Entrance to the Westin Resort

Entrance to the Caneel Bay Resort

Caneel Bay finally has its stone entrance/guard house/gate in place, wide going in, narrow going out.

For many months you could hear the chatter of French Creole and the pounding of sledges against stone, as the Haitian stone workers toiled at the front entrance to Caneel in the construction of this impressive stone guardhouse. During the construction, traffic was diverted to a dirt track around the site.

Now, as before, a guard sits in an open structure in order to control the ingress and egress of visitors, taxis, vendors and guests who arrive to the property by road. Now, as before, entrance to the resort is barely restricted. Visitors can park in the visitor parking lot and go to the beach, shops or restaurants and vendors can head to the employee parking lot where they can enter though a further security check.

Being that nothing much has changed, except the nature of the checkpoint, what was the purpose of this project? Anyone who has had stonework done here locally knows the high cost of such construction? Why lay out this kind of money, when times are tough in hospitality industry? Beats me.

Security? I doubt it. A guard on duty, is a guard on duty. Unless we subscribe to the “Three Little Pigs” syndrome, it won’t make a difference if they sit in a house of straw, a house of sticks or a house of stone.

The only thing I can come up with is an effort to make a statement. The vast majority of Caneel Bay guests arrive by sea and spend their whole stay on the property, so they’ll never even pass through his gate. The statement, therefore, must be meant for locals who now have to face this intimidating structure at the entrance to the resort.

The Westin on the other side of the island seems much more welcoming and just as secure.

St. John USVI is not all beaches, snorkeling, hiking trails, partying, music and night life. We also have video games.

Jacob has gone through jet skiing and car racing, at which he became quite proficient I must say.

Now the new game of choice is “Star Racer:” See it here on SeeStJohn

Amarat in Flower, Chocolate Hole, St. John Virgin Islands

Fig Banana Flower, Chocolate Hole St. John USVI

One of the most common trees in our “native dry forest garden” is the amarat. They are acacias, (casha bush) but do not have thorns likes most other varieties.

Lately they have been in bloom and their flower and new leaves are particularly attractive.

Our non-native (exotic) fig banana is also in flower. It should open up soon and well be enjoying figs in about six weeks.

Windberg Ruins

Windberg Ruins
The Windberg ruins seen above are visible right off the one way road running from southwest from Mary’s Creek to Maho Bay.

Mosquitoes
The photo was actually taken yesterday and I had to brave an army of mosquitoes to get it. They followed me back into my vehicle and it was a job to get them out.

Tomorrow the plan is an outing to Maho Bay Beach. I hope the little buggers have calmed down by then or I’ll have to resort to chemical warfare.

To the people circulating the e-mail about the use of Listerine to ward off mosquitoes (you know who you are)
It doesn’t work

The Gym in Paradise
Word has it that the gym will be opening again on May 25 and that they (sadly) will not be honoring memberships  sold by the previous owner.

The hero of this story was born on the island of Hispaniola in the early 1500′s. His name was Guarocuya. He was the son of a Taino cacique, or chief, who was assassinated by the Spaniards. After the death of his father, Guarocuya was adopted by Franciscan monks, who provided him with a Spanish-style education. Upon his conversion to Catholicism he was given the Christian name, Enriquillo.

Enriquillo was happily married to the granddaughter of the illustrious caciques, Caonabo and Anacaona. Her name was Mencía, and she also had converted to Christianity.

The Tainos of Hispaniola, conquered and subjugated by the Spanish, were governed under a policy called the encomienda, a system not very different than the institution of slavery. Under this policy Taino lands were entrusted to Spanish colonists who then exercised complete authority over that land and the people on it.

Enriquillo and Mencía, along with other Tainos of their village were “entrusted” to the Spanish colonist, Francisco de Valenzuela who operated a large ranch. When Francisco de Valenzuela died he left his estate, including the “entrusted” workers, to his son Andrés who, taking advantage of his position and his power, began to make unwanted sexual advance towards Mencía.

When Enriquillo found out about the persecution being suffered by his wife, he reproached his new master and begged him to leave Mencía in peace. Andrés de Valenzuela perceived his servant’s complaint as an affront to his authority and had Enriquillo beaten in front of the other Tainos.

Indignant over this unjust treatment, Enriquillo denounced Andrés to the lieutenant governor of the village, don Pedro Badillo. The Spanish colonial official, however, refused to get involved in any case involving a Taino against a Spaniard. Enriquillo then took his complaint to the highest judicial authorities on the island. This only resulted in the case being sent back to Badillo to deal with. When Badillo received the complaint for the second time, he warned Enriquillo that if he persisted in this matter, he would be arrested and sentenced to prison.

At this point Enriquillo made his decision to rebel against the Spaniards. He gathered together a large group of fellow Tainos and fled to the rugged mountain terrain in the region of Bahoruco. The year was 1520.

Badillo and Valenzuela and a force of armed men set out in pursuit of the rebels. A fierce battle ensued and the Taino rebels succeeded in defeating the Spaniards, many of whom were killed or wounded. Valenzuela himself was at the point of being killed by one of the Taino warriors when, Enriquillo, the former servant, took pity on him and ordered the warrior to spare Valenzuela’s life. Enriquillo set Valenzuela free, saying to him, “Be grateful that I have not killed you. Leave and never return here again.”

The Taino insurgents established a secure mountain stronghold where they planted fields of yucca and other provisions in the most hidden and remote valleys and conducted raids against Spanish haciendas and ranches in the vicinity.

Enriquillo turned out to be a great warrior and a master strategist. He used guerrilla tactics in which he avoided meeting his numerically superior and better armed enemy on open ground. Instead Enriquillo took advantage of his knowledge the terrain and lead his adversaries into to fall into deadly ambushes. After attacking with lightning speed Enriquillo would retreat into the nearly inaccessible mountain valleys and steep ravines, which only they knew well and, from there, prepare for the next surprise attack.

After several humiliating defeats, the Spaniards decided to take another tack. Diego Colon, the Governor General of Hispaniola offered to make peace with Enriquillo and his followers granting them complete immunity if they would give up the rebellion and once again submit to Spanish authority. Enriquillo refused to accept this and several other subsequent proposals made by both the government and the church.

At one point the Spanish sent Father Remigio, the priest who had been Enriquillo’s former teacher, to act as an intermediary between the government and the rebels. Father Remigio was intercepted by lookouts who dispossessed the Franciscan of his robes. They then conducted the priest, who was dressed only in his underwear, to meet Enriquillo.

Ashamed at seeing his old teacher in such a state, Enriquillo punished the warriors who were responsible for this show of disrespect, and as a means of apology ordered that a grand reception be made in Father Remigio’s honor. Enriquillo’s doubts concerning the sincerity and good faith of the colonial officials, however, still remained and he once again refused to accept the peace offer.

In 1532 in order to put an end to the Taino uprising, the Emperor sent a corps of two hundred well-armed and well-equipped soldiers to Hispaniola under the command of Captain Francisco de Barrionuevo.

Barrionuevo was ordered to explore all peaceful avenues for ending the conflict before resorting to violent action. In 1533 Barrionuevo, along with thirty soldiers, two priests and thirty Tainos, among whom were Enriquillo’s and two priests met to discuss peace with the rebellious cacique. The meeting took place alongside a saltwater lake that today is called Lake Enriquillo in commemoration of the epic uprising.

Barrionuevo carried with him a missive from the Royal Court that proposed that the cacique cease hostilities and sign a pact of peace. Enriquillo read the document which agreed to the abolition of the encomienda system, freedom for the Tainos and grants of land to be used for the cultivation of crops and the raising of animals in exchange for the cessation of hostilities and the acceptance of Spanish authority.

Enriquillo accepted the terms and signed the agreement with Barrionuevo. The Spanish monarchy rapidly approved the treaty and sent the ratified documents to a Taino representative named Gonzáles who had been commissioned by Enriquillo for that purpose.

The Royal Court was true to their word and even took special care in the resettlement of the Tainos, providing them with cattle for livestock and seeds for the cultivation of the land. Enriquillo died peacefully a year after the peace treaty was signed, earning the love of his people and the admiration and respect of the Spaniards.

Enriquillo’s wife, Mencía organized the construction a church where the remains of her heroic husband were then buried. His tomb, however, was also the tomb of the Taino people; for despite their recently won gains, the ravages of European diseases and depredations continued to take their toll on the less than 4,000 surviving Tainos of Hispaniola. By the end of the sixteenth century that noble and gentle race had all but disappeared from the face of the Earth.

Loosely translated from Historica Grafica de la Republica Dominicana by Jose Ramon Estella.

It was just before sunset when I took a little walk through our “garden.” Everything seemed to be in bloom at once, a function of the rain and the spring season no doubt. The mango, the lime tree, the gooseberry, the Barbados cherry, all in flower with the promise of sweet fruits to come. But I soon figured out that something else was in bloom, something not so nice…mosquitoes… I mean, MOSQUITOES!!! Swarms of them and hungry too!

It was so dry for so long, I was beginning to forget about the pesky creatures, but they’re back now, with a vengeance!

Slapping away I made it back into the house and decided to go buy some mosquito repellent, something I’m usually the last person to suggest, but this was different.

Jacob and I drove down to the Pine Peace Mini Mart. On the way I see a guy waving a mosquito wand. Interesting, I guess I’m not the only one the mosquitoes have singled out.

We make it to the store. There are three girls who get to the door at the same time as us. We all enter the store and without a moments hesitation, we all walk right over to the mosquito spray isle, where there are already two more customers checking out the options.

Not cheap either. It was just under ten bucks for a can of spray.

There’s the saying “every black cloud has a silver lining.” I guess the converse is also true.

And this too shall pass.

G

I met Dean Doeling in person for the first time yesterday afternoon at Morgan’s Mango, where he hosted a small gathering to talk about his project, Using Sports for Social Change.

Dean, who has been a frequent visitor to St. John, tell of an incident that he witnessed on one of his trips to the island when he, “noticed that the kids were outside playing with a (one) flat soccer ball and also noticed that the basketball hoops did not have nets on them, and some were not even usable. Maybe they didn’t even have basketballs to play with.”

It was true, the kids often didn’t have basketballs to play with. From speaking with St. John residents, Dean heard that the Schools on St. John were lacking in equipment and that the prevailing opinion was that they were not optimistic about the prospect of government support.

Thus, an idea and a project was born. As Dean’s position is Senior Production Artist at Nike Corporation, he felt that he could use Nike as a resource to supply St. John schools as well as other sports and fitness programs  with equipment to play with.

This month, Dean’s organization, Using Sports for Social Change, was instrumental in getting Nike to send an assortment of 100 basketballs, footballs, soccer balls and volleyballs to St. John where they will be distributed by Paul Devine, the director of the St. John Community Foundation.

Another example of Dean’s work is the donation of new Nike softball gloves for use in the Ruby Rutnik Memorial Softball Tournament.

Good work Dean!

Ms Val, Ms. Rachael and the students of Gifft Hill School’s Early Learning Center put together this wonderful tea party in honor of Mother’s day 2009.

Hatuéy was a great Taino cacique in Ayti, the land of mountains, now known as the nation of Haiti. He had first hand experience with the Spanish conquerors of his homeland, who had enslaved the Taino people, committing atrocities upon them and forcing them to labor, often to their deaths, in order to satisfy the Spaniard’s lust for gold. Rather than submit or offer resistance to the well-armed oppressors, Hatuéy chose to leave the land of his birth. He and his people escaped across the Windward Passage to Cuba.

In 1511, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, who had participated in the massacre of the Taino in the province of Xaraguá, and Pánfilo de Narvárez, a veteran of the conquest of Jamaica, were chosen by the Spanish to begin the conquest of the island of Cuba. The chronicler, Bartolomé de Las Casas, sailed with Narvárez. When Hatuéy heard rumors of this invasion, he proceeded to warn the caciques of eastern Cuba about this serious threat to their very existence.

Hatuéy arrived in the village of the Cuban cacique, Guamax accompanied by a small entourage and carrying in his canoe a basket filled with gold and gold jewelry.

Addressing Guamax’s people, Hatuéy explained that the Christians so cruelly mistreated the Taino people because the Christians had a God who they worshiped and revered. The Tainos were murdered and enslaved in order to take that God away from them.

Hatuéy then displayed the basket of gold to the gathered assembly and explained that this was the God of the Christians. He then asked the people to decide what to do with Him.
Hatuéy suggested that the people perform their ceremonial dance called the Arieto and the sacred and magical Cohoba ceremony in which hallucinogenic herbs are ingested. Perhaps the God would then be pleased and He would instruct the Christians not to kill the Tainos.

After the ceremony, however, Hatuéy warned the assemblage that if they were to keep the God amongst them, the Christians would surely come and kill them in order to get possession of the God. It was finally decided to throw the God into the river.

Hatuéy’s warnings to the Cuban Taino precipitated several major rebellions and began an overall pattern of resistance against the Spanish in Cuba that was not completely subdued until the 1530′s.
Hatuéy himself was finally captured, and he and his warriors were burned alive at the stake. While tied to the stake Hatuéy was approached by a Spanish priest, who offered to baptize and convert Hatuéy, thus cleansing his sins against the Christian God which would allow Hatuéy to enter heaven and avoid hell.

Hatuéy asked for time to think about the offer. After a time Hatuéy responded by asking the priest where the Spanish went after they died. The priest told Hatuéy that baptized Christians went to heaven. Hatuéy then made his final decision. He told the priest not to baptize him because if the Spanish went to heaven, he preferred to go to hell.

The story of Hatuéy’s execution was recorded by Las Casas and is now part of Cuban folklore. Hatuéy has become a national folk hero representing Cuba’s struggle against foreign oppression, first from Spain and later from the United States of America.