New Factoid

I wont give you another pop quiz so soon so here's a freebee for today. Here's an interesting phrase I learned today- a Bahamian saying I guess you could call it. A few times I had heard different people refer to the family islands but wasn't sure what they were referring to actually. "Family Islands" is short for family of islands that refers to the Bahamas. There are approximately 2000 islands in the archipelago.

VTT BQ

The Punch

They have a local rag (as they call it) here in Nassau called "The Punch." And my absolute favorite part that I heard about and now have seen with my own eyes is the 2 pages that contain the "profile" of a single gal and a single guy. It's a hoot to read. But i do have to point out they are not equal. "The loveliest girls are in the Punch" is on page 3 with a large photo of the profiled single gal with a well written headline and description of her. Kinda reads like Playboy, possibly but then again I wouldn't know actually. Here is today's headline- "Tantalizing Tawana is a tempting sweet treat" -isn't that awesome?! But buried back on page 43 is the "Hunk of the Week"- Handsome and Hunky Jeff, who is showcased with  a large photo in very little clothing. His profile is not as interesting or as well written as the lady's I'd say. I did do a dramatic reading of both to get the group's opinion and they agreed that in this case the Hunk of the Week definitely got the shaft.

VTT BQ

Today's Pop Quiz

So how did Kalik beer get it's name? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Ferris Bueller? Give the answer a shot.

VTT BQ

Bahamian Lingo

Ok boys and girls, today's lesson is on a couple of interesting Bahamian words I learned Murry and Jeff. Plaskit is the Bahamian word for plastic- not a hard one to grasp. But here is my favorite! Boongie- this is the term for booty, heinie; butt, derierre. Gotta love it! Baby got Boongie-- just doesn't quite sound the same does it?

VTT BQ

Brewery Tour

First thing this morning we met with Eleanor Phillips from The Nature Conservancy. she was also a guest speak at Southeast Nassau Rotary. It was one of those "meant to be moments" Eleanor needed a laptop and we needed an overhead projector. We connected on many levels and wanted to continue our conversation further. Eleanor graciously fitted us into her already tight schedule and we identified potential areas we could work together. We talked about lion fish and how they had been found in 1000 feet of water. Defiitely something that needs to be kept on top of.

Next we went to Green Systems and saw how they process soil and mulch, apparently there are lots of pallets that need recycling in Nassau and they have the right machine that can take the nails out. The painted ones cannot be recycled due to the lead in the paint.

Lunch was at Goodfellows Farm, (Kristee can fill in the blanks here as far as what type of farm it is- it grows and sells organic veggies and herbs, and also sells other healthful items in it's store. They also run a hotel and restaurant as well as a stable.). Kristee and I had chicken sausage Salad, mmmm. I know I don't usually eat salad, however it sounded delicious, I wasn't wrong. Rich was unable to eat his entire chicken caesar wrap, so we helped make sure there was no waste. Apparently the offer did not extend to the strawberries!!! However Rich was gracious and shared.

This afternoon we toured Commonwealth Brewery that makes the local Kalik beer (the gold is my favorite compared to the light). According to Honey one will make you feel good, 2 will make you feel like you're losing your eyesight and 3 you'll be flat on you back. We also HAD to sample the mango rum, the flavoring comes in 55 gallon drums and is labeled "Haz-Mat", what the heck is in it??? (editor's note: Ok so it was just Jackie and I who really HAD to sample the rum; and it was rummy- I mean yummy.)

We also sampled Vita-Malt a local non-alcoholic drink, not something Kristee or I could get used to. It reminded me of medicine I had to take as a child. Still it is popular among the locals as it is loaded with Vitamin B and gives you lots of energy. I know, Rich would say I don't need to be any more perky than I already am. "GOOD MORNING, HOW IS EVERYONE TODAY??" The other 2 products produced at this location are Heineken and Guinness (see Kristee's post on this National Park favorite).

Interesting facts..... Heineken and Kalik bottles are bought back by the brewery and are cleaned with a caustic solution and tested for cracks and blemishes.There are 2 shifts daily that produce on average 11,000 bottles of beer a day. Guinness takes 28 days to produce, Heineken approx 15 days and rum.... 1 day. Me likes da rum!!!

Jackie

FIT- go alumni

It had been amazing how many FIT alumni are doing great things in the Turks & Caicos and Bahamas. I met another amazing FIT alum today who works for The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Eleanor Phillips. She i s the Program Director for the Northern Caribbean Program. This covers a lot of environmental issues and today she spoke about coral reef protection, creating park amenities to help access and protect them and funding mechanisms to make this all happen. This is the third FIT alum that I have crossed paths with on this trip that has done some great things in their field. Go Panthers!

VTT BQ

Guinness

I've discovered in the Bahamas, especially in the National Parks, that there is a catch and release program that is alive and well. I see empty Guinness beer bottles laying in these natural areas, so I assume it is this great new project afoot!

VTT BQ

More on Sweet Cheeks-Pop Quiz!

So, do you know know why sweet cheeks is important to note? In the Caribbean, fish is often served whole- with the head and tail to the customers. They say the sweetest meat of the fish is in the cheeks so that's why they prefer to retain and serve the head as a part of the meal. You gotta have have the sweet cheeks!

VTT BQ

More Trials and Tribulations....

So, I have sort of recovered from my tummy bug-a-boo, actually still in recovery mode. Meanwhile Rich had a tinge of somn akin to heat exhaustion after tennis on Monday and wasn't feeling his best Monday nite or Tuesday. And yes he's still nursing a back ache. Meanwhile our accident prone Jackie, aka sweet cheeks, showed me two bruises on her legs that she doesn't know how she got and she bumped her  head on a fishing rod holder on John and Honey's boat (her Bahama's hosts). Ouch! They took us on a quick tour of a few of the cays, including the much photographed Sandy Cay, and the harbor around Paradise Island so we got a close up view of Atlantis from the water. A great sunset topped off the day nicely. Many thanks to John and Honey!

VTT BQ

The Conch Trail Continued- the Bahamas

The lovely folks in TCI threw down the gauntlet over conch fritters. TCI claims that they have the best conch fritters even though the Bahamas claim to have them. I have to say after tasting fritters from 2 restaurants I have to admit, and so do the Bahamians, that TCI's are better so far. Tonite's place, The Green Parrot, had a well cooked, and tasty morsel, not doughy at all but unfortunately hardly contained any conch! Oh well the quest continues for good conch fritters.
The VTT BQ- back in action though 100%, at least I am upright and getn out-n-about

Ministry of the Environment visit - Monday, March 28th, 2011

Today we met with The Hon. Phenton Neymour, M.P., who is the Minister of State for the Environment at The Bahamas Ministry of the Environment. Mr. Neymour discussed various energy projects that are in the process of being implemented. The biggest one in his 5 year term is about to be rolled out where (to be continued)

Taxi! and Mom

Did you ever notice your Mom was a taxi service for you when you were growing up? She took you here and there; to school, appointments or whatever. Well, we had one of those in TCI. Micky was our taxi-mom. She'd drop us off or pick us up as needed, whenever, wherever. One time she even making sure we were ok and in the right spot and I was thinking gosh she's acting like a mom dropping her kids off at school for the first time! And then she said the same thing out loud- that she felt like a concerned mom dropping her kids off ... She was a great taxi-Mom! Many thanks to her for all she did for us! Thanks, Mom.
VTT BQ Kristee

Trials and Tribulations continued.....

Karen and Micky were spot on to get us to the airport in plenty of time. And you'll never guess who we saw there- David Bowen the Minister of Culture.He's everywhere. We are now in Nassau, the Bahamas! We had a lovely welcome reception at Sheila's wonderful home tonite. But as mentioned now to the trials and tribulations.... Micky ran over Jackie's foot with her big, heavy suitcase- she now has a lovely bruise on the top of her foot. Jackie's other foot from Friday's boating jump got cut and badly bruised and was throbbing, but now is actually better today. Her cut ankle was of grave concern so Rich had her put neosporan on it  to prevent gangreen, blood poisoning- whatever he was worried about. Both her feet and ankles have been swollen for days. But she's a trooper and will survive it all. Today Rich had the trunk of the car fall down on his head upon arrival. He may have hurt the car but his head is ok. From all the toting of all the heavy bags I need a realignment and massage, nothing major though. I don't seem to be as accident prone. Lucky so far anyway!
VTT QB Kristee

Uh oh! I spoke too soon. I caught the "different water bug"- too much ice or fresh foods. I should have heeded the travel book's warning a wee bit more when it came to this in the Bahamas for I am sick in bed with my stomach/digestive system all messed up. Yuck! I hope to recover by tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Pop Quiz

In honor of one of our hosts, Lorna Brown, here is today's pop quiz!

Which Caribbean island's name means Island of Spice??

Eye Glasses and Wilbert

We had the pleasure of spending two days this week with Wilbert from North Caicos. He's a very nice man and very knowledgeable about all kinds of aspects of the area and also very helpful. We had the pleasure of assisting him over our two day adventure on the other two islands with a wonderful Rotarian project. Rotary made it possible for the school children to have eye exams and, if needed, to be fitted for glasses. So, as I was about to impart, we had the pleasure of hand delivering the glasses to the children at three schools Conch Bar Primary School, Hubert James Primary School in Kew and another school in Bottle Creek whose name escapes me right now. It was so good to see the children's faces as they received their new glasses. What a rewarding experience!

VTT BQ- Kristee

Big news!

The strike is over. It only lasted a day and everything seems back to normal now. Flights are good to go.

We had a great time at the Farewell BBQ at Karen's place. What a great hostess she is! A wonderful Brit.

I did get to drop by another party hosted by an FIT alumni that we planted mangroves with. More to blog about that adventure later.

Off we go tomorrow morning to the airport to head to the Bahamas for the next leg of this adventure.

And the biggest news of all..... drum role please..... Jackie and I chose the Team Color: a lovely shade of turquoise. What the hey, it matches one of our Rotary shirts and plenty of our other clothes. We had it painted on our toenails today during our down time. And then later tonite, during the BBQ, we shared the great news with the Team Leader Rich.... who also participated in wearing the team color with us... on his big toenails that Jackie stealthily painted while I distracted him, photo to be added later. lol!

more from the VTT blogging queen later. Kristee

Trivia

All right now, dear readers, I have a pop quiz for you today. Here are a few questions for you to ponder and then answer, if you dare, about the various National icons of the Turks and Caicos. Send me your answers through the comments section.
1. What is the national bird?
2. What is the national plant?
3. What is the national flower?
4. What is the national tree?
5. What is the national music called?

And the bonus question: What is a potcake?

So take a stab at these and send me your answers. I may add some more of these fun fact tid-bits later. There is a wealth of information to impart.

Off to do a workshop with the Minister of the Department of the Environment, a nice and environmentally concerned guy (rightly so; we've already had lengthy discussions about permitting in Florida) named Wesley.

Kristee- the VTT Blogging Queen (LOL)

First Impressions - Day 1 - Saturday, March 19th, 2011

We landed in Provo around 12:30pm on Saturday and headed towards the terminal to be greeted by island music. Kristee had already deplaned and raced ahead of Rich & I, sans her blazer.

By the time we caught up with her she had found Art Forbes. He was smartly dressed in a suit and reminded me of England with his politeness. Turns out he spent 15 years in England getting his education.

What was even more impressive was he had the Director of Immigration with him to escort us through to our luggage, which proceeded to get left behind due to the fact that we didn't remember what it looked like when we left it in Miami. We have now been assigned our suitcase and better not lose it!!

Jackie

Sweet Cheeks

Jackie's TCI nickname is "Sweet Cheeks." This is a name I gave her due to special circumstances. Comment on this post if you want to know more!

Kristee

Big Thursday!

Well the excitement for today was that the Belongers who work for the government went on strike today. So there's a lot to catch you up on all of which I have learned since coming here. What's a Belonger you ask? Well it is a native (someone born on) of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Premier (head cheese) has been ousted by the British government who had to step in due to so much corruption and environmental nonsense going on by his hand or the wave of his hand (so let it be written, so let it be done- name that movie and character who said it!). Anywho.... peeps are upset by a few things and thought it would be a good idea to be "sick" today. The firemen who work the airport were sick today so this effectively shut down the airport! No flights in or out! Needless to say we are hoping all will be good come our flight Sunday. The Rotary President is a Labour Tribunal Judge and all his workers were sick today too so basically his hands were tied when it came to getting cases handled. Major bummer. I'm afraid they are just hurting themselves, exacerbating an already bad situation and involving innocent bystanders (aka tourists now stuck) in their issues. Yikes! I do hope things can be worked out fro the best and that life gets back to normal or better for the great and wonderful people of the Turks and Caicos. All those we have met have been nothing but helpful, accommodating, gracious and kind- good peeps I say.
Kristee

oh and by the way-- we had our first Rotary meeting tonight and gave our ppt presentation for the first time. All is well. Good night fair readers!

Brian- an unusual being

Description: smart; environmental; big-hearted; vegan; quirky; Buddhist; long-haired; and what a fine ass he has!

So now, Jackie and Rich, add your thoughts and impressions of him.

Caicos Pine

I have learned that the native pine is called the Caicos Pine. Unfortunately it is dying off, being killed by an aphid. We got to hang with an interesting guy named Brian who taught us about them in the government nursery. We even re-potted the growing baby pines (from 3 gallon to 5 gallon pots) that will one day be transferred to the blighted area to restore the pine forest. Cool Beans! Making a difference.

Tomorrow, Friday, we will spend time with the Director of the Environment Dept. then we will go kayaking and plant mangroves to try to restore major damaged caused by the country's Premier who over-rode the gov regulations to approve dredging and filling to make an island, thus destroying coral reefs, killing off conch in a farm and mangroves. I love lending a hand to help the environment-especially since the gal in charge of it is an FIT grad too!

Kristee

The Conch Trail

We have been participating in what I like to call the conch trail all week long, ever since we arrived. It started at lunch the first day here, Saturday, at a restaurant called Shark Bite. Because conch is such a prevalent part of the diet here, and everyone serves it various ways, we decided to order conch fritters whenever we could. We had heard from our Rotarian friends that this or that that restaurant had the best fritters due to this or that reason. So, yes, we decided that we could be the judges. lol. And we have been ordering tasting and comparing the fritters. What fun we are having. This one is too doughy, that one doesn't have enough conch meat, but this one's was crispy, that one too greasy...etc.... There are many more restaurants we will be eating at and therefore many more conch fritters to try so stay tuned.

Kristee

Trials and Tribulations thus far

Oh the trials and tribulations we've experienced in the Turks and Caicos are many and varied. First off, apparently no one really wanted to host me (Kristee) since no one showed up to fetch me at the airport. lol! Ivan took pity on me and agreed to host both me and Rich. What a nice family! So that was Saturday. ..and we discovered we left a bag at the airport but it was rescued pronto. all's good.

Half Moon Bay

Sunday was too much fun for Rich. He proceeded to show us his almost-Greg Lugaenus (ok so I don't know how to spell his last name) on the boat. WE explored the waters near the run-aground freighter- water a tad bit nippy for me, then zipped off to Halfmoon Bay and explored the island and had lunch. Upon re-entering the boat, Rich decided it was time to show us how graceful he is, as he proceeded to not wear shoes and slip while stepping down thus striking his back and hanging on with one arm that gave out. Luckily he was not injured too badly. He has medication that has helped in the recovery. Heck he played some tennis last nite so he cant be all that bad.

Also same day and location I decided to start collecting my insect bites.oh joy! Now I could connect all the various bug bite dots and recreate some great constellations on my body like ursa major an capricornus. lol

Jackie and I have collected various scratches on our legs and arms from going on the great quest for the elusive rock lizard- since we didn't find any I can call it that. Ha!

Jackie also decided to try some head-banging- er or well Micky decided to bang her head with the vehicles tailgate knocking her to the ground! But she bounced back and all it good. So good in fact she later decided to try the bad tummy/buggy tummy or something like that route. Immodium was her friend on Tuesday as were a few naps!!

But overall we are all doing well... itching, scratching, ouching, gimping along.....

Kristee and Jackie (Mostly Kristee)

Most beautiful beach

Mudjin Harbour in Middle Caicos gets the prize! I can't wait for Jackie to post some stunning pictures of this for you guys. It is phenomenal. and what cool beach caves!

Speaking of caves..... we explored Conch Bar Caves National Park as well. The tip of the day: always keep your mouth closed when looking up into cave holes at the bats! We were able to look at 2 of the 4 bat species that live full time in the cave.

And the ultimate highlight of Wednesday's trip to North and Middle Caicos was meeting Brian's 30-some year old donkey Eliza. lol.

Kristee

Ferry to North Caicos from Provo

Well let's just say it can be an exciting ride. JAckie had the ride of her life on Tuesday up on top- she didn't make that mistake again on Wednesday. And then on Wednesday on e of the motors lost its lower unit, but we gimped in to the dock at North Caicos for an awesome day.
Kristee

Wednesday nites in Provo

So if you find yourself in Provo on a Wednesday nite be sure to have dinner at the Tiki Hut since it is chicken and ribs nite. They are fabulous ribs and I'd recommend them to anyone! Sure the Volcano and Rum Punch could go along nicely with the ribs if you want to partake......
Kristee