Where In The World Is Becky?

This title, in fact, has nothing to do with this entry, but it was funny, don’t you think? Here I am in the Cayman Islands, watching the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl (ads, mostly), and who f-ing cares, anyway, since the Pack is out? Not me. Both teams can blow me. I wish they could both lose.

Well, readers, I have no tales of woe, no missed buses, no puking locals, no rats chewing through my bag. I got here to Grand Cayman yesterday, and people actually clapped when the plane landed. I can see why. Picked up my rental car from Coconut Cars, and they drive on the left here since it’s a British protectorate or something. Know what that means? Cadbury. But I digress – they drive on the left, but my car is an American one, so I’m sitting on the right (correct) side. Which actually makes it easier. I’ve had a few moments of panic when I think “Why are those cars coming at me??!” in the right lane, but I’ve adjusted well.

Update: The Giants just won! Wow, what an upset. Anyway, see above. So I started my day with some scuba diving, courtesy of the resort where I’m staying – I realize that everything I say right now will sound like bragging. Nice dives, great weather (blahblahblah), but the coral is seriously degraded. Covered with some weird algae crap. I asked if it was “because of us or global warming or what,” and the divemaster said, “Oh, it’s definitely not because of us, it’s because of global warming,” thinking I meant, “did the divers swimming through the tunnels in the coral kill it?” Which I didn’t. It’s because of global warming, BTW. Yay us.

The weather, it goes without saying, is phenomenal. Mid-80s and mostly sunny. The vegetation on the island is a little scrubby because it’s pretty flat, but the beach is gorgeous and the sea is the color of Aidan’s turquoise rings from Sex and the City. Island culture seems pretty diverse, with a mix of European, Canadian and American ex-pats and Caymanians. Lots of people I’ve talked to say things like, “I came here on vacation 11 years ago and never left.” As for animal life, you’ve got your usual stray cats and dogs, not really more than home I think, and many, many chickens. Chickens everywhere. America seems to be the only country that coops up its chickens in tiny little cages, cause the birds here are living the life. Have also met some cool people diving, who invited me to some big party on Wednesday night for Ash Wednesday. I’ll be going in a strictly research capacity.

Spent the afternoon, after the dive, driving around the island, checking things out. Was going to watch the Super Bowl with some other people from the dive boat, but ended up missing them at the bar where they said they were going and decided instead to check out a restaurant that’s not in the book, but has been glowingly recommended. Readers, here’s where I really start to brag. I had:

Appetizer: tuna carpaccio and mojito
Main Course: wahoo (local white fish) escovitche (little yummy fried balls with onions and scotch peppers) and Chardonnay
Dessert: sticky toffee pudding and cappuccino (decaf, of course)
After-dinner drinks: limoncello and glass of Bordeaux
All: Free. I hate myself, I really do.

Now I’m sitting in my room, after watching the second half of the 4th quarter, and ready for bed. Got a big day tomorrow, cause it’s my last day with the rental car, so have to bust a move all over this island. Meeting with the Cayman Islands tourist board ladies and checking out 1 million hotels. If only I could get this gig full-time…

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 7:39 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.