So, Caribbean again.
For the very first time in my life I was actually glad to finally get over with that vacation because winter in Croatia was so unpleasantly cold that at certain point I even started to feel sorry for myself. Not that I forgot what winters could be like, after all I was born and raised in Zagreb so naturally four seasons are nothing new to me - I even treasure some of the winter moments like being inside next to the warm fire while snow is falling outside, or the first snow, the sound of it under your boots and comfort of being cocooned inside with a hot tea (mulled wine?) but this time winter was just awful and there was nothing magical or romantic about it. Frost, mud, frozen water pipes and capricious chimney that sputters the soot back inside all over the house, instead of taking it outside. Ice cold pillows. Cold feet, cold hands, cold nose. The temperature occasionally fell down to -17 so with all this being said, I was actually relieved when the call came to get back. And how! Back to wonderfully sunny Florida where I stood up in short sleeves, soaking in all the sun and genuinely excited to be back - even though its Caribbean, which usually I considered boring.
The very first time I visited Caribbean was back in 2004. and it was exciting to see it with fresh eyes. Very soon the novelty somehow evaporated because in all honesty, the islands do look very much alike. Its wonderful escape from the winter and true marvel that one can just pack up and leave cold behind & enjoy the warmth of sun beaches, palm trees and cocktails but really, the places are hard to distinguish one from another - once you visited few ports it all blurs into procession of restaurants, souvenir shops and tiresome advertisements for jewelry, watches, jewelry, watches and some more jewelry. And casino. And Tequila. Or Rum. There is hardly anything historical to see and if there was, locals made sure they erased it and built a shopping mall on its place. As I noted above, I know it all very well but was so relieved to escape the winter that this time it didn't matter - the funny thing is that I actually very rarely recognize these places (in my head they are all very much same place) until I step outside and than I say to myself "of course, silly me, I was here before". Unless its something truly memorable like Aruba or beautiful, colorful Curaçao.
I do remember Antigua and have photos to prove that more a decade ago I had visited this place. But actually the main reason to go for a walk outside today was the idea of seeing again that strange old church towering above the little touristy town - long ago I remember it like from a dream that the church interior was all in carved wood, very strange almost spooky atmosphere of ancient times and old cemetery outside. It all felt very old, neglected and beautiful. So off I went this morning trough town of St. John's, trying to avoid tourist traps, jewelry shops, shopping malls and countless banks - all colorful, gaudy and typical Caribbean - until I faced the cathedral, alas, closed for renovation. And poor dear old cathedral really seems to have fallen completely into sad neglect. It was already in sad state when I first saw it some thirteen years ago but back than there was some beautiful mystery about it, now it was clear that place is slowly vanishing - the church building itself (surrounded with not very encouraging scaffolding) looks like it will fall to pieces any moment and the wonderful, old cemetery with gravestones from 1780s (with names of Irish settlers) was full of beer cans, garbage and occasional local loiterer slept in the shadows. I saw absolutely nobody working on a cathedral, even though scaffolding was around. What a sad end for a beautiful old cathedral that once must have been pride for first European settlers who worshipped here and thought this is their temple of faith and civilization. Even just glancing at the town of St. John's its clear this is not exactly happy place to live - it could be if you don't need anything except sun in the morning and fish for dinner - and frosty faces of locals clearly show how much they depend on tourism for survival, so their priorities are obviously different, they probably think everything would be different if only little St. John's could have all the glitz of say, Aruba with its nightclubs, casinos and shining lights. But in reality, all that commercialism, materialism and consumerism is very superficial outlook on life, it just creates more stress and frustrations. You don't see happy faces around St. John's, just locals being all stressed out with several big cruise ships in the port and its all about quick grab, hey mister do you want tour around the island, eat, drink, give me your credit card. And all awhile, that beautiful old cathedral is slowly crumbling to pieces, cemetery around her turning to dust and nobody could care less. I would personally gladly give some charity for renovation of it, because I think its important and would make me feel good but there was not a soul around the place, except few disappointed tourists who walked to see it all dying away. I really wonder do locals understand that ancient cathedral is far more precious than any of the silly shops they dangle in front of tourists - shops are absolutely identical all over Caribbean but this cathedral is unique. It breaks my heart to see it so neglected.
and this is how I remember it from inside
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