I think I've heard Carly Rae Jepson's infamous pop song on the radio every time I get into our Jeep, no joke. I am amused that overplayed songs of 2012 are still being overplayed in 2020. And what's even more amusing is that I literally can't seem to connect on a phone call with a friend for longer than 10 minutes because our Wifi fritzes and I can't use roaming down here because the closest cell tower is linked to a British Virgin Island carrier and I get charged a bizillion dollars every time I turn off airplane mode. So, like Carly says, call me, maybe...
Life in the Leeward Islands, so far, has been like hitting a reset button to a setting that doesn't seem to include high-speed anything. It's not quite a time warp, not quite an undiscovered fantasy island, and not quite a developing nation. There are wild chickens and mongoose who dash across the streets and dive through the dumpsters, not the squirrels and raccoons that I am used to. The cars drive on the left side of the street, but the steering wheels are on the left side of the car, and so your precious passengers are the ones who sit vulnerably in the sometimes there double yellow lane dividers, while the drivers try to hug the sort of there curbs that edge the road- note : speeding is ill-advised and nearly impossible. The power goes out a few times a week and generators loudly hum throughout the neighborhood keeping our kids' online schooling in check and the perishables from perishing in the refrigerator. When it rains the plants and cisterns are happy, but debris and mud slides down the hillsides turning the aqua blue ocean below into a pool of dirty brown runoff, so I am not so sure how the reef fish feel. And yet, from my few weeks on these islands east of Puerto Rico, I find the people, flora and fauna, intrepid and resourceful taking what comes there way with kind smiles and a visceral patience.
A few of the things that I have gathered since our arrival... I have learned that you go to the store on Sunday evening or Monday morning to get the freshest produce because the ship comes in, literally, on Sunday morning. There are Wifi "phone booths" in our little development where work trucks and locals pull over at the sign that says "cell phones work here!" and Vaya signs (the local internet hosting site) proclaiming working internet that are scattered around the island. There is no mailman like Smitty in Rowayton who delivers your bills and packages with the biggest smile you've ever seen. Instead, one needs to get a PO box at 9-5 mail service shop, one not linked to the USPS, that is a15 minute drive, and the only option if you want to receive packages or get mail delivered on a regular basis. And, Amazon Prime doesn't "work" for US "outlying islands" so planning and patience is needed when ordering those things like your favorite SPF face cream or vitamins that ran out unexpectedly. But, the good news is that whatever you need will arrive, all in good (island) time...
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