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Some rare souls...believe that a vacation should be comprised of hour after hour of dawdling in comfortable and interesting surroundings. Carriacou offers an excellent destination for these nonconformists.
Now that you finally made it to Carriacou and the eastern most point of the island, you are about as far away from airports, traffic, hassles and hubbub as you could dream to be. Good!! This is an important step. You are now officially . For those of you who are new to these latitudes, LIMIN’ is essentially the art of doing nothing gracefully.
Anyone here been to Jamaica? Then you are probably familiar with the expression ‘IREE’...as in feelin’ iree....this is essentially LIMIN’ with a buzz. So if you’ll just kick back, pour yourself a tall Old Oak and Coke and put your feet up, we’ll bore you with a few little facts that will make your stay a little more understandable if not a tad more comfortable.
As you were traveling the back roads of Carriacou to reach this destination I am sure you were struck with no small amount of trepidation every time you saw a little green or blue or red or yellow house. Actually, these quaint little dwellings are modeled after typical West Indian chattel houses. These houses were traditionally one room homes built with no foundation but resting on a bed of stones to protect the board from moisture. These houses were brightly painted and had ornate fret work on their large overhangs. As they were originally slave dwellings they were designed to be picked up and moved as the occasion arose. In the case of the little blue cottage this occasion has arisen no less than three times.
PLUMBING is pretty simple: All water is supplied by gravity from a 400 gallon tank over the bath room which is filled as needed from the cistern below the cottage via an electric pump. Water is free of chemicals & minerals-- it is rain water.... pure and simple and safe to drink, although you might prefer bottled water for drinking. If you find your water pressure getting low, you can fill the overhead tank by turning on the switch which activates the pump.
Carriacou is a dry rock with two basic seasons: one month flood and eleven months drought. As the saying goes: In this land of drought and sun we don’t flush for #1. No strict rules here other than be discrete and use water wisely. For example, don’t let the water run waiting for it to get HOT. Toilet water goes into a small septic tank-- please-- NO CHEMICAL CLEANERS other than those specified 'safe for use in septic tanks'. And NO cigarette butts....
ELECTRICITY, when functioning, is 220v, 50 herz (as opposed to 110v in the USA). DO NOT try to plug in your appliances until you have verified the voltage. We can arrange for the use of transformers and appropriate adaptors. PLEASE, do not be afraid to ask before you plug in. You will notice that most of the outlets are for British-type three pin plugs. While these are very safe, the handy little lethal plug adaptors which can be inserted into these outlets are receptacles for almost any type of plug. Beware of this one. While all plugs fit, none fit well. Although, the cottages are all linked up to ground fault circuit interrupters, as an added safety feature, this will not save your appliance if popped into the wrong outlet.