Antigua And Barbuda
The small country of Antigua And Barbuda is divided into two islands where the latter one only houses 100 people, since the hurricane Irma almost destroyed all buildings and infrastructure on Barbuda in 2017. My friend Christofer and I visited the more lively capital of Antigua called Saint John's. It was our last stop after a two week vacation in the Carribean by cruise ship and you could tell they once was a part of the British Empire since they still drive on the left side of the country.
It didn't take long until someone yelled "taxi?" after us since it was obvious we we're tourists, when we declined he continued by saying "girls?". Christopher and I looked at each other thinking "did he really say that?". We would soon discover many of the people of Antigua had multiple businesses going on at the same time.
We went around the harbour that was mostly a made up area for tourists to shop, and an older part called Heritage Quay, which was cozier but nothing special. I tried to find the famous black pineapple that is a sweeter local version of the original, but I could only find the normal one. It turned out the local one is not even black, which fueled my disappointment.
We went by a toy store called Neverland, a fitting name since all controversy around Michael Jackson and his love for kids. The sign hadn't been changed since Christmas 3 months earlier so it stood out in the almost 30 degrees of heat. We went up a market street and reached the V.C. Bird Monument, made for the first Prime Minister of the country. He's a declared national hero even if he's questioned by many too, because of possible corruption. He was born in a poor area of the capital and had almost no education and this stands out amongst the well-educated leaders of many of the surrounding islands.
Antiguas highest mountain is named Mount Obama after the former American president, but the country is more famous for being nicknamed "Land of 365 Beaches". My friend Christofer was bored of the small and uninteresting city center and wanted to go back to the cruise ship, but I kidnapped him in a friendly way and put him in a taxi to go to Dickenson Bay to go jet skiing around the beaches. I love how the taxi drivers have their own nicknames like our driver was called Little Joe. It's so much more personal than a company's name. He dropped us off at Dickenson Bay and promised to be back at 3 PM to pick us up to go back to the cruise ship.
I made my way to the jet ski rental and the guy who ran the company whispered in my ear that he had cocaine for me, if I wanted to buy before I went out on the sea. I guess they don't go by the rule "safety first" on this island. I declined and another guy turned up asking me what I would be doing. I told him I would go jet skiing and he pretended to be interested in the conversation while he tried to make me focus on his right hand where he had weed in a small jar. I told him I wasn't interested and made my way to the sunbeds to get ready for the jet ski when another man turned up and said he would sell us a cocktail of coco, and no he didn't refer to coconuts. I told Christofer to keep my things safe at all times at this beach and headed out on the water to go jet skiing for the first time ever. It was a bit scary and unsteady at first but I sang my Bob Marley motto for the trip "Don't worry about a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right" and went for full speed. I drove down to Corbison Point and mistook it for being Fort James. And then I panicked when the jet ski suddenly quit on me out in the deep sea. It turned out I could easily start it again but it kept on turning itself off from time to time. After half an hour the expensive fun was up and I headed for the beach. I was greeted by a man who looked like a pineapple with aloe vera leaves sticking out of his dreads. He said he had been looking for me because I was so sunburned. It feels great to be popular!
I changed jet ski to one that was double as fast and double as fun and had a go at it again. Jet skiing grew on me for every minute I was out and when I went into the beach again the guy who rented it out was angry because I was 5 minutes late. I guess I should have done like in the ancient times and figured out what time it was, depending on where the sun was at the sky.
The taxi driver Little Joe picked us up at 3 PM as promised, but he didn't even remember us, he was there to get some other tourists and we happened to walk into him at the same time. At least we got back to the harbour and off of this island that could have been a beautiful gem, but mostly was a ghetto in paradise with people trying to sell drugs and girls to get by.
Back on the cruise ship I enjoyed a last view of the island from above, while going down the see-through water slide on top of the cruise ship. Then I headed down on my own to the pool area to chill when the entertainers Meriam and Gabriella attacked me like piranhas to get me involved in a Man Vs. Woman competition. It's so far out of my comfort zone to do something like that, and I was probably more surprised than them to hear my own lips say "yeah, sure, let's do it!". The whole entertainment crew on the ship was awesome and made my trip twice as fun, so I thought it was time to pay back by making a fool out of myself. Ironically Meriam prepared me for war against the women with warpaint on my cheeks, but it didn't keep us men from failing. We would have lost to the women if it wasn't for the last dance show off where both teams were decided to be winners just because of participating. Me dancing sober on a stage? Who am I? I guess two weeks in the Caribbean had made me lose all my Swedish anxiety.
I finished the evening on the upper deck while watching the ship heading out from Antigua and all of the beaches. I was so happy to have enjoyed this whole trip and so sad at the same time that it was now over. But there are always new adventures around the next corner, and I already planned to go back to the Caribbean as soon as I could!
* Best things about Antigua & Barbuda – the jet ski saved the island from being a total flop for me, and you can't deny the beautiful surroundings, but maybe I go to Barbuda next time to enjoy my solitude
* Most mediocre thing about Antigua & Barbuda – the Heritage Quay was cozy but nothing special
* Worst things about Antigua & Barbuda – the feeling that everybody wanted to rip you off, and sell you drugs, it didn't feel safe at all and I felt uneasy, there isn't really much to do there either
It didn't take long until someone yelled "taxi?" after us since it was obvious we we're tourists, when we declined he continued by saying "girls?". Christopher and I looked at each other thinking "did he really say that?". We would soon discover many of the people of Antigua had multiple businesses going on at the same time.
We went around the harbour that was mostly a made up area for tourists to shop, and an older part called Heritage Quay, which was cozier but nothing special. I tried to find the famous black pineapple that is a sweeter local version of the original, but I could only find the normal one. It turned out the local one is not even black, which fueled my disappointment.
We went by a toy store called Neverland, a fitting name since all controversy around Michael Jackson and his love for kids. The sign hadn't been changed since Christmas 3 months earlier so it stood out in the almost 30 degrees of heat. We went up a market street and reached the V.C. Bird Monument, made for the first Prime Minister of the country. He's a declared national hero even if he's questioned by many too, because of possible corruption. He was born in a poor area of the capital and had almost no education and this stands out amongst the well-educated leaders of many of the surrounding islands.
Antiguas highest mountain is named Mount Obama after the former American president, but the country is more famous for being nicknamed "Land of 365 Beaches". My friend Christofer was bored of the small and uninteresting city center and wanted to go back to the cruise ship, but I kidnapped him in a friendly way and put him in a taxi to go to Dickenson Bay to go jet skiing around the beaches. I love how the taxi drivers have their own nicknames like our driver was called Little Joe. It's so much more personal than a company's name. He dropped us off at Dickenson Bay and promised to be back at 3 PM to pick us up to go back to the cruise ship.
I made my way to the jet ski rental and the guy who ran the company whispered in my ear that he had cocaine for me, if I wanted to buy before I went out on the sea. I guess they don't go by the rule "safety first" on this island. I declined and another guy turned up asking me what I would be doing. I told him I would go jet skiing and he pretended to be interested in the conversation while he tried to make me focus on his right hand where he had weed in a small jar. I told him I wasn't interested and made my way to the sunbeds to get ready for the jet ski when another man turned up and said he would sell us a cocktail of coco, and no he didn't refer to coconuts. I told Christofer to keep my things safe at all times at this beach and headed out on the water to go jet skiing for the first time ever. It was a bit scary and unsteady at first but I sang my Bob Marley motto for the trip "Don't worry about a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right" and went for full speed. I drove down to Corbison Point and mistook it for being Fort James. And then I panicked when the jet ski suddenly quit on me out in the deep sea. It turned out I could easily start it again but it kept on turning itself off from time to time. After half an hour the expensive fun was up and I headed for the beach. I was greeted by a man who looked like a pineapple with aloe vera leaves sticking out of his dreads. He said he had been looking for me because I was so sunburned. It feels great to be popular!
I changed jet ski to one that was double as fast and double as fun and had a go at it again. Jet skiing grew on me for every minute I was out and when I went into the beach again the guy who rented it out was angry because I was 5 minutes late. I guess I should have done like in the ancient times and figured out what time it was, depending on where the sun was at the sky.
The taxi driver Little Joe picked us up at 3 PM as promised, but he didn't even remember us, he was there to get some other tourists and we happened to walk into him at the same time. At least we got back to the harbour and off of this island that could have been a beautiful gem, but mostly was a ghetto in paradise with people trying to sell drugs and girls to get by.
Back on the cruise ship I enjoyed a last view of the island from above, while going down the see-through water slide on top of the cruise ship. Then I headed down on my own to the pool area to chill when the entertainers Meriam and Gabriella attacked me like piranhas to get me involved in a Man Vs. Woman competition. It's so far out of my comfort zone to do something like that, and I was probably more surprised than them to hear my own lips say "yeah, sure, let's do it!". The whole entertainment crew on the ship was awesome and made my trip twice as fun, so I thought it was time to pay back by making a fool out of myself. Ironically Meriam prepared me for war against the women with warpaint on my cheeks, but it didn't keep us men from failing. We would have lost to the women if it wasn't for the last dance show off where both teams were decided to be winners just because of participating. Me dancing sober on a stage? Who am I? I guess two weeks in the Caribbean had made me lose all my Swedish anxiety.
I finished the evening on the upper deck while watching the ship heading out from Antigua and all of the beaches. I was so happy to have enjoyed this whole trip and so sad at the same time that it was now over. But there are always new adventures around the next corner, and I already planned to go back to the Caribbean as soon as I could!
* Best things about Antigua & Barbuda – the jet ski saved the island from being a total flop for me, and you can't deny the beautiful surroundings, but maybe I go to Barbuda next time to enjoy my solitude
* Most mediocre thing about Antigua & Barbuda – the Heritage Quay was cozy but nothing special
* Worst things about Antigua & Barbuda – the feeling that everybody wanted to rip you off, and sell you drugs, it didn't feel safe at all and I felt uneasy, there isn't really much to do there either
Best countries in the world according to the nerd (will be updated with every post):
1. USA
2. Croatia
3. Montenegro
4. Andorra
5. Cyprus
6. Turkey
7. Greece
8. Italy
9. Spain
10. Monaco
11. Malta
12. Netherlands
13. Iceland
14. Denmark
15. Sweden
16. Lithuania
17. Macedonia
18. Armenia
19. Portugal
20. Hungary
21. Slovakia
22. Belarus
23. Slovenia
24. Austria
25. Russia
26. New Zealand
27. Ireland
28. Germany
29. United Kingdom
30. Belgium
31. Poland
32. Vatican City
33. Estonia
34. Czech Republic
35. Switzerland
36. San Marino
37. Kosovo
38. Romania
39. Finland
40. Latvia
41. Azerbaijan
42. Georgia
43. Antigua & Barbuda
44. Moldova
45. Norway
46. Ukraine
47. France
48. Bulgaria
49. Luxembourg
50. Liechtenstein
51. China
52. Serbia
53. Bosnia And Herzegovina
54. Albania
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