In a normal world, I would have arrived in SBH last Saturday. I'm not there, and none us of are going to be on-island for awhile. None of us truly know when we'll be on-island again. For now, I thought that I might ease the heartache by resurrecting a few old posts, and perhaps adding a little info to them. This one is the first, from a post made a year ago today, on April 20 2019. It relates a once-in-a-lifetime experience which I don't think that I have previously shared. This post will be the best that I have, as I truly have nothing in the bank to top it. Enjoy!
I responded to AMSMULKO's post about fireworks in Lorient with the following.
One of the teams for Les Voiles rented all of the Christopher Hotel. I saw the display from a private location in Lorient. I’m guessing that the team which rented Le Chris also arranged their own fireworks display over Lorient. I thought that it was nicely done.
Please forgive me for continuing to intentionally keep some details to a minimum:
Those knowing that I stay at EMM in April might have guessed that the "private location" was that villa. It was not. A Portuguese friend had dropped by, and invited us to join him at "seis horas" 6 o'clock in Portuguese, and repeated the time with six fingers. My Portuguese is about 5 words north of non-existent. His English is marginally better, but we usually meet in the middle with broken French and hand gestures. He told me where to go, and at 6PM we arrived. Where we went to was a very small, but very well appointed private location. (Don't ask - If you ask, I won't tell. If you guess, I will neither confirm or deny.)
We and our 2 villa guests sat at a very large communal table, and were promptly served Portuguese appetizers and Portuguese wine by our friend. Portuguese Fado music videos were being played in the background. A second Portuguese guy (let's call him "Chef", although that's not what he does for a living) was working to cut up a chicken and add it to a pot. Shortly after, Chef disappeared.
We had dinner reservations for that evening, and as soon as I saw how our unexpected dinner was progressing I called to cancel them.
While we were munching on Apps, our friend was making more Apps in a hand-built wood-fired stone oven (many of the Portuguese workers are stonemasons.) He was cooking two kinds of sausage, Spicy and "Black", and baking off small loaves of bread. The new Apps were served, and the wine never stopped flowing.
After a bit, Chef returned, now showered and shaved, as well as a 3rd Portuguese person. Chef went back to work, and our newest friend sat to talk. It turns out that he had worked in NY, and his English was very good. We talked, shared photos, ate more Apps, drank more wine, listened to the music, and enjoyed the evening together. Language barriers didn't matter, and were worked around. Google Translate was my friend.
And then came the totally unexpected fireworks. We all stepped outside to watch, including Chef, with one eye on dinner.
When dinner was served, stewed chicken and rice in a red wine sauce, new plates and bowls were also served. Having no clue at all about what we were eating, what was traditional, and what might come next, I reached to use the bowl for the chicken and rice. Wrong! The plate was for the Chicken and Rice. The bowl was for a new Portuguese wine, with which you picked up the bowl from the back, and drank from from the front.
All the while, conversation. Portuguese. English. Broken English/Portuguese. French. French/Portuguese. Broken French/English. Language competency may have failed, but we all managed to understand each other.
All the while, Music Videos of Portuguese Fado Music played in the background.
Eventually, there was dessert. Eventually, there were nightcaps, although we were protectively limited to thimbles of the Portuguese "white lightning" which our hosts were drinking in larger volumes.
We left, after a very unexpected and most enjoyable night. We also left with an armful of unopened bottle of Portuguese wine.
So, what can I say about that night?
#1, On a daily basis, be nice, be kind, and try to engage with people, even if language is a partial barrier. Be respectful, make an effort, and who knows how that might be returned in an unexpected way. (Someday I may write about Mother's Day Cake.)
#2, There are totally unexpected and unknown roads out there. If the opportunity presents, take them. Our night might have ended up with warm Carib and bad burgers. But it didn't.
#3, There are experiences on St Barth which in my 35+ years I've never before been offered, and if one should appear, I embrace it. See #1 to enhance the possibility of #2 and #3.
#4, Portuguese food and wine, rustic or not, is very well worth exploring. Next time, maybe I'll be allowed to buy the chicken and the beer. I'm pretty sure that I won't get a better deal on Portuguese wine.
#5, This experience was MY real St Barth. Yours may be Nikki, Shellona, La Guerite, and L'Isola, and I respect that. As I tell people, I surf both ends of the wine list, the top and the bottom. Sometimes I dine high end, sometimes I don't. And sometimes a Portuguese friend invites me to a very special dinner, for which I am very grateful.