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Published: October 21st 2006
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Puerto Rico - the birth of the Pina Colada...when actress Joan Crawford tasted the pina colada at what was then the Beachcombers Bar at the Caribe Hilton, she claimed it was "better than slapping Bette Davis in the face". This famous drink is the creation of bartender Ramon "Monchito" Marrero, now long gone, who was hired by the Hilton in 1954. He spent 3 months mixing, tasting, and discarding hundreds of combinations until he felt he had the right blend. Thus, the frothy pina colada was born. It's been estimated that some 100 million of them have been sipped around the world since that fateful time. Monchito never patented his formula and didn't mind sharing it with the world.
BUT...1989 was just around the corner, as was the new love of my life and BARBADOS!
well, life took another turn for me when i met a wonderful man the next year who swept me and my son off our feet! he was all that and a couple of fish cakes...he was bajan and a chef after all! "mr. c" and i were head over heels in love and making long term plans to spend the rest of our lives
together - one big happy family. problem was, his life was in barbados and mine was in toronto. solution...move to beautiful oistins, barbados (home of the famous friday night fish fry)!
i remember like it was yesterday when i first agreed to actually sell everything i owned, quit my job, give up my condo, sell my car, pack up my world and start off on a life-altering adventure. in mr c's words, "i have a huge 3 bedroom home 5 minutes from the sea just waiting for us"...little did i know what was really "waiting for us"! 6 months later, we were gone. son stayed at home with my parents so i could check it all out before moving him all the way down there. we flew on an 8:00 pm air canada flight which got us into grantley adams airport somewhere around 1:00 am on a saturday night. i'm surprised i remember that so specifically as nerves took hold with "what am i doing?" and we drank the plane dry of scotch on the way down...ya, scotch - my fav...not!
here's where the fun begins. his brother (and girlfriend) arrived at the airport to pick us up
for the 10 minute drive home. here's the catch. his brother owned a 1972 toyota corolla! yep...corolla... beige...super tiny - don't forget about the passenger g'friend who of course got the front seat. that left the back seat and trunk for mr. c and i - along with the 4 suitcases and his 2...ummm, i was moving there. wouldn't that be when you would leave the g'friend at home and say...see ya when we're done honey? nope, didn't happen. what did happen is funny now but not funny at the time. three of the ginormous suitcases got 'strapped' into the open trunk while the other two sat of top of us IN THE BACK SEAT of the 1972 toyota corolla.
we arrived at 'casa de mr. c' and were extricated from the car with the assistance of his bro, only to discover that there were now only 2 suitcases in the trunk. yep, right again...all my shoes, shorts, and dress clothes - gone! needlesstosay, i was not a happy camper now. why don't we all get back into the car and return to the airport to look for the suitcase? apparently not...bro and g'friend needed to return home so
it would have to wait until the morning. WAIT UNTIL THE MORNING...ARE YOU NUTS? apparently i was because no one wanted to take me to look for the missing bag. instead, it seemed like a much better idea for mr. c to take me to st. lawrence gap...the party strip on the south coast...to say hi to everyone he hadn't seen for 6 months! in the end i had no choice but to go with the flow, dranks loads of mount gay rum and crawled home to bed as the sun was coming up...one suitcase less.
i learned on my first morning of living in barbados (or anywhere in a warm climate for that matter) that just because you have arrived home from a crazy night of flying and excessive drinking, the roosters do not care. they were in top form by the time we snuggled - no not snuggled - laid down on the top sheet of the bed. reason for just a top sheet? 35 degrees at 6:00 am! windows shut tight through the night and 'casa de mr. c' by no means had air conditioning. truth be told, it did have a fan but the fan
had no base. i used to prop it onto the wicker laundry hamper and balance the back against the wall...so of course, it didn't rotate. that fan and i became very up close and personal. i used to sit and cry with my face in that fan...hoping for a break from the heat wondering what the hell i had decided to do...but, i digress.
that morning, yes i said morning, we had to be at mr. c's best friends' house (b & mj) for a welcome home post-church function for noon! yessiree...hungover like no tomorrow! no time to go look for the suitcase. looks like i made some lucky lady very happy that sunday morning. every cloud has a silver lining so i was okay with it in the end. what i wasn't okay with was the uneasy feeling in my tummy or the pounding in my head that wouldn't settle down. when we first arrived, i said my hellos to his friend and american wife (who was a registered massage therapist) then made my way around the perimeter of the room greeting b's relatives who were sharing church stories and sipping tea. i did my best to be
polite then asked if i could use the facilities (figuring i could have a moment to compose myself while fighting off the need to vomit or grace the toilet). i was directed to the toilet area - OUTSIDE! yep, okay...this is cool...but not when you feel like you are going to be sick. i was mortified...right there outside the kitchen for all to hear. to this day i don't know who i got through that day but somehow i did.
...and, 'casa de mr. c' was about to become a thing of the past...
but in 17 days, i'll be in...
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