Paradise Ain't Perfect, But It Sure Comes Close

By Gloria Jackson

The true story of a Canadian couple's life as expats living and working on three different islands in the Bahamas. This is a lighthearted look at day to day life in Paradise. It shares the fun, the frustrations, the adventures, the people and both the good and bad times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gloria Jackson
• Release date: Sep 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311637734

Gloria Jackson

I am a senior, independent budget traveler. I have traveled extensively. I have been fortunate to live in Indonesia, Austria, Israel, Bahamas, and Africa. When people ask how I can afford to travel so much, I tell them "Its cheaper to travel". My book about Central America details how I traveled there cheaper than I could live in Canada - and I did all of the things I wanted to do. My next project involves the same research for China and S. E. Asia.

Book preview

Paradise Ain’t Perfect but It Sure Comes Close

Lighthearted look at Expat life in the Bahamas

Gloria Jackson

~~~

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2015 by Gloria Jackson. All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Paradise Ain’t Perfect but It Sure Comes Close

These are my memories of the Bahamas. I have made every effort to remember things as accurately as possible. I accept full responsibility for any inaccuracies. I am old enough to blame any errors on my age. I hope you enjoy reading about the islands as much as I enjoyed living there.

Dedication

My family and friends are most important in my life. They make good times better, and bad times not as bad. Recent events in my life have given me an even greater appreciation for those I have the honor of calling friends. Some friends I see often, others not - but they are always in my heart.

This book is dedicated to:

Bobbi & Billy - for forever

Arif & Ulrike - for guter wein, gute reise, gute freunde

Freeport Friends: Barbara, Christie, Helen, Arthur, Amber and Michelle

Exuma Friends: Janet, Emerson, Glen, Edgar, Dee, Robert and Shaggy.

Our Bahamian Landlords: Sean & Heather, Margaret & Robert, Ron & Bett, and the staff at Palm Bay, and Henry.

Rita & Bill for Manitoba - you know what I mean

Tom & Caroline for so generously sharing Sunnyhill

Captain Eric & Nita for so many great Nita K memories, and thanks to Nita for the title of this book!!

Boy Freddie, Edris, Nikki, gone but not forgotten RIP

Paradise Ain’t Perfect but It Sure Comes Close

You live everyone’s dream vacation every day of your life.

A friend of mine who came to visit made that comment on our way to the airport for her return flight. I thought about it for quite some time after she left. I had to agree in principle, but she had only visited for a week.

Most people, at some time in their life, dream of running away and living on a tropical island. We didn’t just dream it - we did it. This is the true tale of a middle age, middle class Canadian couple, with no special education, or a ton of money, who turned our dream into a reality. If we can do it, anyone can - you just have to want to do it badly enough. This life, so appealing at first glance, is not for everyone. Living and working on three Bahamian islands for ten years certainly had its ups and downs, but we stayed, so the good certainly outweighed the bad. As my dear expat friend often said Paradise ain’t perfect.

Travel has always been our passion. Living in a foreign country takes travel to a whole new level.

We lived in Vancouver while we raised our family. They grew up, got married, some moved away, others stayed in the city. Life was good, but we both felt there could be more. We had taken a couple of years off to travel after the kids left home. We were both a bit restless when we returned to a normal life. We lived in a rented house so were not tied to a mortgage.

Len was a concrete finishing foreman. He travelled to different job sites every day. Work in the winter was often cancelled due to rain. He came home one day and said he had kept track of his commuting time for the past month and he was spending up to five hours a day in traffic, and not being paid for that time. He said he wanted to make a change, and wanted to know my thoughts. It took me about two seconds to say YES. We then had to decide where we wanted to go. Friends of ours owned property in Fiji, and they had been urging us to buy property there, and build to sell. We decided it was too remote for us. I loved the Middle East when we spent time there, and I would have loved to go to one of the wealthy Arab countries. Research showed positions at Len’s level were filled by TCNs (third country nationals) and wages and benefits were not great. He suggested the Caribbean. We were both scuba divers, and loved warm climates. The choice was made, now he had to get a job there.

Once you decide what you want to do, first step is to tell everyone you know. Ask everyone if they have any connections. Len walked into the office of the company he had worked with for many years. He told the secretary he wanted to move to the tropics. She said she had a friend who had just come back from working in the Bahamas. She gave Len his number and Len gave him a call. They met for a beer one night and he told Len about working in the Bahamas, and answered some of the questions we had. He also gave Len some contact numbers. Len called and one of the contacts asked him to fax his resume, and call back in a couple of weeks. We kept a log of who he called, dates, and what they said etc. When he called the person he had faxed his resume to, he was given another number. He called them and within two days he was hired. His contract was faxed to him, he signed it, and he was on his way.

Len left, and I was left to wind things up and make our move. He arrived in Nassau, the capital, shortly after a hurricane. He was staying in a hotel on the beach - but there was a big freighter washed up on the beach - right in front of the hotel. It was September so the heat and humidity were a shock to say the least. After a couple of weeks your body adjusts, but the first couple of weeks were not much fun. He worked in Nassau for a couple of months, and was then transferred to Freeport. He liked Freeport much better. He was also happy to be on a project from the beginning. Freeport is on a bigger island, less people, and far less crime. The company he worked for had rented one big building in a condo/resort complex for the workers. Each unit was like a studio apartment. I made arrangements to join him.

I had a red eye flight to Miami, then had to wait for a flight to Freeport. Len told me he would be at work, but he told me the front desk knew I was arriving. He suggested I have a nap until he finished work. Customs and Immigration were no problem. I had applied for 60 days visitor visa as I knew I would be leaving the island within that time frame. When I came out of the airport there was a man arranging taxis. A big old limo pulled up. A little old black man got my luggage loaded into the back, then opened the door with a flourish. To my surprise there were no seats in the limo, just a couple of cushions on the floor. They looked like they and at one time been part of a couch. He told me he was renovating. I found him hard to understand, but he knew where I was going, and we arrived safely. I got to Len’s room, had a shower, and crawled into bed. I was almost asleep when the door opened, and a lady in a maid’s uniform came in and went directly to the fridge. When she saw me she said Baby, I jus gettin’ me a Kalik soda. She opened a bottle, poured it into a plastic glass, and left. Len arrived home and laughed when I told him about the soda. He explained Kalik is the local beer, and the maid was Barbara, and she looked after him....... I was thinking it was more like him looking after her. Len was now off for Christmas break, so we had a couple of weeks to explore the island. Bahamian vehicles have different colored license plates for different categories. Taxis are yellow with black numbers, rental cars are white with green letters etc. Grand Bahama has a unique situation. Part of the island is run by the Port Authority - almost like a country within a country. As the Bahamas does not have an many taxes, duty on imports is a big part of the income for the country. The Port Authority has a number of duty exemptions that do not apply to the rest of the island. Duty of vehicles is high, but companies working within the Port Authority get special licenses to denote their vehicles as bonded. This means duty has not been paid on that vehicle, and it must be exported at the end of the project. A bonded vehicle can not leave the bond area, and if it does, it can be seized. Len’s company truck was a bonded vehicle, but no one had explained the ramifications to us, so off we went. We planned to drive to the east end of the island. Fortunately we stopped to buy some soda, the the shop owner told us to turn around, we had just left the bonded area. We soon learned the boundaries and were careful to stay within them. Most vehicles in the Bahamas are American, but driving is on the left. Passing is challenging. Bahamians also believe there is room for three vehicles across on a two land road. They think nothing of passing when there is an oncoming vehicle. The theory is, you will pull to the left, as will the oncoming vehicle, and there will be room down the middle to pass. Its scary, but it does work, most of the time. Bahamians also stop in the middle of the road, but do not keep their foot on the brake, so you do not know they are stopped until you are right behind them. Manners are more important than rules of the road. If you are on a main road, and someone is accessing that road from a side road, it is considered good manners to stop and let them go ahead of you. No one seems to realize how dangerous that can be.

Living in Freeport was a pretty easy adjustment. I was a little shocked at how small the grocery stores were - coming from the land of the superstores. I found most things we needed, but always kept an off island shopping list. Port Lucaya was the hub of activity, and it was just a short walk down the beach from our resort. It was a great place, little cafes, pubs, souvenir shops, and a big outdoor dance floor with live entertainment every night. Cultural shows every weekend were a highlight. Locals dressed their little ones in their finest on weekend nights. Little girls all had their hair platted and beaded, and they all came to learn to dance. Four year old Bahamians have more built in rhythm than most of us would ever have in a lifetime. New Years Eve we went to the Square, then walked across to the big resort on the beach. We found a seat on the sea wall to watch the fireworks. The resort was having a black tie dinner under the stars. Crisp white tablecloths, chairs wrapped in white with big black satin bows - it was all very elegant.

As midnight approached a waiter came over to us with a bottle of Champagne and a couple of glasses. We explain we were not guests of the resort - but he said that did not matter - it was The Festive. Needless to say, he got a very nice thank you, and tip!

I had no trouble learning to get into town and home on my own. The local