I had a lot of observations during this trip.\u00a0 Lots of food for thought.\u00a0 Below are some of my thoughts and reflections about this trip, the island, and its culture.\u00a0 It’s more wondering than criticism.\u00a0 Experience has taught me that things are the way they are for reasons, most of the time GOOD reasons.\u00a0 I like to understand the reasons, and so I think about “cause” a lot.<\/p>\n
The people.<\/b>\u00a0 <\/span>Everyone was friendly, and I got the impression that it wasn\u2019t just because they were paid to be.\u00a0 <\/span>The entire island has a laid-back vibe about it.\u00a0 <\/span>No one seems to be in a hurry to do anything, and everything happens on \u201cisland time\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>Also, \u201chi\u201d or \u201chello\u201d as a greeting (or no greeting at all) doesn\u2019t cut it on St. John.\u00a0 <\/span>People expect some version of \u201chow are you?\u201d when you greet them.\u00a0 <\/span>Now, this is one of the most banal things I think two people can say to each other in passing, but if you are ever on St. John, try it!\u00a0 <\/span>The genuine smiles that erupt are totally worth it.\u00a0 <\/span>They really care that you asked and each responds with their own version of \u201cI\u2019m good\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m having a good day, how\u2019s yours?\u201d or something similar.<\/p>\n The atmosphere<\/b>.\u00a0 <\/span>I said there\u2019s a laid-back vibe.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m trying to account for it.\u00a0 <\/span>I didn\u2019t actually, you know, ASK anyone or anything; but since I didn\u2019t and have to guess, I think it\u2019s the heat.\u00a0 <\/span>Nobody moves fast and I think it\u2019s to conserve energy and not break out in a sweat.\u00a0 <\/span>I know nothing of the particular physiology of being a dark-skinned person in a tropical climate, but such is most of the population and I can only imagine that average 85 degree heat in bright sunshine takes that much more of a toll on darker skin as far as heat absorption goes.\u00a0 <\/span>And so they…everyone…move slowly.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s a complete guess.\u00a0 <\/span>Maybe they\u2019re all just totally laid back!<\/p>\n The Taxis.<\/b>\u00a0 <\/span>The taxis aren\u2019t like the ones in New York City.\u00a0 <\/span>They\u2019re not like an Uber which is just someone driving around in their own car offering rides.\u00a0 <\/span>These are big trucks with benches on the back that can haul up to 20 people, depending on configuration.\u00a0 <\/span>If you\u2019re in a hurry, forget about it.\u00a0 <\/span>In the \u201chigh season\u201d of Winter I\u2019m sure the taxis fill up just as fast as they empty and barely stop moving.\u00a0 <\/span>But in the off season (now) they mill about like seagulls just hoping for a French fry (passenger) to come their way.\u00a0 <\/span>Still, they are very organized and share the fares and are generally polite.\u00a0 <\/span>But if you\u2019re the first one who needs to go where you\u2019re going, they\u2019re going to wait around a few minutes longer and hope to scoop up another fare or two or three before taking off.\u00a0 <\/span>Besides–if you\u2019re in a hurry and you\u2019re on St. John, you\u2019re vacationing wrong!<\/p>\n The environment.<\/b>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cParadise\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s what some call it.\u00a0 <\/span>Our resort certainly fit that bill.\u00a0 <\/span>Manicured grass, palm trees, white sand beaches, a large swimming pool, tennis, pickleball, disc golf, water sport rentals–all the trappings one expects if all one knows of \u201cparadise\u201d is what one sees on TV and in the movies.\u00a0 <\/span>Our resort was all of that!\u00a0 <\/span>The employees were there to serve us and they made sure we knew it without asking.\u00a0 <\/span>If we wanted or needed something, we had only to pick up the phone and ask.\u00a0<\/p>\n But off-resort?\u00a0 <\/span>I have to admit I don\u2019t really understand.\u00a0 <\/span>There were some areas that were \u201cnice\u201d and well maintained.\u00a0 <\/span>But that certainly wasn\u2019t most of the island that we saw.\u00a0 <\/span>Anything maintained by the Federal Government \/ National Park Service was very good.\u00a0 <\/span>The businesses at Mongoose Landing and generally proximate to the ferry landing at Cruz Bay were good, but just \u201cgood\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>And everywhere else?\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t know how to describe it.\u00a0 <\/span>I want to say \u201cdump,\u201d but I know that\u2019s neither accurate nor fair.\u00a0 <\/span>Think of a trailer park.\u00a0 <\/span>Not the well-kept kind, but the kind where the trailers were parked there years or decades ago and have never left and have never been taken care of.\u00a0 <\/span>Yard work is simply not done, probably because there are no real yards.\u00a0 <\/span>Everything\u2019s built into or on a hill, and this isn\u2019t the deciduous New York State.\u00a0 <\/span>Kentucky Bluegrass doesn\u2019t grow here.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s palm trees and scrub brush that looks like it would kill my weed whacker in under 20 minutes if I tried to use it.\u00a0 <\/span>But whatever it is, no one seems to even bother trying to tame it.\u00a0 <\/span>But that\u2019s OK.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s hardly fair for me to transfer my own preference for cut grass and curb appeal onto a place in which I do not live.<\/p>\n But curb appeal<\/b>.\u00a0 <\/span>Never mind the flora, can we talk about the junk and the general state of apparent disrepair evident, well, just about everywhere?\u00a0 <\/span>It looks like about 60 or 70 years ago there was significant investment in housing and development on the island.\u00a0 <\/span>But then the developers left and everything appears to have been deteriorating since then.\u00a0 <\/span>Apart from the homes owned by the obviously affluent, the remainder of the island is covered in what I\u2019ll call hovels.\u00a0 <\/span>Junk is everywhere.\u00a0 <\/span>Cars are abandoned by the roadside.\u00a0 <\/span>Construction debris is everywhere.\u00a0 <\/span>Ironically, there\u2019s not much trash or garbage.\u00a0 <\/span>But no one seems to be in charge of removing \u201cthings\u201d from the island, and so they just sit where they are.\u00a0 <\/span>The response to that observation is likely sheer cost.\u00a0 <\/span>There are tons and tons of scrap metal littering the island in many forms.\u00a0 <\/span>But it\u2019s probably not profitable for anyone who peddles in scrap to get to the island, collect it all, and get it anywhere where it can be sold.\u00a0 <\/span>And so it all just stays where it is. \u00a0 <\/span>Still, you\u2019d think even basic civic pride would have someone organize folks to collect it and pile it all in one place or something!\u00a0 <\/span>(Afterthought: I\u2019m sure getting walloped by hurricanes every so often doesn\u2019t help this situation!\u00a0 <\/span>13 in the last 100 years, including Irma and Maria in 2017.)<\/p>\n But now we\u2019re back to the climate<\/b> and the notion of \u201cparadise\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>The climate probably keeps most people from being too active, as I\u2019ve observed.\u00a0 <\/span>It might also be what keeps people from organizing cleanup drives. It is also what keeps me from personally branding this place as a Paradise.\u00a0 <\/span>For a fat man like me it\u2019s just too damn hot!\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s not that I\u2019m completely unfit.\u00a0 <\/span>I do get some exercise and have a certain amount of stamina.\u00a0 <\/span>But 85 degree heat and over 60 percent humidity?\u00a0 <\/span>5 minutes out in that with any activity at all and I have sweat running off my head and down my torso.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s not fun, it\u2019s not pleasant, and it\u2019s certainly not paradise.\u00a0 <\/span>Paradise to me would be somewhere with 70 degree days and low humidity where it feels hot in the direct sun, but you don\u2019t even start to sweat if you\u2019re in the shade.<\/p>\n I\u2019m told that the temperatures in St. John get \u201cdown\u201d into the 70s in the winter, when the natives whip out their sweatshirts and toques (we saw some for sale!).\u00a0 <\/span>But that\u2019s also the height of the tourist season, and I already know I never want to visit this place when that\u2019s going on!<\/p>\n All in all I am glad to have experienced St. John specifically, and the Caribbean in general.\u00a0 <\/span>It was something I\u2019ve always wanted to do and this wedding gave us the impetus to do it.\u00a0 <\/span>I want to be clear: we had a fantastic time and are very glad we went!\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t say \u201cno\u201d to going again some day.\u00a0 <\/span>But I\u2019m also not thinking of planning my next trip there anytime soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I had a lot of observations during this trip.\u00a0 Lots of food for thought.\u00a0 Below are some of my thoughts and reflections about this trip, the island, and its culture.\u00a0 It’s more wondering than criticism.\u00a0 Experience has taught me that things are the way they are for reasons, most of the time GOOD reasons.\u00a0 I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4300"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4306,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4300\/revisions\/4306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}