Fixed as the Spanish gaze is on America, the region bathed by the Caribbean Sea is not alien to us. On the contrary, Spain is closely familiar with the peninsular Caribbean, especially the Colombian and Mexican ones, and, naturally, with the Greater Antilles, especially Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Perhaps this explains why Spain has diverted its attention from the British Caribbean, made up of Jamaica and most of the Lesser Antilles. Although many of these islands were once sighted and even visited by Columbus and were under Spanish sovereignty, the tides and intrigues of history took them away from Spain.
The Lesser Antilles are formed by that formidable crescent that begins to the east of Puerto Rico and culminates in Trinidad, right at the mouth of the Orinoco. They are mostly islands of English descent, although there are also French and Dutch ones. The most elegant division that exists in universal geography occurs precisely in the Lesser Antilles, since these are divided into two areas according to the direction in which the wind blows: the Windward and Leeward islands.
When looking at the British Antilles for the first time, a curious circumstance is immediately noticed for the Spanish traveler, since most of them have Spain in their name, Saint Lucia, Trinidad, Tobago, Antigua, Montserrat, Saint Vincent, Jamaica or Barbados. However, the capital of these countries always responds to English place names, except in the case of Port of Spain, in Trinidad. Except for Trinidad and, to a lesser extent, Jamaica, these islands were never actively administered by Spain.
The big difference with the Spanish Caribbean is the absence of large civil or religious buildings. Only Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, boasts notable English architecture, but there is nothing comparable to Havana or Santo Domingo, whose centuries-old universities and cathedrals, which once rivaled those of Tierra Firme, date from the days of the Captaincy. General. The capitals of the British Caribbean do not display large buildings or avenues. They are all port cities, some charmingly laid out but of very moderate beauty, with the most notable exception of Saint George, in Grenada. They usually have markets that, due to their hustle and bustle, are reminiscent of Africans, where food, spices, dressings and, naturally, all kinds of ointments, potions and concoctions are sold to alleviate the usual worries of modern man.
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What island to visit?
The multitude of islands makes it very difficult to choose one as a destination and the nuances are never obvious until you start exploring the region. Traditionally, Barbados has been the most popular, not only for being the most developed in tourist services, but also for being the closest to the United Kingdom. Saint Vincent is one of the most beautiful and Carriacou, one of the Grenadines, is perhaps more Eden than beach. Saint Lucia, exuberant and pregnant with green, is dominated by hills and hills and crowned by its famous Pitons, which rise imposingly to the south of the island, just the same ones emblazoned on its flag. Trinidad and Tobago differ from the rest by incorporating the Indian element into their culture, from gastronomy to religion, making them less Caribbean than the rest. Antigua, a flat and leafy island, has English Harbour, a natural port that bears witness to the military presence of the British and with the largest assortment of beaches in the Antilles. The two countries with some political entity are Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Both were Spanish possessions and, paradoxically, the English Caribbean begins and ends in both.
This, despite being a vast archipelago with many nuances, presents common features. Each island proudly exhibits and consumes its national rum and in most of them it can be tasted in its rum shacks, dens with a unique drink, ascetic decoration, somewhat scoundrels and assured melancholy. Although they all have different accents, there is a common gastronomy, very different from the Hispanic Caribbean. In the English Caribbean the African influence is notable and among its stews stand out the lambieshe callaloo or the goat curry. Crabs and lobster are also cooked, the season of which is controlled with irritating zeal. The macaroni and cheese (mac ‘no‘ cheese), an accompaniment to almost every dish, is a haunting culinary obsession for all of them, an eloquent reflection of the influence that the United States continues to have in kitchens across the continent. His best recipes are served, however, in endearing street stalls.
It is also common that on these islands on Fridays there are fish marketattracting at night crowds of people who taste fish and shellfish in the markets with great joy, a legacy, of course, of the famous fish & chips British, in turn, a discreet legacy of Catholicism in force before Henry VIII. On Saturdays, at sunset, barbecues are common, which in the British Caribbean have been perfected using closed cylinders for roasting meat, usually pork and chicken. The families then congregate and the melodic metallic rhythms typical of the Antillean repercussion are heard. If Cuba has an exquisite and extensive cocktail bar, the English Caribbean, less creative in this, entrusts everything to its rum punchkind of sangria based on the inevitable rum and spices of the place.
The Caribbean human type ranges from the one with annoying and exaggerated Victorian poses, especially in Barbados, to the ordinary man, peaceful, with a calm soul and inapt for stress. There is hardly any interest in what happens on the neighboring islands, which they see as different worlds, which is nothing more than the wonderful indifference of the islander. This is such that a very old Antiguan confessed to me without shame that he had never visited the other half of the country, neighboring Barbuda, just 30 miles away.
The beaches stretch everywhere and some are among the best in the world, such as those of Granada, Santa Lucía or San Vicente. Although there are tourist areas occupied by the inevitable hordes that the ferries bring, there are also solitary ones, with an eternal haven, where you can lie down under a canopy of strong palm trees. It may be the only refuge left for the already collapsed modern man.
Its culture, less obvious and more fragmented than in the Spanish Caribbean, is already happily codified in the works of VS Naipaul, Eric Williams or Derek Walcott. His lyrics, forged in the Antilles, are flashes of genius. With fine-tuned instinct and delicious prose and verse, only they were capable of deciphering the complex Caribbean landscape that saw them born.
These scattered islands offer the traveler beautiful sunsets, secluded beaches that are a monument in themselves, a unique recipe book, solitude and company, the sweet and treacherous intoxication of rum, discreet tributes to France, England or Spain and memories of the sad Africa that in her day she arrived chained. Where Castile arrived a long time ago, the skein of the traveler who travels through jet-black islands discreetly spins centuries of European and African history in the Caribbean.
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