The Rhythm of the Night.

Cariacou is a little island in the Grenadines, just a 3 hour sail from Grenada. When we first came here last November, I was smitten with the place. It checks all the boxes of cute Caribbean Island: colonial architecture, fading pastel colors, tin roofs, palm trees, white sand beaches. It’s also a living, working community with banks and shops, a fish store, lawyers and doctors, schools, teachers and students. Last year we walked around and bought some things, mostly hand made items and fruit picked from the islander’s backyards. I wanted to get to know the place more, and filed that thought away.

Fast forward to this morning. A nice little swim at Ille de Ronde, followed by a choppy motor/sail up to Cariacou. Captain Richie did a great job of keeping us into the wind to make the passage as comfortable as possible. Jerk wings for lunch and a few naps while anchored a mile outside of Hillsborough town on Carriacou.

Reverse to the doldrums of this past winter, thoughts of Carriacou kept returning to me. Heather and I pulled on a thread which led from one person to another until we were introduced to Rina Mills, Carriacou’s cultural tourism guru and head of Explore Carriacou and Petit Martinique. I told her that I wanted to bring our guests to the island for an authentic cultural experience, and she got what I was talking about right away, offering a local dinner and music. We made a deal and set the date, which happened to be today. 

We jumped off the yacht for an A to B swim along the shore of Hillsborough. We covered about a mile which included some Conga Line swimming, and meeting back up with Antares near the town dock. We cleaned up and Skipper Richie ferried us to the dinghy dock in two groups. We explored the town before our meetup time with Rina at 5pm. 

The crew picked up a few provisions and an ice cream cone before our meet up with Rina.

Rina collected the seven of us, 3 crew, 2 guides, 2 guests, and walked us to a seaside restaurant that appears to serve a lot of functions in town, a big, open air place that can handle a lot of people. Rina sat us down and explained that we’d be eating Carriacan-African food, and made a point of the fact that she and her fellow Islanders have African roots and that they celebrate them in food, music, and dance. After a round of strong rum punch, we were served rice balls, Cou Cou (cornmeal balls), pigeon peas, mutton, pork, and “yard chicken”, which quite literally came from Rina’s backyard. All of this was served in a giant seed pod called bouile. All of the sauce from the meat dishes and the peas combined in the bottom and soaked into the rice and cornmeal: scrumptious. Everything but the rice was grown or raised or collected on Carriacou. We got up for seconds. And some of us for thirds. 

It’s hard to explain exactly what happened next, so I’ll let Heather’s photos do most of the work. A local band, the Carriacou Culture String Band, played for us. They welcomed us a thousand different ways. They taught us to dance and how to play their instruments (ok ok just the percussive ones, not the strings). The band leader, Bassie, started with a violin and European based shanties and waltzes, then traded it for a mandolin as the band moved into Afro-Caribbean and African songs. We were pulled in among the dancers and band members, shoulder to shoulder. Their pride in their Island and culture was infused with every note.

There was passion. Heat. Joy. Soul. We got the sense that the party was for us, but also had a life of its own. As the sun set, more people arrived, mostly family members of Rina’s and the band. The street outside the venue filled with people, the party grew, the hours went by. More dancing, and a 3-song encore. They couldn’t stop playing, and at some point we guests were besides the point, this was a full blown party for everyone. We left, thoroughly exhausted and full of island spirit. I’m quite certain the celebrations continued long after we went to sleep.

It’s hard to explain how much my expectations for this night were surpassed. I’m also re-convinced that travel and cross-cultural exchange is crucial for us to all get along on this planet. Come to Grenada, and spend a culture infused evening on Carriacou. You’ll find a rhythm you didn’t know you had.

Hopper