Sandals Man December 19
The Galleon Passage’s contract for its POS-Scarborough TT “water bridge“ is taking on water. The ferry was designed as a river boat, and it does not handle high seas well, too often having to return to port or cancel launches altogether. The voyage to or from Tobago can take either 2 hours or 2 days. In the latest episode, the vessel rolled so severely that car cables gave way. The captain ordered the Galleon Passage back to port before all of the vehicles on board were destroyed. As it happened, the loudest complaints came from passengers carrying frozen chicken and goat to their island limes.
Fortunately, there are airplanes. The sign at Piarco Airport says “Domestic Flights“, but there is only one destination and only one regional carrier, Caribbean Airlines, to Crown Point, Tobago. Flights leave on the hour, give or take, and it is not uncommon to be bumped from one overbooked. At 25 minutes total, prop planes barely reach altitude before descending. Limers are not packed for jet travel so much as a bus trip to the beach. Plastic Massy bags and loose items rest in laps and aisles. Seat belts and tray tables are apparently optional. The flight crew is as attentive as Metro employees waiting for a shift change. This is how things work on the TT “sky bridge,“ and if you do not like it you can swim.
Oli and I grab some spicy Doubles at a food court outside Piarco, and my pants are ruined again. I still cannot eat one of these curry tacos without trickling chickpeas all over my legs. I would suggest preparing larger pieces of fried dough to avoid the mess, but I already look like an incompetent idiot, perhaps with unmanaged bowel syndrome, so why speak like one as well?
The puddle jump to ANR Robinson Airport is just as I remember 25 years ago, uncluttered by sophistication or strict organization, although this lax standard of mediocrity is threatened by the arrival of Sandals Resorts International, perhaps as early as 2020, the first of its kind in TT. Jamaica, Barbados, and the Bahamas already have their SRI mega-resorts, but Sandals Tobago plans to be the biggest of all, adding 900 rooms to the sleepy village of Buccoo.
The flight attendant informs the passengers that there is no drinking water on today’s flight, but she hopes you will understand both the absence of potable water and her incomprehensible dialect. How will a vacationing family from Long Island respond? She will have ample opportunity to find out, as on Turks and Caicos Islands, where Sandals increased flights to the tiny airport by twentyfold, 365 days a year of extra tourist stress. All here are due to become permanently stressed—the residents, the airport, the infrastructure, the roads, the businesses, the agriculture—like dogs under fireworks. The Prime Minister reassures the public that Sandals will support the Tobago economy by purchasing locally grown goods, but how? On an island of 80,000 people, Sandals intends to consume one million eggs a year. Meanwhile, countless thousands of visitors will have the chance to witness firsthand the demise of the Buccoo Reef, as well as a way of life.
“The issue of the sea,“ says Chief Executive Sandal Jeremy Jones, in a rambling Newsday interview, “and moving back and forth and transportation and the airports being of good quality, you have to understand our clients travel from North America and Europe and are accustomed to a certain standard, and there would be an amount of give and take, as this is a developing region and a developing country. But the standards that you try to push is to make sure it is of a top standard.“
Regarding the “give and take“ portion of such shit, the High Court opened an inquiry in October, after accusations emerged of “improprieties“ among negotiators. Today the Great Sandal does not want to discuss details of an ongoing bribery investigation, and he wants, instead, to showcase Sandals’ new sponsorship of a Trinbagonian treasure—West Indies Cricket! “Our relationship with sport is part of building the team members.“ Some might like to bribe a batsman to do Mr. Jeremy a favor with a wicket, especially in light of recent revelations that the TT Treasury’s investment of 3 billion dollars TT will not be reimbursed by Sandals. As the saying goes, you cannot make a luxury resort without breaking a few, or one-million, eggs.
In Buccoo, life hums along peacefully, as it has for generations. No one locks their doors, the loudest sounds belong to roosters, and street dogs serve as ambassadors. Outsiders are treated with friendly curiosity, which city people from the big island have always considered naive. The world is dangerous, they warn, and it is coming to get you, like a Jumbie in the night. As portent, Sandals Jamaica was recently exposed as covering up over 80 rapes at the resort (by staff) with cash payments, nondisclosure agreements, and even complimentary “extended stays“ for the victims. Says one tourist minister, “I can’t give assurances that people won’t behave badly. You are saying an employee went on a frolic of his own, as they say in law, to commit an assault that was outside the job he was employed to do. I can’t give you an assurance that won’t happen in Trinidad. I am sure Sandals would not condone such as thing.“ As they might say “in law,“ this minister should go “frolic“ himself.
The primary whistleblower for misconduct in the Tobago project is a rogue surveyor named Afra Raymond, who has good reason to fear for his life these days. He has released documents showing that the government may have promised SRI as much as 10 billion dollars, through tax breaks and direct subsidy, whereas Sandals has promised little more in exchange than “good intentions“ to provide employment opportunities. “The terms of the agreement from my analysis are terms that we cannot get back the money, we are not going to get back the money. We have invited the wolf into our home. Like stick break in we ears—I am not going to be silent about it. We have lost our way.“