Beer Events San Diego
Providence Island, Caribbean Silent Secret
I left Colombia (continental, that is) with all his fighters – The military – paramilitary violence, more problems related to the mafia, led, according to the website of the island proclaimed, "best kept secret in the Caribbean." (I already knew the secret since he was in the islands twice a week sabbatical before). The small airport in Providence, called Embrace (the spell), brought feelings strange deja vu, not to mention the fact that I was mesmerized by the staggering yet subtle colors finite but he had seen in the water of the small plane minutes before landing. The airport area was like a tropical parade passenger lobby various colors hanging over red hibiscus gardens in turn is traversed by the yellow warbler birds flitting from flower to flower to another in a slow motion dream. Beyond the turquoise waters of Mc. Bean Lagoon National Park shine peacefully.
Isla de Providencia and Santa Catalina mountains are two small outcrops of land of less than 8 square miles located both 400 km southwest of Jamaica and a quarter of the way on an imaginary line drawn through the Caribbean from Punta Gorda, Nicaragua to Cartagena, Colombia. A few hours after arriving there I was, sitting behind this big, black, friendly and met women who decided not to take me in his little bike to my friend Rolando to give you some pictures I had taken the last time I was here. That kind of kindness struck me as not very common in many other places. It Clearly, in the maps, says Colonel (Colombia) after the name of the islands. How far is the reality of the assumptions in this abbreviation comes to mind people.
The hurricane season has affected a few, but severe impact on the islands. One occurred in 1510 when the expedition Diego de Nicuenza separated from Alonso de Ojeda (second voyage of Columbus) and was caught in a storm and their ships flew on a small island called Santa Catalina Nicuenza, as was common in those days to name the sites after the Saint of the Day For most other island only 200 meters through a shallow sea that Providence was named in honor of the God who had just saved. The beautiful mistress Floating Bridge now links the two islands.
A name and a charge on a map to residents. In the Spanish colonies in Central America and South America grew more and more, slaves tried to escape from prison and came to the islands.
This was for 150 years, when the buccaneers, having given the nod to raze Elizabethan Spanish galleons that crossed the region continues with the richness of the New World sought a good place to establish their operations and cure their diseases. They found the islands mountainous, ungoverned, hills ready to be used as the search periscopes on the Caribbean. Who else would find safety there, but the famous Welsh pirate Morgan also famous with Paco the parrot that sat on your shoulder? According to legend, buried treasures stolen in Panama in 1671 in these islands.
After Morgan escaped to Jamaica to the Spanish took control of the islands, but only by word of mouth as the men speak English with their slaves in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands sought to establish the cultivation of cotton here but ended up raising cattle. At that time the population was as diverse as the ships that crossed the Caribbean. However, fans were not interested in aspects racial and African, Anglo, Dutch (who were also around) and mixed America, which populate the island with the clear skin look clear dark eyes of many people in Providence. After much give and take between governments and various political movements that became entangled in England, Spain, colonial Guatemala, Chile (the son of Admiral Louis Aury, a privateer, claimed the islands for Chile), New Granada (which included real Colombia and Panama) and Nicaragua, Colombia would remain with the islands although, as so many islands today, looking at a map that would never occur to anyone that belong to this country.
Providencians am Colombia, but mostly feel of Providence, an openly displayed pride when they start many sentences with the words "Our Island" talk to strangers English or speak a distorted among them distinct accents and Spanish words mixed but very different from the Spanglish spoken by Hispanic immigrants U.S. Even Old Providence distill their own Ron Bushi (a little stronger than I have to say), using spring water from the mountains outbursting. As friendly and cheerful as they are for other people, do not want their island to become one of St. Andrew, an archipelago's largest island of the same with tax-free trade of all and the problems of overpopulation. Residence on the island is controlled by a government agency called OCCRE and for outsiders is very difficult to get resident status Standing as tourists increasingly want to visit Providence to stay and share the secret. As I overheard a woman saying to another: "that seems to happen to everyone who comes to the island. They come for eight days, fall in love with him and then not want to leave. "
I remember one night in Providence as one of the nicest I've had in my life. I was staying at one of the two cabins that a middle-aged fisherman named Van Britton was in Black Bay. That night, the waves crashed against the underside of the cockpit wall and a window without glass I could see thousands of stars, while I slowly fell asleep. In the morning a warm breeze rocked my mosquito net in harmony with reflux. That morning I felt I had found the peace and harmony is about.
There are no major hotels in Providence, instead there has been an initiative to install small native huts in sync with the colorful wooden architecture of the islands. The native housing program certainly established the islands as a tourism site for more ready for the quiet rhythms of nature, but not entirely without regard to human conveniences or nightlife for that matter: it is a pleasure to dance reggae in one of the outdoor bars right next to the sea I did one night with some friends. We arrived a little early by the standards of Providence, so just waiting there, talking, drinking beer and enjoying the warm night air. At midnight, the dance floor is full of people who move smoothly to the songs of Lucky Dube. A long-haired Rasta said, "this is great, everyone is groovying now" gives me a big smile. Could not have said it better.
The day after Black snorkel to South West Bay Beach passing in front of small beaches of the azure bays hid at the bottom of octopuses, eels, sea snakes and all sorts of bright coral fish in the sun. I stayed in the water while some horses, one of the contributions foreign islands, prepared for a career in the distant beach. It was another derby on Saturday for the Providence and children around the age of twelve horses competed along the coast, riding bareback and hoping for a moment of glory, the owner of the horses waiting big dividends. If no horses are sailboats or dominoes. "People love to gamble, even if they have money," a young woman named Luz Marina Livingston said. But more than that love the sea. These people are fishermen, sailors and even the most removed from office must look at the waters of the Caribbean every day. They depend on the sea for food in many ways: staples include fish, sea snail, lobster and crayfish black, you have to reproduce in the sea, but most of the supplies come by sea also two times a week (when hopefully) ships from the mainland: petrol, potatoes, rice, flour, water, etc. If a boat breaks down as it did when I was there, all trying to wade through a minimum. There are two times when everyone is at home in Providence, all agreed: when the boat with gasoline for the hundreds of motorcycles does not come and when it rains. So from late April to July during the rainy season the other ubiquitous inhabitants of the islands to go out and take control.
The phenomenon of thousands of crabs that live in the mountains, following their ancient instincts, down the hills of the coast where they breed is a natural event truly remarkable. I had come especially in this time of year to witness the march. Confusion, however, was what I found. If someone told me that the crabs had already come down this year just a week before my arrival, an hour later, another person with the same 'I know for sure "look on his face said it was still come. 12 days passed and I had to resign myself to see the crabs eat decaying matter in the evening. There are many places where this orgy of reproduction itself is out. On Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean 120 million crabs (a different species) do the same process, and although these numbers are not reported in Providence, the I had seen pictures showed black crabs covering the only paved road on the island that could be closed at this time of year, in peak hour traffic Crab.
After a heavy night storm I got up early in the morning a clear day and headed for the shore where I found small spiders moving into the pockets of rain. What led me to the spiders were actually newly transformed land crabs to address the mountains. There was not much of them, but it was wonderful to see a conclusion of the cycle of life, how he worked the resistance of these small crabs after having fallen as eggs in the sea without any other maternity care.
I had not seen the beginning of the cycle and is happened one night when I heard scratching noises on the door of my room. I knew theft was not one of the problems of Providence so I thought I could only be that the crabs had begun its migration to 200 meters from the shore. underbodies of females were full of eggs that looked like the Iranian caviar, ready to be spread on a cracker. As I moved through the wave breaking crab claws fiercely. I've seen some entering the hotel kitchen, climbing wall, cross painfully slow road, down the stairs and some even collapsed high cliffs that fall on the rocky shore unharmed. Those who reached the coast settled a bit and then came forward to meet the gentle waves. In the first contact with the water of the females raised his claws, as if in ecstasy and danced a tropical cumbia trembling "drop their eggs.
The day before departure I took my hammock and decided to meet The Peak, the highest mountain on the island. He had never been in that part of the island and, as I would learn later, I should have. I spent the last settlements where some malnourished cows grazing on grass. Then followed by the spring, the hotel owner told me to look. Spring was a trickle at this time of year and the tall trees cast a green tint down on the rocks that formed occasional small waterfalls where I was massaging the back with the falling water. Apparently, the mango trees had adapted well to the environment and some were so stuffed with fruit that the rocks were sealed with explosions. Appeared a small hut near the end of the jungle I said he was in the right direction since this must be the cockpit of a hermit Rasta man who makes a living with what they could get from nature. A little further up, the forest was one of the trees Short palm and scrub, the ground was rocky, which reminded me that this archipelago had risen through volcanic activity millions of years ago. In the top of the metal plate that indicates the 370 meters (1220 feet). Peak altitude welcomed me reflection of the setting sun.
Since its eruption from the depths of all the years of the political tendency of the governments of the island and possessive Providencians have managed to maintain the peace and tranquility of the time, and that its best kept secret.
Providence Day> in life: Providence
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About the Author
I am a professional photographer who usually writes the text for my assignments. My images and text have been published in many magazines, calendars and books around the world.
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