Bahamas! Part 2: Colors of the Bahamas

On day two we docked on Nassau island.  The first place we visited was a fort, built by the English on the highest point of all the island, to protect the island from invaders that never materialized.  It was barely higher then any other point on the islands.

It had three cannons (or "cannings" as our Haitian guide called them) that could shoot a cannonball 1.4 miles.  They were originally bronze, but the British decided that was a waste of good metal and replaced them in 1840's with these cheaper, less far-shooting models.  They never had reason to use them.

Behind the fort is an "escape path",  built by 200 slaves over the course of 18 years.  They just cut a narrow roadway through a limestone mountain.

There were 84 hand carved steps leading down to the bottom.When Queen Victoria freed  slaves in the colonies during the 1830's, the slaves renamed these stairs "Queen Victoria's Steps" in her honor.  The people of the Bahamas still have a great fondness for English royalty, especially Queen Victoria.

There were lots of cheap little souvenir shops along this escape path, too.  We were completely surprised by the poverty in the Bahamas.  Somehow we  expected the islands to be full of wealthy islanders.  Instead they are highly dependent on tourists for their living, and most people live hand to mouth.  There is lots of crime and alcoholism.   The devastation caused by the hurricanes in 2003 and 2004 is still apparent everywhere, and there is no money to repair or clean up buildings and trees damaged by the storms.

The average home costs $45,000.  Although there were wealthy areas, the vast majority of homes were little more than shacks.  All of the homes had these fences with the coiled barbed wire on top to discourage burglars.

Every home on the island was painted a cheerful turquoise,

sunshine yellow,

or powder puff pink. We also saw lime green and sherbet orange.   Pink was the predominate color, and all government buildings were the same pastel pink.  Pink was declared the "official" government color back in colonial days, and they've used it ever since.  Earth tone or white homes and buildings were nonexistent.

Our last visit of the day was Astoria Gardens.  It was built in the 30s by a botanist.  His original plan was to include all of the native plants of the Bahamas.

When flamingos were hunted to near extinction during the 1930s and 1940s, he added a flamingo sanctuary.

And finally he added non-native birds and animals.  The zookeeper told us the islands have been completely overrun by non native animals, particularly reptiles.  Apparently lots of people have released pets they no longer want onto the island, and the climate is mild enough they happily adapted and proliferate.

This guy was loving the neck scratching he was getting from this tourist who was ignoring the "Do not touch the animals.  They bite!!!" sign.

The zoo has a large atrium full of parrots that they encourage visitors to go into and feed their birds.  They want the birds to be tame and comfortable around people.

They had a herd (flock? gaggle? pride?) of flamingos that were trained to march around in a circle.

On cue, they turned and marched in the opposite direction.  Who knew you could train a flamingo?

Next: Bahamas! Part 3: Swimming like a fish and eating like a glutton.