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Published: February 21st 2009
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I finally learned how to pronounce my Spanish friends name, it's Miguel (meegel) and we got on really well. We realised that we were both paying for rooms which had two single beds in them so we decided to share a room to cut down on costs. We missed out on going on the booze cruise because the person who sold us our tickets forgot to tell the boat that they had to stop in downtown to pick us up so we were standing there on the dock waving madly at the boat as it cruised on past, much to our disappointment. That was our last full day on Nassau so we couldn't go again but luckily we were able to get our money back and have a great day hanging out in that massive resort again.
Before I came to the Bahamas I had heard that there was very little sense of time on the islands and people refer to it as island time. This is so true! Buses leave come and go whenever they feel like it, they don't have timetables at all. Shops that have a sign saying they close at 5 may well be closed by
3 and getting a Mcdonalds here is slower than getting a 5 course meal in a restaurant. But all of this stuff is what adds to the character of the island and is what makes it such a relaxing place. We were walking around a little town called Fish Fry and a man walking around with a trolley of coconuts, cleverly calling himself the coconut man, showed us how to cut up a coconut with a giant machete and drink the water inside which is delicious.
The island that we were staying on called Nassau is the biggest stop for cruise ships in the Bahamas so the night life depends on how many cruise ships are docked. On our last night there was 4 massive cruise ships in the harbor so when we headed down to our new favorite club called Senor Frogs it was packed! We had a great time and met these two girls from New York and stayed out till 3am partying with them. The only problem was that I had to get up at 5.45 to get a fast ferry across to another island called Eleuthera. So 5.45 came and I banged my alarm off
and almost fell back to sleep until I finally dragged myself up.
The ride across to Eleuthra took about 3 hours and there was some really beautiful views across to other islands on the way, unfortunately I fell asleep for part of it because I was so tired. When I got to the island I got a ride to the hotel with a very interesting taxi driver. He told me that the island has only 7000 people living on it, it has the Atlantic ocean on one side of it and the Caribbean on the other side and at one point it is so narrow that sometimes the two oceans cross and meet in the middle. Luckily they have built a bridge over this part as I had to go over it to get to my hotel. This guy was about 50 and had spent his entire life on this tiny island! The hotel that I am staying at is called Surfers beach Manor and is situated on the world renowned surfers beach, which has some of the best surf in the world. However because this island is so far out of the way and so few people come
here the rooms are still quite cheap, which is really cool.
If you look at a map of the island you will see that it is very long and very thin with only one main road. This combined with the extremely friendly nature of the Bahamian people makes it really easy to hitch hike up and down the island. I decided to try this to get into the nearest town which is called Gregory town. This is a really small shanty style town based around a little cove with tiny shops catering to most of your basic needs. The only place I could find shampoo though was in the petrol station, you definitely won't find a supermarket. The first car that passed me took me into town and on the way back the first two cars stopped and told me why they couldn't take me and apologised and the third took me right back to the door of my hotel. What nice people!
Its a good thing that i got my partying done in Nassau though because come night time there really isn't much to do at all, except relax and have a beer in the bar of
the hotel. Which is what the Bahamas is all about right, relaxing. When I did go into town I finally got some washing done for the first time since I left, so I felt a bit sorry for the lady who had to wash them for me. She tried to get me to get the clothes off that I was wearing because she thought they looked dirty too! If you thought English cockney slang was good at abbreviating words you haven't seen anything until you have tried to understand some of these Bahamian people. They literally only pronounce half of each sentence!
I have spent most of today frantically reading my South America guide book trying to figure out what the hell I'm going to do when I get to Venezuela and worrying about how I am going to cope without being able to speak to Spanish. All I have managed to learn so far in Spanish is how to say hello, Hola, how to say pleased to meet you, Mucho Gusto (mainly because it sounds really cool, pronounced moo-cho goos-to), I'd like a beer, para mi cerveza and can I kiss you, te puedo besar. So I think
I have the basics covered.
Wish me luck for South America, I think I'm gonna need it.
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