What I saw behind the hotel
Miles of white sand, turquoise water, tropical fish, blue sky, beautiful sun... "Want to see the rest of the island?" My dad
was looking at me while I was tanning on the white chair. "Sure, why not?", I replied. My mom and my sister were curious too,
so we got in the condo, packed some water and some food and got in the Jeep...
We were riding on the street of the hotel... Tall palmtrees and exotic flowers decorating the front of some huge condos.
A couple of miles later... Giant cruise ships on the sea, lot of turists trying to find some souvenirs in the small
boutiques near the port. I opened the window of the car, tried to take a couple of pictures... A cimetery, some flowers on
the tombs of deceased families. Then, I saw houses, real houses I mean.
No turism there, those big houses were bought by people living on the island. There was something strange about the houses,
I just couldn't find what was wrong.
We were still driving and there was nothing in view. Only trees and savage vegetation. We continued and got a bit lost, so
we stopped to check on a map. The streets were not identified clearly, so it was hard to refer to the map. We turned around,
but not to go back home. There was still a lot of vegetation and no human sign.
I remember. I remember it perfectly. I saw it... A small abandoned boat, lying poorly against an inclined palm tree. There
was this tiny house, its paint erased by time. In the background, there was the beach, the real beach. The water was dark
blue, there were seaweeds and the waves... In front of hotel, there was some small and pleasant waves, but those ones...
We could saw miles of dark blue sea, but it wasn't beautiful, it was terrifying. We were still driving and we saw those
poor houses, destroyed by a hurricane. What used to be a colorful house was now pityful: distorted wood and a roof pulled
out by the strong winds. I was thinking about how afraid the people living there must have been, six months ago, when
the hurricane Dean was progressing on the Caribbean sea. Hurricanes have no pity. They take with them everything, until
the last photograph, the last memory.
A couple of minutes later, we saw some poor families, living in a small house, rebuilded with what they could use.
After seeing more scenes like that, we decided that we had enough. We saw "the rest of the island". There must be a reason
why we got lost. I don't think that the authorities want turists to see what is the island really like, outside the turism
zone. It seems like they prefer to invest their money in hotels and condos, instead of helping people rebuilding their houses,
their lives.
Then, I knew what was wrong about the big houses I saw. They had seen much more than you can think when you look at them.
It's the difference between the rich and poor side of the island. Who can erase any trace of a hurricane and who can't.
Who can live easily and who can't.
Except this "tour", my trip was fabulous. I saw exotic animals, I did scuba diving, I swimmed in the turquoise sea, I tanned
under the hot sun, I found some beautiful sea shells, etc. The pictures we took reflect perfectly the turism side of the
island, but I'll always know that there's something missing in the photographs. I could have erased it from my memory,
but I'll never forget what I saw that day behind the hotel.
Copyright © Laurence, 2008, coded using
Coffee Cup
