People

As expected, most of the people encountered on Caribbean islands were of African descent but some are of Asian descent, as some slaves were brought from India. TSH and Diva were shocked to discover that their history education was mostly the same as a British history education and contained little or nothing about their own antecedents. Most do not know where their ancestors came from. One woman told us she thought hers were from Nigeria, because of similarity in the way she pronounces words and the way some Nigerians pronounce them. This is very flimsy linguistic evidence, as accents are rarely preserved over hundreds of years between people in different locations. (Think of the USA accent, where many of the people’s ancestors originated in Britain)  It certainly seems that there are many chapters of this history to be written.

On a tour in Becquia, one of the guides explained that she was one of the indigenous people. Her facial features were different and her cultural attitude (favourable) towards whaling were different from those of the Afro-Caribbean guides, who were pretty much disgusted by it.

In Brazil, the people appear to be a mixture of indigenous South American Indians and descendants of the Portuguese colonisers. Guides informed guests that there were African slaves here as well, but TSH and Diva have seen no signs so far. One surprise is that the largest Japanese community outside Japan is here is Brazil. Hence the sighting of a sushi bar.

Unusually, 80% of the passengers on this voyage are British. Maybe because it includes the US Thanksgiving holiday.

There have been times on the cruise when its been ‘all about the butler’.  TSH and Diva had a visit from the butler manager to check they were happy and actually they are now, as he is remembering most things. But there is a suggestion that he could be doing more and that TSH and Diva are not using him properly. They have no idea what else a butler could do for them, although he did offer to run Diva a bubble bath one night. This is a totally ludicrous suggestion and TSH and Diva would rather not have a butler. One day TSH and Diva returned to the suite to find a note that he had run ‘a muscle relaxing bubble bath’. The bath had no bubbles, no apparent smell from any product and it had already gone cold. One night, forgetting he had made them a restaurant reservation, he suggested that TSH and Diva dine in the suite – he had already chosen his recommended dishes. Polite refusal followed.