fact that USVI citizens did not have the right to vote for the US President, but as he is a US citizen, he always votes. Ahmed was born in St Lucia and Janice was born in Trinidad. Janice's mother died last year at 102 years of age, but Ahmed's father had died too young from alcoholism, and as a consequence, Ahmed never touches the stuff.
Once in their driveway, we were greeted by a large barking dog but once reassured we were welcome visitors, he settled. Janice had cooked all day and we soon were seated at a large octagonal cane table, eating various local style dishes: baked chicken pieces, kingfish, braised oxtail, baked sweet potato and coconut mash, savoury rice, salt fish and a simple green salad. Louis and Michelle Taylor arrived a little later to join us and we all chatted happily for several hours. Janice showed us through their home and out on the balcony, where they had a glorious view of folding hills and a water view with two offshore islands. Janice has a love of Asian furniture and she has a few special pieces in their home. They had a lovely collection of art on the walls and a selection of family photos, which let us get to know something of their three children and numerous grandchildren. The youngest granddaughter had her photo pride of place in the middle of the dinner table. Janice told us of the Carnivale that takes place on St Thomas each year, and put on her feathered headdress for us. She had photos of her daughter and grandchildren all in costume, taking part. Louis, the jazz keyboard artist we'd been lucky enough to hear, is an excellent golfer and talented tennis player, music teacher and builder...quite a guy! Michelle, he said was his musical inspiration, leading him to many tunes in his repertoire. Michelle has played in a steel band in the past. She is now a dedicated teacher of young children and had to start work at 07:30 next morning!
Eventually, we said our goodbyes and Ahmed drove us back across the island to the south side, along the twisting narrow roads criss crossing Crown Hill. We felt most fortunate to have been invited into their home and to have shared their hospitality and friendship. Ahmed's parting words were 'go in peace'....how lovely!