HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1973-05-17, Page 23GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, MAY 17, 1{173--PAO* aB
the first of 'a travel
ries by Signal -Star
mallet Ron Shaw.
is based on f th s year
January9
nd his wife Peg spent
in the Caribbean
s of Antigua,
Mont -
Puerto Rico. From
flew to Los Angeles,
ked to Vancouver
Mumble and. returned
ch via Stratford, by
National Railways
tinental.
st story of the series
h the theland`'tc�f r Aal
n-
nd.
d of Montserrat.
ramped around the
Montserrat, under
pounds of cameras
photographic equip -
again now as 1 sit at
iter faced with the
of describing that
rner of the world, one
thought keeps
my, mind. How,
the media of a
, can one possibly
e color of the place?
tiall� impossible to
n when the took at
.sal are lines of type
int and even at best
white photographs,
he initial shock of
ff an airplane at An. -
rt, into 80 degree,
ures while still
or the sub freezing _,,...,
Canada, the first im-
emed to he "Look at
's its the sudden
om the bleak land-
anadian January, -to
ring Caribbean (its
seven hours. flying
• perhaps colors are
at bright in intense
but what ever, its
-its beautiful.
ribbean Islands are
not perfect. A fact I
well reminded of at
n of Antigua airport.
Canada flight was
nnect with a L.I.A.T.
than an hour after
1, for the finarlWIP: ,"
our trip to Montse
"L.I.A.T. reportedly static
"Leeward Islands Air Tran-
sport" but local rumor has it -
that the abbreviation actually
stands for "Leave Islands Any
Time."
Whatever the truth about its
initials my wife_arid I are cer-
tainly inclined to believe the
latter.
The ups of the whole matter
however was a full days
layover on the island of An-
tigua at a cost of would you
believe $48 per night. After
about 30 minutes of useless
threatening at the L.I.A.T.
counter, as to what I'd do to
their line in the travel feature I
was writing, a representative of
Air Canada arrived on the
scene and produced vouchers to
r nv fur our hotel room, dinner
a breakfast, and taxi fare to
• and from our hotel.
The Air Canada employee
pointed out 'however that his
airline was not accepting any
responsibility for our problems,
that L.I.A.T. was the company
at fault, but would pay for Our
accommodation anyway. , Even'
now I'm not sure whether he
interceded to avert bad
publicity or an assault, • but
needless to say Peg and I were
both very appreciative.
Off to the hotel we went with
a very entertaining cab driver,
checked into a room that was
clean and comfortable but
could have been rented in
Canada for $15 and enjoyed a
very delicious dinner of local
dishes.
don't end here however. After
dinner we asked room service
to wake us at 5:00 a.m. so we
could get to the airport in time
to catch the first flight out at
6:00 a.m. Room service stept in
and so did we. •
We did manage to get to the
airport 10 minutes before the
8:00 a.m. flight but even though
the plane .was still on the tar-
mac, with steps down, L.I.A.T.
said we were too late to get
aboard and we'd have to wait
until 3:00 that afternoon for
the last flight of the day.
After another ten to twenty,
minutes of fruitless arguing the
plane took ,off and we settled in
for the day in Antigua.
Not being one to waste the
situation I decided to rent a car
and see the island in hopes of
The setting sun of a Caribbean evening throws a halo of light around a resting donkey on
the island of Montserrat. Although there are serviceable roads and many cars on the island,
animal power 'remains the most common mode of transportation for most villagers on the
Island. Life by North American standards Is Indeed backward but for a holiday who wants
everything to be just like home? (photo by Ron Shaw)
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turning the unwanted layover
into a side benefit.
At this point we meet Lapp's
hent -a -Car. If the inefficiency.
of L.I A.T. seems a little ,t3ur-
prising you ain't seen notiin'
yet.
For $30 Antiguan currency
(that's $15 Canadian), plus
85.00 Antiguan to have your
Canadian drivers licence
changed over to drive on the
island, you get this little
English Hillman. It doesn't
look, like too bad a car con-
sidering what we've seen of
island automobiles so far so its
a Ileal.
Off we go, get $2.00 worth of
gas, and start our island tour.
Its worth mentioning here
that Antigua is the first place
on earth I've ever been
required to drive on the left
side of the road since I'm not
that much of a traveller but af-
ter the initial disorientation. -its
not hard to master. I made a
fool of myself at a few intersec-
tions but nothing serious.
•" About 15 miles from the air-
. port, where we rented the car,
the radiator starts to boil. We
pull over to let it cool and find
its only about half full of water,
but decide if we let it cool down
and then drive slow we could
likely find a service station
somewhere.
Then, sitting on the side of
the road in some out of the way
village, waiting for the rad to
cool, we helplessly watch a
back tire go flat. Still .-no
serious problem you say. Not
true no spare.
After a few , language
problems we rounded up a
youngster who spoke pidgin
English and found a telephone.
Lapp.s brought us a new car
and of course their apologies.
What can happen next'? How
about a back door that keeps
flying open in the lane of on-
coming traffic. .
Rack to the station we go and
waste about an hour of our $15
time while some part time
grease monkey;,, tries to figure
out how to fix it. Finally, after
what by now is xt least half our
cy wasted. we get a look at
Antigua.
In contrast to Montserrat,
where we later spent two weeks
and about which this story is
really supposed to he written,
Antigua is a flat and unin-
spiring i land. That is not to
say it does not possess any of
the colorful beauty described
earlier, indeed it does.
The hills are low and rolling,
covered mostly with sugar cane
or cotton. Cattle goats and
sheep roam the roads at will, as
they do in most of the islands,
and • industry seems limited to
agriculture.
The United States has an air
force tracking station there but
excepting their buildings most
of the structures are either
rural shacks or of stone ar-
chitecture which betray the
British colonial background of
the place.
Antigua is now a self gover-
ning unit, which likely explains
their problems of late with
unemployment and low living
standards as well as their inef-
ficient business operations like
the ones we disco` red.
Back at the airport things
continued `:°slung their
hopelessly confused routine.
We arrived more than an hour
before our flight tinge to make
sure we'd get on the plane and,
amazing as it may seem, did
just that.
The twin engine turbo -prop
wasn't very' impressive but the
stewardesses were gorgeous
and it seemed it could hold
together long enough to cross
the 27 miles of ocean.
We taxied onto, the runway
and the engines rev up but are
immediately cut. Over the
public address • system, which
had that most annoying habit
of feeding back in a; high pit-
ched scream, we were informed
the plane had been called back
by the customs and im-
migration officials.
Back on the tarmac the of-
ficials decide they had called
the wrong plane back and let us
go after all.
Back to the runway, gun the
engines, the plane stumbles
down the strip and we're air-
borne headed for Montserrat. ,
The British colony of Mon-
serrat is located 27 miles south-
west of the island of Antigua,
which is in full view from the
eastlerta side and some elevated
parts of Montserrat.
Montserrat has a land area
of only 39 and one half square
miles. As the crow flies it is 11
miles long and seven miles
across its widest section.
Generally speaking the land-
scape rises from the sea level
beaches thr1pugh rolling hills
and up to more than 3,000 feet
in the central mountains before
-dropping back to the sea. The
lush green of the country's
5,000 acres of forest has earned
its recognition as the "Emerald
Isle of the Caribbean."
About 13,000'i people live in
the small country, ap-
proximately 8,000 to 9,000 of
them being native blacks.
The island,is directly cooled
by the north east trade winds
and the mean maximum tem-
perature is 76 'to 84 degrees
with an average rainfall of 62
inches.
Most people speak English
on the island but the actual
native tongue could be
described' only as pidgin. The
natives call it "Montserratian"
but listening closely it becomes
obvious the- language is a
corruption of several dialects
with English as its base.
Montserrat was discovered
by Christopher Columbus on
his second voyage to the New
World in 1493. He named it af-
ter the Mountain Monastery of
Montserrat in Spain with
"Montserrat" translating from
the Spanish to roughly "Saw
Tooth Mountain."
The island was colonized in
1632 when a number of Irish-
men,' who formed part of Sir
Thomas Warners Company,
came across from the neigh
-boring island of St.
Christopher's ( known today as
St. Kitts) and made thctir
homes on Montserrat.
The island was captured by
the French in 1644, -restored to
England in 1688, capitulated to
France again in 1783 and was
finally ceded to Britain in 1783.
For all but a few years
...during .the last decade, when
Montserrat joined the- Carib-
bean Federation (which fell
apart soon after its
organization), the island has
remained a British colony as it
is today.
The present form of Govern-
ment provides for a Ministerial
system with a Chief Minister. A
Governor, appointed by the
Crown, is Head of Government.
Montserrat is the smallest,
semi -self ,governing territory, in
the British West Indies,
CRAFT SUPPLIES
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ARTISTS MATERIALS
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STORE HOURS:
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2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
PHONE
524-6815
Enjoy a 2 Night Special
in TORONTO
The Lord Simcoe has something extra for you. It's J
night stieclal for two at a cost of only 559.90, It includes
deluxe accommodation tot two nights, dinner in the
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TRAVELLIHGA'S 1973
Community Friendship Tour to the
p
British Isles and Southern Ireland
"You are invited to attend a SPECIAL PRE -TOUR
FAMILIARIZATION COFFEE PARTY to be held on THURSDAY
JUNE 7th, at the ONTARIO .STREET UNITED CHURCH HALL,
CLINTON beginning at 8:00 p.m. At this party we wilt be
featuring a film on Southern Ireland pnd The British isles, go
over the itinerary of the Tour, meet the Tour Hosts Walter and
Grace Forbes and answer any questions you may have. If
you wish to attend please call Walter Forbes at 482-7858 in
Clinton."
22 DAYS DEPARTING FROM TORONTO
SEPTEMBER 9, 1 973
This outstanding tour has been especially arranged for you.
and your fellow Canadians. You'll visit an Irish Castle where
you'll enjoy a magnificent Mediaeval Banquet; "kiss" the
famous Blarney Stone; mix with the rollicking Irish and hear
their merry ballads in one of their friendly; traditionPI pubs:
Dublih, with a history stretching back to pre-viking days.
In Edinburgh you'll visit the magnificent Edinburgh Castle
and the Palace of Holyrood House; visit the walled city of
Chester; Stratford-upon-Avon and the Shakespeare 'Memorial
Theatre; you'll spend four days in Europe's largest capital,
•London, where you'll visit Buckingham Palace; the Changing -
of the Guard, an evening at the.Jheatre.
All this and much, much more. ^You'll fly with Air Canada
Jet Service; stay at first class Hotels; all land travel by luxury
modern motorcoach.
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this Tour will be personally escor-
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former Warden for the County of
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and Mrs. Forbes on)this outstap-
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they are most qualified and
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Membership on this Tour is limited to 32 persons.
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first -serve basis.
For further information and Brochure call
TOLL FREE 1-800-265-5254 OR WRITE:
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244 QUEEN STREET CHATHAM, ONT. 352-5150
A fully escorted itinerary from
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and environs, Portland, Seattle
and a ferryboat cruise across
Juan de Fuca Strait to Victoria,
Vancoiever, Fraser Canyon, Jas-
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DEPARTS WEEKLY
JUNE - SEPT.
�re:AUSE "— * You get a holiday that takes you there... and brings,you back!
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* You get all the benefits of Suntours and the Royal Bank -of Canada!
* Last, but not least, you get the professional services and free advice of
3200 Galt Ocean Drive, Fort Lauderdale 33308
Chatham; Ontario . Travelphone 519-352-5150
CaII Toll Free 1-800-265-5254
P.S.—We look after -all your Travel Documents!
would like to call on you with
"housewarming gifts" and in-
formation about your new
location. The Hostess will be
glad tor -arrange your subscrip-
tion to the Signal -Star
CaII her at 524-7854
woorrowerie."104, •••
Acres of private ocean beach • heated pool, sun decks • Itlxuri0us accommodation • golf
pr"viledges on 3 ch implonsh"p courses • free tennis on premises • Shoe! 0 dining • nightly
dancing ,1"1tl enter 1.linn)rnt • visits to Walt Disney World available.
See your travel agent or contact:
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