My time here in the BVI with my son and his fiance is winding up and on Thursday I arrive in Cuba. I'm not sure how the internet connections will be there but I will take lots of photos anyway and if I can't upload my blog entries immediately I will do so from Puerto Rico where I arrive on 21 January.
What do I think of the BVI? Well, as the cliche goes, "It's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there." In fact I couldn't afford to! The cost of living is very high since everything is imported--the eggs, the milk, the fruit the vegetables, the meat, even the fish! You need to go everywhere by car and since the roads are so rugged and steep you need a four wheel drive and they are also very expensive to buy and maintain. It seems to take all morning to accomplish the most basic shopping tasks. Office hours seem to be as long or longer than in London --8:30 to 6--and because it gets dark at 6 there are no after hours swims on the beach as you might imagine.
However it is beautifully scenic and the expat social life for the under 35's is active and the swimming, diving and sailing would be hard to match. But once beyond that age when one is thinking of marrying and having children there are serious disadvantages.
The restrictions on expats are draconian and to me seem downright racist. Unless you are born on the island you are not a "belonger" and I understand that they have considered changing the rules so that unless your parents are belongers you cannot be a belonger even if born here. If you are not a belonger you have to seek special permission to send your children to the local schools which means that your children must be privately educated and leave the island for boarding school at a young age when the local private schools are no longer good enough. Property is hideously expensive to buy and you need special permits so most expats must rent. You cannot run a business without partnering with a belonger who holds the trade licence.
I hasten to say that this affects expats of all races and colours, and there are many many expats who are from other parts of the Caribbean --Jamaica, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Granada, etcetc. In fact over half the population of the BVI are expats, most of them non-"Europeans". Politics seems to be rife with anti-expat rhetoric, despite the fact that well over half of the GDP comes from the international financial services sector and is generated primarily by the expats.
Enough social and political musings for now! Best wishes to all for 2012.
 |
| Lynn and Estelle at a beach restaurant on Peter Island |
 |
| New Year's Eve on the beach at Trellis Bay, BVI |
No comments:
Post a Comment