Last night, Lucian friends we met a month ago took us to the weekly Friday night street party in Gros Islet.
Gros Islet Street Party Image from http://beginningmiddleandtheedge.com/tag/gros-islet/
Every week, vendors set up BBQs, bakeries and bars along the streets and hundreds of people congregate to eat, drink & dance (not necessarily in that order). Lucians know how to have a good time and tourists join in on the fun. I will even admit to dancing to a Carly Rae Jepsen song. While my daughter would be pleased, I feel the need to point out that I listened to Rage Against the Machine during the bus ride home after work that same day. So yes, Fistful of Steel and Call Me Maybe on the same day ;-)
When we first arrived and before dancing (read the footnote) into the crowds, one of our friends recognized a pub owner. We had drinks – a zero-alcohol Piton Malta for me – and chatted while visiting with the owner’s 8-month-old granddaughter. This place was not unlike many in that it is a small open-to-the-air one-room establishment. We had grown used to expecting large bills during our stay but four drinks only cost EC$13 at this place.
Alcohol rules don’t seem strict here and we noticed a bus driver stop in for a quick drink before heading back to his bus. That would surely have raised scandal in Canada.
Next, we followed the music and danced. The DJs worked from a balcony across the street from large speakers. They played fun music from the 80s, the 60s and then onto Jepsen and then hip-hop and dancehall tunes.
We walked back to the car and drove to what our friend called, “Little Hollywood”. This was a part of the country I hadn’t really seen before. It’s a wealthy community with large homes, groomed yards and gated driveways. We stopped on a hill overlooking the ocean. It was dark but you could tell the ocean was out there past the palm trees and shrubbery because it was open and we could hear the waves. The part that struck me most as we sat on the edge of the hills was the quietness. There was a rare absence of people and a stillness that was lovely.
After a stop at a bar in Rodney Bay, we headed back home from our first night out on the town.
Call me maybe. Even with a fistful of steel.
Footnote:
I wrote “dancing” because it has a better ring to it than saying, “I walked and then stood there for sometime tapping my toes until I could break past the Canadian-prairie-white-guy fear of people seeing me try to dance”.
And I did dance, and I had fun. Certainly, I didn’t achieve the kind of movement of those who were dancing while somehow magically moving most every part of their bodies while maintaining a move-to-the-beat rhythm – but I danced :-)
