Blogs from Nassau, Bahamas, Central America Caribbean - page 12

Yesterday, whilst I waited for the news from Greece, I headed over to Paradise Island. This is smaller and narrower than New Providence, and close enough for a bridge (there are two). However, there is also a sea taxi, which runs every half hour, and has that definite Bahamian style to it... “When does it leave?” I ask the ticket girl. “Twenty-five minutes.” There are already some people sitting inside the ferry, waiting. I decide I don’t want to sit for that length of time. “You gotta get on for the time to start.” she tells me. “The time don’t start counting down til you get on.” She tries to persuade me that the 25 minutes before departure will not start ticking down until I am aboard. I wait in the shade and get on just ... read more

I’m in my usual sweaty, overcrowded, noisy Jamaican/Bahamian cyber cafe and DVD pirating shop, after a strange day. First off, I had a meeting with a lawyer specializing in offshore work. Her offices are in the building adjoining the Hilton Hotel, Nassau’s finest. I won’t give her name, because I got the introduction through the Ministry of Tourism, and I don’t want to offend anyone. As James explained yesterday, if you want anything done here, you gotta bribe people; then you really can get ANYthing done... Let’s just say that this was a pretty swanky firm of lawyers, and their suite of offices was plush, so plush that it seemed almost impossible that the squalor that I had seen yesterday could be just a two minute drive away. I wanted to find out about offshore companies ... read more

After returning to my room without my camera I started to get the symptoms of a cold. Then my eye, which had been itching all afternoon, started to swell. The eyeball itself was developing a film of transparent mucus, and it got quite uncomfortable, like having about a half teaspoonful of raw egg white on your eyeball. I went back to the reception and asked to see the locum. The what? The doctor? They have no in house doctor here; I guess when you only have about 5000 guests spread over three interlocked hotels, then you’re most unlikely to see any cases of upset stomach or sunstroke. JUST in case, the do have a procedure: it involves writing the name of a local hospital on a piece of paper. I returned to my room and went ... read more

I got my invitation to the tea party when I was at the Ministry of Tourism in Thursday, after my first, abortive attempt to enter Ansbacker House. What I really wanted was the Office of Tourism (I was looking for a map) but when I arrived, mistakenly, at the Ministry, a young lady asked me who I was, then took me up to an office, where her boss asked me who I was again, weighed it up, then handed me an invitation to the Governor-General’s residence for tea. Here’s some advice: if you want to impress people in government Ministries, wear a button-down shirt and tell people you’re a writer. I just found out that Headless was incorporated thirty days ago. It doesn’t make much sense. It really doesn’t. I should have asked the long-nailed lady ... read more

Huey Lewis and the News are playing here in my hotel tomorrow night. Tickets apparently cost ‘from $79’, but I don’t believe that. Everything here costs more than you think it will, especially the restaurants, so I don’t see why chicken-in-a-basket cabaret featuring faded eighties rock bands should be any different. At least we won’t be expected to leave a 15% gratuity. And b.t.w. if you happen to be reading this and you are one of the many people who keep trying to sell me Cuban cigars, please stop. I am already struggling to see how I can include a $79+ ticket to see Huey Lewis on my expenses for this trip; Cuban cigars would just be taking the piss. This morning I gave Ansbacker House another go. This was how it panned out... I ... read more