St. Kitts & Nevis Celebrate their Independence

It's time to celebrate the 25-year independence and formation of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. The festivities got into full swing the middle of last week and continue all through this week with calypso concerts, cricket matches, marathons, art and history exhibits,beauty pageant and cultural events of all kinds. Sunday was the massive, ecumenical religious opening ceremonies, attended the the Prime Minister, and in which my host, Oliver sang in a mass choir. Service was held on the cricket field in Warner Park. It was 4-hours long with much praising, singing, speaking and sermonizing. I was grateful that Elvira had had a headache that morning and the evening was the only church service I had to attend that day!

But it was an interesting evening. The Kittian men and women were dressed in their Sunday best, including some magnificent hats. The little children were well behaved and when the Methodist minister asked everyone to stand, join hands and sing "We Will Overcome" it was very moving. There is a undercurrent of change going on here that isn't loudly spoken of, but is known - that Nevis has thoughts of succeeding from the Federation to become an independent country. If one listened closely to the words of the speeches, you heard hints and bits and pieces of political dissatisfaction. It's going to be an interesting 2 years.

Besides our on-going training classes (of which, because of the celebrations, we only have to endure for 2 days this week!)on Saturday all but 2 of our PC classmates lost our 'virginity' as Hash House Harriers! The 'Hash' as they are called, were started by the British in Indonesia during the days of the Raj, as a way to entertain themselves and provide a small sporting event whose main purpose was to party!

The main 'hare' lays a trail for both runners and walkers. The start and end of each Hash is a local bar or pub. This week's hash, whose course was designed by the diabolical John, wearing his Independence costume of black running shorts with a silver, metallic cod-piece, Viking cap sporting several national flags and colored vest, is well-known for laying out some of the most difficult courses on the island. Our first hash proved to be one of the hardest ever done (attested by long-time members). Imagine, if you will, looking at the attached picture where you can see bodies of water on each side of the island, the height of those small mountains, the depth of the powdery sand on the beaches and the amount of scrub brush on what only a maniac would call a trail, and you have the conditions of this week's Hash. (What you see is where the Atlantic (left) and the Caribbean Sea (right) meet and in the background is the island of Nevis, with her volcano obscured, as usual, by clouds).

The course for both runners and walkers is over 2 miles. You must look for chalk 'hashes' that have been stenciled along the route and beware - the Head Hash Hare has laid a few fake hashes along the way that can send you dashing down the wrong trail. The temperature is, of course, hovering at the daily 87 degrees with 80-90% humidity. How fun, you say. Exhausting and dehydrating - yeah!

When we had all straggled back onto the beach at Frier's Bay to meet back up at the starting point (Godfather's Beach Shack & Bar) we found plenty of cold Carib and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs waiting. All 'virgin' Hasher's had to kneel, recite the pledge, chug a full beer and then were anointed with whole bottles and sprays of cold Carib. As you can see from the pics, it was hilarious. After a plunge in the sea to wash some of the beer out of our eyes and hair, we sat around, getting to know our fellow Hashers. Students from the medical schools, quite a few locals and ex-pats make up the membership. It was fun, for the first time, to meet people outside our PC base of contacts. Hashes are held ever 3 weeks and we are all looking forward to our next as full-fledged members!

Today (Tuesday) is National Hero's Day. I could have run a 10K up Brimstone Hill starting at 5:30 or attended the 8 a.m. laying of the wreaths at the WWII memorial, but I chose to write this missive, spend the day in rest and contemplation, enjoy one of Oliver's delicious mid-afternoon meals and wander downtown tonight for the big concert. Ah life as a poor PC volunteer.

Until next time, as the saga continues......