Loud noises, colors, and lots of movement. And my past 24 hours have had plenty of all those things.
Let's start with last night, during which time we went to a Junkanoo Rush Out. Junkanoo is a Bahamian tradition of a HUGE parade with dancers, floats, and music. It's amazing. The costumes are outrageous, they're in bright oranges and greens, they have sequins and feathers, and most extend some 3 feet outside of the wearer's personal body. The people in the parade jump and dance and smile for as long as they can hold out. I, personally, want to live down here so I can take part. There were also fire eaters/dancers, and one amazing limbo guy. Apparently this is all a part of island culture and I, for one, am a fan.
I passed right out at 12 am, which is lucky because there are 3 girls in the next room who are loooud. We woke at 9:30 to go to the Evangelical Temple for Church. It was a lot like magazine street church for the Pulaski peeps. There was a 30 person choir being backed up by a full band singing mostly songs I knew. I got to sing along, which is something because I don't like singing in new churches usually. It's also a really involved church. Whenever the pastor started to pray everyone in the congregation would start up with him. All saying their own little prayers. Often, I couldn't hear the pastor for the ongoing litany behind us. We were special guests and were seated in the front two rows and everyone was super friendly. For me, I loved the people there. They were involved in their worship in a way I've never seen. They danced, and clapped, and sang as loud as they could. I'm fairly certain an associate pastor was fist pumping while most of the choir was dancing to their own syncopation. It actually made me really miss my dad, he loves that kind of stuff and everything I saw while I was there would have been right up his alley.
After church, and stuffing my face with Bahamian pumpkin soup for lunch, we went to the Zoo and Gardens of the Bahamas. (Quick aside, I've come of find that if anything is calling itself Bahamian anything just means that they've put red peppers and other things in them to make it spicy, I like it) The gardens aren't a huge project. They're just a collection of a bunch of native animals of the Bahamas, South America, and other islands. Which meant, a bunch of tropical birds, smaller jungle cats, and a crap-ton of flamingos. I particularly liked the flamingos, they're colorful and you could walk right up to them. I also spent a happy while watching a small white-faced monkey eating a fig while he watched me right back. It's neat to see how they work their little fingers that are just like ours and still so strange looking. He seemed as interested in me as I was in him. Then he got distracted by a passing jet overhead, which I also thought was neat, most animals wouldn't even react. We finished up with goats, who I think are funny because of the noises they make and the way they stick their tongues out when they do so. I also got to feed a bunch of parrots an apple, and got a kiss from a cockatoo, and got to be part of a flamingo march. All in all, a great day.
I'm going to add this just because it'll make Sarah, and probably mom, proud. For dinner I had Seafood Paella and Chicken Curry. Obviously not at the same time but I'm enjoying the all you can eat inclusive buffet. Also, dessert was Bahamian bread pudding. I have no idea what made it Bahamian but it was delicious.
The evening's been uneventful. The spring break melee is in full swing here. A bunch of 19 year olds excited about being able to drink and making awful decisions. I would wax nostalgic but that was never me. Tomorrow we're going on a full island tour of nassau, finishing at 2:30. Hopefully tomorrow I can work on my tan and drink more daiquiris than can possibly be good for me.
Further bulletins as events warrant!
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