The Statue's not the Saint (Maarten)

2012

The number one thing to do on a cruise ship (and off it in the ports of call) is not just EATING. It's Shopping.

I am about to go to the zoo, and see all the stuffed animals in their cages. What I mean is the Disneyland effect--bring in tons of white sand, add a backdrop of palm trees and colonial shops; like Vegas' Venetian, the copy is better than the orginal- It's beautiful and predicatble, like plastic surgery. The statue's not the saint, but the menu is the meal. Yet, Sint Maarten has a retro Carib-vibe going on in that magical strip of land called Phillipsburg beach.



2009



I wrote about this before , The Merchants of Venice, and can say the same for The Caribbean "Season": It's not just visited by tourists, AKA Americons,but inhabited by them. Even though I am hitting it and quitting it, it seems in the gaze of locals that "we" are just one critical mass, and more than that, from their POV, "always here" and "Here comes everybody!".