Day Three: All Things Nassau

Today was a tour day. We have a guide named Lambert who runs his own touring company through various resorts in the Bahamas. How do we know he runs his own company? Because for a good 2 hours he was off and on his phone chewing out various employees for some calamity that was occurring. Other than that, he's a great. He knows everyone and has tons of connections throughout the islands. That's been exceedingly helpful when we're meeting people and experiencing things off the beaten (tourist) path.

We toured the entire island. It's 7 miles by 21 with a population of over 210,000. That being said we covered waaaay too much to go into detail. So from here out I will be using a bullet format of general observations that I myself made, and interesting facts that I can remember. I will be leaving things out, we were gone from 9am to 6pm today. We did some driving around downtown, into various development neighborhoods; both rich and poor, through marshes and national parks, and through the tourist area.

- Nassau is not the name of the island, it is mearly the capital city of the Bahamas. New Providence is the island. (Fact)
- The people of the Bahamas have adopted most of their infrastructure from the British, they only gained their total independence in 1973. As such, they have a parliment and prime minister. (Fact)
- The prime minister is the head of whatever party was elected. He calls the next electino whenever he wants, but he must do so within a 5 year span. That means the prime minister can call basically a quarterback sneak and hold an election when things are going well for their particular party and the other party isn't ready. (Fact)
- The Bahamian population is very invested in their politics. About 85% of the population votes; compare that to the average US turnout, which is usually in the low 60s. (Fact)
- There are a TON of stray dogs on the island, and very few cats. (Observation)
- There are very few homeless Bahamians, the government has made sure there is affordable housing for everyone. There are also no slums. (Fact)
- Road rules are very relaxed throughout the island, and they drive on the left. (Observation/Fact)
- Tourism makes up 60% of the industry in the Bahamas, with Atlantis Resort being the largest employer in the entire nation. As such, Atlantis has a HUGE say in what goes on as far as laws and regulations. (Case in point, they had two roads completely switched as far as direction they ran. They were one way, running from east to west and the other vice versa. Atlantis didn't think this was good for business and had them reversed) (Fact)
- Most of the "Bahamian made" goods come from China (Observation)
- Government buildings here are painted specific colors. The schools are yellow with red stripes, the post offices are a tanish yellow. And the police stations are green... like cheap resort green. Like is that teal or is that a fungus green. For Top Gear fans, it's the same green that Richard painted his police car.  (Fact, unfortunately)
- There have been plenty of movies filmed here, most notable being a mortal hellton of James Bond movies, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Jaws: Revenge (I mention Jaws because we actually went to the beach where that was filmed. See my pictures) (Fact)
- License plates are given out sequentially here. Meaning the number you see on the plate is a record of that particular car on the island. There are over 200000 cars by my count. (Fact)
- Since the earthquake in Haiti, there are over 30,000 illegal immigrants pouring into Nassau. Most go to jail, which apparently is an improvement from life in the Bahamas. (Fact)
- The national past time is not soccer like you might think... it's actually cricket. Thanks again English. (Fact)

I'll also take the time to mention a few of the places we visited. We went to Fort Fincastle, which was built on the highest point of the Island and "Never saw no action." Seriously, don't say it did, because it didn't. There was an interesting thing at the Fort called the 'Queen's Staircase' This is a 90 feet by 50ft gap carved by over 600 slaves leading to the fort. It was used for supplies and to serve as an evacuation route from the action that the fort never saw. We had lunch at a Bamboo Shack. This is a popular restaurant chain in the Bahamas that specializes in "Chicken in a Bag" Which is basically deep fried chicken, you can also get fish, and some fries all covered in ketchup.

 The last stop we made for the day was at an ollllld plantation from the 1600s. This was an amazing place, we visited the ruins of the main house, carriage house, and slave houses. Most of the structures are the original 300+ year old stone, and some things have been reconstructed. The history behind the entire property is intense, and involves over 100 years of slavery. There is also a natural made staircase leading up from the water to the bluffs. It's speculated that it was carved either for pirates use, or for a quiet, discreet way to bring new slaves to the plantation. Again, see my pictures for more information. Our tour guide for the plantation was an amazing source of knowledge, especially about the various herbal remedies they've come up with on the island. I find this fascinating and I also don't understand how they figure out what cures what... seems like a very dangerous trial and error game to me.

This is the main house ruins

And these are the slave houses

My personal favorite place of the day was a Junkanoo shop and museum. The man who showed us around has been involved heavily in Junkanoo for his entire life (40+ years) He loves it and the culture. He's made his life into building elaborate floats and displays of Junkanoo goodness. The process to make the costumes and floats is amazing, you cannot use paints, cloth, or too much pre-prepared materials. Everything must be hand made and usually is out of styrofoam and cardboard. They are colored by feathering crepe paper and sticking it all over the costumes. The foam may be painted but only to a certain extent. The detail going into these creations is amazing and I could not get enough. Here's were you really need to see the pictures, they're truly something.

These are all made out of cardboard, crepe paper, and sequins. They're my favorite

The theme for that year was india, again all of this is hand made. About 50 human hours when into this float.

Still from the India theme, this is styrofoam painted and sequined. 

As you can tell, we didn't get our afternoon off for one reason or another, which is enormously disappointing because I wanted to see how much frozen drink I could put into my system. Ah well, we've come back and settled for the night, dinner will be soon and I'm enjoying the buffet lifestyle immensely. Even if I'm not enjoying the Spring Breakers so much. Tomorrow we'll be visiting the banking system (I'll try not to explode with excitement) and go on a walking tour of downtown. So, more fun and interesting facts to come.