The Ranching Medical Student: All things strange and "natural" in Antigua

I really love Antigua, and everything about the island. However, there are just some things that I must mention for the sake of humor about this little piece of land. One of my friends was nice enough to put a copy of the first season of the TV show How I met your Mother on my external hard drive. During the first season there was an episode where Ted's talks about how is mother always said, "nothing good happens after 2 a.m. Well the same thing applies to Antigua also....nothing good happens after 2 a.m........and if it does its funny! On Saturday evening my group of friends convinced me to go out with them to a place called Rush. Which pretty much is just a small ashtray of a bar in the back of a little casino.....enough said right?!?! No not really, it was yet another fun time spent dancing and another experience with a weird cab ride and some intoxicated people. On our way back to our apartment our cab driver (whom looked no older than 23) informed us that he has 6 children by 4 separate women which are spread out over two continents and two islands.....what a prolific guy! One of my friends was concerned and wanted to know if he was still with the women he had the last 3 children with....and he was thank goodness. This particular friend also told him that back home in America that kind of stuff wasn't acceptable and it wasn't good to have that many "baby mammas". He said what she said didn't apply to Antigua. Here you have your babies first (or in his case a whole clan) and then you marry because it is "natural". My friend didn't agree. Our cab driver also gave another friend words of wisdom about not having a motorcycle! Sharing several gory stories about all the nasty motorcycle wrecks he has seen on the island....he was a little too vividly descriptive. WOW!!! It also seems that one cabdriver we have here in Antigua always seems to be drunk, high, or both when he comes and picks us up at our apartment. Plus there is always an open bottle of beer in the cup holder between the driver and passenger seats. Surprisingly enough he is the most dependable, nicest and best driver we have had. None the less what I have learned from my two late night cab rides is that, it is ok to cheat, drink and drive, spread your seed and never ride a motorcycle......the end.

However, the fun doesn't end there!!! Earlier that day two of my girlfriends and I decided to take a different cab driver than usual to a different grocery store than usual on the other side of the island......not the best choice us girls have ever made. First off the guy was late picking us up (island time....duh!!!) and then after an hour or so shopping the guy never picked us up. After an hour of waiting and several phone calls with him saying he is almost there we decided to take a different cab. However, that wasn't the craziest part of the day. While we waited for our cab a screaming match took place outside the grocery store where all the words the two large men screamed at each other sounded like gibberish mixed with the excessive use of the word F***. Men, women, and children leisurely strolled by as these two men verbally ripped each other apart. Guess you can add verbal altercations to the list of natural here in Antigua. Not going to lie, I was pretty scared to watch those two people yell at each other.

Oh, and all the lovely animals of Antigua!!!! Oh how you roam free all over the island grazing in ditches and walk through grocery store parking lots......Yes there are is a small herd of momma cows, with babies and a few bulls that roam in front and beside my apartment complex and at least a few times a month they slow down traffic crossing the pavement. So strange considering how fast and crazy the people drive here on the island. Back home someone would hit a cow on the side of the road...weird! This picture is one I found on the Internet and strangely enough is just right down the street from my apartment.

Also, it isn't unusual to have a whole flock of goats grazing across from the Epicurean...I mean like a 100 of them grazing across from the Epi. I find this to be funny because the Epi is a better grocery store than what we have back home and we don't have goats grazing in front of our grocery store. Again....strange!!!!