October is Kwéyòl Heritage Month. Yesterday was the culmination, with events in 4 different communities. I went on a Red Cross fundraiser boat ride to Soufriere, one of the featured communities. It probably would have been easier to go to Grande Riviere, just down the street for me, but there’s no boat that goes there! The boat ride was nice. I went with Deb, Deb’s mom, who is visiting, Geoff and Arturo. On the boat, they gave us cocoa tea (like hot chocolate with nutmeg, cinnamon and bay leaf) and bakes, which are like fry-bread or unsweetened donuts. I passed on the bakes… many days I have them for lunch, but I wasn’t in the mood for greasy yesterday. There were a number of boat rides for the occasion… one other run by the same company as ours was all tourists. As it was, we were the only white people on the boat. Others were advertised on the radio and looked like chaos. (On the way back we stopped to swim, and this boat was there also. One ras-type dove in the water and started running around on the beach naked. A funny spectacle, but I was glad I was on the more chill boat). In Soufriere, they had booths set up all around the main square and most of town. They had all the traditional foods, saltfish and smoked herring, breadfruit, avocado, green fig and bread. I ate some smoked herring for the occasion. For Jounen Kwéyòl, you eat out of a calabash bowl (like a big gourd). This year I walked with mine, so I have a souvenir. I also bought a bamboo vase thing. They were much nicer this year than the ones I saw last year. Mine was painted by Edge from the Livity Studio near Soufriere. Today I varnished it because the paint looked like it wanted to peel. The guys there were also weaving grass mats for sale.

Like you might expect to see at some kind of county fair, they had other types of traditional activities. There were about 4 or 5 old geezers on this log-splitting contraption. One guy was standing on top with a long saw. Another was working the saw from underneath. Another had a sledgehammer to drive a wedge between the halves of log. A couple others were just milling around. There were a number of music troupes playing drums, sticks, and bamboo percussion things. I also saw some stilt walkers. Way off the main drag, they had a stage with several couples doing traditional dance, all dressed up. Made me wonder a bit why they don’t feature more shows and nice things like that. Instead they had a loud band on the main square that beat a bass drum for like two hours. One of the funniest things was the greased pole contest. They rigged up a 15 or-so-foot pole pointing off the dock by our catamaran. They had it all greased up and guys had to see how far they could walk on it. One guy would go the length every time, but others fell in before they even really had one toe on the pole. I got a couple interesting pictures of that.

On the way back up, we stopped to swim at Anse Cochon, one of the well-known snorkeling beaches. Deb and I hadn’t brought our suits. It was too bad, because we ran into Maggie and Lyle, some friends of Deb’s, there with their boat. They had their cute puppy, which now is twice the size from when I last saw him.

The whole day was really nice, and the weather cooperated. Just as we got back to town it started to rain. That didn’t stop the fellas in Grande Riviere from bursting bamboo ALL NIGHT. (that’s another Jounen Kwéyòl activity, involves a long tube of bamboo, kerosene and fire. It makes a loud boom)

Otherwise things are going pretty well. The Paper Girls are doing well. There are about two who come regularly to work on their stuff. That’s fine with me; I’ll help two or twenty. I’m just glad that they seem dedicated. We’ve been working on putting together promotional gift packages to give to several of the hotels. We have note paper and envelopes in three sizes, gift bags in two sizes, and bookmarks with paper beads. Thursday we have an appointment to meet with the manager of the gift shops for Sandals (my friend Joanna’s mom). Tomorrow I need to go have a few words with the girls, help them prepare a presentation, and give them tips to dress nice.

The other hotel is one run by Michael Chastanet, the richest man in the Caribbean. It’s a new, kind of niche-y hotel. They’re trying to promote a little more eco-tourism, interest in the Kwéyòl heritage, etc. It’s called Coco Kreole (http://www.cocokreole.com). That will be our next target after Sandals. I think we’ll have a good chance with them, since we have a natural, locally made product.

In any case, I keep yelling at the girls to get their act together. I think, and almost anyone whom I’ve told about the project, thinks that it’s a really good product with lots of promise. It just involves some hard work now.