Five
Our time in the islands. 175 days on the road
Our story is not that uncommon. What may be uncommon is our willingness to go where He calls us, to give up all that many work so hard for - all that stuff. Now don't get me wrong... were not perfect. Not by far. God has just used the crazy circumstances in our life to get us to a place, where we realized none of the stuff we had surrounded ourselves with mattered. Like that song Johnny Cash wrote in his later years... Hurt, "and you could have it all, my empire of dirt.”
Prior to commencing our epic
journey, back on Vancouver Island we had met a young couple with contacts
around the world. Our friendship grew, and as clients from the Olympics to
multi-millionaires in Europe and the Caribbean requested their talents we saw
them less and less.
Now as we were making our way down
America’s eastern shores, we received an invitation to join them on an island
in the Caribbean, one of the islands of the Turks and Caicos.
What an opportunity. We drove down
the coast to Miami, through the freakishly wicked winds of Hurricane Philippe.
The storm had theoretically dissipated but the rain and wind was as strong as
we had ever seen.
A month prior we had to live through
Hurricane Irene, when she slammed into Nova Scotia. I will have to tell that tale a bit later as
it was an amazing experience of God’s provision and shelter for us while the
east was battered with mammoth winds, falling trees and damaging vehicles.
Well if you are not sure where Turks
and Caicos Islands are you are not alone. The Turks and Caicos Islands; are a
British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller
Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago, part
of the larger Antilles island grouping. Providenciales or Provo as it is
referred to locally, is a western island in this chain of white sand oasis in
the crystal waters of the Atlantic, just north of Haiti. They are touted to
have the best beaches in the world and I think they are definitely within their
rights to boast.
We placed our dear Olive into a safe
storage facility in Miami, bought our plane tickets and went to join our
friends in their condo for three months.
What can I saw about our time in
paradise? The white sand clung to your sole like soft clay; it was like walking
on pillows of powdery warm snow. The curling waves looked like crystals as they
rolled up onto the beach, washing over your feet like a caress from the ocean,
saying, you can totally relax here. We found it enchanting.
We also found it strange that there
were no farmers or markets. Life in the Turks and Caicos is very expensive.
Breakfast out was about $70, 10$ for a small pot of coffee, $10 for a bottle of
mineral water, $30 for a buffet type breakfast, and 21% tax. So you would think
that buying groceries would be cheaper but it works out that you are spending
about the same. They do not have any natural water source so all of the water
is obtained through a de-salinization process, powered by diesel gas. There are
only a few items that are grown on the island in hydroponics…such as cucumbers,
mint and some lettuce. Otherwise all of the veggies and other food items come
from the US. It is mostly dry brush and shrub islands. This is also costly for
the locals as they only have a only few choices in which to shop, IGA being the
main destination.
They work in the resorts and serve
the thousands of guests to retreat here on vacation. Their wages are small and
when we calculated the costs of shopping for the basics we were struck at the
expense. This would be the flip side of living in paradise, the expensive food,
and the desalinated water, the burning of all waste at one end of the island,
all makes visiting alright, but living here permanently not for everyone.
One of the top hang-out’s for
visitor’s and those needing to work from their laptops - is Hemingway's
Restaurant with great food and service, with an unofficial patio mascot kitty cat
- a local, not so wild cat. As our waitress noted, he didn't have a name, so we
called him "Oz" as he looked a bit like our daughter Haley's cat.
The best place for lunch and work
however was the Gansevoort Resort; superb views, fantastic food and friendly
service. Tracey and I checked out the local sports scene and while I joined the
Canadian contingent for floor hockey games and Tracey jumped into the Kung-Fu
and Zoomba classes.
The plane tickets we had purchased
were for a return trip three months after our landing here in this tropical utopia. But is was three weeks into our trip that
Tracey came to me and said, “God needs us in Texas.” So, that’s how it goes
sometimes, you may be in an excellent spot in your life, in your career, when
God asks you if you will; if you will share, if you will go, if you will speak.
He is always looking for the willing.
Are you willing to be used for His glory with your life today?
We said goodbye to the turquoise
waters of the Turks and our good friends Will and Laura. Highlights of our time
there included the walks along the white sandy beaches, diving into the clear
crystal water, saving a tiny cute puffer fish that had got swept up on shore,
it was very cool seeing one so close up. Another would have been going to
church on the island. The locals had dressed to the nine’s; nails, dresses,
hair, suits – we didn’t get the memo about the dress code, we just showed up in
our tie-dyed shirts and flip flops. Upon walking through the door they asked us
to sign the guest book with a smile. I looked at the sweet lady with the best
stone face I could muster and stated flatly, “We come here all the time, we’re
regulars!” She laughed out loud and pointed to the book. I signed for us
obediently, and sat down.
The water and beaches are very
beautiful, and we are glad we to spend some time with our friends, but we also
knew the value of being obedient quickly to the things God asked of us. It was
nice to experience island life, but we were going to be happy to be back in our
bus too.
Landing back in Miami we picked up
our bus from Car Safe - a secure car
storage facility in Miami that is run by Andrew and his lovely wife Victoria.
They are a wonderful couple and were very gracious to us, even giving us a
refund (which we weren’t expecting) after we returned early from our trip.
So we headed down to the Florida
Keys to wrap up our trip down the coast and then make our way up Florida’s gulf
side, on our way through the southern states, destination – Texas.
The drive down to through the Keys was wonderful. Miles
of bridges standing out of the pristine waters like spines of concrete
connecting one lush palm treed island peppered with houses to another. Pelicans
spread their wings and lazily fly alongside the bridges keeping you company. Once
we got down to Key West, with the beach boys singing in my head, “Key
Largo, Montego, baby why don’t we go…”
We hung out for the night and then headed back up. The
Keys did not rock it for us, and besides that we were on a mission to head to
Texas. Not sure why, but we were going.
Stopping for lunch in Key Largo, we decided to try some
local fare, so bring on the tenderized alligator and - dolphin? Now before
you freak out, which Tracey was doing when she saw it on the menu in a variety
of dishes, our waitress came over to explain the difference between cute little
Flipper (which is illegal to catch and holds a 12 year prison sentence) and the
Mahi Mahi (as it is called in Hawaii), not at all the same thing - phew! Ok
give Tracey said, “I’ll have the dolphin, still feeling somewhat apprehensive,
and Mark will have the Alligator.” The
gator tasted like dark turkey meat turkey. I know everything taste like
chicken, well not gator. After a good lunch we headed for the Everglades to see
if we could see any live alligators.
