Nassau, Bahamas 5

  I have a soft spot in my heart for Nassau. My first of 2 dozen trips began at the ripe age of 16 before The Bahamas were independent. I saw the country through its independence and through its slow rape of New Providence by greedy developers and greedy government hacks. Once isolated beaches were turned into the Miami of the Caribbean. This didn't happen overnight. But the years took their toll. Once friendly cab drivers slowly became too surley to pick up a ride from your hotel if it wasn't long enough and they actually had the audacity to say "No" to a fare! What happened to these once "beautiful people?" [Perhaps they learned the surly habits of Americans?] 

Although the days of eating peas and rice with conch fritters at the houseboat take-out on the wharf at 2AM are over [it burned years ago], and the once stately and proud Nassau Beach Hotel has turned into the seedy "Riviera" [Las Vegas] of the Bahamas, I will forever cherish my memories of love of life, love of the people and their spirituality, the friends I made among the locals, proud in the independence, and the wonderful feeling I had venturing throughout the island of New Providence at all hours of the day and night and in all kinds of "neighborhoods" in absolute security even after the British were gone.

Perhaps I will see once again the blinking light of a ship on a midnight sea beyond the horizon while listening to the sighs of my lover beside me on the sand. May I once again taste the earthy delight of fresh Scotched conch with lime on the beach. May my Nassau wait for me...