Caribbean Beat — September/October 2018 (#153)

Authentic 

festivals 

and events, a unique history, 

tropical rainforest, exhilarating 

watersports, uncrowded beaches, 

revitalised chocolate industry 

and amazing eco-holidays. 

LIVE THE CULTURE. 

style 

FOR MORE INFO VISIT WWW.TOBAGOSTYLE.TRAVEL

Contents 

No. 153 • September/October 2018 

58 

72 

EMBARK 

IMMERSE 

18 Wish you were here 

Willemstad, Curaçao 

20 Need to know 

Essential info to help you make the 

most of September and October — 

from Labour Day Carnival in Brooklyn 

to Pure Grenada’s Dive Fest and the 

Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival 

34 Bookshelf and playlist 

Our reading and listening picks 

38 screenshots 

A Q&A with Khalik Allah, director of 

Black Mother 

40 Cookup 

Some like it sweet 

Gone are the days when a simple 

sponge cake was enough for dessert 

— in the Instagram age, says Franka 

Philip, Caribbean pastry chefs 

are coming up with photoworthy 

confections marrying elaborate 

techniques with unexpected flavours 

44 Backstory 

Remembering windrush 

When the Empire Windrush docked 

at Tilbury in 1948, its West Indian 

passengers didn’t know their arrival 

would become a historical watershed. 

A new exhibition at the British Library 

explains how the Windrush generation 

changed Britain for good 

50 Own words 

“I woke up with an entire 

song in my head” 

Dominica’s singer-songwriter Michele 

Henderson on her musical childhood, 

and the challenges of an international 

career — as told to Paul Crask 

52 snapshot 

Her side of the story 

They’re the Caribbean’s great literary 

dynasty, but for decades their story 

has been written only by the Naipaul 

men. A new memoir by Savi Naipaul 

Akal tells another side of the tale, 

reports Ingrid Persaud 

44 

ARRIVE 

58 destination 

Guyana by the score 

In a country this big, with vast forests, 

rivers, and savannahs, where do you 

start? Here are twenty key places 

and things for first-time visitors 

to Guyana, to help you plan an 

unforgettable trip 

70 neighbourhood 

south coast, Barbados 

From the historical treasures of the 

Garrison to the famous fish-fry in 

Oistins, the south coast of “Bim” is a 

visitors’ playground 

10 WWW.CARIBBEAN-BEAT.COM

CaribbeanBeat 

An MEP publication 

72 explore 

Falling for Havana 

The Cuban capital has its gritty side, 

writes Donna Yawching, but few 

cities in the world have such an aura 

of glamour, fascinating history, and 

energetic spirit 

80 in the bag 

“in my dreams, my travel 

journals look like 

illuminated manuscripts” 

Georgia Popplewell explains why a 

good notebook is an essential in her 

luggage 

ENGAGE 

Editor Nicholas Laughlin 

General manager Halcyon Salazar 

Design artists Kevon Webster & Bridget van Dongen 

Web editor Caroline Taylor 

Editorial assistant Shelly-Ann Inniss 

Business Development Manager, 

Business Development 

Tobago and International 

Representative, Trinidad 

Evelyn Chung 

Mark-Jason Ramesar 

T: (868) 684 4409 

T: (868) 775 6110 

E: evelyn@meppublishers.com 

E: mark@meppublishers.com 

Business Development 

Barbados Sales Representative 

Representative, Trinidad 

Shelly-Ann Inniss 

Tracy Farrag 

T: (246) 232 5517 

T: (868) 318 1996 

E: shelly@meppublishers.com 

E: tracy@meppublishers.com 

82 Green 

jaws of life 

Pop culture has given sharks an 

undeservedly scary reputation. What’s 

truly frightening, reports Erline 

Andrews, is a sea without sharks, vital 

for a healthy marine ecosystem. And 

after decades of neglect, the countries 

of the Caribbean are finally waking up to 

the importance of shark conservation 

— for the environment, but also for their 

economies 

Media & Editorial Projects Ltd. 

6 Prospect Avenue, Maraval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago 

T: (868) 622 3821/5813/6138 • F: (868) 628 0639 

E: caribbean-beat@meppublishers.com 

Website: www.meppublishers.com 

86 on this day 

a plague from above 

It’s not just a story from the Bible: thirty 

years ago, thanks to unprecedented 

weather conditions, a massive swarm of 

locusts crossed the Atlantic and ended 

up in the Caribbean. James Ferguson 

investigates how, and what became of 

them 

88 puzzles 

Enjoy our crossword, sudoku, and 

other brain-teasers! 

Read and save issues of Caribbean Beat on your smartphone, 

tablet, computer, and favourite digital devices! 

Printed by Solo Printing Inc., Miami, Florida 

Caribbean Beat is published six times a year for Caribbean Airlines by Media & Editorial Projects Ltd. It is also available on 

subscription. Copyright © Caribbean Airlines 2018. All rights reserved. ISSN 1680–6158. No part of this magazine may be 

reproduced in any form whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher. MEP accepts no responsibility for 

content supplied by our advertisers. The views of the advertisers are theirs and do not represent MEP in any way. 

Website: www.caribbean-airlines.com 

96 classic 

A dip into Caribbean Beat’s archives: 

Caroline Taylor discovers it’s a brown 

world, where a mixed-race Trini can 

pass for — well, almost anything, it 

seems 

The Caribbean Airlines logo shows a hummingbird in flight. Native to the Caribbean, the hummingbird represents 

flight, travel, vibrancy, and colour. It encompasses the spirit of both the region and Caribbean Airlines. 

WWW.CARIBBEAN-AIRLINES.COM 

11

Cover Bemner Suse of 

Guyana’s Wai-Wai 

community at his home 

in Konashen 

Photo Pete Oxford 

This issue’s contributors 

include: 

Erline Andrews (“Jaws of life”, page 82) is an awardwinning 

Trinidadian journalist. She is a regular 

contributor to Caribbean Beat and her work has 

also appeared in other publications in T&T and the 

US, including the Chicago Tribune and the Christian 

Science Monitor. 

Paul Crask (“I woke up with an entire song in my head”, 

page 50) is a feature writer, Bradt Travel Guides author, 

and independent magazine publisher who has lived 

in Dominica since 2005. For information, visit www. 

paulcrask.com 

A Barbados-based Trinidadian, Ingrid Persaud (“Her 

side of the story”, page 52) was a lawyer and visual artist 

before turning to writing fiction. Her novel If I Never 

Went Home was published in 2014, and she was the 

2017 winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. 

Franka Philip (“Some like it sweet”, page 40) loves to find 

the story behind the story in the food industry. A journalist 

for more than twenty years, she has worked in print, 

online, and radio in Trinidad and at the BBC in London. At 

the start of 2018, Franka co-founded Trini Good Media, a 

website that hosts the podcast Talk ’Bout Us. 

Shivanee Ramlochan (“Bookshelf”, page 34) is a 

Trinidadian poet — author of Everyone Knows I Am 

a Haunting — arts reporter, and Bookshelf editor for 

Caribbean Beat. 

Donna Yawching (“Falling for Havana”, page 72) is a 

journalist and longtime contributor to Caribbean Beat. 

Born in Trinidad, she is based in Toronto, and has lived 

on several continents and travelled widely. 


13

A MESSAGE From OUR CEO 

Dear Valued Customers, 

We just concluded a busy and successful 

July/August travel peak period. Many 

of you would have travelled with us 

and enjoyed the benefits of Caribbean 

Plus, our product which offers extra 

seat space and boarding benefits on 

economy fares. 

You would have used Caribbean 

View, our free wireless inflight entertainment 

on the Boeing 737-800 fleet, 

which allows you to stream blockbuster 

movies, television programmes, games, 

magazines, and more Caribbean content 

to your personal devices via a browser, 

using the Bluebox Wow platform. 

We have expanded our Caribbean 

Café, increasing the range of items 

available for sale on board the Boeing 

737-800 fleet. You may check the 

aircraft’s seat pocket to view the 

full catalogue of items which, from 

September, will include items from 

Caribbean manufacturers. Please note 

that we will maintain our regular offerings 

of free meals and sandwiches on eligible 

routes, as well as free refreshments 

like coffee, water, tea, juices, and soft 

drinks. However, blankets are available 

for sale in the economy cabin. 

Enhancing your travel experience is 

the motivation behind all we do, and we 

are thrilled to announce that, by the end 

of 2018, Caribbean Airlines will have a 

new, dynamic mobile app. 

The new mobile app (available over 

iOS and Android) will, among other 

features, enable you to: 

• Book flights conveniently 

• Manage your booking 

• Check in quickly 

• View flight status 

• Obtain a mobile boarding pass 

• Create a private profile where 

you can opt to save important 

information securely (eg. 

passport, payment details) 

• Access exclusive offers 

• Review your past trips 

• Receive important passenger 

and flight notifications throughout 

your journey with us 

courtesy caribbean airlines 

These important amenities will 

provide you with the convenient service 

you deserve. 

Whatever the reason for your travel, 

be it business, vacation, visiting family 

and friends, wedding, sporting event, or 

culinary adventure, Caribbean Airlines 

will take you there and take care of you. 

Caribbean Airlines also provides 

cargo services within the Caribbean 

as well as to North America, South 

America, and Europe. From perishable 

goods to heavy specialist equipment, 

we are skilled in cost-effective and 

timely transport to meet your demands. 

Our comprehensive route structure and 

dedicated freighter service allow us to 

transport a wide range of goods and 

live cargo. We also have a package 

service, JETPAK, which caters for 

packages of less than fifty pounds. We 

offer REAL-TIME Cargo Tracking, 

which enables you to know where your 

cargo/packages are at all times, and 

allows you to better plan and allocate 

resources as well. 

Cargo shipping will be even more 

effective going forward, as we build our 

cargo business. We intend to grow into 

an even more dominant player in air 

cargo, and estimate that our customer 

and revenue base will increase, as 

we continue to offer added value and 

expand our product portfolio. 

Our business is rapidly evolving, with 

technology and the changing needs 

of our customers driving the pace of 

that evolution. It calls for us to be a 

different type of airline: to be agile, 

bold, courageous, and flexible, to forge 

strong and lasting partnerships, and to 

be innovative. 

As a business, we keep asking 

ourselves what’s next — what do 

our customers want and what do 

they need? And we are constantly 

challenging ourselves to deliver the 

right products and services and a 

differentiated experience that gives you 

the convenience, the choice, and the 

freedom that you want. 

Please check the Need to Know 

section of the magazine for a full list of 

upcoming events for September and 

October, and take your complimentary 

copy of Caribbean Beat with you. 

Visit our website www.caribbeanairlines.com, 

like us on Facebook, and 

follow us on Twitter and Instagram 

@iflycaribbean. 

Thank you for choosing Caribbean 

Airlines — we value your business and 

look forward to serving you throughout 

our twenty-destination network. 

Garvin Medera 

Chief Executive Officer 

14 WWW.CARIBBEAN-AIRLINES.COM

wish you were here 

Sorin Colac/Alamy Stock Photo 


Willemstad, Curaçao 

Traditional seventeenth-century Dutch 

architecture adopts a tropical palette along 

the waterfront in the historic Punda district 

of Curaçao’s capital — famous for its jewellery 

shops, Floating Market, and the oldest 

synagogue in continuous use in the Western 

Hemisphere. 

WWW.CARIBBEAN-AIRLINES.COM 19

NEED TO 

KNOW 

Essential info to help you make the most of 

September and October: what to do, where 

to go, what to see! 

stephanie keith/getty images 

Mas in the big city: 

feathers and sequins 

on Brooklyn’s Eastern 

Parkway 

Don’t Miss 

Break away on 

the Parkway 

It’s officially known as the West Indian Day 

Parade, but revellers across the Caribbean 

diaspora know it as Brooklyn Carnival. On 

Labour Day (3 September this year) — drawing 

a crowd of more than a million, by some 

estimates — the action begins at dawn for 

J’Ouvert revellry and continues till nightfall on 

Eastern Parkway. New York City’s Caribbean 

communities — Trinis, Jamaicans, Bajans, 

Grenadians, Haitians, everybody — come out 

in force for a day of parades, floats, and even 

pan. Soca? Yes. Wining? Of course? Acres of 

sequins and spandex and feathers? What you 

think? Pelau, jerk chicken, souse? Bring your 

appetite. 

How to get there? 

Caribbean Airlines 

operates daily flights 

to John F. Kennedy 

International Airport 

in New York City from 

Trinidad, Jamaica, 

and Guyana, with 

connections to other 

Caribbean destinations 

20 

WWW.CARIBBEAN-BEAT.COM

Single Still Rums 

Beautifully crafted rums from our three heritage stills; 

EHP Wooden Coffey Still, PM Double Wooden Pot 

Still and Versailles Single Wooden Pot Still. 

These rums were laid down in oak barrels for 

12 years resulting in rich and diverse flavours. 

Crafted Richer. Aged Deeper. 

eldoradorums 

@ElDoradoRums 

eldorado_rum 

theeldoradorum.com 

ENJOY RESPONSIBLY

need to know 

courtesy barbados food and rum festival/visitbarbados.org 

Must Try Foodie Bliss 

Barbadian mixologist David Barker 

serves up a cocktail that changes 

colour before your eyes: a mojito 

with red cabbage mint puree, John D. 

Taylor’s Velvet Falernum, and fresh 

lime juice dancing in harmony with 

Four Square Spice 

Cuisine is a satisfying way to explore a country — and not just for dedicated 

foodies. The inspiration and stories behind traditional or innovative recipes can 

take you on a culinary escapade into the unknown. And with three major food 

festivals happening across the Caribbean in September and October, there’s no 

better time to work up an appetite. 

Trinidad and Tobago 

Restaurant Week 

28 September to 7 October 

trinidadtobagorestaurantweek.com 

Doubles in Debe,crab and dumpling 

from Store Bay, kebabs on Ariapita 

Avenue, Sunday dim sum: T&T’s 

cuisine reflects the country’s multiethnic 

roots. Spanish, African, Creole, 

Chinese, and Indian influences borrow 

from and hint at each other. Hints of 

Italian also infuse the Thai. The food 

completely engages your senses as you 

try to identify flavours. This is a foodie 

nation (and possibly a gym instructor’s 

dream). And for ten days each year, you 

can enjoy prix fixe menus with reduced 

prices at participating restaurants 

during Restaurant Week. So grab 

your aperitifs and feed your culinary 

curiosity. 

Must try: callaloo, Trinidad style — 

rich, spicy, and dense with flavour 

Barbados Food and Rum 

Festival 

18 to 21 October 

visitbarbados.org 

Every day in Barbados brings a new 

gastronomic adventure. It seems like 

the entire island is made up of chefs 

— whether formally trained or self 

professed. It’s no surprise so many 

Barbadian restaurants have earned 

Michelin stars and Zagat ratings. At 

the Food and Rum Festival, you’ll 

understand why some call Barbados 

the culinary capital of the Caribbean. 

From a Thursday night cook-off in 

Oistins to the Signature Rum Event on 

Friday, plus fine dining events pairing 

international and local chefs, the vibe 

ranges from down-home to elegant — 

and everything is delicious. 

Must try: the classic, cornmeal 

coucou and flying fish, with a tall glass 

of Bajan rum punch 

Jamaica Food and Drink 

Festival 


jafoodanddrink.com 

From the high mountains to deep 

in the valleys, Jamaican food 

connoisseurs, their neighbours, and 

grandparents turn out for this annual 

all-inclusive festival. The extravaganza 

kicks off with Pork Palooza, featuring 

top-secret sauces, and even desserts 

with “a dangerous porcine twist.” 

Another night, dance with the dragons 

at Chopstix: a smorgasbord of sizzling 

favourites from all corners of Asia. And 

come back to the land of wood and 

water with Crisp: an event centred 

on fried fare coupled with ice-cold 

international and local beers. Imagine 

jerk fried chicken kicked up a notch 

with scotch bonnet and balsamic 

vinegar . . . Your mouth’s already 

watering. 

Must try: escoveitch fish, roast 

breadfruit, and festival, Jamaica’s 

unmistakeable sweet fried bread 

Shelly-Ann Inniss 

22 


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PHOTOGRAPHY: LEM JOSEPH PHOTOGRAPHY 

LOCATION: DATTA TREYA TEMPLE 


need to know 

courtesy the grenada tourism authority melanie lupoli/shutterstock.com 

Top Three 

Diving around 

Grenada 

On the surface, Grenada is breathtakingly serene. But beneath the deep blue sea, 

the shipwreck capital of the Caribbean boasts more than forty dive sites, and a 

seascape teeming with aquatic life. Here are three for your bucket list. 

Bianca C 

After you brave the strong currents, a 

look down the hull of this wreck, sunk 

in 1961, gives an inkling why it’s known 

as the Titanic of the Caribbean (below). 

Technical and recreational divers have 

also spotted barracudas and sharks 

near this spectacular site, which runs 

parallel to Whibbles Reef. 

Underwater Sculpture Park 

These artificial reefs (above right) 

perfect for exploration by children and 

beginners have been recognised as one 

of “earth’s most awesome places” by 

National Geographic. Each sculpture 

pays homage to Grenadian history and 

culture. 

Flamingo Bay 

Snorkellers hit the jackpot on the 

reef (above left): yellowtail snappers, 

seahorses, rope and barrel sponges, 

and elkhorn corals are just some of the 

marine species you’ll encounter. Divers 

at any level can venture to this site 

located in Grenada’s Marine Protected 

Area. 

No need to be an expert diver to 

participate in Pure Grenada’s 

Dive Fest from 3 to 6 October. 

You might start off on dry land, as 

the festival opens with a photo 

competition and launch party 

in Carriacou. The following day, 

the wreck and reef diving gets 

underway — Grenada has about 

fifteen wrecks in its waters. Of 

course, nothing says “I went 

diving” better than an iconic 

selfie, a wreck photo, or reef shot, 

so make sure to capture these 

moments before the final party 

and lionfish dinner. Who knows, 

your photo might be the winner of 

next year’s competition. 

SAI 

mark evans/courtesy the grenada scuba diving association 


need to know 

The 2018 Trinidad and Tobago 

Film Festival — ttff/18 — 

runs from 18 to 25 September, 

with a programme of screenings, 

workshops, and industry events 

at venues around T&T. For full 

programme details, visit www. 

ttfilmfestival.com. 

Actor Nickolai Salcedo ( at left) 

and other members of the 

HERO cast 

courtesy caribbean tales 

Word of Mouth 

We need a HERO 

Cate Young reports on the historically inspired feature that opens the 2018 

Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival 

History enthusiasts are in for a treat at 

this year’s installment of the Trinidad 

and Tobago Film Festival, as the new 

feature from award-winning Caribbean 

director and producer Frances-Anne 

Solomon makes its global debut. 

Starring Trinidadian Nickolai Salcedo 

in the title role, HERO: Inspired by The 

Extraordinary Life And Times of Mr 

Ulric Cross will be the opening night 

film at the 2018 festival. Inspired by a 

true story, and loosely based on Cross’s 

life, HERO examines the myth of the 

man known as the “most decorated 

West Indian of World War Two.” 

It follows Cross’s journey through 

the war and into his roles as a 

broadcaster, lawyer, and diplomat, 

as well as his political awakening 

and crucial role in independence 

movements across West Africa. 

As much of the work Cross did in 

his capacity as a diplomat in post- 

Independence Africa remains 

classified even after his death, the 

film incorporates archival footage 

to illuminate the “dynamic and 

transformative” political climate of the 

time, and “extrapolate and dramatise” 

the significant events of his life, 

according to Solomon. 

Lead actor Nickolai Salcedo notes 

many parallels between Cross’s life and 

the current global political climate. 

“We’re dealing with issues of race, 

reparations, and people wanting to 

regain their true sense of self as we 

have for centuries. The movies speak 

to now,” Salcedo says. “The players 

have changed in some cases, but it’s 

the same game. Who is being taken 

advantage of, who is banding together 

and who are the ones standing in the 

way of that?” 

HERO also deals with the extensive 

colonial pressures at play across the 

globe during Cross’s lifetime, including 

his decision to practice law in Ghana 

and Tanzania due to social barriers 

in the West, and his friendships and 

collaborations with journalist and 

activist C.L.R. James and Pan-African 

activist George Padmore, both fellow 

Trinidadians. 

Cross spent his life dedicated to 

public service, acting as a prominent 

jurist in Ghana and Cameroon before 

returning to Trinidad to serve as a high 

court judge. In 2011, he received the 

country’s highest honour, the Order of 

the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. He 

died in 2013. 

HERO is the long-awaited 

examination of an oft-looked-over 

hero, with a legacy that deserves to be 

preserved. As Solomon says, “Ultimately, 

the story is about us, about who we are 

as Caribbean people, and as citizens of 

the world.” 

The film’s international cast also 

includes Peter Williams (Stargate- 

SG1), Joseph Marcell (Fresh Prince of 

Bel-Air), Fraser James (Resident Evil) 

and Rudolph Walker (EastEnders), 

among others. Hero premieres on 

18 September, 2018, at the National 

Academy for the Performing Arts in Port 

of Spain — with Caribbean filmmaking 

heavyweights in the audience. 

26 


ADVERTORIAL 

The new Swift’s innovation 

Since Suzuki’s leading compact car 

made its debut in Japan, it has been 

well received with its innovative styling 

and exhilarating driving performance. 

The new model features clever design, 

convenience, and comfort in a stylish 

new package that has made it one of the 

Caribbean’s most popular hatchbacks. 

In a special interview, Chief Engineer 

and designer of the new Swift Masao 

Kobori gave us a “behind the scenes” 

look at the development of the model. 

“I want customers to feel uplifted 

the instant they see it,” he says, “the 

instant they get inside and step on the 

accelerator. The Swift will add a touch of 

excitement to their everyday lives.” 

With its wide and aggressive look, the 

exterior of the Swift exudes a muscular 

presence from a body that is shorter and 

lower. The blacked-out “A” pillars create 

the appearance of a “floating roof” and 

the LED signature illumination used in 

the headlamps and rear-combination 

lamps scream high-tech sophistication. 

A bold evolution of Swift DNA 

Sit inside and the bold evolution of the 

Swift’s DNA continues through four 

key themes: Sportiness, High Quality, 

Advanced, and Easy to Use. The 

instrument panel highlights a sense of 

nimble speediness, while sporty white 

accents and satin chrome accents 

are used throughout the cockpit in 

conjunction with a black tonal base, 

creating a stunning high-contrast interior. 

Once you’re seated, the impulse 

to take off immediately begins to well 

up inside, thanks to a meticulously 

implemented “driver first” design. The 

race car–inspired, D-shaped steering 

wheel, paired with front seats that 

firmly hold, and a centre console angled 

towards the driver, help form a more 

sporty, higher-quality environment that 

unifies car and driver. 

With the latest evolution of the Suzuki 

Swift, the love affair Caribbean people 

have with the Swift model is sure to 

continue. 

Contact your local Suzuki dealer 

today to arrange a test drive! 

For more information on the 

all-new Suzuki Swift, visit 

www.suzukicaribbean.com.

need to know 

cri1810/istock.com 

How You Say 

Talk like a local at 

Jounen Kwéyòl 

On the last Sunday of October, St Lucians celebrate 

their proud Creole heritage with an island-wide festival 

of music, cuisine, traditional dress (using the plaid fabric 

called madras) — and of course language. Don’t speak 

Kwéyòl? Here are some helpful phrases to help you fit in. 

Good morning 

Bonjou 

Good evening 

Bonswè 

Please 

Sou plé 

Thank you 

Mèsi 

What time is the concert? Ki lè spètak-la ka 

koumansé? 

Where can I get a bus? 

Koté mwen sa jwenn on 

machin twaspò? 

How far is the beach? 

Ki distans lans lanmè-a? 

I am a tourist 

Mwen sé an touwis 

I’m hungry! 

Mwen fen! 

I’d like to try the bouillon* Mwen vlé éséyé 

bouyon-an 

Where can I buy some madras? Koté mwen sa achté twèl 

madwas? 

I’ll be back next year! 

Mwen kay viwé lanné 

pochen! 

* Traditional dish of meat stewed with provisions 

With thanks to Hilary LaForce and John Robert Lee of the Monsignor 

Patrick Anthony Folk Research Centre 

28 


need to know 

The Read 

What he learned 

An excerpt from “Unaccounted for”, an essay by indigenous 

Trinidadian writer Tracy Assing, published in the recent 

anthology So Many Islands: Stories from the Caribbean, 

Mediterranean, Indian and Pacific Oceans (Peekash Press) 

Illustration by James hackett 

My father’s memory is good. So I ask him to talk to me for a 

while about what he learned growing up. He rattles off the 

names of animals and plants I have never heard before. Or, I 

think I have never heard before. It all sounds somehow familiar. 

“We were taught about snakes,” he says. “The dangerous 

ones, we can smell them, hear them, and avoid them. We 

were taught about the mapipire – balsain and zanana – coral, 

cascabel, mapamare, creebo, macajuel, tigre. The pretty, 

attractive ones were poisonous. Our teaching from age one 

to seven years was about seeing as a form of knowing, smelling 

as a form of knowing, and hearing as a form of knowing. 

“We were taught about scorpions — if stung by one, we 

can eat them. If we don’t like the [raw] taste, we can roast 

them in fire and then eat them. We were taught about Jack 

Spaniard wasps, which we call jep: jep cohong, jep tattoo, jep 

cesar. If stung by one, we must take three different types of 

bush, grass, or herb and crush the leaves in our hands and 

rub the juices on the jep sting to avoid swelling. Of course, 

all stings are more potent during the full moon, and although 

we know all these remedies we must avoid getting stung by 

bees, snakes, scorpions, jep. So, always be alert whenever in 

the forest, on the estate, or by the rivers. 

“We were taught about zagweeh, cheenee, santapee, 

congoree, tac-tac, marabuntas, fire ants, red ants, garapet, 

battimamzelles, butterflies. We were taught about insects 

with wings and without wings. 

“We were taught about the birds: kweleebee, kai, ramea, 

chat, viennal, taoday, cravat, picoplat, toucan, chikichong, 

semp, zotola, greeve, pawi, guacharo, gabila, tuvatuva. We know 

these birds by their marking and colour, 

by their mating calls and their distress 

calls. In order to catch them, we were 

able to feed them by calling them for 

food and using their distress call to get 

them closer to us. This ability comes 

from listening to the birds and mimicking 

their calls. The forest is like a school. 

“As children, we had lots of fun in the 

river. We would play ‘hide the stone’ in 

a pool. Which involved hiding a stone 

underwater and then the other people 

have to find it. We had swim races under 

water. This helped strengthen our lungs. 

Sometimes we would venture far up river or down river. We were 

taught about all the fish in the river. What was edible and what 

was not. The tayta, guabin, zangi, cuscorob, watamal, crayfish, 

maki, and buc. We would catch these fish with our hands or 

sometimes we use the old native plant, balbac. Our ancestors 

loved and respected the river and we did the same. 

“We were shown the trees and told the names and fruits. 

Kapok, guatacare, tapana, crapo, oilver, mahoe, ceret, galba, 

calabash, cazuka, anare, moriche, touca, balata, coffee, cocoa, 

roucou, cayoneg, caimit, cashima, cashew, mamisepote, 

aguma, guanabana, gree-gree, groo-groo, peewah, kereckel. 

“On our treks through the forest for dry wood for the 

fireside, we were taught about the animals, the trees, and 

the herbs. We were taught about the iguana, the agouti, 

quenk, tattoo, manicou, matapal, pillowee, porqupine. We 

were taught the hunt and the trails. There are ancient trails 

connecting each mountain region to the other. 

“We didn’t have money or a deed for land, but we were 

never hungry.” 

In Guyana, home to one of the Caribbean region’s largest First Peoples 

populations, September is officially celebrated as Indigenous Heritage 

Month, a chance to learn about the diversity, legacy, and cultures of Guyana’s 

indigenous peoples: the Akawaio, Arawak, Arecuna, Carib, Makushi, Patamona, 

Wai-Wai, Wapishana, and Warrau. Communities across the country stage 

exhibitions of art, dance, craft, food, native games, and sports. 

In nearby Trinidad and Tobago, a one-off holiday in October 2017 brought 

the country’s indigenous history to public attention. But the Carib community 

centred on Santa Rosa, near Arima, has commemorated its own Amerindian 

Heritage Week in mid-October for almost two decades, asserting the 

presence of a people and a culture in defiance of historical amnesia. 

30 


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Daniel Korzeniewski/shutterstock.com 

need to know 

Datebook 

More highlights of September and October across the Caribbean 

Nevis Marathon and Running 

Festival 

6 to 8 September 

Challenging marathon routes with 

enchanting views and distances 

suited for athletes — and stragglers — 

at any level. 

Bonaire Sailing Regatta 


Sailors in all classes compete. There’s 

even a category for five-to-ten-yearold 

crews. 

COCO Dance Festival, 

Trinidad and Tobago 


The Contemporary Choreographers’ 

Collective (COCO) presents the 

work of emerging and established 

choreographers from T&T and 

beyond, bringing together the worlds 

of arts and education. To mark its tenyear 

anniversary, the 2018 festival will 

feature the 2012 to 2017 winners of 

the COCO Choreographer’s Award. 

Word on the Street Festival, 

Toronto 

23 September 

A wide window opens onto Canada’s 

literary scene, as authors, artists, 

publishers, and lovers of the word 

come together. 

www.thewordonthestreet.ca 

International Ballet Festival of 

Havana, Cuba 

26 October to 2 November 

Caribbean dance lovers are spoiled 

for choice in October. The stunning 

Gran Teatro is the principal venue 

for this celebration of ballet. Over 

twenty dance companies — including 

the London Royal Ballet, the Scala de 

Milan, the New York City Ballet, and 

the American Ballet Theatre — will 

perform impressive repertoires. With 

world premieres also scheduled at 

the Karl Marx Theatre and the Mella 

Theatre, Havana will transform into 

the beating heart of ballet. 

SAI 

World Cocoa and Chocolate 

Day Expo, Trinidad 

28 to 29 September 

Did someone say chocolate? Trinis 

are in everything, people sometimes 

joke, including chocolate: this is 

where the Trinitario cocoa variety 

originated. Plus the University 

of the West Indies’ St Augustine 

campus is home to the International 

Cocoa Genebank, and the oldest 

cocoa research centre in the world. 

So the campus is the natural home 

for the WCCD Expo, bringing 

together emerging cocoa and 

chocolate entrepreneurs, and the 

chocolatiers who convert cocoa 

into an abundance of enjoyable 

products, edible and otherwise — 

like this overwhelmingly chocolatey 

body scrub, which you can try 

yourself at home: 

1 cup raw cane sugar 

3 tbsp raw cocoa powder 

3 tbsp organic cocoa nibs 

1/8 cup almond oil 

1/8 cup cocoa butter (melted) 

1/2 tsp chocolate syrup 

5 drops Vitamin E oil 

Mix all dry ingredients together. 

Melt the cocoa butter, and stir in 

the other oils. Add the oil mixture 

to the dry ingredients and mix using 

a hand mixer. Add chocolate syrup 

and mix gently. Et voila! Apply to 

your skin for a luxurious chocolatey 

experience. 

Courtesy Eco-Truffles Lavish Body 

Treats 

iprachenko/shutterstock.com 


ookshelf 

The Art of White Roses 

by Viviana Prado-Núñez (Papillote Press, 192 pp, ISBN 9781999776824) 

It’s 1957 in Havana, and Adela can’t close 

her eyes to the trail of los desaparecidos. 

In the crumbling suburb of Marianao, 

she knows the names of the university 

students who go missing. She knows 

the city isn’t a safe place, that more is 

swept under the rug of complicit silence 

than can ever be aired aloud. When 

Adela’s cousin Miguel gets caught up in 

a bombing, the backlash of fear takes up 

residence in Adela’s blue-walled home: 

“If someone had stalked across the lawn 

and cracked the window open, they 

would have heard our hearts beating dull 

and muted, like the echo of someone 

tapping their fingers on the other side 

of a wall.” 

This is Viviana Prado-Núñez’s debut, 

The Art of White Roses, winner of the 

2017 CODE Burt Award for Caribbean 

Young Adult Literature. The world it reveals to us is beset by 

suspicions, ravaged by everyday loss on a tragic scale, but the 

place itself is not immune to beauty. Whether it’s a box of 

brilliant red shoes, or a sumptuously fat lemon dangling just 

out of reach, the author shows us how 

portents of allure and pleasure still linger 

— even if those very symbols turn sour 

eventually. It’s this attention to detail 

that renders this an unforgettable first 

book, for young adults and adults alike: 

it lacks nothing of the careful suspense, 

the searing irony, the heartbreakingly 

staggered revelations that mark work for 

older readers. 

Even rarer still, The Art of White 

Roses is a compassionate novel without 

being a cloying one. It presents us 

with characters who are flawed and 

redeemable, from Adela’s own father 

Sebastián, full of false starts and halfbrewed 

lies, to Adela’s Tío Rodrigo, the 

once-burly policeman who shrinks in 

reverse proportion to the magnitude 

of his crimes. Prado-Núñez casts white 

roses into the thicket of this bitter revolution, charging 

an uncertain age with hard-won hope. This novel is for 

dreamers and revolutionaries: those who’ve disappeared 

and those who remember them. 

The Beast of Kukuyo 

by Kevin Jared Hosein (Blouse & Skirt Books, 

240 pp, ISBN 9789768267153) 

Looking for a Nancy Drew heroine? 

Keep looking. In Kevin Jared 

Hosein’s The Beast of Kukuyo, 

fifteen-year-old protagonist Rune 

Mathura is plucky and resourceful 

— but she has the sense to know 

there’s darkness in the world that 

a flashlight and can-do attitude 

can’t fix. When her classmate 

Dumpling Heera winds up dead, 

Rune knows that the baleful 

secrets stirring in Kukuyo Village 

can’t stay hidden — not forever. In this second-place 

winner of the 2017 CODE Burt Award for Caribbean 

Young Adult Literature, Hosein delivers a hair-raiser of a 

tale, replete with small-time gangsters, sad prostitutes 

swaying to Sundar Popo ballads, and survival of the fittest. 

It’s tempting to call The Beast of Kukuyo the perfect 

Stephen King and Sam Selvon mash-up, but Kevin Jared 

Hosein’s voice is distinctively his own, tinged with dark 

humour. 

Home Home 

by Lisa Allen-Agostini (Papillote Press, 100 pp, 

ISBN 9781999776831) 

Where is it safe to lay your head, 

when it’s your thoughts that turn 

against you? Home Home, the 

third-place winner of the 2017 

CODE Burt Award for Caribbean 

Young Adult Literature, lets 

us inside the mind of Kayla, a 

Trinidadian girl diagnosed with 

depression. Sent to recuperate 

at the Edmonton home of her 

lesbian aunt, Kayla’s uncertainty 

about her place in life is only one 

of the things that gives her pause. For instance, what 

does it mean to be LGBT? What does it mean when a 

cute boy who shares your taste in music also thinks you’re 

pretty? Home Home pulls no punches about an interior 

life with mental illness: Kayla is written compellingly, with 

compassion, sensitivity, and uncommon insight. 


ookshelf Q&A 

Kitch 

by Anthony Joseph (Peepal Tree Press, 296 pp, 

ISBN 9781845234195) 

To tell the story of Lord Kitchener, 

calypso’s grand master with his 

navel string buried in Arima, 

Anthony Joseph harmonises 

genres. Kitch combines the 

power of the archive — the tools 

of biography — with literary 

fiction’s capacity to colour grand 

narratives. What might seem like 

an unlikely marriage of form suits 

this lyrical homage to Aldwyn 

Roberts, Empire Windrush 

pioneer, the pennant-bearer for calypso in the Queen’s 

Britain. Joseph, a prolific poet and musical performer, 

brings a laden basket of skills to this neo-novel: the 

prose does not so much describe as it animates, and 

everywhere in this story, melody peals forth. Why have 

there been no substantial biographies of Kitchener 

till now? Perhaps because a conventional approach to 

storytelling might tame a remarkable life: Kitch goes 

liltingly off-script, and the results are visionary. 

Ricantations 

by Loretta Collins Klobah (Peepal Tree Press, 

128 pp, ISBN 9781845234232) 

From the vaults of Puerto Rico’s 

history, to the horizons of its 

contemporary life, Loretta Collins 

Klobah writes potent, spellbinding 

poems. Collins Klobah, who won 

the 2012 OCM Bocas Prize for 

Caribbean Literature for her debut 

collection, The Twelve-Foot Neon 

Woman, has wrought a second 

book that captivates while it 

dismantles complacency. Here 

are poems that work precisely on 

the imagination and wonderment of their reader. Steeped 

in the groundwater of Ricantations are the rising tides of 

women’s polyglot tongues: curious daughters, confident 

marketplace gitanas, mami watas with sharply erotic 

demands. The versatile, majestic energy of the feminine 

roves and somersaults in these poems, challenging the 

roots of virginity and harlotry in verse that stares the 

patriarchy down, Medusa-style. 

Reviews by Shivanee Ramlochan, Bookshelf editor 

Trinidadian Danielle Boodoo- 

Fortuné’s debut book of 

poems, Doe Songs (Peepal 

Tree Press, 80 pp, ISBN 

9781845234188), inhabits an 

exterior landscape of deep 

forest and rushing rivers, and 

explores an interior world of 

bloodlines and birth. In this 

Q&A, the author explains the 

significance of wilderness in 

her new poems. 

Doe Songs is a powerful first collection, one concerned 

with the relationship between our human world and the 

wilderness. Did you access an inner wildness to complete 

this body of poems? 

A sense of the inner wildness, the “untameness” that is always 

beneath the surface of people and places, is what drives many 

of the poems. In the process of writing and editing Doe Songs, 

I tried to access that inner wildness and to learn to see it in 

everything, to acknowledge that the domestic and the wild, 

the gentle and the feral are bound together so closely in all 

living things and places. 

Tell us something of what 

animates your mothering 

poems, which are dense, 

lush inhabitants of the world 

between mother and child. 

My mothering poems were 

written during the final 

trimester of pregnancy and in 

the first months of my son’s 

life. This period was so utterly 

strange and transformative that 

it allowed me to lift the veil, to 

see things in that in-between 

half-light. It gave me access to 

my mammalian creature self. 

The mother and child relationship is both so intimate and 

so fierce, and it completely transforms the way we see 

ourselves, our capacity for love and pain, the limits of hearts 

and bodies. 

The doe is a symbol of tenderness, but of surprising 

resilience too: this complexity in all things shines in your 

work. How has the doe as motif moved you as artist and 

writer? 

During the process of writing these poems, the doe kept 

coming back to me, until I could no longer ignore how central 

it was to the collection. The doe is both vulnerability and 

resilience. It reminds me of the power there is in tenderness, 

and of the value of intuition. For me, the doe is also 

motherhood, magic, and relationship with landscape. 


35

playlist 

Born in Darkness 

Freetown (Damascus Media) 

From lyrically drenched acoustic Caribbean folk 

music to island pop songs with metaphorical 

gravitas, the evolution of Freetown has been 

a revelation of the idea of crossing over. 

Making it into a global music market without 

“selling out” has been the mission of Caribbean 

musicians and singers for decades. Born in 

Darkness has the aesthetic merit to breach the 

consciousness of audiences anywhere right now. 

A balance between seven full-length songs and 

four powerful interludes that have hit potential 

proves that producer Keron “Sheriff” Thompson 

of Differentology fame understands how to 

juxtapose these odes into popular soundscapes 

where Caribbean ideas can become universally 

relevant. Muhammad Muwakil and Lou Lyons, 

as crafty songwriters, show how personal angst 

can become cathartic — “Dem cyah understand 

this / Thought you could keep me down and 

sick / Underground, I’m volcanic / And I’m not 

dormant, no!” — to shine a light on our collective 

island importance. A winner. 

In the Moment 

Larnell Lewis (self-released) 

Toronto can seem a multicultural paradise, 

more so for a number of artists and a second 

generation from the islands. Drummer Larnell 

Lewis, of Kittitian heritage, is the premier 

drummer in the city, landing a job with Grammy 

winners Snarky Puppy and collecting a couple of 

statuettes for himself. On his debut album, he 

calls on his Caribbean diaspora friends and his 

Snarky Puppy bandmates to add to this novel 

referencing of jazz from the perspective of a 

black North American jazz musician who is not 

African-American, freed from conjecture and 

the obligations of jazz heritage. That freedom 

allows Lewis to explore rhythms and harmonies 

that suggest New Orleans (“Beignets”), gospel 

jazz (“Rejoice”), Latin jazz (“Coconuts”), fusion 

(“Change your Mind”), bebop — the solo on “No 

Access” is a drum masterclass — and tropical 

World Music (“Essence of Joy”). Memories and 

moments of Lewis’s life are freed to inspire this 

joyous set of ten sparkling tunes. 

Kontraband 

Kabaka Pyramid (Bebble Rock Music) 

Kabaka Pyramid belongs to a new generation 

of Jamaican reggae artists who are part of a 

noticeable renaissance in conscious music and 

roots reggae sounds that harkens back to the 

days of Bob Marley’s global domination. It’s not 

surprising, since this new album was executiveproduced 

by Bob’s sons, Junior Gong and 

Steven. That genetic heritage has guided this 

sixteen-track album towards a reckoning of 

social lyrics that address longstanding concerns, 

but with a sonic profile grounded in the twentyfirst 

century. Sarcastic jibes on the song “Well 

Done” — “Well done, well done, Mr Politician Man 

/ You’ve done a wonderful job of tearing down 

the country, Mr Demolition Man” — point to a 

growing cynicism and exasperation among the 

younger generation of Caribbeans. Whether 

politics, global concerns about refugees, or the 

efficacy of “herb,” a topical menu of subjects is 

assayed effectively with a few star collaborations 

to give this album impact. 

Single Spotlight 

Field Trip 

Jah9 (VP Records) 

Jah9 delivers her songs with a diction and 

enunciation that could make one forget 

Jamaican patois is the de facto language of 

reggae. This delivery further cements her 

identification with what she calls “Jazz in Dub 

. . . a rich imaginative blend of vocal clarity and 

complexity.” A well-articulated melody swings 

around an Afro-beat groove reminiscent of 

Fela Kuti to set this song on another level. Of 

the title, Jah9 explains that “the real field trip is 

within. That is the final frontier, and if we do this 

we will find new elements of our self,” giving a 

philosophical hook to a jam that does not stop 

throbbing. The musicianship on this single also 

reflects an improvised blues ambience, certainly 

when the tenor saxophone solo comes in near 

the end, reminding us that the jazz sensibility 

is not lost in production. Taken together, these 

elements point to a new World Beat feeling 

where the reggae is subsumed, but the beat just 

keeps grooving — like you will. 

Reviews by Nigel A. Campbell 


screenshots 

raped it became a service economy. 

That’s why I felt it was necessary to 

show the underbelly. In order to do that, 

I had to focus on the everyday people. 

When we hear about Jamaica we hear 

about Bob Marley and “No Problem.” 

But there are a lot of problems. I wanted 

to show the problems, but I also wanted 

to come with the good news. 

courtesy khalik allah 

“My understanding of 

Jamaica is spiritual” 

Khalik Allah, now thirty-two, shot to prominence with his first documentary, 

Field Niggas (2015), an immersive portrait of an intersection in Harlem in 

his native New York City. For Black Mother, his follow-up, Allah — also an 

accomplished photographer — ambitiously extended his canvas from a street 

corner to an entire nation, Jamaica, in a hypnotically impressionistic conjuration 

of his mother’s home island. 

Imagining Jamaica as a nurturing matriarch, and split into “trimesters,” Black 

Mother interlaces audio testimonies from ordinary Jamaicans with a collage 

of images of the island and its people, shot in a beguiling assortment of film 

formats. The result is a challenging work of visionary power, a tribute to everyday 

resistance and survival, and a cinematic representation of Jamaica unlike any 

before it. In this Q&A with Jonathan Ali, Allah discusses sidestepping island 

clichés, and the highly personal aesthetic he brought to bear on the film. 

What’s your relationship with 

Jamaica like? 

My mother is from Jamaica and my 

father is from Iran, so I have both these 

heritages within me. But because I 

grew up around a lot of my Jamaican 

family, I always felt more connected 

to Jamaica. In my childhood we were 

going to Jamaica frequently. As I got 

older, I would go on my own and spend 

time with my grandfather, a deacon. 

I would sit at his feet and receive 

wisdom that really structured my life, 

so my relationship with Jamaica stems 

from that. 

Is that what inspired your approach 

to making the film? 

I wanted to make a film about Jamaica 

that wasn’t about reggae. For me, my 

understanding of Jamaica is spiritual. It 

has always been a place where I’ve been 

able to go and be baptised in a sense, 

you know? So it was extremely important 

that I focus on the soul of the people. 

You also avoided the clichés often 

associated with “Brand Jamaica.” 

Those are the things people are familiar 

with. They’re used to the tourist 

attractions. Jamaica’s a poor country, 

remember. It was raped by the British 

through colonialism. And after it was 

Why the title Black Mother? 

Jamaica is the mother. It represents the 

earth, the food, the soil, the fruits, the 

vegetation, the fields, the water — all of 

that is symbolic of the mother. So the 

title truly comes from understanding 

that the mother is the doorway into this 

world, and into other worlds. 

You shot the film in different 

formats: Super 8-mm film, 16-mm 

film, and digital. Why? 

Jamaica is a very small island. It’s smaller 

than Long Island. It’s a whole country 

that’s smaller than a little piece of New 

York, but it’s a huge country in terms 

of its history and its spirituality and its 

relationship to the rest of the world. So 

using these different formats and building 

out the film like a collage was a device I 

used to show how dynamic Jamaica is and 

how many textures there are. 

Black Mother is asynchronous — the 

audio we hear does not match the 

visuals we see. This could prove a 

hurdle to some viewers. Does this 

concern you? 

My films challenge people to use their 

minds. You may have to work a little bit. 

You may have to apply some of your 

own consciousness in order to extract 

the meaning. I expect my audience 

to do that. And it’s the type of film 

that’s so dense and deals with so many 

different topics that I tell people, “Look, 

man, if you want to close your eyes and 

stop paying attention for a couple of 

minutes, that’s totally fine. You don’t 

gotta be stuck to the screen for every 

detail of the film. Drift away if you want.” 

Black Mother 

Director: Khalik Allah 

Jamaica/USA, 2018 

77 minutes 

38 



cookup 

Some like 

it sweet 


Illustration by 

Shalini Seereeram 

It used to be that sweet-toothed Caribbean 

people were satisfied with a good oldfashioned 

sponge cake. But, as Franka Philip 

explains, the profusion of delectable dessert 

images on Instagram in recent years has 

raised expectations, and more sophisticated 

tastes. Bakers and pastry chefs across the 

Caribbean are keeping up, with unexpected 

flavours and elaborate techniques 

I’m the first to admit I’ve spent more than enough time on the social networking 

platform Instagram looking at “food porn.” That isn’t some kind of bizarre fetish — 

it’s a term used to describe ridiculously amazing-looking food, food so gorgeous it 

makes you weak with desire. 

And, undoubtedly, much of my lust is reserved for gorgeous desserts, especially 

incredibly ornate cakes and anything that screams chocolate decadence. 

Social media — particularly Instagram, with its more than eight hundred million users 

— is the place where people with cameras who love food post everything from photos 

of their “best spicy doubles” to the high-end meal they just had at renowned restaurant 

The Cliff in Barbados. But Instagram doesn’t just titillate foodies like me — it’s also been 

pushing chefs and restaurants to raise their game on the presentation front. 

“Most of us who document our meals online are amateurs, but there exists a sizeable, 

and hugely profitable, industry of professional food bloggers and Instagrammers, whose 

pristine food styling sets the tone for a whole aesthetic movement,” says British chef and 

food writer Ruby Tandoh in her UK Guardian food column. 

This “aesthetic movement” in social media has also driven a whole new class of culinary 

entrepreneurs: cake and pastry makers. A decade ago, most people were satisfied 

with a moist chocolate cake, cheesecake, or a hearty pound cake for special occasions, 

but now customers — largely driven by social media and food television — are asking for 

bespoke cakes with more complex designs and a more creative fusion of flavours. And 

these cakes are not cheap. Interestingly, in the Caribbean, although many countries are 

facing difficult economic times, the demand for cakes and desserts is as huge as ever. 

In Trinidad, for example, brilliant cake designers can be found across the country. 

Sherikah Singh, the woman behind the Sundara Cake design studio in Central Trinidad, 

doesn’t have a storefront and conducts her business exclusively online. “I started building 

my business solely via word of mouth, so social media for business is a fairly recent choice 

for me. I’m still getting the hang of it, but so far it has been great,” she says. 

“I’m able to show more of what I can do to a wider audience. I’m garnering new followers 

every day, resulting in new clients for my business, with the majority of them staying 

with me long-term. People have almost instant access to me and my products, so the 

convenience for both myself and my clients is certainly an advantage.” 

Singh, who has been baking professionally for about fifteen years, believes that social 

media is a big factor in the rising demand for specialty cakes. “Most times, we see something 

we like online, then we find someone who can recreate it. What’s popular online 

also seems to be directly related to what becomes popular here [in Trinidad]. For instance, 


41

the increase in elaborate dessert tables at events, and our newfound love of 

French macarons.” 

Singh has developed a reputation for the innovative use of unexpected flavours 

in her cakes. “I’m known for my curry cake with coconut buttercream, 

my masala chai carrot cake with cream cheese buttercream and scratch-made 

salted caramel, and my ponche de crème cake at Christmas.” 

But the most popular cake among her clients is a classic rich chocolate mud 

cake with couverture chocolate ganache. “Can’t beat a good old-fashioned 

chocolate cake,” she notes. 

Meanwhile, award-winning Bajan pastry chef Javon Cummins has found 

that experiments with local products excite his clients. Cummins was 

awarded the title of Pastry Chef of the Year at the highly competitive 

Taste of the Caribbean event in 2017. He’s known as one of the most dynamic 

pastry chefs in the region. 

“There is a desire to push local desserts, but the thing is to elevate them 

while keeping that traditional flavour and taste,” he says. “For example, 

molasses is one of the ingredients in my smoked chocolate cake, and I’ve 

even used local sweet potato flour to make a decadent dark chocolate sweet 

potato brownie.” 

Another challenge for chefs and bakers are the myriad dietary issues their 

clients face. Port of Spain cake maker Lisa-Marie Stewart — known as the 

Cake Madame — suffers from nut allergies. Because of this, she makes it 

a point to tell potential customers they must inform her of any allergies or 

dietary options so she can customise her recipes accordingly. She now makes 

a range of gluten-free, flourless, and eggless cakes. 

Not only are people buying more cakes and desserts, they are also eager 

to learn to make them at home. In the short time they’ve been around, 

Check out our chefs and bakers on Instagram: 

Sundara Cake Studio: @sundaracakestudio 

Javon Cummins: @billionare_chef 

The Cake Madame: @thecakemadame 

The Academy of Baking and Pastry Arts: @thebakingacademytt 

the Academy of Baking and Pastry Arts in 

Port of Spain has taught hundreds of eager 

foodies to refine their technique. The Academy 

specialises in “artistry of patisserie, 

gateaux, and boulangerie” — or for those 

who don’t know much French, pastries, 

cakes, and bread-making. According to 

Rayne Kirpalani, director of the academy, 

the dessert and baking courses tend to 

attract caterers who want to beef up their 

dessert-making skills, as well as passionate 

home bakers. 

She explains that courses on classic 

cakes, classic cheesecakes, and macarons 

do well, but an unexpected favourite is 

cupcakes. “Wow, Trinis love a cupcake,” 

she says. “We do a course called Cupcakes 

Unlimited where we incorporate a lot of 

Caribbean flavours, incluing alcohol. So 

we have rum and Coca-Cola–flavoured 

cupcakes, Malibu pineapple and piña colada cakes. 

I find a lot of people are coming for new flavour 

creations, and to learn to master that technique.” 

Kirpalani also notes that many clients are keen 

to get into the catering business. “When people 

come to us, they say, ‘I’m starting my own business 

and I want to perfect these skills’ — they want to 

learn the proper methods, and so they really ask 

the chefs for a lot of tips.” 

As far as trends in desserts and baking go, 

Kirpalani believes people want to enjoy delicious 

desserts while keeping one eye on their health. 

“The gluten-free thing is still going very strong. 

Eggless desserts are as well.” 

Sherikah Singh looks to fields like art and 

architecture, culture and nature for inspiration, 

but her cakes are largely based on what will keep 

her customers happy. “It’s more a reflection of my 

clients rather than my personal design aesthetic. 

I’m hoping to show more of myself in my work 

going forward.” 

“I see a lot of highly textured cake designs, and 

more earth tones becoming a staple, as well as 

hand-painted designs,” Singh says. “We’re really 

looking at cakes as a blank canvas for expression.” 

For his part, Javon Cummins sees the classics 

as the basis for the new direction in cakes and 

desserts. “We are taking classic desserts and 

deconstructing them. We’re serving desserts 

in glasses, and mousse cakes are becoming much 

more popular.” 

And on Instagram? When I last lusted — I 

mean, looked — I was drawn to the feed of Chef 

Jason Licker, one of my favourites, who prides 

himself on being ahead of the curve. Who’s up for 

chocolate and caramel passion cake served with 

Chinese five spice chocolate cream? I know I am! n 

42 


Immerse 

Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo 

44 Backstory 

Remembering 

Windrush 

50 

Own Words 

“I woke up with an 

entire song in my 

head” 

50 Snapshot 

Her side of the story 

Trinidadian singer Mona Baptise arrives in Britain on the Empire Windrush, June 1948

ackstory 

Remembering 

Windrush 

Seventy years ago, the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in the River 

Thames, and hundreds of West Indian passengers disembarked. It’s 

remembered as the beginning of a period of large-scale immigration 

from the West Indies to the United Kingdom, and the dawn of a new 

multicultural Britain. A new exhibition at the British Library in London 

marks the anniversary of that storied day 

The history and culture of Britain have been 

shaped in all kinds of ways, obvious and subtle, 

by the country’s relationship with its former 

Caribbean colonies. When the first British settlers 

landed in St Kitts in 1623 with a royal patent from 

King James I — establishing the “mother colony” 

of the British West Indies — it began a centuries-long, worldchanging, 

and still ongoing exchange of people, commodities, 

language, culture, and ideas across the Atlantic. 

But in that long history of movement back and forth between 

the British Isles and the Caribbean archipelago, one moment has 

become especially celebrated: the arrival of the Empire Windrush 

on 21 June, 1948, with its more than eight hundred West Indian 

passengers. Legally British subjects, with rights of citizenship, 

they arrived in postwar London to try their chances in the 

imperial capital. They were not the first, but the extensive press 

coverage of their landing at the Port of Tilbury led to an association 

in the public memory between West Indian immigration and 

the Windrush. 

They were also certainly not the last. Encouraged by the 

UK government and industries hampered by labour shortages, 

thousands more West Indians travelled to Britain over the next 

decade. Taking up jobs with the National Health Service, British 

Rail, and London’s public transport, they helped the war-ravaged 

country get back on its feet. By the early 1960s, there were 

almost 200,000 people in Britain born in the West Indies. 

Inevitably, there was a backlash. West Indians in Britain 

faced racial prejudice in all forms, from rejections by potential 

landlords to outright violence. The intolerance and conflict of 

the 1950s and 60s continue to shape British society today. But 

the migrants who came to be known as the Windrush generation, 

and their children and grandchildren, also enriched the 

UK immeasurably. Twenty-first-century Britain is inconceivable 

without their contributions to politics, commerce, arts, 

and sports (just look at the England team at the recent FIFA 

World Cup). 

Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land draws on the extensive 

collections of the British Library to tell the story of the Windrush 

generation through documents, photographs, sound recordings, 

and other archival materials — looking for “the deeper reasons 

why the arrival of the Windrush became a symbol for the origins 

of British multiculturalism,” putting the wave of postwar migration 

into a wider historic perspective. As co-curator Elizabeth 

Cooper explains, the exhibition “seeks to open up a conversation 

about the ways slavery, colonialism, and race have through 

history structured British identity and society — a context that 

is today more relevant than ever, given the recent headlines 

relating to the Windrush generation.” 

She adds: “culture has been fundamental to struggles for 

freedom and belonging.” As visitors to the British Library 

explore the artefacts collected here, they’ll surely reflect that 

those struggles are far from over. n 


The Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury 

with 1,027 passengers — more than 

eight hundred of them West Indian 

immigrants, considered UK citizens 

under the British Nationality Act 

Contraband Collection/Alamy Stock Photo 


courtesy the british library 


The migrants who came to be known as the Windrush 

generation, and their children and grandchildren, enriched 

the UK immeasurably. Twenty-first-century Britain is 

inconceivable without their contributions 


Left This photo from the British Library exhibition 

depicts a newly arrived West Indian woman, waiting 

with her luggage 

Above In addition to artefacts from the British 

Library’s own collections, Songs in a Strange Land also 

includes objects borrowed from other institutions and 

from private collections — like this souvenir postcard, 

purchased on board the Windrush by Jamaican 

Winston Levy, which now belongs to his daughter 

Andrea Levy. A celebrated writer, Levy is best known 

for her novel Small Island, inspired by the lives of 

Jamaican immigrants in London 

Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land opened at the British Library on 1 June and runs until 

21 October, 2018. For more information, visit www.bl.uk 


47



Opposite page West 

Indian immigration to the 

UK didn’t start with the 

Windrush. This Second 

World War poster explains 

the contributions of West 

Indians in Britain to the war 

effort 

Right The 1959 novel 

To Sir, With Love, about 

a West Indian teacher 

working in an East London 

school, was based on the 

real-life experiences of 

writer E.R. Braithwaite, 

born in British Guiana. 

Braithwaite’s original 

typescript shows his 

extensive revisions, some 

of them made in response 

to racial tensions in the 

late 1950s. 


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49

own words 

“I woke 

up with 

an entire 

song in 

my head” 

I 

come from a very musical family. My grandfather played several 

instruments and also sang, so my father was raised in an environment 

that was full of music. He wrote traditional songs for a folk group called 

La Jeune Etoile. He also played goatskin drum, harmonica, and twelvestring 

guitar. 

Like him, I developed a love of music as a result of growing up with 

it all around me. We did a lot of singing at home — the family would actually 

make a point of it — and my mum says I was just two years old when I started. 

We were like the Grand Bay von Trapps! 

Musical influences were diverse. My father listened to country music and 

reggae, so at home I would be exposed to a mixture of Kenny Rogers, Johnny 

Cash, Dolly Parton, and Bob Marley. Local music came from the likes of 

Ophelia Marie, Gordon Henderson, and the Midnight Groovers. 

Growing up here in Grand Bay was also a factor. Calypso, a very traditional 

Carnival, and the annual Fete Isidore were all vibrant events. People would 

compose songs especially for them — there would be colourful costume 

parades that began at the church just across the street, and they would draw 

in performers and crowds from neighbouring communities such as Petite 

Savanne, Bagatelle, Dubique. 

I studied music theory and learned to play classical flute at the Kairi School 

of Music in Dominica, which is sadly no more. I was also a member of its junior 

choir, and would often have lead singing roles in the school’s musical productions. 

When I was fourteen, I came fourth in a regional singing competition in 

Barbados, and it sparked something in me. I thought, I could do this, I could 

compete at a high level. In 1995, I won a song contest here in Dominica, and 

after graduating I went straight into music. I was bitten by the bug. 

At the age of sixteen, I joined a jazz band called Impact, where I was a 

vocalist and flautist — and where I met my bass-playing husband, who is now 

also my producer. I knew about jazz, but didn’t sing or play it before joining 

the band. 

Although I perform different genres, such as zouk and cadancelypso, I 

love the expressiveness of jazz, and I have had the opportunity to perform 

with jazz greats such as Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. They were amazing 

experiences, and the fact that I sang and played flute with them on their tours 

Singer-songwriter Michele 

Henderson, performing at 

October’s World Creole 

Music Festival, on her 

musical childhood and 

her transition to the 

international stage — as told 

to Paul Crask, at her home 

in Grand Bay, Dominica 

Photography by Paul Crask 

made me feel even more determined to continue 

and succeed with jazz composition. 

Impact actually cut a jazz album called Islander 

before the band kind of fizzled out as an entity, and 

the members supported me as a solo artist. This 

gave me the opportunity to write and compose all 

my own songs, a process I really enjoy, and which I 

would like to do more of for other musicians. 

Composing music happens in different ways 

for me. Sometimes I just develop lyric ideas 

while I am working around the house and 

homestead, feeding the chickens, weeding vegetable 

beds, and so on. Then afterwards I figure out a 

melody that goes with it. Other times I get a tune in 

my head and the process works in reverse. On one 

occasion, in Paris, I woke up with an entire song 

in my head — I had a dream where I was singing 

this song, and I wrote down the entire thing in the 

morning. It was just there, waiting to come out. 

I compose songs in both English and French 

Creole, though I have not always spoken the latter. 

My grandmother outlawed French Creole around 

the house because it was viewed as a peasant 

language — she saw herself as a higher status, I 

suppose. The funny thing was she would actually 

reprimand us about it in French Creole. So, 

even though I was not allowed to speak it about 

the house or in the yard, I grew up hearing the 

language around me — it is the unofficial first 

language of Grand Bay. 

My father was also raised that way, yet he 

ended up composing many Creole folk songs. 

Even though Creole was outlawed at home, it was 


always in my head, and in the end speaking and writing songs in the language 

came to me quite easily. 

I have a following in the French islands, so composing and recording songs 

in Creole is a conscious decision that makes a lot of sense because, combined, 

Martinique and Guadeloupe are a huge listening audience, much bigger than 

here at home. 

So far, I have recorded six albums and put out a live DVD. Lately I have been 

doing a lot of travelling — both performing and trying to spend more time with 

“Sometimes I just develop lyric ideas while 

I am working around the house . . . Then 

afterwards I figure out a melody that goes 

with it” 

my two daughters, who are studying in the USA and Canada. But I feel that 

right now I would really like to write and produce more. I have tons of albums 

in mind. I would like to do a Christmas project with a focus on island traditions. 

I would also really like to take some of our local folk songs and put them to jazz. 

I have done this live with a song called “Sa Sa Ye Sa” — it’s on YouTube — and 

it’s a fun way to introduce and perform a traditional Dominica song to a new 

audience. It keeps it alive. So I would like to make an album with more of that, 

rearranging those old tunes into a Creole jazz style. 

Being an international artist comes with responsibilities, of course. I am a 

goodwill ambassador for Dominica, and have had 

the opportunity recently to perform at benefit concerts 

in the wake of Hurricane Maria. I was here 

during the storm. It was intense living right on the 

coast. Big trees came down, the church roof ended 

up in our yard, waves were coming right up against 

the wall. The strength of the wind was extraordinary. 

And the morning after, stepping outside to 

see the devastation was simply shocking. 

In light of Dominica’s recovery from all that, 

it will be nice to perform at World Creole Music 

Festival again in October — this time with Mizik A 

Nou All-Stars, which was a project that was started 

at the very first World Creole Music Festival [in 

1997]. The songs we composed back then were 

very popular on the radio, so it will be great to 

revive that repertoire. I’m looking forward to it. n 

Dominica’s World Creole Music Festival 

takes place annually over the final weekend 

in October. The 2018 festival will begin on 

Friday 26 October and end on Sunday 28 

October. For line-up and ticket information, 

visit www.dominicafestivals.com 


51

snapshot 

Her side 

of the 

story 

Photography by Mark Lyndersay 

The Naipauls are Trinidad’s most 

famous literary dynasty, and their 

story has been told, in fiction 

and memoir, by Nobel laureate 

V.S. Naipaul. For decades, writing 

was the exclusive domain of the 

Naipaul men — but a new memoir 

by Savi Naipaul Akal has changed 

that, and told a different side of 

the family story. Ingrid Persaud 

learns how The Naipauls of 

Nepaul Street came to be 

Savi Naipaul Akal exudes poise and presence. 

And charm. Buckets of charm. For our interview 

at her home in Valsayn, east of Port of Spain, 

she leads me to a table covered with a crisp 

white tablecloth weighed down by homemade 

cakes and finger sandwiches. The huge floral 

arrangement sitting in the middle stems from her own garden. 

I am here to find out what motivated her to trade the ease of 

her twilight years for the graft of writing her recently published 

memoir, The Naipauls of Nepaul Street, launched in April 2018 at 

the NGC Bocas Lit Fest. 

Akal offers a selection of teas from her family’s own luxury 

brand. I decide on the evocatively named Tobago Afternoon 

blend. As she pours, Akal remarks that although she knew the 

story of her parents, Ma and Pa, deserved to be written, she 

never imagined it would be by her pen. Writing was the purview 

of the Naipaul men — starting with her father, Seepersad Naipaul, 

and her brothers Shiva, who died young, and of course the 

Nobel laureate, Vidia — known to the world as V.S. 

If any of the five Naipaul sisters were to write the family 

history, then Kamla, the eldest, once seemed the most likely. 

Indeed, Savi halted work on an earlier draft of her book because 

Kamla had declared her intention to undertake a similar project. 

Despite their differences, Savi graciously gave way to her sister, 

reasoning that Kamla had eight years more information and 

perspective on their shared history — and, as first born, was 

entitled to a certain deference. But Kamla passed away in 2009 

without publishing a text. 

With Kamla gone, and Vidia now aged and incapacitated, it 

was Akal’s moment. The stories begged to move from her mind 

and become words on a page. Still, she dithered. But a chance 

lunch with Arnold Rampersad, emeritus professor at Stanford 

University, changed everything. He encouraged, no, insisted 

that Savi write her memoir. Jenny Naipaul, Shiva’s widow, 

echoed Rampersad. Akal is certain the book would not have 

happened without their active encouragement. Draft after draft 

landed on Rampersad’s desk. With kindness and patience, he 

read, argued, and gently pushed her, while Jenny did the final 

editing before UK-based Peepal Tree Press snapped it up. 

While she had never previously published anything, Akal found 

writing her memoir a natural and fluid process. I was stunned to 

hear that, even though her drafts were handwritten before being 

passed on to be typed up, it took her only eighteen months to 

complete her two-hundred-plus-page work. It turns out Akal has 

always been a secret writer, filling journal pages daily, the act of 

writing her mode of making sense of her lived experiences. 

As she speaks, her voice breaks slightly, tinged with regret at 

not having, in her eyes, a proper career. I find this interesting coming 

from a woman, now in her early eighties, who has had a portfolio 

of careers. In her time, Akal has been a respected high school 

teacher, a decent administrator, and for more than three decades 

a successful businesswoman running an upmarket boutique. All 

this she did while raising three impressive children and supporting 

her husband’s career as a much-sought-after physician. 

While Akal makes light of what she has achieved, it 

could not have been easy producing a book when so 

much has already been written about the Naipauls. 

A House for Mr Biswas (1961) is V.S. Naipaul’s highly fictionalised 

account of Pa’s relationship with his wife’s people — the wealthy 



53

and politically prominent Capildeo clan. Later, he also wrote 

explicitly of his father’s thwarted writing ambitions and his 

indebtedness to Pa in Finding the Centre (1984), and the family 

correspondence was published in Letters Between a Father and Son 

(1998). Whatever was not publicly known about Sir Vidia was 

exposed by Patrick French in his biography The World Is What It Is, 

published a decade ago. 

Yet in these narratives the Naipaul women are at best secondary, 

and sometimes almost invisible — even after Pa passed away. 

A corrective text was necessary. Brought up to fulfil the role of a 

Writing was the purview of the 

Naipaul men. If any of the five 

Naipaul sisters were to write the 

family history, then Kamla, the 

eldest, seemed the most likely 

traditional Hindu wife, Droapatie Capildeo, Ma, was by nature 

conservative. She obeyed her husband, brought up the children, 

and accepted her lot in life. Discipline in the form of quick slaps 

came from Ma, leaving Pa free to indulge their children. Whenever 

Pa, a journalist, regaled the family with embellished tales 

loosely based on events he covered for the newspaper, Ma would 

admonish him for filling the children’s heads with foolishness. Of 

all the siblings, it was Savi who was home the longest to enjoy 

Pa’s stories, and was perhaps closest to him. And of course it also 

meant she inherited the pain of her father’s unfulfilled ambitions. 

But Akal believes it is also time to recognise Ma’s contribution. 

The family could not have risen from their humble beginnings 

to produce a Nobel laureate in the lightning speed of one 

generation without her. Like many immigrants, both parents 

believed in the power of education to dig their way out of 

poverty. Usually this meant churning out children who become 

professionals — doctors, lawyers, or, at a push, accountants. But 

Pa had an audacious plan. They would write their way out. Ma 

may not have understood how this was possible, or even agreed 

with the idea, but she dutifully followed, endlessly sacrificing to 

help her husband fulfil his dream. Three generations later, look 

how far Pa’s crazy idea has come. 

Ma’s contribution wasn’t only in the scrimping and saving 

and making-do to ensure that both her sons — and, 

remarkably for that time, all five of her daughters — 

received a university education. She was also the main repository 

of the family’s oral history. Much of the research for V.S. Naipaul’s 

books came from what Akal describes as savage “interrogations” 

of their mother. Ma remained proud and loyal of that son, despite 

finding out about both his knighthood and his Nobel Prize only 

from the newspapers — and she certainly was never invited to 

any of the celebrations. 

Akal’s memoir also charts Ma’s quiet path to a state of independence. 

Without seeking anyone’s permission, she took a job 

at her brother’s quarry, saving her wages to help the household 

and later paying for a trip to India which, at her insistence, she 

did alone. I ask Akal what else her readers might be surprised to 

learn. Her eyes twinkle. Unusually, for both her parents this 



55

was a second marriage. And while their family were atypical 

in being urban Indo-Trinidadians, many were surprised at her 

in-depth knowledge of the life of Indians in the countryside. Few 

also knew of the Naipauls’ precarious finances, never seeing 

beyond the smart dresses they sewed themselves or the polished 

wooden floors of their home. 

What I also discovered from The Naipauls of Nepaul Street 

was that the self-effacing woman in front of me had sacrificed 

her own education and intellectual fulfilment several times for 

what she saw as the greater good of her family. Akal possesses 

a deep sense of duty and loyalty to her family — a loyalty that 

meant she always kept Ma close, nursed her dying sister, and 

loves her youngest sibling fiercely, even if that baby sister, Nalini, 

is now herself a grandmother. Even as Akal exposes the chaos 

and uncertainty of their upbringing, it is clear it comes from a 

place of love. 

The quiet of the house is interrupted by her eldest son Rai 

dropping by for an unexpected visit. Her charming husband 

appears, and announces teatime is over. Would I try one of his 

famous martinis? 

And, just like that, I am welcomed into their daily routine of a 

dry martini, as we watch the sun set fire to the sky. n 

In Nepaul Street 

An excerpt from chapter three of The Naipauls of Nepaul Street, by Savi Naipaul Akal 

My father had bought the 

house in Nepaul Street 

from a young man and his 

mother, named Nieves. Of Portuguese 

descent, Mr Nieves worked as a 

solicitor’s clerk. He had supervised 

the building of the house, where sills 

and frames were often crooked (I 

know, because I made the draperies). 

Apparently his aged mother was no 

longer able to climb the steep and 

uneven steps to the upper floor. 

Our home, which seems so small 

today, was bright and beautiful and 

inviting. A two-storey building, the 

bedrooms and the bathroom were 

on the upper floor, while the livingroom, 

dining-room, and kitchen 

were on the ground floor. Upstairs, 

between the two bedrooms and 

facing the street was an open-sided 

gallery on the southwestern corner 

which was immediately turned into a 

half-bedroom for Vidia. The wooden 

partitions between the rooms had 

open woodwork grilles at the tops. The 

windows remained open except during 

rain, and the winds skipped through 

both bedrooms. The openness of 

the ground floor, with its lattice 

panels on which a bleeding-heart 

vine grew, mitigated the smallness of 

the house and allowed plenty of light 

and good ventilation. No part of that 

small, compact house was dark or 

claustrophobic. 

Our parents’ bedroom had its 

SlumberKing bed, with the hat-rack 

pinned on the back of one of its doors. 

A tiny desk was in the corner and later 

they would add a cypre wardrobe with 

a full-length mirror. The girls’ bedroom 

had a tall iron four-poster with a smaller 

bed in which Kamla and Shiva slept. 

There was room for a decent corridor 

between the beds. We also had a 

bureau with four drawers to hold our 

belongings and a draped makeshift 

cupboard behind one of the doors that 

held our dresses, with shoe-boxes 

on the top. The two-tiered cotton 

curtains, graduating from cretonne to 

broderie anglaise over the years, allowed 

privacy and easy laundering. All laundry 

was done by hand over a washtub by 

our mother. 

With Pa’s gardening skills, through 

each bedroom we could view greenery: 

the hills and acacia tree to the north, 

our neighbours the Sudans’ breadfruit 

tree to the south, and our struggling 

plum tree to the east, which finally 

grew into view bearing few fruit but 

shiny leaves. That the property faced 

west into the afternoon sun was a 

definite drawback. But with everyone 

out of the house except on weekends 

and during the school holidays, 

we managed the heat of the early 

afternoons. We had a very small yard 

with a curved driveway to the garage. In 

retrospect, the size of the plot made 

it easier to manage, with a tiny garden 

on three sides and a back area for the 

laundry lines. 

Our arrival at 26 Nepaul Street was 

unforgettable. There was a hubbub 

of activity involving only our family. Pa 

and Vido had to mount the beds while 

Ma and Kamla were putting up the 

salmon-pink draperies and encasing 

the cushions of the Morris chairs with 

matching flowered cretonne. The 

Morris chairs had come as part of the 

deal with the house. 

With polished floors and matching 

rugs, a small table and a shining brass 

pot with three legs and the heads of 

lions, and the smell of new linoleum on 

the kitchen floor, we were buzzing with 

joy and experiencing a lightness that 

would carry on for days. Mira, Shiva, and 

I had nothing to do but keep out of the 

way. Sati must have been doing some 

kind of pleasurable chore like hanging 

our teacups on the cup-hooks left by 

the previous owners. The Rediffusion 

box on the wall in the gallery upstairs 

provided news and music, and our 

world seemed complete. (These 

boxes, or closed-circuit transmitters, 

rented by the month and operated 

by Radio Trinidad, were everywhere in 

homes before radios became cheap 

and the government granted licences 

for other stations to operate.) With 

time, the old kitchen table that held 

our pots and pans would be replaced 

and Ma would enjoy working on her 

two-burner kerosene stove. We as 

children were happy and carefree, 

but we had no idea what this, our 

new home, would have meant to our 

parents, who had struggled over the 

years to get to home base. 

The Naipauls of Nepaul Street (ISBN 

97818452323648) is published by 

Peepal Tree Press 


ARRIVE 

pete oxford 

58 Destination 

Guyana by the score 

70 Neighbourhood 

South Coast, Barbados 

72 Explore 

Falling for Havana 

80 

In the Bag 

“In my dreams, my travel journals 

look like illuminated manuscripts” 

Guyana’s vast rainforests are home to hundreds of bird species and other extraordinary wildlife

destination 

pete oxford 

The Rupununi River is a wild 

playground at the heart of Guyana 

58 


Guyana 

by the score 

Guyana, on an island scale, is vast: 83,000 

square miles of Atlantic coast, mighty 

rivers, savannahs and forests stretching to 

the horizon. It can be overwhelming for a 

first-time visitor — so we’ll help you narrow 

it down. Here are twenty key places, 

events, and things that capture the true 

spirit of “the land of many waters” 

1 The Rupununi 

The Rupununi River — a tributary of the Essequibo — 

lends its name to this expanse of rolling savannahs in 

Guyana’s southwest, bisected by the Kanuku Mountains. 

Sere grasslands dotted with sandpaper trees — named for 

the texture of their leaves — suddenly turn lush green with 

the arrival of the mid-year rains, and temporary lakes form 

as quickly as mirages. The river and its many creeks, lined 

by strips of forest, are home to dozens of extraordinary 

species: from giant river otters to parrots and macaws. 

Many indigenous communities of the Rupununi — such 

as Surama, Nappi, Rewa, and Wowetta — now run their 

own eco-tourism outfits, hosting visitors in rustic quarters 

and offering wildlife tours and trekking. And two of the 

immense cattle ranches established here in the nineteenth 

century survive as tourism outposts: Karanambo in the 

north and Dadanawa in the south, both offering familystyle 

rugged comfort. 


59

The celebrated Victoria 

amazonica lily, with its six-footwide 

leaves and night-blooming 

flowers, is a treasure of the 

Rupununi 

pete oxford 

2 Shell Beach 

4 Pakaraima Mountains 

Near Guyana’s northernmost point, past the mouth of the Pomeroon River, 

a ninety-mile stretch of untouched coast is the annual nesting ground for no 

fewer than four species of endangered sea turtles. Unlike the Atlantic mudflats 

further south, Shell Beach is made of up countless seashells pulverised 

to sand: perfect terrain for sea turtles to lay their eggs in excavated nests. 

Backed by mangrove forest and ité palms, the region is also famed for its 

diversity of bird species — everything from scarlet ibis to kingfishers, spoonbills 

to flamingoes. Visits to this remote region are organised via the Guyana 

Marine Turtle Conservation Society. Don’t be mistaken, this is no luxury 

vacation: the beach camp accommodation definitely qualifies as roughing it, 

but the extraordinary natural surroundings make it worth the effort. 

3 Iwokrama 

Near Guyana’s geographical heart, on the west bank of the Essequibo River, 

the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development 

manages 1,432 square miles of rainforest, a hotbed of biodiversity 

— and makes this pristine ecosystem accessible to visitors. A hike up Turtle 

Mountain to gaze down upon the unbroken forest, a nocturnal jaunt on the 

river looking for the bright eyes of submerged caiman, a heady climb along 

Iwokrama’s treetop canopy walkway — these adventures all help support 

the centre’s research and generate income to protect the rainforest for future 

generations. 

Extending over five hundred miles from west to 

east, the Pakaraimas are among the world’s oldest 

mountains, part of the 1.7-billion-year-old Guyana 

Shield. They form the northernmost boundary of 

the Amazon basin, as well as the border region 

dividing Guyana from its neighbours Venezuela 

and Brazil. Many of the Pakaraimas are tepuis, 

distinctive flat-topped mountains that seem to float 

above the clouds like islands — and mightiest of 

all is Roraima, where the boundaries of Guyana, 

Venezuela, and Brazil converge. The best way to 

visit? Try the annual Pakaraima Safari, in which 

a convoy of intrepid 4x4s make their way through 

valleys and over passes down to the Ireng River. 

5 1763 Monument 

Arguably Georgetown’s most significant public 

artwork, the 1763 Monument, designed by Philip 

Moore, stands at the head of Brickdam, one of 

the capital’s main avenues. Depicting the historical 

figure of the heroic revolutionary Cuffy, the 

monument commemorates the first major uprising 

of enslaved Africans in what was then Dutch Guiana 

— a full seventy years before Emancipation. 


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Guyana offers remarkable investment prospects for 

eco-tourism and recreational facilities, with unspoiled 

rainforests, rivers, plains, and exotic wildlife as well as 

flora and fauna, plus increased opportunities in aviation, 

transportation, residential and commercial construction, 

accommodation, and healthcare. 

There are two international airports in Guyana with 

regular flights from several regional and international 

carriers, making this location accessible to international 

destinations. 

Contact GO-Invest for more information: 

Phone: +592-225-0658/227-0653 

Email: goinvest@govinvest.gov.gy 

www.goinvest.gov.gy 

7 Orinduik Falls 

Where the Ireng River on its southward journey tumbles over 

jasper terraces, the Orinduik Falls offer a dramatic setting of 

cascades and pools. The Pakaraima Mountains loom in the 

distance and on the far side of the river, five hundred feet away, 

is Brazil. Remote on the map, Orinduik — with its nearby 

airstrip — is actually a popular destination for tourists, as it’s 

often included in the itinerary for a Kaieteur day-trip. Pack your 

swimming suit and towel! 

8 Bartica and the Mazaruni 

At the confluence of the Essequibo, Mazaruni, and Cuyuni Rivers, 

Bartica still has a rough frontier charm befitting its status as 

the last outpost before the wilds of Guyana’s North West — the 

place where itinerant miners come to buy supplies, trade their 

mineral goods, and spend their hard-earned cash. The best 

reason to come here — if you’re not a budding gold prospector 

yourself — is the hour-long journey from Parika by speedboat, 

the perfect way to get a sense of the sheer size of Guyana’s 

largest river. Bartica is also the stopping-off point for one of Guyana’s 

key historical sites, the ruined Dutch fort of Kyk-Over-Al, 

on a small island in the Mazaruni. Thought to have been founded 

in 1613, the fort once represented Dutch colonial authority and 

ambition — but today all that’s left is a single stone arch. 

At Orinduik, the Ireng River 

cascades over jasper terraces 

6 Berbice 

The third of the original Dutch colonies — alongside 

Essequibo and Demerara — the region of 

Berbice, named for its main river, has long been 

celebrated as the birthplace of Guyana’s greatest 

cricketers and writers — and for its fertile land, 

where sugarcane fields and rice paddies line the 

coast. The capital, New Amsterdam, still boasts 

a series of historic buildings, documented by the 

Guyana National Trust in the New Amsterdam 

Heritage Trail. A day-trip here from Georgetown 

is a fine way to see the Demerara coast, with 

its many villages still marking the boundaries 

between the old coastal plantations, and preserving 

their names. 

pete oxford 


The Victorian clocktower of 

Stabroek Market is central 

Georgetown’s main landmark 

pete oxford 

9 Georgetown’s traditional architecture 

10 Stabroek Market 

The abundant timber of Guyana’s forests and the waterlogged soil of Georgetown 

led to a tradition of wooden architecture. Neglect, changing tastes, 

and fire have claimed many of the capital’s fine wooden residences, but 

enough of them survive to make it clear why Georgetown was considered 

the Caribbean’s loveliest city a century ago. You can do a self-guided tour on 

a morning’s stroll along Main Street and Camp Street — look out for traditional 

Demerara windows, intricate fretwork, and classical columns worked 

in native woods. And don’t miss St George’s Cathedral, with its pristine white 

exterior and awesome timber vaulting inside — completed in 1894, and still 

one of the world’s largest buildings constructed entirely of wood. 

The Rupununi Savannah is 

still the territory of traditional 

vacqueiros 

Stabroek was what the Dutch called their settlement 

at the mouth of the Demerara River. Centuries 

later, the name survives in Georgetown’s 

landmark Stabroek Market, with its clocktower 

rising above a boisterous square that serves as a 

transport hub. Built in 1881, it remains the heart 

of a city in a phase of rapid change. Many shoppers 

now prefer shopping malls and supermarkets, 

but Stabroek Market is still a must-see for 

anyone visiting Georgetown. Any and everything 

seems to be offered for sale under its two-acre 

roof: from vegetables and fruit from farms along 

the coast and gleaming piles of river fish to 

jewellery crafted on the spot from Guyana’s highquality 

gold. 

11 Lethem Rodeo 

pete oxford 

Horseback skills are still essential for many residents 

of the Rupununi, and once a year at Easter 

they gather in the plucky border town of Lethem 

to show off their tricks in the saddle. Vacqueiros 

(Portuguese for cowboys) in leather chaps and 

Stetsons vie in bronco-bucking and steer-roping 

competitions, with a funfair at hand to entertain 

the kiddies. 

62 


Ramada Georgetown 

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Providence, EBD, Guyana, SA 

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From the vantage-point of 

a small aircraft, Guyana’s 

rainforest stretches as far as the 

eye can see 

12 Walter Roth Museum 

In an elegant old house on Main Street, the Water Roth 

Museum of Anthropology — named for a pioneering 

researcher of Guyana’s indigenous culture — houses a small 

but remarkable collection of artefacts from all of Guyana’s 

indigenous peoples (there are nine officially recognised 

“tribes,” depicted in a series of life-size paintings by artist 

and archaeologist Denis Williams, the museum’s former 

director). Look out in particular for the spectacular Wai-Wai 

headdresses decorated with macaw feathers. 

13 Castellani House 

pete oxford 

Once the official residence of Guyana’s president, nineteenth-century 

Castellani House, on the edge of Georgetown’s 

Botanical Gardens, is now home to the national 

art collection — over seven hundred paintings, drawings, 

sculptures, and works in other media. Here you’ll find 

Denis Williams’s acclaimed Human World (1950) alongside 

works by Aubrey Williams, Stanley Greaves, Philip Moore, 

Bernadette Persaud, and dozens more. Castellani House 

also hosts a regular film series, free and open to all. 


ADVERTORIAL 

14 A Guyana reading list 

Out of a rich cultural tradition, Guyanese literature is especially celebrated. 

Where to start? Perhaps with The Guyana Quartet of Wilson Harris, who died 

in early 2018 — Guyana’s most eminent (and some might say most mindboggling) 

fiction writer, whose novels bring together elements of science 

fiction, philosophy, and historical analysis in an unmistakable landscape 

of forests and rivers. Or else with the poems of Martin Carter, Guyana’s 

literary conscience, whose subjects ranged from anti-colonial politics to the 

metaphysics of identity, and whose verses are imprinted in the memories of 

many of his readers. Or seek out the books of Jan Carew, A.J. Seymour, Ian 

McDonald (Trinidad-born, but Guyanese by adoption), Pauline Melville, Fred 

D’Aguiar, Jan Shinebourne, David Dabydeen, Mahadai Das, Oonya 

Kempadoo — the list is long, and growing. 

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forming mutually beneficial relationships 

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efficient supply base to support offshore 

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The TOTALTEC Academy occupies an 

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training necessary for the industry, adjacent 

to the supply base. 

“A key focus of TOTALTEC is building 

the workforce of the future,” said Lars 

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65

Left Guyana’s diverse cultural 

mix includes traditional and 

popular Indian music and dance 

Below Sweetened coconut is 

the key ingredient in salara, a 

popular Guyanese pastry 

amanda richards 

15 Guyanese cuisine 

The country’s many ethnic influences — Amerindian, African, Indian, 

Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese — give Guyana’s cuisine a mouth-watering 

diversity. The cassava extract cassareep is the heart of pepperpot, perhaps 

the closest thing to a national dish — unless that’s metemgee, a stew of 

meat, fish, ground provisions, and coconut milk. Then there’s roti: some 

swear that Shanta’s on Camp Street in Georgetown is the next best thing 

to the homemade version. Cookup rice, garlic pork, fried river fish — that’s 

even before you come to desserts, like salara, which looks like a Swiss roll 

but is filled with sweet coconut, or pineapple tart. Just remember: an old 

saying claims if you eat labba (a kind of wild meat) and drink creek water, 

you’ll find yourself returning to end your days in Guyana . . . 

16 Diwali 

As in nearby Suriname and Trinidad, the Hindu festival of lights is a major 

celebration in Guyana’s calendar, with half of the country’s population 

descended from the Indian subcontinent. The days and weeks leading up 

to Diwali are a season of culture as much as faith, with numerous performances 

of music and dance. On the night of Diwali itself, illuminated 

parades bring a pageant of history to life in the streets, while Hindu Guyanese 

share magnificent feasts with their friends and neighbours. 

17 Essequibo resorts 

Think of an island resort, and you probably imagine something in the Grenadines: 

a white sand island surrounded by turquoise water. A Guyanese resort 

may indeed possess white sand, but the water is more likely to be a Coca- 

Cola–tinted river, its waters stained by the tannins of fallen forest leaves. 

And one of the most pleasant ways to experience the Guyanese rainforest is 

at one of the several resorts along and in the lower Essequibo River — Baganara 

Island, Shanklands, and Saxacalli are three of the best known. Here 

you’ll find comfortable cottages, ample meals made with local ingredients, 

traditional Guyanese hospitality, and the chance to explore river and forest 

with trained guides. 

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from the busy shopping areas, markets, 

supermarkets, and commercial banks. Enjoy 

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locally flavoured grilled dishes every night at 

the “Casino” location. 

At L. Seepersad Maraj & Sons, we don’t just 

sell quality jewellery at the best prices — we 

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Ramada is the ideal choice for the business 

or leisure traveller or event organiser, with 

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Experience live cuisine in Guyana’s first-ever 

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amanda richards 


A calm stretch of the 

upper Essequibo, Guyana’s 

biggest river 

pete oxford 

18 Canals and kokers 

20 Kaieteur Falls 

Much of the inhabited Guyanese coast, home to the greater part of the country’s 

population, lies below sea level. For that, we can thank the ingenious 

Dutch, who spent generations perfecting the complex series of dykes, canals, 

and sluice gates of their own low-lying country — and then brought the 

technology and know-how to their Guyanese colonies in the seventeenth 

century. You can spot the signs on the drive into Georgetown from the airport 

along the Demerara, and all through the city, and the drainage system 

is worth a closer look. Water collects in the canals, and at low tide the sluice 

gates — still called kokers, a Dutch word — are opened to drain them into 

the sea. And the whole system depends on and is protected by . . . 

19 . . . the Sea Wall 

Stretching for miles and miles along the coast, this immense dyke shelters 

Georgetown and nearby villages, and also serves as a public gathering spot. 

At its western end, near the mouth of the Demerara, the Georgetown Sea 

Wall features a Victorian bandstand and benches for taking in the view over 

the Atlantic. Strollers and joggers go back and forth across the wall itself, 

which is kite-flying central during the Easter season. On Friday nights, the 

stretch of Sea Wall on the city’s eastern outskirts becomes an informal outdoor 

party, as people park their cars, turn up their sound systems, and crack 

open bottles of El Dorado rum. 

How could we complete the list without Guyana’s 

most celebrated natural attraction? Rising in the 

Pakaraima Mountains, the Potaro River flows 

across a great sandstone plateau, slowly eroded 

over many millennia. At the head of the Potaro 

Gorge, Kaieteur — as any Guyanese can tell you 

— is the world’s largest waterfall by volume, with 

a 741-foot plunge (that’s twice the height of Victoria 

Falls and four times the height of Niagara). The 

centrepiece of a national park, Kaieteur can be 

visited on an airborne day-trip from Georgetown 

— or you can opt for the more adventurous route, 

travelling upriver for four days and overnighting 

at the falls’ cosy guesthouse. n 

Caribbean Airlines operates several 

flights daily to and from Cheddi Jagan 

International Airport in Guyana, with direct 

routes to Trinidad and North America and 

connections to other destinations 


Vol.18 No.2 – September 2018 

T&T experts explore the 

business world’s latest cha lenge 

THE VOICE OF BUSINESS IN TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 

The digital 

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69

neighbourhood 

courtesy barbados tourism authority 

South Coast, 

Barbados 

The sheltered south coast of Barbados is a 

visitors’ playground — but alongside crowded 

beaches and lively nightlife, you’ll find lots of 

history and touches of nature, too 

Beach days 

There’s no point coming to Barbados and resisting 

the call of the sea — and the south coast boasts some 

of the island’s most accessible beaches. Accra may be 

the most popular, and it’s easy to see why — broad 

stretch of white sand, warm turquoise water, laidback 

beach bar, and ample parking. Further east, 

Dover Beach is popular on weekends and located on 

the very doorstep of St Lawrence Gap. Head towards 

Oistins and you’ll stumble on Enterprise Beach, 

known to many locals as Miami Beach (above), quiet 

on weekdays and packed on weekends. 

Streetscape 

The stretch of coast between Needham’s Point to the west and South 

Point to the southeast is Barbados at its liveliest, and the island’s 

tourism hotspot. Close to the airport, blessed with a succession 

of splendid beaches, and well-connected by public transport to 

Bridgetown, the south coast boasts dozens of hotels and resorts, 

interspersed with quiet residential streets (gaps, as Bajans call them), 

restaurants, and bars galore. Few buildings rise higher than the 

treetops, and neat gardens and flowering shrubs still outnumber neon 

signs. There are areas that seem to never sleep — see St Lawrence 

Gap on the facing page — and dozy corners designed for quiet retreat. 

The best way to take in the lie of the land — or, rather, the coast? A 

stroll along the boardwalk, which hugs the shore from Bridgetown, 

running south and east, with refreshing sea views and equally 

refreshing sea breezes. 

guy harrop/Alamy Stock Photo 

Come for the fish 

The small town of Oistins is the main fishing port and fish market in 

Barbados — the place to buy fresh flying fish to cook yourself at home, 

or, come Friday night, to enjoy the local delicacy prepared by the experts, 

delectably seasoned and fried over an open fire. The Friday-night fishfry 

is a Barbados must-see — or, rather, must-taste. And a must-dance? 

Because alongside numerous fish vendors and open-air bars flowing with 

rum and Banks beer, music fills the air and the party runs late. 


Vroom, vroom 

Car fanatics — we all know one of those — should make a beeline for 

Pavilion Court in Hastings, home of the Mallalieu Motor Collection. For 

decades, businessman Bill Mallalieu has indulged his passion for classic cars, 

and for the modest admission fee you too can marvel at stylish autos dating 

back to the 1940s, from some of the most celebrated names in motoring: 

Bentley, Daimler, Volvo. Each vehicle is kept in perfect running order, and if 

you’re lucky enough to meet Mr Mallalieu himself, you’ll soon discover that 

each comes with a story of speed and daring. 

abovebarbados.com 

lu lin/shutterstock.com 

courtesy ins and outs of barbados 

Mind the gap 

The most famous nightlife strip in Barbados, 

St Lawrence Gap has the proverbial something 

for everyone, from upscale dining to inexpensive 

street food, relaxed cafés to nightclubs pulsing 

through the wee hours, and bars of every 

description. This is the place to take in live music, 

have a first date, celebrate a special occasion, 

or drown your sorrows. The mile-long stretch of 

beachside road also includes hotels ranging from 

budget to budget-breaking, and even a church — 

perhaps for Sunday morning meditations after a 

wild Saturday night out. 

Georgian style 

On the southern outskirts of Bridgetown, the Garrison is an open-air history 

museum. Once the headquarters of the British West India Regiment, its 

eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Georgian buildings surround the 

Garrison Savannah, formerly a military parade ground and now used for 

horse racing. Here you’ll find the National Cannon Collection, with more 

than two dozen historical armaments, and the landmark clocktower of the 

Main Guard building, now housing an information centre. The Barbados 

Museum occupies a building once used as a prison — some of the dark 

little cells are preserved as part of the exhibition displays, alongside period 

furniture, a map gallery to thrill cartophiles, and natural history specimens. 

Not far away, the George Washington House (below) is named for the United 

States’ first president, who lived here for a few months in 1751, visiting 

Barbados with his brother — the founding father’s sole foreign trip. 

Co-ordinates 

13º N 59.6º W 

Sea level 

BARBADOS 

Westend61 GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo 

Caribbean Airlines operates several flights each day to Grantley 

Adams International Airport in Barbados 


71

explore 


Falling for 

Havana 

Few cities in the world have such an 

aura of history and glamour as Havana. 

As Donna Yawching writes, the Cuban 

capital has its gritty side — right next to 

world-class architecture, amazing culture, 

and a spirit that has to be experienced to 

be understood 

Havana’s classic cars are an 

icon of the city 

Cuba: the very name evokes a social and political history that can fairly be called 

unique in the Caribbean, a history of revolution and defiance, of pride and pain 

and victory and more pain. It has stood unflinching against the greatest power 

in the world, and has suffered the consequences in countless ways — yet has 

somehow kept its sense of nationhood intact. Cuba, as one bus driver told me, 

is “una maravilla”! 

Many of the country’s hard realities can be ascribed to the infamous US embargo (known 

locally as El Bloqueo), which has crippled Cuba’s economy and development for more than 

half a century, forcing her inhabitants to develop a resilience and an ingenuity seldom seen 

elsewhere. 

Snubbed by the United States after Fidel Castro’s revolutionary army took control of the 

government on 1 January, 1959, the new administration turned to socialist Russia for support, 

and the rest was — sometimes very scary — history. When the Soviet Union collapsed 

at the end of 1991, the sugar-daddy relationship that had kept Cuba afloat also crumbled, and 

the fledgling nation found itself facing very difficult times indeed. 

Castro, always ready with a fine phrase, dubbed this time of deprivation the “Special 

Period.” The Cuban people, with their own wry humour, refer to it as “Los años de la vaca 

flaca,” the years of the thin cow. Basic foodstuffs were in short supply, and not only the cows 

were thin: it is estimated that the average Cuban lost about twenty pounds during the Special 

Period. 

The solution was inevitable: Cuba — a beautiful island with some magnificent beaches 

— turned to international tourism in a desperate quest for hard currency. A society that had 

long been shut off from the Western world was suddenly courting visitors from Canada and 

Europe. Americans were legally banned (by their own government, with the threat of severe 

penalties) from travelling to the island. 

danm12/shutterstock.com 


73

For years, Cuba’s tourism was restricted to the all-inclusive 

hotels in places like Varadero and Holguín, as the government 

attempted to safeguard the purity of its socialist revolution by 

keeping such crass capitalist enterprises in-house. But, under 

the table, a few people were still finding a way to skirt the rules, 

albeit on a very small scale. I recall my first visit to Cuba in 2006, 

when a local man approached me furtively and asked if I’d like a 

good home-cooked meal. My hotel’s food was uninspiring, to say 

the least, so I agreed — and had to follow him two steps behind 

so the ever-present police wouldn’t catch on. 

It was all very cloak-and-dagger, and, thankfully, no longer 

necessary. In the last decade, necessity and common sense have 

led to a loosening of these strictures, and the system of casas 

particulares — rentals of rooms 

in private households — and 

paladares — privately owned 

restaurants — came into existence. 

The casas now offer a 

budget-conscious way to visit 

the island, as well as a far more 

authentic cultural experience 

for those who believe that travel is more than just piña coladas 

and salsa lessons on the beach. 

Cubans have leapt onto the capitalist bandwagon with a 

gusto that must have made Castro’s revolutionary heart sink 

while he still lived. Anyone with a passable spare room can 

apply for a licence to put it up for rent. The resulting income has 

greatly improved the homeowners’ quality of life, and no doubt 

benefited the government’s coffers as well, since the rooms are 

highly taxed. 

As is always the case with tourism, this change has been 

a mixed blessing: in heavily marketed tourist areas such as 

Varadero, Viñales, and Trinidad de Cuba, almost every house is 

either a casa or a restaurant (or both), to the point where the town 

It takes time, and a certain mindset, 

to fall for Havana, which was once the 

pride of the Spanish empire 

is nothing more than a tourist playground, all authenticity lost. 

And, increasingly, people are leaving professional jobs because 

they can make more money renting out their guest room. Who 

can blame them? The official Cuban salary is exceedingly low by 

Western standards: anywhere from the equivalent of US$15 per 

month at the low end, to US$60 or so for doctors, for example. 

Meanwhile, the basic casa room rents for US$20 to 25 a night, 

and up, depending on location and facilities. 

And for a first visit to Cuba? The capital city is still the place 

to start. 

I love Havana: it’s a dynamic place, full of contrasts, 

frustrations, and rewards. But it takes time, and a certain 

mindset, to fall for this city, 

which was once the pride 

of the Spanish empire. It is 

a streetscape of beautiful 

historic buildings, and — right 

next door — crumbling ruins. 

The crippling of the Cuban 

economy by El Bloqueo left 

little money for maintenance, and magnificent buildings have 

literally fallen down. 

In 1982, UNESCO — describing the city as “the most impressive 

historical city centre in the Caribbean and one of the most notable 

in the American continent as a whole,” with “many buildings of 

outstanding architectural merit” — designated Old Havana and its 

fortification systems a World Heritage Site. That in turn triggered 

significant restoration works in the intervening years. 

Today, you will find lavishly restored buildings in some parts 

of the city (usually the tourist areas) and absolute squalour 

in others. Visitors with bemused faces stumble along on the 

erupted sidewalks, skirting piles of rubble and rubbish, trying 

not to look aghast. Yet, even on the worst-looking streets, this is 

In a traditional bar in Old 

Havana, there’s always 

time for a cigar 



75 

danm12/shutterstock.com

photosounds/shutterstock.com 

A leafy stretch of the Paseo del Prado 

the safest city I know, day or night. And the Cuban people, hands 

down, possess the most irrepressible warmth and joyfulness of 

spirit in the world. I wouldn’t say this if it wasn’t true. Any salsa 

club will bear me out. 

The trick to Havana is to ignore the grunge and seek out the 

culture. (Or, you could just stay in the Old City and down mojitos 

— that works too.) 

Museums abound, some large, some eccentric — like the 

Museum of Playing Cards, or the Museum of Firemen. Be aware 

that most of the documentation 

will be in Spanish, with 

no translations — a particular 

drawback in the culturally 

important Museo de la Revolución, 

where almost all of the 

exhibits need to be read. Other 

displays, such as the Museo 

de la Ciudad and the Museo 

Napoleónico, are more accessible, 

and worth a visit, if only because of the splendid buildings that 

house them. And anyone interested in art will be bowled over by 

the splendid collection of paintings in the Cuban arm of the Museo 

de Bellas Artes (situated right behind the Museo de la Revolución). 

In music and dance, too, Cubans are extraordinary. Some of 

the most exciting jazz to be heard anywhere can be found at La 

Zorra y el Cuervo, a nightclub on Avenida 23, any night of the 

week, starting at 10.30 pm. For salsa, the Casas de la Música 

(there are more than one, in different parts of the city) serve 

it up live and hot, and the locals take to the dance floor like 

The Cuban people, hands down, 

possess the most irrepressible warmth 

and joyfulness of spirit in the world. 

Any salsa club will bear me out 

superstars. For traditional Cuban music, the intimate Patio de la 

EGREM (on somewhat sketchy Calle San Miguel, if you can find 

it) swings to the rhythms of son, salsa, or rumba every evening 

at 6.30 pm, ending at 8 — and again, it’s a dance party where all 

are welcome. For the uninitiated, private salsa lessons abound 

in Havana — it’s the new growth industry. Take a few, then head 

to EGREM or the lovely Hotel Florida on Calle Obispo to show 

off your shoulder-shimmy. 

On Saturdays at 3 pm, check out the rumba jam at Calle 4 

#103, hosted by the Conjunto 

Folklórico Nacional, and note 

that Cuban rumba is not that 

tame stuff you see on Dancing 

with the Stars. On a more classical 

note, the Alicia Alonso 

Ballet Company is worldrenowned, 

and can often be 

found at the Gran Teatro on 

the Prado, but tickets go fast. 

The Gran Teatro is next door to the Capitolio, where the national 

government carries out its affairs. (The Capitolio was inspired 

by its Washington, DC, namesake, but — Cuban one-upmanship 

— its dome is twelve feet higher! It has recently reopened to the 

public, after eight years of restoration.) 

Meanwhile, the Teatro Nacional, near the Plaza de la Revolución, 

is where you’re most likely to find classical music, while the 

Teatro Melia, on Linea, offers a varied programme of popular 

performers and contemporary dance groups. Its garden patio is 

often the scene of live music and dancing. 


evijaf/shutterstock.com 

The streets of Old Havana are alive with traditional music 

Those are the formal attractions. But much entertainment is 

to be had just sitting on the Paseo de Prado and watching 

the world go by. The wide eyed visitors; the young (and 

not so young) Cuban girls in skin-tight clothing; the young men 

dressed head to toe in dazzling white; the noisy knot of older 

men arguing over sports at the top of their voices. The live music 

wafting from the sidewalk terrace of the historic Hotel Inglaterra; 

the crazy traffic circus of cars, buses, taxis, bici-taxis, and horsedrawn 

carriages, all competing for the same space. And in the 

background, the line of fabulous vintage convertibles, pink and 

yellow and blue, like a flock of exotic birds —high-finned Chevvies 

just waiting to whip you off on a tour of the city, racing down the 

Malecón with the wind in your hair. Yes, Havana can make this 

secret dream come true. 

The Prado is the promenade that delineates the entrance into 

Old Havana, where music and mojitos await on every corner. 

The Plaza Vieja, once the heart of the original city, has been 

splendidly restored with UNESCO’s assistance, and boasts 

what might possibly be the most eccentric piece of sculpture 

in the world, and certainly one of my favourites: a life-size 

Some Cuba dos and don’ts 

Cuba is a very special place, but unexpected things can lessen 

your enjoyment. Here is a short list of practical tips. 

1. Don’t, a big don’t, travel with US cash or credit cards. 

You will be charged a hefty (ten per cent) premium on 

cash before the actual exchange rates, and US-based credit 

cards like American Express are not accepted, even in banks. 

Blame it on the Bloqueo. Canadian and European cash and 

cards are fine. 

2. Do change a small amount of your cash into Cuban 

pesos, a.k.a. Moneda Nacional, which is the local 

currency used by most Cubans. It is useful for buying small 

things, like street snacks, fruit, and bici-taxi rides. 

3. Don’t expect to find wi-fi everywhere. It’s still a work 

in progress. Your host or hotel can help you figure it out. 

4. Don’t visit Cuba if you are physically handicapped, 

unless you have a lot of personal support. It is largely 

inaccessible to anyone with mobility issues. And washrooms 

will present insurmountable problems. 

5. Speaking (generally) of washrooms, do carry a stash of 

your own toilet paper at all times. 

6. Do, also, carry a plastic bag or shopping bag if possible. 

Many shops and groceries do not offer them with 

purchases. 


Martin Thomas Photography/Alamy Stock Photo 

bronze woman, naked except for thigh-high boots, seated on an 

oversized, um, male chicken (you understand my hesitation), 

and carrying a giant dining fork. You’ll have to journey far to 

beat that one! Other popular streets in the historic area are 

Calles Obispo and Mercaderes. Artists’ studios, legendary bars, 

and street musicians abound, and the architecture is frequently 

splendid. The cathedral is also lovely, if you’re lucky enough to 

find it open. 

Behind the Capitolio lies Havana’s version of Chinatown, possibly 

unique in the world, in that there are virtually no Chinese 

people, and — apart from an ostentatious arch at the mouth of 

Calle del Dragón — very 

little indication of Chinese 

culture. Apparently, there 

used to be a flourishing 

little community, but the 

word “socialist” in Castro’s 

revolution acted like magic. 

Bags were swiftly packed, 

and all that remains today 

is a small alley with two or 

three Chinese restaurants and caged songbirds for sale. 

Getting around Havana can be overwhelming to the 

newcomer. There are municipal buses, which the locals call 

gua-guas (“wah-wahs”) because of their noisy diesel engines in 

the old days. They cost next to nothing, and are usually jampacked. 

Avoid them, unless you really know your way around. 

Then there are the almendrones, which are the rattletrap old 

American cars dating from the 1950s, held together by faith, 

It’s more rewarding to slow down and 

explore Havana in depth than to spend 

only two days there and then rush off to 

Viñales or Cienfuegos or Trinidad 

Passing the time in Havana’s Plaza Vieja 

love, and duct tape. These are collective taxis (common in the 

Caribbean) which run particular routes within the city. They 

are very cheap, but again, you need to know your way around, 

and have a certain amount of patience, since they run at will. 

For the casual tourist, taxis or bici-taxis are the best bet, and 

quite reasonably priced. 

To get to other parts of the island, the best option is the 

Viazul, the national bus line designed for tourists. Unlike the 

local gua-guas, these are large, comfortable coaches with padded 

seats and purring engines. They leave and arrive pretty much on 

time, and are priced very reasonably. However, it is advisable 

to purchase tickets at least 

a day or two in advance. 

Other options are longdistance 

collective taxis, 

or renting a car. There is a 

rail network in Cuba, but it 

comes highly dis-advised 

by Cubans themselves. As 

they point out, there are no 

toilets on board! 

A common mistake made by visitors to Cuba is to think it’s “just 

a little island,” and try to visit too many places in a limited time. 

Cuba is actually quite big, and journeys take longer than you would 

expect. It’s more rewarding to slow down and explore Havana in 

depth than to spend only two days there and then rush off to Viñales 

or Cienfuegos or Trinidad or Santiago. Allow yourself to open up 

slowly to this esoteric island. Allow yourself to be surprised — and, 

ultimately, enchanted. n 


79

in the bag 

“In my dreams, 

my travel 

journals look 

like illuminated 

manuscripts” 

Georgia Popplewell — Trinidadian 

writer, media producer, and frequent 

traveller — on one essential item in her 

luggage: a decent notebook 

Photography by Georgia Popplewell 

A 

few months ago, I came across a tiny camel-coloured, 

leatherette-covered pocket diary, the kind that was popular 

years ago and often came with a miniature pencil that fit into the 

spine. This one was filled with notes and scribbles, including, on 

the January 3rd page, the Paris address of a writer I admired, 

scrawled in ballpoint ink that had soaked into the thin paper 

over time to give the letters an oily blue halo. What I was planning to do with the 

address I can’t now remember: stalking isn’t my style, but I might not have been 

averse to lurking in a nearby café and engineering a chance meeting. 

I have a cupboardful of such notebooks and diaries, in various styles and 

sizes and degrees of shabbiness — a tangible, if disorganised, record of parts 

of my life, including some I’d rather forget. Some are primarily work-related 

and filled with schedules and diagrams and notes and ideas for projects that 

never came into being and meetings I don’t recall having attended. But most 

are a hybrid, as I’ve never been good at setting firm boundaries between my 

work and play lives. 

A part of this record exists in digital form, in an array of text files created 

during the period when my faith in the security and everlastingness of digital 

media was unshaken, and I revelled in the illusion of control over the contents of 

these files, including the ability to search and find at will, and their near-invisible 

physical “footprint.” But lately I’ve returned to pen — mostly fountain — and 

paper, and my shelves have begun filling up once more. These tools have made 

a good dent in my wallet, for paper that tolerates liquid ink doesn’t come cheap 

these days. But I tell myself that in this time of devices and consumption a shelf 

of personal notebooks, even filled with little of consequence, is a sign that one 

has resisted, in some small way, the tendencies of the age. 

These days, my daily journal is an A5 notebook, often a hardcover, which 

measures roughly six by eight inches. A softcover A5 contains most things related 

to my work life. A pair of smaller notebooks live in 

my handbag, strapped together between leather 

covers — one for shopping lists, the other devoted to 

on-the-go journal entries, notes, and the odd sketch. 

Another small notebook sits at my bedside. 

This proliferation of notebooks has implications 

for travel, of course, especially in this era of 

shrinking baggage allowances, and while packing 

for a recent twenty-six-day, six-city trip, I decided 

to leave the A5s at home and experiment with a 

smaller format. I took along a few different sizes, 

but the final record of my travels ended up between 

the covers of three smaller notebooks, which 

turned out to be just the right size to carry around 

in my handbag for note-taking on the go, but still 

worked for “proper” journaling after hours. 

These tools have made a 

good dent in my wallet 

In my dreams, the pages of my travel journals 

look like illuminated manuscripts or high-class 

scrapbooks, richly embellished with watercolour 

sketches, gorgeous hand-lettering, and a carefully 

curated selection of museum tickets and other 

mementos from my travels. In reality, they’re mostly 

filled with my handwriting, which isn’t bad but hardly 

calligraphic, and the mementos are bundled together 

and stored away in a manila envelope. 

On this recent trip, however, I made a small 

step in the direction of improving the aesthetic 

appeal of my notebooks, by adorning the covers 

and spines with postage stamps. This had the 

added benefit of making them more easily identifiable 

on my bookshelves. Maybe this is the start of 

something. n 


ENGAGE 

catchlight lens/shutterstock.com 

88 Green 

Jaws of life 

94 

On This Day 

A plague from above 

Since Biblical times, locusts have been feared for the damage they can do to crops

green 

Jaws 

of life 

Sharks may be the most feared of 

ocean species, but that reputation 

belies their key role in keeping marine 

ecosystems healthy. In fact, a sea 

without sharks is a sea in dire trouble. 

As Erline Andrews reports, after 

decades of neglect, serious efforts 

are finally under way to protect the 

Caribbean’s sharks — which could be 

good for tourism, too 

In late 2017, aquatic environment experts 

from around the Americas came together at 

UN House in Marine Gardens, Barbados, for 

the region’s biggest-ever meeting devoted 

to the ocean’s most important resident. The 

building’s sleek exterior is dominated by 

glass panes as azure as the water off the beaches 

surrounding many Caribbean islands, making the 

location even more fitting. 

“Sharks play an important role in maintaining 

the balance of marine ecosystems,” said 

Vyjayanthi Lopez, a representative from the UN’s 

Food and Agricultural Organisation, welcoming 

more than thirty men and women from fifteen 

countries, which included the United States, the 

biggest, and Antigua and Barbuda, the smallest. 

The FAO organised the meeting. 

“Aside from contributing to the ecological 

sustainability of marine life,” Lopez continued, 

“the shark species also contribute to social and 

economic sustainability.” 


fiona ayerst/shutterstock.com 

The Barbados meeting was the culmination of a 

burst of activity within recent years, after decades 

of apathy that saw shark numbers dwindle because 

of overfishing and habitat destruction. About a 

third of shark and ray species in the Americas are 

listed as endangered, vulnerable, or threatened 

by the international organisation responsible for 

keeping track. But the IUCN Red List of Threatened 

Species has only been able to give assessments 

for species for which there are enough data 

to make a determination. Almost half of the sharks 

and rays in the region have been deemed “data 

deficient” — not enough information has been 

collected about them. 

To help make up lost ground in shark monitoring 

and protection, a couple of data collection 

projects started in 2012, with the Belize-based 

research organisation MarAlliance using underwater 

cameras, tagging, and other techniques to track 

sharks and rays in Belize, Cuba, and elsewhere 

in the region. In 2015, Florida International University 

started the Global FinPrint, a three-year 

underwater camera survey of sharks and rays 

around the world. Researchers in the Caribbean 

countries of Belize, the Dominican Republic, 

Barbados, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands 

are participating. 

The only legally binding multilateral agreement 

to protect wildlife in the Caribbean, the Protocol 

Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife 

(known as the SPAW Protocol), last year for the 

first time extended protections to sharks and rays, 

prohibiting the commercial exploitation of one 

type of sawfish and listing whale sharks, oceanic 

About a third of shark and ray species in 

the Americas are listed as endangered, 

vulnerable, or threatened 

whitetip sharks, hammerhead sharks, and manta rays as vulnerable and in 

need of fishing controls. 

In 2015 and 2016, environmental philanthropist Richard Branson cohosted 

symposia in the Bahamas and Sint Maarten, bringing government 

leaders together to hear marine experts and activists promote shark sanctuaries, 

areas prohibiting shark fishing and the trading of shark parts. This led to 

a group of Caribbean countries declaring their waters as shark sanctuaries. 

Shark sanctuaries around the world are located in areas that rely on sun and 

sea to attract tourists. And the health of the sea relies on sharks, which are at 

the top of the ocean food chain. Like other predators, they control the populations 

of animals lower on the chain and maintain balance in nature. 

The Bahamas established the first shark sanctuary in the Caribbean in 

2011. It was followed by the British Virgin Islands (2014), the Caribbean Netherlands 

(Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Bonaire, 2015), the Cayman Islands (2016), 

Why sharks matter 

When most people in the Caribbean think 

of sharks, they either imagine them as 

scary predators — thanks to pop-culture 

depictions like Jaws — or, conversely, as a 

source of meat. But shark species play a 

major role in keeping marine ecosystems 

healthy. At the top of the ocean food chain, 

sharks help keep fish populations in check. 

When sharks disappear, other fish species 

can explode in numbers, throwing things 

off balance. Other carnivorous fish start to 

dominate, at the expense of algae-eating 

fish which keep coral reefs healthy. 

There’s another reason to protect sharks 

in the tourism-dependent Caribbean. 

Around the world, shark tourism is estimated 

to earn more than US$300 million per 

year, as eco-tourists pay to observe and 

experience sharks in the wild. It’s already a 

thriving business in the Bahamas, and other 

Caribbean countries stand to benefit also — 

if they can keep their shark populations from 

disappearing. 

Sint Maarten (2016), Curaçao (2016), and Grenada 

(2016). “Our surveys have shown that most tourists 

come for our pristine waters and vibrant 

marine ecosystem,” says Johanna Kohler, a shark 

researcher and conservationist in the Cayman 

Islands. “Most divers love to see sharks when diving, 

and even tourists who don’t want to see a shark 

while diving or swimming appreciate knowing that 

sharks are present, because it is a well-known fact 

that sharks are important to our oceans.” 

One country on its own can protect the 

animals in its land space. The sea is a 

different prospect, especially in a region 

as small as the Caribbean. To have any real impact, 

efforts to protect marine life need the involvement 

of all or most countries in the region. 

“We’ve tagged a tiger shark in Sint Maarten, 

and it swam the breadth of the Caribbean,” says 

Tadzio Bervoets, who’s heading a research and 

public education project in the Dutch Caribbean 

called Save Our Sharks. “It swam all the way to 

Trinidad, then it went to Barbados, hung out there 

for a while. Then it swam up to the Dominican 

Republic, almost made it to Jamaica. Now it’s 

hanging around Puerto Rico,” he says. 


83

Tagging a shark off Sint Maarten 

“It’s not like the shark is not going to go to St Lucia because there’s a risk of 

being caught there. A joint effort has to be put in place to manage our ocean 

resources sustainably.” 

The FAO’s Caribbean reps have put together what’s called an RPOA — a 

regional plan of action to protect sharks. The hope is that each country will 

take the RPOA and design an NPOA — national plan of action — that meets 

its own needs and abilities, empowered through legislation and enforcement. 

An IPOA — international plan of action — was already issued by the FAO 

at the turn of the century. Only four Caribbean countries — Cuba, Belize, 

Barbados, and Antigua and Barbuda — followed up with an NPOA. As laid 

out in the RPOA, shark conservation efforts would require research, training, 

enforcement, monitoring, public education, and financial investment. Countries 

are at different stages of making the commitment. 

Jamaica was not part of the FAO meeting, and it has not ratified the SPAW 

Protocol. The country’s attitude has a possible explanation in an academic 

survey of divers conducted between 2015 and 2016, to analyse the effectiveness 

of shark sanctuaries by comparing them to places without sanctuaries. 

The researcher couldn’t get participants from Jamaica — she was told, “there 

are no sharks here.” This may not necessarily be the case, Barbadian marine 

biologist Nikola Simpson explains. 

“The average individual is highly unlikely to see a shark where they usually 

swim. Most sharks are found further offshore,” she says. “It’s hard to tell 

what our regional population [of sharks] is because no one has really done an 

extensive study of it.” 

Trinidad and Tobago did have a representative at the FAO meeting. The 

country’s support for shark conservation is important, because it is a major 

shipping point in the shark fin trade, which provides the main ingredient for a 

popular Asian soup. The trade has been condemned because it leads to the cruel 

and wasteful practice — called finning — of cutting off a shark’s fins and throwing 

the dismembered animal, still alive, back into the sea to drown or be eaten. 

T&T also has its own popular shark-based dish: bake and shark. The 

country has ratified the SPAW Protocol, and at the FAO meeting indicated 

that it planned to draft an NPOA. In 2014, alarmed that it ranked high on a list 

of the countries that were the biggest exporters of shark fins, the government 

added T&T to the growing list of countries that banned finning. But there’s 

skepticism about how well the ban is being enforced. 

“We are an international shark trade hub,” says Trinidadian environmentalist 

Marc de Verteuil. “If we were an international ivory trade hub, there 

would be a greater sense of emergency.” 

Tadzio Bervoets/courtesy Nature Foundation Sint Maarten 

And as some countries decide on whether 

or when to act, there’s disagreement about 

how exactly to act. There are reasons to 

doubt the effectiveness of shark sanctuaries. “Any 

fishing, especially with nets and longlines, is going 

to catch sharks and negate the basis of a sanctuary,” 

says Rachel Graham, a renowned shark researcher 

and conservationist who founded and runs Belize’s 

MarAlliance. 

Sanctuary legislation mandates the release 

of incidentally caught sharks. But, says Graham, 

“fishers usually leave nets and longlines to soak 

for several hours if not overnight, and there is 

therefore little chance that most captured sharks 

or rays will survive. I much prefer a focus on banning 

the use of certain fishing gears that are really 

unsustainable, like nets. Or at least restricting their 

use during certain seasons.” 

Graham recommends “some really wellenforced 

closed seasons, so females can live to 

give birth and pups have a fighting chance to 

grow.” She adds: “And the areas where the young 

pups grow up — called nursery areas, which also 

benefit many other marine species when they’re 

young — might be set aside for more stringent 

protection.” 

The FAO researchers, writing in a report following 

the Barbados meeting, agree there’s no 

single way to protect sharks. It will take multiple 

different actions by each country in the region, 

making adjustments for the particular conditions in 

that country. This makes shark conservation in the 

Caribbean a complicated process. The FAO sets a 

long-term timeframe of seven to ten years for implementation 

of the recommendations in the RPOA. 

The worry, of course, is the likelihood of irreversible 

depletion of shark species, harming not 

only the environment and national economies, but 

robbing us of learning from and enjoying the presence 

of these often misunderstood creatures. Part 

of speeding up the shark conservation process is 

convincing people that sharks should be treasured, 

not feared. 

“I know people are afraid of them, but they’re 

amazing,” says Nikola Simpson. “When you see 

them in the water, it puts everything into perspective. 

They gracefully glide through the water. 

They’re beautiful.” 

“Quite often you’re lucky to see a shark,” she 

adds. “There’s a quote I use sometimes. I can’t 

remember who it’s by. It says, ‘If you’re in the ocean 

and you don’t see sharks, you should be afraid.’ If 

you are diving where you expect to see sharks and 

you don’t, then you know something is wrong.” n 


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on this day 

A plague 

from 

above 

Thirty years ago, in the aftermath of 

Hurricane Gilbert, another apparent 

disaster arrived in the Caribbean, without 

precedent: a vast swarm of desert 

locusts, blown across the Atlantic. But 

as James Ferguson recounts, the 

voracious insects didn’t manage to thrive 

in our region 

Illustration by Rohan Mitchell 

A 

plague of locusts is not something to be taken lightly. When, in 

the Book of Exodus, God was threatening Pharaoh in order to 

force him to let the Israelites escape slavery in Egypt, He had a 

number of unpleasant sanctions in mind: frogs, lice, hail, boils, 

and locusts. “They will cover the face of the ground so that it 

cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after 

the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.” 

God was, of course, referring to the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), 

one of Creation’s less thought-through products. Plagues of these voracious 

creatures have been making a misery of the lives of farmers in the Middle East 

and Africa for thousands of years. Eating their own weight in vegetation each 

day, their arrival can spell disaster for almost any crop, ranging from rice to 

bananas. 

Locusts are most destructive when swarming in large groups (hence 

their Latin name), and can number up to a hundred billion in a vast cloud 

86 


Locusts are most destructive when 

swarming in large groups, and can number 

up to a hundred billion in a vast cloud 

covering as much as 1,200 square kilometres. The swarming process, which 

transforms the normally solitary insect into a tiny part of a ravenous horde, 

usually occurs after a period of drought, and is an aerial search for vegetation. 

As the locusts swarm, they reach up to two thousand metres in altitude, 

carried along by winds, and covering up to two hundred kilometres per day. 

They have gone as far north as Spain and Russia, and as far south as Kenya 

and Nigeria. 

With this in mind, you might be excused for thinking that with nearly 

five thousand kilometres of ocean separating the west coast of Africa and 

Barbados, the Caribbean would be safe from any locust-related plague. But 

you would be wrong. Thirty years ago, in early October 1988, the first-ever 

reported arrival of desert locusts in the region took place, due in large part to 

unprecedented meteorological conditions. 

The previous month had witnessed the devastating arrival of Hurricane 

Gilbert, which left a trail of destruction from the Windward Islands to 

Jamaica, before crashing into Mexico and Central America. A total of 318 

people lost their lives and damage worth an estimated US$2.98 billion was 

recorded between 8 and 19 September. But nature, it seemed, had not finished 

its destructive work. A series of tropical storms and depressions followed, 

including Hurricane Joan, which developed off the African coast on 5 October 

and ravaged the region from 15 October to 2 November. 

According to one theory, the development of Joan coincided with locust 

swarms moving from the desert of Mauritania towards fertile Senegal, at which 

point strong winds blew many of the insects out to sea. “Swarms take flight during 

the day, increasing the possibility that thermal updrafts will carry the insects 

to high altitudes where they can be transported by fast-moving, upper-level 

wind currents,” said Professor Nathan Lovejoy of the University of Toronto. 

Pointing to another African coast tropical disturbance on 9 October, Calvin R. 

Grey of Jamaica’s National Meteorological Service observed that “It took six 

days for the Atlantic crossing, a distance of about three thousand miles. Fastmoving 

indeed. Now, a low-level jet of 29 to 40 miles per hour was associated 

with this tropical wave and the wind speeds decelerated rapidly on reaching 

the Windward Islands, possibly allowing the locusts to drop down in that area.” 

Vast swarms had been reported in the Cape Verde islands, and then ships 

further west in the Atlantic radioed news of sightings. The first evidence of 

their arrival was the infestation of an AMOCO oil platform thirty miles off 

the east coast of Trinidad, followed by further cases of positive identification 

in a dozen more islands. A subsequent report by the Inter-American Institute 

for Co-operation in Agriculture estimated that around one hundred million 

locusts had made the journey, with St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica 

worst affected. One of six swarms arriving in Dominica was thought to 

have numbered twenty million. 

Anxiety among regional governments was understandable. According to 

journalist Canute James, “The agriculture sector is the main support 

behind the domestic and export economy in most countries in the 

eastern Caribbean. Agriculture accounts for 28 per cent of gross domestic 

product in Dominica, 22 per cent in Grenada, and 14 per cent and 17 per cent in 

St Lucia and St Vincent, respectively.” 

But, despite these alarming numbers and 

statistics, damage was limited. In Dominica, the 

locusts fed on coconut and cedar trees and on 

some crops, but time was against them. There, 

and across the wider region, they began to disappear 

rapidly after a period of five to ten days. 

Their extinction seemed to be based on several 

factors. They were exhausted after their transatlantic 

odyssey and unable to recover. They were 

victims of local predators, especially cattle egrets 

and blackbirds, which feasted on this gastronomic 

novelty. Above all, they were out of their environmental 

comfort zone in the moist, tropical, and 

post-hurricane climate of the Caribbean. Desert 

dwellers, they were simply not cut out for a life in 

the islands. 

Yet the mystery remained of how the locusts 

had managed, for the first time in recorded history, 

to travel across the Atlantic. Certainly the exceptional 

weather conditions, with strong westerly 

winds propelling them from Africa, was a vital 

factor. But there was another, rather more grisly, 

hypothesis discussed in National Geographic News 

in December 2005: 

Another possibility is that locusts flying 

at the front of the swarm may have become 

exhausted and died in the ocean, forming floating 

mats of dead insects. Other members of the 

swarm could have landed on these mats. 

“Locusts are quite cannibalistic, so it seems 

very likely that they could have fed upon the 

corpses below, thereby obtaining enough 

energy to sustain additional flight,” said Greg 

Sword, a research ecologist with the US Department 

of Agriculture. 

Sword had interviewed Barbadians who 

reported that masses of dead locusts had been 

washed up on beaches for several days in November 

1988, thereby supporting this hypothesis. 

“Because a single swarm can contain billions of 

locusts, it could create a series of ‘rafts of the dead’ 

and still contain enough live insects to reach the 

Americas in large numbers.” 

In any case, this particular plague was to prove 

short-lived in a region prone to other natural threats, 

not least hurricanes. But to return to plagues, 

Exodus, and the Israelites: it seems that locusts 

have become the snack of choice since an invasion 

in March 2013, in — Israel. Considered kosher, 

the insects are now receiving a taste of their own 

medicine, as they are farmed then deep-fried and 

devoured. You can even buy them ready-prepared 

under brand names such as Crunchy Critters. n 


puzzles 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 

Caribbean Crossword 

9 10 11 

Across 

1 Rich dairy dessert [10] 

6 French Caribbean music [4] 

9 Unkind [5] 

10 Rugby tussle [9] 

12 Root vegetable [7] 

13 Spice for a Bloody Mary [7] 

14 Big cats [7] 

15 On the ball [5] 

19 Bible song [5] 

21 Also known as channa [8] 

25 Gun [7] 

27 Worn from the waist down 

28 How we share photos these 

days [9] 

29 They’re above your eyes [5] 

31 They go with graces [4] 

32 Analogy [10] 

12 13 

14 15 16 

17 18 

19 20 21 22 

23 24 

25 26 27 

28 29 30 

31 32 

Down 

1 Cuba libre ingredient [4-4] 

2 They happen when oil and water 

mix [9] 

3 A pale raisin [7] 

4 Like a pudding [8] 

5 Martial art [6] 

7 Milky gems [5] 

8 It’s spoken in St Lucia [6] 

11 Oil giant [5] 

16 Trainees learn these [5] 

17 Aerial mosaic [5,3] 

18 Barbados horse track [8] 

20 Alpaca’s cousin [5] 

22 Used to pry [7] 

23 Continent across the Atlantic [6] 

24 Fertilised egg [6] 

26 Part of a step [5] 

30 Black ___ (covert missions) [3] 

Spot the Difference 

by James Hackett 

There are 12 differences 

between these two 

pictures. How many can 

you spot? 

Spot the Difference answers 

The man has different shoe styles; the woman has different prints on her dress; there are more details on the man’s cap; the man’s shirt is different; 

the woman’s handbag has different details; the woman’s hair is different; the man’s stall has a different sign; the top of the stall is in different 

colours; the stall’s umbrella has different patterns; the building at back right is different; there are birds in the sky in the left image; did you notice 

the hanging wires? 


Brooklyn 

cupcake 

dance 

dessert 

family 

fry 

hero 

horror 

icon 

Iwokrama 

Jaws 

jazz 

locust 

Macushi 

marine 

memoir 

Naipaul 

patisserie 

Word Search 

plague 

plaza 

Punda 

quarry 

reef 

salsa 

sanctuary 

sand 

scuba 

shark 

spirit 

statue 

surf 

swarm 

synagogue 

tea 

visitor 

S W A J N O C I E C N A D K O 

F R B F C D W U B F L Z Z A J 

A I U E E O G R S R U T R K N 

M O C E K O O W A Y A I O V F 

I M S R G O A D N D P R T Z P 

L E A A K R N P C E I I I E U 

Y M N L M A P A T S A P S U N 

A Y Y O S Q L T U S N S I T D 

S N P C F I A I A E R C V A A 

R J L U F H Z S R R Q U U T E 

O S A S R S A S Y T U P H S U 

R A G T U U U E O N A C M O G 

R L U A S C J R H K R A H S A 

O S E E M A R I N E R K B K L 

H A M T Z M H E R O Y E A F P 

Sudoku 

Caribbean Beat Magazine 

Medium 9x9 sudoku puzzle 

Sudoku 9x9 - Puzzle 3 of 5 - Medium 


Hard 6x6 mini sudoku puzzle 

Sudoku 6x6 - Puzzle 5 of 5 - Hard 

by www.sudoku-puzzle.net 

Fill the empty square with numbers 

from 1 to 9 so that each row, each 

column, and each 3x3 box contains 

all of the numbers from 1 to 9. For 

the mini sudoku use numbers from 

1 to 6. 

If the puzzle you want to do 

has already been filled in, just 

ask your flight attendant for a new 

copy of the magazine! 

2 5 1 

9 6 

4 6 3 

5 3 1 4 

6 2 8 7 

1 5 4 9 

5 1 2 

3 8 

4 8 7 

www.sudoku-puzzles.net 

6 3 

4 

2 

3 6 

5 2 


1 

www.sudoku-puzzle.net 

Solutions 

Caribbean Crossword 

Word Search 

Sudoku 

Mini Sudoku 

Sudoku 6x6 - Solution 5 of 5 - Hard 

Sudoku 9x9 - Solution 3 of 5 - Medium 

5 3 4 2 6 1 

2 1 6 3 5 4 

3 6 2 4 7 5 9 8 1 

9 8 5 1 6 3 4 7 2 

7 1 4 9 8 2 6 3 5 

S W A J N O C I E C N A D K O 

F R B F C D W U B F L Z Z A J 

5 9 7 3 1 6 8 2 4 

6 4 3 2 9 8 5 1 7 

1 2 8 7 5 4 3 6 9 

8 5 1 6 4 7 2 9 3 

2 7 6 5 3 9 1 4 8 

4 3 9 8 2 1 7 5 6 


A I U E E O G R S R U T R K N 

M O C E K O O W A Y A I O V F 

C 

1 

C 

9 

H 2 E E 3 S E 4 C A 5 K E 6 Z 

7 O U 8 

K 

O M U U A P W 

R U E L 10 S C R I 11 M M A G E 

4 6 5 1 3 2 

1 2 3 5 4 6 

3 4 2 6 1 5 

6 5 1 4 2 3 


A L T T A O L Y 

C 

12 

I R S 32 C O M P A R I S O N 

I M S R G O A D N D P R T Z P 

L E A A K R N P C E I I I E U 

L 

14 

C E Y A A P O 

A 

23 

A S S A V A 13 T A B A S C O 

O I N R E I L 

E O P A R D S 15 A L E 16 R T 

A N Y 17 P 

O 18 

G 

P 

19 

S A 20 L M 21 C H I 22 C K P E A 

L 24 E O R E R 

F 

25 

I 

28 

I 26 R E A R M 27 T R O U S E R 

R I M B O W I 

N S T A G R A M 29 B R 30 O W S 

A 

31 

H A M T Z M H E R O Y E A F P 

O S E E M A R I N E R K B K L 

Y M N L M A P A T S A P S U N 

A Y Y O S Q L T U S N S I T D 

S N P C F I A I A E R C V A A 

R J L U F H Z S R R Q U U T E 

O S A S R S A S Y T U P H S U 

R A G T U U U E O N A C M O G 

R L U A S C J R H K R A H S A 




89

85% (2018 year-to-date: 30 March)

Caribbean Airlines 

CARIBBEAN 

Trinidad Head Office 

Airport: Piarco International 

Reservations & information: 

+ 868 625 7200 (local) 

Ticket offices: Mezzanine Level, The Parkade, 

Corner of Queen and Richmond Streets, 

Port-of-Spain; 

Golden Grove Road, Piarco; 

Carlton Centre, San Fernando 

Baggage: + 868 669 3000 Ext 7513/4 

Antigua 

Airport: VC Bird International 


+ 800 744 2225 (toll free) 

Ticketing: VC Bird International Airport 

Hours: Mon – Fri 8 am – 4 pm 

Baggage: + 268-480-5705 Tues, Thurs, Fri, Sun, 

or + 268 462 0528 Mon, Wed, Sat. 

Hours: Mon – Fri 4 am – 10 pm 

Barbados 

Airport: Grantley Adams International 

Reservations & information: 1 246 429 5929 / 

1 800 744 2225 (toll free) 

City Ticket Office: 1st Floor Norman Centre Building, 

Broad Street, Bridgetown, Barbados 

Ticket office hours: 6 am – 10 am & 11 am – 

7 pm daily 

Flight Information: + 1 800 744 2225 

Baggage: + 1 246 428 1650/1 or + 1 246 428 7101 

ext. 4628 

Cuba (Havana) 

Airport: José Martí International 

Reservations and baggage: +1 800 920 4225 

Ticket office: Commercial Take Off 

Calle 23 No. 113, Esquina A Ovedado 

Plaza de la Revolución 

Havana, Cuba 

Grenada 

Airport: Maurice Bishop International 

Reservations & Information: 

1 800 744 2225 (toll free) 

Ticketing: Maurice Bishop International Main 

Terminal 

Baggage: + 473 439 0681 

Jamaica (Kingston) 

Airport: Norman Manley International 

Reservations & information: + 800 523 5585 (International); 

1 888 359 2475 (Local) 

City Ticket Office: 128 Old Hope Road, Kingston 6 

Hours: Mon-Fri 7.30 am – 5.30 pm, 

Saturdays 10 am – 4 pm 

Airport Ticket Office: Norman Manley Airport 

Counter #1 

Hours: 3.30 am – 8 pm daily 

Baggage: + 876 924 8500 

Jamaica (Montego Bay) 

Airport: Sangster International 


/ 

Across the World 

+ 800 744 2225 (toll free) 

Ticketing at check-in counter: 

8.30 am – 6 pm daily 

Baggage: + 876 363 6433 

Nassau 

Airport: Lynden Pindling International 

Terminal: Concourse 2 

Reservations & information: + 1 242 377 3300 

(local) 

Airport Ticket Office: Terminal A-East Departure 

Hours: Flight days – Sat, Mon, Thurs 10 am – 4 pm 

Non-flight days – Tues, Wed, Fri 10 am – 4 pm 

Flight Information: + 1 242 377 3300 (local) 

Baggage: + 1 242 377 7035 Ext 255 

9 am – 5 pm daily 

St Maarten 

Airport: Princess Juliana International 

Reservations & information: + 1721 546 7660/7661 

(local) 

Ticket office: PJIA Departure Concourse 

Baggage: + 1721 546 7660/3 

Hours: Mon – Fri 9 am – 5 pm / Sat 9 am – 6 pm 

St Lucia 

Airport: George F L Charles 

Reservations & information: 1 800 744 2225 

Ticket office: George F.L. Charles Airport 

Ticket office hours: 10 am – 4 pm 

Baggage contact number: 1 758 452 2789 

or 1 758 451 7269 

St Vincent and the Grenadines 

Airport: Argyle International 

Reservations & information: + 800 744 2225 

Ticketing: Argyle International Airport (during flight 

check-in ONLY) 

Tobago 

Airport: ANR Robinson International 

Reservations & information: + 868 660 7200 (local) 

Ticket office: ANR Robinson International Airport 

Baggage: + 639 0595 / 631 8023 

Flight information: + 868 669 3000 

NORTH AMERICA 

Fort Lauderdale 

Airport: Hollywood Fort Lauderdale International 


(toll free) 

Ticketing: Terminal 4 – departures level (during 

flight check-in ONLY – 7.30 am to 7 pm) 

Baggage: + 954 359 4487 

Miami 

Airport: Miami International 


(toll free) 

Ticketing: South Terminal J – departures level (during 

flight check-in ONLY – 12 pm to 3.00 pm); 

Baggage: + 305 869 3795 

Orlando 

Airport: Orlando International 


+ 800 920 4225 (toll free) 

Ticketing: Terminal A – departures level 

(during flight check-in ONLY – Mon/Fri 11:30 am 

– 2.15 pm) 

Baggage: + 407 825 3482 

New York 

Airport: John F Kennedy International 


(toll free) 

Ticketing: Concourse B, Terminal 4, JFK 

International – open 24 hours (situated at departures, 

4th floor) 

Baggage: + 718 360 8930 

Toronto 

Airport: Lester B Pearson International 


(toll free) 

Ticket office: Terminal 3 

Ticketing available daily at check-in counters 

422 and 423. Available 3 hours prior to 

departure times 

Baggage: + 905 672 9991 

SOUTH AMERICA 

Caracas 

Airport: Simón Bolívar International 


+ 58 212 3552880 

Ticketing: Simón Bolívar International Level 2 – 

East Sector 

Hours: 7 am – 11 pm 

City Ticket Office: Sabana Grande Boulevard, 

Building “Galerias Bolivar”, 1st Floor, office 11-A, 

Caracas, Distrito Capital 

+ 58 212 762 4389 / 762 0231 

Baggage: + 58 424 1065937 

Guyana 

Airport: Cheddi Jagan International 


(toll free) 

Ticket office: 91-92 Avenue of the Republic, 

Georgetown 

Baggage: + 011 592 261 2202 

Suriname 

Airport: Johan Adolf Pengel International 

Reservations & information: + 597 52 0034/0035 

(local); 1 868 625 6200 (Trinidad) 

Ticket Office: Paramaribo Express, N.V. Wagenwegstraat 

36, Paramaribo 

Baggage: + 597 325 437

NEW 

WIRELESS INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT 

Welcome to 

The NEW way to be entertained! 

Use your personal device to stream Blockbuster movies, TV shows, 

games and more Caribbean content while in the air. 

How to access Caribbean View during your flight 

To enjoy Movies and TV, please simply download our free Caribbean View app via the 

Google Play Store and Apple App Store. 

Steps 

Enjoy free 

entertainment on 

your flight! 

Content is available only on selected flights* 

1. Ensure your device is in 

Airplane Mode 

2. Enable your Wi-Fi and select the caribbean_view network 

OR 

In preparation 

for your flight 

Download 

Get our free 

Caribbean View app 

before you travel, 

available via the Google 

Play Store and Apple 

App Store 

Charge 

Before boarding, 

ensure your device is 

fully charged 

3. Launch the Caribbean View App 

OR 

Open the browser on your device and enter 

www.caribbean-view.net into the address bar. 

Note: The Caribbean View App is required for playback of 

Movies and TV shows once using a smartphone or tablet. 

Scan the code 

Headphones 

Bring your 

personal headphones 

to enjoy our selection 

of entertainment 

Troubleshooting 

Unable to connect 

1. Switch Wi-Fi off and on 

2. Power the device off and on and repeat step 1 

Unable to view content 

1. Close and restart the browser and type 

www.caribbean-airlines.com 

2. If this does not work, try an alternate browser 

and type in www.caribbean-airlines.com 

3. Power the device off and on and try steps 1 

and 2 again 

Note: Chrome is the recommended browser 

for laptops. 

Terms and Conditions 

By using the system, you accept the following 

terms and conditions: 

• *Content is available only on flights over two hours. 

• Content is available only during flight. 

• Access to content is only available above 10,000 feet. 

• Access to content will stop before the end of the flight. 

• You may not have sufficient time during the flight to 

watch the entirety of some content. 

Viewing information: 

Please choose your viewing appropriately. Note: Some 

content may not be suitable for younger viewers, so 

please choose appropriate content where children will 

be watching. 

Please ensure headphones are used at all times for 

playback of media content, unless muted. 

• It may take a short time for a video or other content 

to start. 

• Please note that we are not responsible for any data 

loss or damage to devices that may occur while/after 

using our services. 

• Onboard battery charging facilities are not available. 

Safety information: 

• We may pause or stop our inflight entertainment 

system for safety or other reasons. 

Security information: 

• This service is provided using wireless LAN technology. 

Please be aware that it is a public network. 

• It is each user’s responsibility to have an up-to-date 

security system (e.g. firewall, anti-virus, anti-malware) 

for their device.

classic 

It’s a brown 

world 

A favourite from the magazine archives: 

Caroline Taylor on the complications of 

her multi-ethnic heritage, first published in 

our January/February 2004 issue 

“ 

Psssst! Red gyal! Spanish!” 

After “family,” those are 

the greetings I most often 

get from our always-friendly 

Trini male population. You 

may accuse them of being 

boldfaced, but you can’t say they don’t have a 

strong grasp of Trini ethnography. Brown skin 

and curly hair, like mine, usually mean a girl is 

one of two things: “red” (a white-and-black mix), 

or “Spanish” (some mix of white, black, Indian, 

Chinese, or any or all of the above). So Trinis 

basically have their finger on the ethnic pulse. 

Step outside of Trinidad, however, and it’s a 

totally different melting pot. 

I guess I should not have been surprised to 

find people in the United States misclassifying 

me. I spent the first two years of university in 

a sleepy New England town, where the school 

and the neighbourhood were mostly white. Most people thought 

I was either Latina or South Asian, until they heard me speak. 

The characteristic Trini singsong is a dead giveaway. But when 

in my third year I studied in New York and London, cities 

much more ethnically diverse and complex, I could have been 

anything. There seemed to be no end to the possibilities of who 

I was, or the ethnic groups who assumed I was one of them. In 

New York, people would start talking to me in Spanish. Not even 

a preparatory “Hablas español?” They were warm and familiar 

and treated me like a new neighbour. After sleepwalking through 

seven years of Spanish in school, I would try to stop them. “Lo 

siento, no hablo español!” I would protest. They would stare at me, 

baffled. Looking like this, how could I not be Hispanic, probably 

Puerto Rican or Dominican? (Actually, this was useful, because 

I discovered that nobody could work wonders with my hair like 

the Dominicans.) 

But I was claimed by other groups, too. Sometimes I was 

South Asian, sometimes Arab, sometimes even Jewish. Airport 

security officers regularly pulled me out of queues to see if I was 

a terrorist. I earned a multi-ethnic nickname: Lupe Muhammed. 

As politically incorrect as it comes in this xenophobic world, but 

there you are. 

Nobody in London talked to me in Spanish. The Hispanic 

community there is much smaller, mainly from Spain, with a 

few South Americans. But as I walked among the ethnic shops 

and neighbourhoods, I collected a whole new set of identities. I 

was definitely Middle Eastern, right? No, no, she’s North African, 

can’t you see? 

I had the greatest trouble with the Turks, who flatly refused 

to believe I was not Turkish. One of them even began speaking 

in Arabic, to see if I would give myself away by betraying some 

understanding of that language. Another, who ran a Turkish restaurant, 

was so intrigued that he started making plans to come to 

Trinidad to see for himself. Like a true Trini, I’m hoping to collect 

a commission from the Trinidad and Tobago tourist office. 

If you look at the ethnic cauldron that is the Caribbean, and 

the cosmopolitan cities of the north, it’s not hard to see that one 

day we shall be a beautiful, brown world. No more wrangling 

over classifications, no more “us-and-them.” So, as a born-andbred 

multi-racial Trini Caribbean girl, I am the face of the future. 

Take dat! 

I suppose there will still be light brown, dark brown, khaki 

brown, brown with kinky hair or straight hair, brown eyes or 

green. But I’ll leave that haggling to the next generation, and 

enjoy my ability to “pass.” At least it gets me a discount at that 

Turkish restaurant. n 

visual generation/shutterstock.com 


9 - 24 NOV 2018 

THE TOP TEN TEAMS FACE OFF 

IN THE FIRST EVER STAND-ALONE 

ICC WOMEN’S WORLD T20! 

JOIN THE ACTION AT WORLDTWENTY20.COM 

#WT20

Caribbean Beat — September/October 2018 (#153)

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