| Tina Fisher Posted: Jul. 7th | • |
I stepped off the plane and looked around and immediately knew that this was like no other island I had ever been to. The plane landed right in the heart of San Pedro, Belize. There was very little traffic. The streets were made of sand. I notice that the tourist were the only people wearing shoes, and “No shirt, no shoes, no problem” was written on a billboard at the end of a long fence. San Pedro would soon be the place of our new home. The people were wonderful. It was as if they had not a worry in the world, no stress and not one crying baby. The town was small. Everyone drove golf carts or rode bikes to get around. The tourist took taxis or rented a golf cart. Everyone knew each other and always had a wave and a smile. People were strolling along the streets and children playing happily.
My first experience to the Caribbean was over seventeen years ago. I flew to St Croix the USVI to visit friends. After relocating there I met my husband after being on the island two months and we have been living in the Caribbean ever since. Tim, being a Boston boy, moved to the island and never went home.
“It’s to cold up there and I hate the fast past, but living on an island has its’ challenges, from the electric company to collecting rainwater.” Tim commented.
We loved traveling the islands. One day a friend came up to Tim, “would you like to take a trip to Belize with me and check it out?” Of course I do” Tim replied. Tim never missed a chance like that.
The next time I spoke with Tim he said, “come down and see what I am about the purchase.” I got on the plane. Took my seat in anticipation. I had never been out of the US before. A few years later we relocated.
Relocating to the Caribbean was once a dream for most people, but it’s becoming more of a reality everyday. More and more people are moving to the Caribbean for the quality of life. Every year thousands of people are leaving the hectic life back home for the laid-back life style and the stress free living the Caribbean has to offer.
Packing up and moving to the Caribbean takes research. Being unprepared about the place where you chose to live can be very disappointing. Paradise is in the eye of the beholder. Every country, in the Caribbean, has its advantages and disadvantages. The best way to get to know a place is to visit for a period of time. If you do it right it can be very rewarding. Getting to know the infrastructure, the people and the way they live will help you make the right decision. Finding the right place for you can be fun and exciting. You have a lot to choose from.
St Croix is a beautiful island. It has roads that wind up and down the mountains along the ocean. The drive is mesmerizing with the crystal blue torques waters and the waves crashing along the seashore. It has a rain forest on one end and a desert on the other. The island is quite large and spread out with paved roads and vehicles. The population to date is 53,234 with 84 sq. miles. It’s really hard to get to know the people, but you quickly form an opinion about the whole, with the few you do meet. The TV stations are limited. The island gets its electricity by generator, which often goes down, and the islanders collect their rainwater.
On the other hand, San Pedro is made up of flat lands that extends 25 miles long. Most of the roads are sandy, but in the last few years the major roads are being cobbled stoned. The Barrier Reef runs 190 miles on the east side of the island and is famous for the diving and fishing. In 2007 the population grew to 10445. It is easy to get to know everyone since we are drive golf carts, bikes, or on foot. The electricity comes from Mexico, but this does not mean that the electric doesn’t have its problems. I can remember, at times, playing backgammon by candlelight and having no water because the water plant runs on the same electric. In some places city water is available. Over 60 TV stations come with cable, and high speed DSL is available. I can have beer, chicken, soda and drinking water delivered to my front door. That’s definitely an advantage.
The beautiful thing about living in the islands is that it is a slower pace and people live longer because they don’t have as much stress as most people in the US. Even after the hurricane hit San Pedro in 2000, and the locals lost their homes and all of their belongings, they locals still had a smile and a wave. “I can’t believe these people can still be this happy. I just lot a lot of my possessions and these people don’t have a care in the world. Then on day I realized that they were happy to be a live.” Tim realized that it was the stress free attitude the people in the Caribbean have is what makes these people who they are.
I was not on the island when the hurricane hit. I arrived eleven days later. As I flew over, I could see Tim doing laundry in a cement mixer, using a gas generator. My clothes were never the same again. We did not have electricity for two and a half months. No telephones accept mobile. Once the town as able to get electric we were able to listen to the Spanish radio station. We had no TV, no cable. We cooked with propane, but could not keep the leftovers. There was no ice on the island.
If you plan on relocating to the Caribbean make sure you do your research. Look for a place where you will fit in, because you will not change the place the place will change you. Make sure you can adapt to your surroundings and make friends before you make the move. Make sure that you can deal with the infrastructure that is in place and have patience when things don’t go as planned. It can be a wonderful experience if you don’t expect too much and enjoy it for what it is.
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Comments:
| S. James Snyder, Posted Jul. 14th Hi Tina! You know, I really, really love the details you decided to use in your lede. You could have focused on anything, but you've used a few observations to paint a really thick, comprehensive picture of a place. I'm only through the first paragraph, but I really feel as if I'm there - seeing the place through your eyes. What a vibrant scene. And I love the way you use that scene to launch into a discussion of how this tropical living compares with other tropical living, and then how tropical living compares with traditional living. If you had been writing more of a newsy feature, I would have liked to see a few numbers in the piece, and a few other voices. By giving us more characters, and more dialogue, you help the details spring to life. But all this said, your focus here seems to be on creating a memoir, and on using your first-hand experiences to bring this place - and these people - to life. And in that way, you've definitely hit a home run. We can see and feel this place, can sense the excitement of both of you in discovering a new and different way of living. The one thing we need is some arc in the story - it needs to build to some revelation about why this is a richer way of life, or why it's worth taking all the risks and giving up the modern technology. That way you can tie up all of your different observations into one, coherent thesis and conclusion. But that's easy enough to do - it would only take a sentence or two. You've done all the heavy lifting, succeeded in giving us scenes and descriptions; Like all great travel writing, you've brought the place to life. Great job! |
| Melissa Gette, Posted Jul. 14th Tina- Great rewrite. "Paradise is in the eye of the beholder"- nice observation. Your article might benefit from breaking up the personal experiences in the beginning, either compressing them or taking some out of the beginning and interspersing them throughout the article to show you know your subject from personal experience. As a reader I think I would be more interested if I was brought to "Relocating to the Caribbean..." sooner. It feels more like the meat of the story. Nice contrast/compare between St. Croix and San Pedro. The kicker does seem a little down. Hmmm... is there a way to end in a more upbeat way? Nice job! |
| Dee Anne Barker, Posted Jul. 13th Boy, you really painted the scene for island living Tina. Also, nice addition of more stats to support and balance the wonderful descriptions. My only feedback would be to recheck some spelling, grammar and vocabulary usage. I'm also assuming that you've chosen to keep this as a personal essay piece vs. a feature article. If so, it might be a good topic for a travel mag. and for those interested in relocating to an 'island lifestyle.' Very interesting topic to contrast the slow pace of island life vs. the fast pace of US city living. |
| Jason Townsend-Rogers, Posted Jul. 12th Excellent piece, I found the descriptions rather fitting, seeing as I have family in the Caribbean. |
| John Pepper, Posted Jul. 12th Tina: The details are what make this such a pleasure to read. St. Croix has desert on one end and rain forest on the other? I didn't know that. I love the picture of people driving around in golf carts. There's a nice balance here of the good (friendly people) and bad (power blackouts). Depending on where you would try to get this published you'd probably have to add a few specifics, but I could easily see this being published. Maybe you could add a few things about the benefits of stress-free living and get it published in a health magazine. John |
| Stephanie Adams, Posted Jul. 10th Tina, I always enjoy reading your work. It makes me want to plan a vacation. Your descriptions are great. Good job. |
| Barbara Pentlicki, Posted Jul. 8th I found your article interesting and descriptive. You used good format in description and factual details. Sounds like a good travel article, but I would change the conclusion to make it more up-beat. It is good work and much better than the first one your wrote. |
| Ayub Mwampela, Posted Jul. 8th Tina you have a good story here.Your lead is well described.The general picture of the islands is well set. Your work looks like a fiction. The use of the first person and then second person could lead to confusion. Great job to read.
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| Rebecca Chamaa, Posted Jul. 8th Tina, your descriptions are great. I also like that you included quotes and many facts about the islands. I liked your lead especially the details about the sand streets and the sign about no shoes or shirts - these details or descriptions made me really see what you were seeing. So you were successful in showing instead of telling. I thnk you could have used some of the same descriptive techniques in your closing paragraph and it would have been stronger. You did a good job though! |
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