Bequia Love

Glenna, owner of Glen's

Even preschoolers wear uniforms in the Caribbean

Chocolate/Pumpkin Cake with Orange Frosting from Gingerbread Bakery

Nina can't wait until the party to give Toby her gifts

Redeeming gift coupon for manicure from her sister

SYD, I'm blond, blue-eyed, and ready to party!

Hightech Whoopie Cushion (with remote)

Gift from her friend Neil

New birthday dress; handmade in Bequia

Hope Crest is perched on a hillside overlooking the turquoise and navy mottled ocean off in the distance, framed on either side by lush vegetation.  The octagonal house was designed and built to survive a hurricane by Neil and his mechanical engineer daughter.  The wraparound porch was my favorite place to write, read, eat and do yoga, with the wind rushing through. 

Bequia seemed the perfect balance (as our guide book said) of development and relaxed island vibe.  In town, tourists speaking French, Italian, German, Danish, and English wandered amongst the locals.  Charming restaurants line the main street and the Belmont Walkway, a sidewalk that wraps around the shores of the harbor.  The fruit stands offer a bounty of fresh local mangoes, papayas, pumpkin, cucumbers, tomatoes, mint, basil, sorrel (hibiscus), which I brewed to make tea, and callalou, which we sautéed like spinach in olive oil and garlic (the only leafy green Nina has ever liked!).  Neil brought us fresh fish from the fishermen in the harbor, who blow a conchshell to signal that their catch is in.  We all fell quickly in love with the place, and Toby, who has been delighted by every place we’ve visited, fell in love with Neil just as quickly. 

We celebrated Toby’s birthday with presents wrapped in pages from magazines (including a battery operated fart machine from town), balloons, and a cake from the Gingerbread bakery (which also had great ice cream).  Neil stopped by to give her a coconut husk sailboat.

We ran into Neil (or saw his scooter) most places we went, including the restaurant where a steel band performs every Thursday.  Neil danced with me, but mostly Toby, on the sand dance floor in front of the stage.  When I stepped in to join the two during one number, Toby pushed me away jealously.  The drummers were fascinating to watch, the way they created such complex music (i.e., “Sexual Healing,” “Private Dancer,” and “I Was Made to Love Her”) on such simple instruments, one drummer swaying his whole body extravagantly as he played. 

Toby spent several mornings at Glen’s Preschool in Bequia, where she was thrilled to find shelves laden with toys and came home singing about “chee-sus.”  Justin, Nina and I went to Friendship Bay to snorkel with fish of all shapes, sizes and colors, along the reef studded with urchin.  I’m partial to box fish, who are more triangular than boxy in shape, some as small as my fist, others as big as a toaster, whose pronounced lips twitch while they nibble on the coral. 

The ease with which Toby has made friends on the trip is deeply gratifying.  One morning, she spotted some arriving children about fifty feet down the beach and ran over without hesitation to play.  From a distance, I watched her guffawing over the sand pile she and her new friend had created.

It’s been harder for Nina, who misses the comforting familiarities of home and her classmates from Summerfield in particular.  Once, in a particularly exhilarating moment we shared while swimming out far from the beach (the turquoise depths, the brilliant sunshine!), she shouted, “I just wish my whole class was here right now!”