This is a personal journal in a public space, kept by Jessica Moyer and Brett Matulis. We are not so vain as to believe that complete strangers are interested in our daily lives. Rather, this blog was created when we decided to move to the British West Indies. It is intended to serve as a way for us to share news, post photos, and eventually, revisit memories. It was created for us and for those of our friends and families that are interested in our lives on the remote island of South Caicos.
In the last post Jessee mentioned that the students even made a "hand turkey" for Catdog. But I'm pretty sure we've never introduced him on the blog. Catdog or, sometimes, Gatoperro is just like many of the other dogs on the island, except he happens to be a cat.
Catdog
He and Bruno are the only animals accepted by SFS. He's pretty self-sufficient, coming and going as he pleases, but always returning for affection. It's not unusual to hear him meowing outside our door -- his signal that it is time to give him attention. I usually respond because Jessee is allergic.
Stalking
His favorite activities include ridding the kitchen of rats and mice, chasing and unfortunately sometimes catching birds (some as big as he is), and acting as if he doesn't care that you want to pet him (even though he really does).
We celebrated a very festive, although not at all traditional, Thanksgiving this year. Our cooks, Izzy and Antonia, really outdid themselves with an elaborate and delicious buffet of food!
The Feast
The students decorated our dining area with fall-colored leaves and hand turkeys for everyone here at the center (including Bruno and Catdog). Mine featured a decorated cake because I'm known for making them on students' birthdays and various other occassions. Brett's featured his big black Crocs, which he leaves by the volleyball court during games so that anyone who needs to go fetch a ball out of bounds can slip them on and avoid get stuck with acacia thorns. (As his shoes are at least 6 sizes too big for everyone else, however, this can be pretty entertaining to watch!)
Brett's hand turkey
My hand turkey
Some of the students and I also made pies for our Thanksgiving dessert. I think spending time in the kitchen is part of the tradition for some of them, and so they asked to help out.
Pretty fall colors
We didn't have any cans of pumpkin, and therefore couldn't make the pie they most wanted to, but we improvised with what we had and came out with 5 apple pies (thanks to my dad's scrumptiously foolproof recipe) and 5 sweet potato pies in the end.
Sweet potato pies
Apple pies
Brett impressed everyone with his expert lattice designs, and then inspired some of the students to try it for themselves. All in all, it was a very happy holiday with lots to be thankful for.
Last night, we celebrated (and expressed our thanks) all over again. For the second time this semester, we hosted a dinner for folks in town. This one was in honor of all of our "Business and Community Partners". This included school teachers, shop owners, developers, fishermen, and folks who have been interviewed by our students for their various research projects, among others. (The previous community dinner was in recognition of government officials, e.g. police, clinic, post office, treasury, immigration, etc.)
A centerpiece
Students serving our guests
We decorated our tables with flowers, conch shells, and candles, and put on our nicest outfits. I think everyone had a good time talking and mingling, and it was nice to be able to show our appreciation for the folks here who are especially welcoming and helpful. Also, as our Center Director pointed out, it was a chance to remind ourselves that we are visitors on this island being hosted by the local community. Last evening, for a few short hours, we got to return the favor.
I wish every day was food-boat day. Every other Tuesday a shipment comes in from Florida. In the days leading up to it, we usually eat things like macaroni & cheese or hot dogs. In the days after it we have things like salad, steamed carrots and broccoli, kiwis, bananas, yogurt, Cheerios, and occasionally a free sample of fancy little frozen desert cakes.
Before
After
Almost nothing, agricultural or manufactured goods, is produced in TCI. It is all shipped in at huge expense, inconvenience, and use of fossil fuels. On South Caicos, nothing would grow. The soil is only a few inches thick above sandstone and almost entirely sand, and much of it is full of salt from the salinas. Fresh water is also scarce. I've read that conditions are slightly better on Middle Caicos, but the crops they have don't do very well. After the American Revolution, a community of exiled Loyalists settled here and attempted cotton and sugar cane plantations, but apparently they were never that productive and were abandoned after a trade blockade during the War of 1812 and a severe hurricane. I'm not sure exactly why we don't get more locally produced seafoods, but it is probably cost related and just easier to cook processed foods - regrettable, but I can't complain because I don't pay for it.
So what keeps the TCI economy going? On South its mainly conch and lobster exports. On Grand Turk there's a little tourism, but it's mostly government. On Provo its finance. The sort of "finance" you'd like to hide from the eyes of regulatory agencies at home. There's also high-end luxury tourism on Provo (i.e. places where you can find a room for $10,000 per night) as a consequence of the offshore finance. The financial sector has, of course, suffered most directly from the recession, but I'm unsympathetic.
Jessee thought it would excessive since she already wrote a post today, but I took it upon myself to get everybody to sing before we ate the cake tonight (see the video below). Happy birthday Marilyn.
Today is my mom's birthday, but I don't know what to do for her. I can't take her out to lunch, as we're about 2,000 miles apart, and I can't buy her a gift I think she'd like, as there really aren't any stores here on South. Even if I mailed her a card, it likely wouldn't get there until Easter. I think... I'll bake her a cake.
Maybe I'll make it a marble cake
Without the marbling effect
I know, I know, my mom won't actually get to eat the cake. (Sorry Mom, if this gesture is only a tease!) But, it's the thought that counts, right? This way she'll know that I've been thinking about her today. And I'm confident I'll be able to convince the staff and students here at SFS to agree to eat the birthday cake on her behalf, purely out of the generosity of their hearts of course!
Happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday, dear Marilyn...
Happy Birthday to you!
p.s. I love you. p.p.s. That's supposed to be the Bahama Woodstar hummingbird I keep telling you about.
I figure it's about time we introduce Bruno to the blog. I think Brett's written before about the sad situation of numerous stray, and sometimes even aggressive, dogs here. He may have also mentioned the local custom of throwing rocks at dogs who bark too loudly or follow you down the street or growl and nip at your ankles. The two of us don't partake of that custom, but we do occasionally pick up rocks and hold them up threateningly to chase off particularly aggressive or territorial dogs that seem dangerous or just won't let us pass them on the street. (All of the dogs around here know very clearly what a rock held up in the air means, and they whimper and run off before actually releasing it becomes necessary.)
"Bruno", formerly known as "Bingo"
It's sad for me, as a dog-lover, to have such an antagonistic relationship with the ones who live here on the island. I think about how it isn't really their fault that they're so hostile. After all, they lead rough lives, are forced to scavenge for food and fresh water, and put up with a range of mistreatment from neglect to downright cruelty. Over the past few years, members of the SFS community have handled "the stray dog issue" in very different ways, and it's caused quite a lot of controversy. Some staffers used to secretly sneak food and blankets out to the strays that lingered behind the back porch. This, however, resulted in the dogs growing loyal and protective of the SFS community. They'd follow us into town and bark at anyone who came close to us. The locals who got barked at, in turn, were furious with us for letting "our" dogs threaten them and disturb their peace. They've even accused us of training the dogs to be racist, and to bark only at black people. Apparently once, before Brett and I arrived here, a local guy brought a big, vicious dog to the center so that it would fight with one of the dogs that had done the barking, and another time a man ran over one of "our" dogs with his truck out of spite.
Other staffers have taken quite a different approach, wanting no association at all with the loud, dirty, allegedly racist beggars, and have instead become renowned for their merciless rock launching skills. While the locals are generally in favor of this practice, it's more than a little upsetting for the animal lovers and pacifists among the staff and students at the SFS center. So... we currently have a sort of compromise in place. We have adopted one dog, Bruno, who sits outside the center day in and day out, looking forward to any sign of affection that is headed his way. All other dogs, however, are not to be fed, petted, or allowed on SFS property at all. This arrangement seems to appease the staff and students who love animals and miss their pets from home, and feel terrible about throwing the occasional rock at a particularly nasty dog in town, as well as those who don't like dogs at all, or who just don't want the entire dog-human dynamic of the island messed with.
Mmm.. kitchen scraps
Bruno gets fed certain kitchen scraps like bread or chicken bones (which would apparently be choking hazards for the typical Rover or Fido living in the States, but are no match for the hearty digestive system of a South Caicos mutt) on a fairly regular basis. He's not allowed inside the center, which he understands and abides by, but he also doesn't follow us into town very often, mostly because he's too old and skinny and hungry most of the time to be bothered. He also doesn't bark at people who come visit us for the most part, although we did have to calm him down a bit at our community dinner last week when hosted almost 100 folks from town all at once. Saturday afternoon, however, Bruno was in heaven because some of the students decided to give him a bath. I'm sure it pulled when they tried to comb his matted dreads, which were caked with a decade's worth of sand and grime, but he LOVES attention however he can get it!
Almost a month ago I discovered that we own a windsurfer. It was stuffed into the "pump house," a shed where the pumps for our water system are kept, collecting cob webs for what appeared to be a long time. I'm not sure exactly how we went this long time without knowing. Jessee has wanted to learn how to do it for the longest time.
Raising the Sail
It's quite a bit more difficult than you'd imagine, even if you understand the mechanics of sailing. I figured since I have the basic sailing knowledge I'd be able to at least move around on it, even if not in the most graceful way. It turns out just pulling the sail up into position is a feat - forget pointing the board in the direction you want to go. Sailboats have a rudder and tiller, so you point the boat using that, and then just trim the sail depending on the wind direction. But you can't do that with a windsurfer. The sail needs to be up, and then you pivot around the mast, pushing on the board with your feet to steer it into position. This I learned from videos on YouTube. I've been less than successful in actually doing it.
I've actually only been out on it a few times. And Jessee hasn't gotten to use it at all. Things have been busy here at the center, and I don't want to go out without motorboat support to rescue me (I'd probably get stranded somewhere downwind and not be able to get back). Then Jessee had her "Sunday Duty" day (which meant working on the usual day-off), and we had stormy Sunday (it was a full-on downpour nearly all day - we get 350 days of sunshine per year, but sometimes it gets bad), and it gets dark early (so there's not much time after work on weekdays). Then, of course, we had a pretty long period where the wind went away almost entirely (unusual for this area). Here are a few photos from that period:
Glass Calm
Without the island, you really couldn't tell where the horizon started.
Unfortunately, nobody had time to go water skiing.
When Suzie the sea turtle started her journey out of the TCI, people in town were abuzz. They'd often call out, excitedly, to the researchers "where Suzie at now?!" Supposedly there were even some fears that Suzie was being controlled through the GPS tag on her back and being sent away to waters where turtle fishing is illegal. The interest in Suzie has subsided a little, but people on the island keep up-to-date on her whereabouts through bulletins posted at various shops and public buildings. She's gone quite a distance. For a while, she was headed in the direction of South America, and they thought she might go to Venezuela to nest.
But now she's taken a more easterly heading and is almost smack in the middle of the Caribbean. One of the researchers was worried she might now go to Nicaragua, where they "put away" 10,000 turtles every year. Hopefully, though, if she is spotted by a hunter, they'll have the courtesy to let her be because of her tag.
There other four GPS tagged turtles in TCI (Tom, Jerry, Deep, and Jewel) have remained local. I'm hoping Suzie will return, especially if she comes nearby, because we ought to be able to use GPS to find her.
I've just returned from a brief trip to Grand Turk. The purpose of which was mainly to scope the place out and get some ideas for things to do there. I was also scoping out transportation on the Dominican fruit boat. Instead of flying over, I hitched a ride with the Dominicans that come to South Caicos every few weeks. Our security guard, Daniel, is friends with the crew and uses the boat when he visits home in the Dominican Republic. I've thought about riding with them all the way to Puerto Plata, but I wanted to check things out before I go that whole distance across open ocean. So they offered to take me to Grand Turk. Daniel arranged everything and I met them at the government dock here on South Caicos around noon on Monday.
The S.S.Elvira
It's not exactly a passenger boat, so there are no comfy seats and you mostly sit amongst cargo. They do have bunks and a hammock for the longer crossing (it takes about 10 hours to get to the DR), but for our "3 hour tour" to Grand Turk (yes, that's a reference to Gilligan's Island) everybody was up and about. I lent a hand where I could, heaving the life boat on board and stowing things for departure, but they didn't require it. I was treated like a guest of honor, invited into the bridge, and given the captain's chair. They wouldn't even accept payment from me. They said they'd charge to go all the way to the DR, but Grand Turk was free - probably just because of Daniel. The others at SFS joked that I was going to be robbed at sea or sold into a slave trade, but they were all as friendly as could be.
El Capitan
I certainly hoped their concern for safety on the ship would be greater than it was with contraption.
Some of the crew.
They took turns driving the boat. And some of them made better captains than others. One guy, who seemed to be at the helm for hours, didn't quite grasp the concept of steering such a big vessel. He didn't look out the window at all. Instead, he was fixed on the compass, trying to keep the needle on our bearing of 115°. The problem was that when we drifted a little to one side, he'd over-steer in the opposite direction. The boat would take a little while to respond, as you would imagine a boat of that size to do, and he would end up having to turn back the other way, over-steering again. We made a zig-zag pattern for miles. I was watching the GPS display and he ranged between 102° and 127°. I bet the trip would have been 45 minutes shorter if it weren't for this guy!
Underway
On the crossing, in the middle of the Columbus Passage, it occurred to me that the nearest land was about 1.5 miles straight down.
Apparently, the Elvira used to be a Texas shrimp boat.
We arrived, finally, and they gave me a ride to the center of town. The customs officers were a little suspicious of what I was doing with a group of Dominicans and stopped us as we were leaving the port. But they let us pass when I presented my passport and resident's visa and their search of my bag turned up nothing. I had a couple of hours before nightfall, so I hurriedly searched for a grocery store and a place to set up my tent (it's funny how things revert to the basic necessities of life - food, shelter, and water - when in a situation like that). I got a few snacks and a slice of disgustingly chewy microwaved pizza, and set out to the north end of town. I made my way to the beach and just kept walking until I was sufficiently far away from development. I set up my tent just above the high tide line and then proceeded to be devoured by mosquitoes for the next 10 hours. I also had an ant hill on the inside of my tent (I have a floorless tent). Instead of packing up and finding a better spot, I just endured. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well.
The view from camp.
The only good thing about this pizza place is its name.
I woke up early the next morning and headed back into town. Nothing was open. I figured this was just because it was early, but I found out later that there was no ship in port (Grand Turk is a stopping point for Carnival Cruise Lines). And when there's no ship, Grand Turk is deader than South Caicos! The next boat wouldn't be there until Thursday and, I was told, nothing would reopen until then. Fortunately, I found a place to rent a bicycle and just toured around. It was nice to get on a bike again. I went from relying on a bicycle as my primary mode of transportation at home to not riding at all here. I think I rode every single road on Grand Turk.
This is part of the completely empty Carnival Cruise Terminal. I was tempted to swim in their pool, but I didn't.
The entrance of North Creek (a salt water estuary) would have been a better place to camp if I had known about it.
Grand Turk lighthouse - apparently they used to deliberately burn this light really dimly to wreck ships so the Grand Turk residents could salvage the cargo.
Her Majesty's Prison was one of the attractions that never opened. The sign on the door says admission is $7. I think that must be a new addition. It was probably cheaper to get in when it was in operation.
Riding down Front Street
My bike.
Grand Turk, the residents claim, was the first landfall of Christopher Columbus. In actuality, it's only one of a few possible places in the West Indies where he first landed. Despite this, there is a monument in the center of town quite confidently claiming it to be.
With not much happening on the island and the prospect of another mosquito filled night, I decided I catch the last flight back to South. It was a shorter visit than I had planned (though I had only planned on staying for two nights), but it was worth it. Especially because of the boat ride over there.
Catdog
Stalking
Catdog
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