Christmas in Georgetown

On Christmas day, we got picked up at noon from the market downtown by Willard, the husband of Elaine, who Allyson and Jitka met hitchhiking. He drove us 30 miles (to the other end of the island) to his house up on a hill. Him, his wife, his three sons, their aunt and friend were there and we ate food she made and drank Cuban rum with condensed milk. Then Willard took us to the very end of the island Barraterre, where we saw the police boat bring a 40ft Haitian sailing boat into the town dock to detain the refugees.The Bahamian's were there drinking beers and having a very Merry Christmas while the 200 Haitians looked on after surviving 4 days at sea. And of course there are 4 random white people looking on. They said that the haitians plan to land on holidays so that there aren't that many people on duty. They are being fed and housed at a community center in town and will be flown to Nassau and then sent back to Haiti. On the way back Willard stopped at his friends place to pick up all his passengers beer for the road along with a bushel of bananas. We stopped back at their house to grab cake and Allyson got to take a look at their son's scrapes and check for broken bones (he took a digger off his motorbike). Willard then drove us 30 miles back to Georgetown with a couple stops on the way to see where he was born and check out the other villages on the island. He dropped us off and Allyson put together a med kit with bandages and antiseptic cream for his son, Dave and I ran it back over to Willard. He basically said we were family by the end of the visit.

One of the many pitstops to pick up some beverages for our tour of the island. 

 Willard built his own house on generational land. Apparently if you are born in a town in the Bahama's there is a certain percentage of the island put aside as generational land, which you can claim for free to build your house on.

 Our wonderful host

Our wonderful hostess at the stove! 

 The Haitian refugee boat. It was a surreal scene and makes you appreciate how fortunate you are to choose where you want to travel and live. 

 I could never imagine trying to sail on Sarah with this many passengers. 

 Family Christmas Picture

One the way back to Georgetown, Willard stopped to show us the one room house that he and his 6 siblings were born in. There is a tree growing in the middle of it now, but it's still there!

 Making our way back to the boats with our gifts. We were very grateful to spend our Christmas with Willard, Elaine and their family. We haven't met a more generous family since we departed on this trip.