PCV: Paid Caribbean Vacation

The past few days have continued to blow my mind more and more. Its like everyday I wake up thinking that the day before was one of the most influential learning experiences of my entire life, only be blown away again. I must say that the Bahamas have far exceeded any expectations. I don’t know what I was expecting but just the general excitement of everyone here never dies.

Anna finally got here and we got checked into comfort suites hotel. It was a little cozier than couch surfing even though I know that couch surfing is going to be something that I will do over and over again. There is no better way to get to know the locals. Info can be found at www.couchsurfing.com and the people that I have met as a result are some that I will remember forever. I have fallen asleep on the beach, and played sand volleyball until my knees are bleeding already. I feel like its all happening so fast then I sit back and think that technically, it hasn’t even begun yet. Most of the people here are so nice. I don’t know if it is more of the first impression kind of thing and everyone is being nice to each other because no one wants to step on toes or anything but everyone seems fine with doing anything. There have not been too many arguments or any other problems thus far.

The Atlantis Hotel is something that needs to be seen because of how amazing it is. It is one of the most amazing hotels I have ever laid eyes on and the inside is just as nice. They have a suite that is an archway over the hotel that is just a small bill of $26,000 a night. Many of us have joked that if everyone on SAS chipped in about $38 that we could stay there to say we stayed in that room. I think it would be worth it but some are not up for it as much as I was. Many celebrities like Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson stay there often. Bottom line thing about the Atlantis though is that it is on Paradise Island. That translates into extremely expensive. If you find a hamburger under $12 you are getting a deal. The trick was going over the bridge into Nassau and going to local places that are sometimes too scary for most tourists to go to. We found some of the best Bahamian food for breakfast one morning for $2 and it was delicious. We received more food than we would from Paradise Island and it was about 1/10 of the price of the regular meal over there.

It really went to show that these tourist attractions are something that are extremely expensive. The bars around town show this as well. The popular place that everyone wants to go every night is Senor Frogs. While this is fun, it is not cheap. Usually there is a cover charge to any place the average person might want to go. If this were not enough, any drink is double the price of what it would be in the US. We have found that the best places are the local places. Hands down, anytime I have had a truly good time, it has been with the locals. The Bahamian people are the nicest people I have ever met. Places like Senor Frogs are so expensive but I think it is because we are paying for a certain comfort level that many are looking for. Senor Frogs is a place that is very much like anything in America with the exception that it is run by people that look like Bahamians. I think its kind of pathetic that Americans and tourists in general are willing to pay that kind of a price for something they can get at home. The Atlantis is the same way and it is truly a shame that most people probably never come off Paradise Island when they vacation. They are seeing the Atlantis. They are not in the Bahamas. The Bahamas are a place that the locals will talk to you and treat you as you are a best friend. They may not be the best dressed or have tons of money. But they are people that are very interested in who you are as a person instead of what kind of money you can offer them. By going into the locals’ bars, we realized that we didn’t even have to spend money to have a good time. The locals never pressured us into buying anything and they just wanted our company more than anything. Anywhere downtown or on Paradise Island, you cannot get rid of people trying to get you in taxi or to buy something from them. It’s slightly depressing to know that they are doing this because they know that most people are going to buy it. At the local places, most of the locals will take you where you want to go. They do not want taxis waiting outside their business and will do whatever they can to help you in anyway they can.

Some of my favorite times here have been with taxi drivers. In Bahamas, they like to try to rip you off. We are tourists and they are very used to other cruise liners coming in and everyone that gets off has tons of money to spend. While gas is about $5 a gallon here, many of the taxi drivers do not operate on metered systems. Taxis are set up by zones. It is usually $4 for every zone you are in. These zones are not very large, but usually you don’t need to go very far. The only problem is many people find that taxi fair is more expensive than the night that they just went out for. I have found that walking is the best bet and as long as it is reasonably close that I will just walk. The fun times come when arguing with taxi drivers over a fair before we get in the car. There is very rarely only one taxi waiting to take us somewhere so we make them compete with each other and we get a much better price.

When walking around town, most people will tell you that Nassau is a very dangerous place. I have seen nothing of this and I think it is because I have been close with many of the locals and they realize that I am not here to spend money. We were walking down the street the other night going to a sailboat to hang out when we came up on a club where many people were outside. There were about 16 of us and there were about 12 men standing outside the club just talking. Many people in our group wanted to cross the road to go past the club then cross again when we were a “safe” distance ahead of the club. I was outraged by this and talked everyone into just keep walking and have fun with it. I walked right up to the van they were sitting at and went back there with them and had a small conversation with them. They were also very nice guys and said that it was sometimes seen as a bad part of town and that if we had any problems that we could come back to them and they would take care of it. They did not say anything disrespectful to anyone and just let us go on our way.

We then went to a sailboat to hang out with some other guys that we had met. Phen and Dan were these two guys that were sailing from Annapolis, Maryland to Nassau, Bahamas so that Phen’s father could pick up the boat. Phen and Dan both go to school in New York and were on break from their J-quarter in school. They brought us back to the sail boat where we were docked and we just took pictures and it was my first experience on a ship of any kind in the ocean. I got slightly dizzy and we eventually walked home but I think that sailing is something I would love to try when I get older because they were telling stories of storms on a small 38’ boat and how it can be so relaxing at some times and so gut wrenching in another. It sounds like something I would love to do because that way I could travel more as if SAS wouldn’t be enough.

Will SAS be enough? It is basically the world in 100 days. I guess the better question might be is the world enough?