The Big Field Trip_Bahamas

Homeschool Corner

The Bahamas

Angela's Stories

...After sunset every Friday night, our little Bahamian island of Eleuthera throws down for a rowdy street party on Cupid’s Cay: the Friday Night Fish Fry. The tiny plywood shack, which every other day of the week sits boarded up and padlocked, casts open its shutters, the heavy scent of fry grease and charcoal billows forth, and the street fills with wave after wave of folks out for the second most important social event of the week, next to Sunday worship services.

The orange sun sank behind the cerulean Caribbean Sea and turned what we had believed to be white sands to a rosy pink, as if to fulfill what had been written in the guidebooks. Styrofoam containers flew like gulls from the ocean-side window of the fish shack: this one full of sweet barbequed ribs and coleslaw, that one a whole fried fish with peas (beans) n’ rice, another with spicy jerk chicken and baked mac ‘n cheese. From the street-side window, cold bottles of Kalik lager and shots of rum were dealt out to the men while Rum Bubba, a sickeningly-sweet punch, was poured into plastic cups for the women and tourists...

…Hearty Bahamian stews, traditionally made with either grouper or conch, are usually served for breakfast, but can be eaten any time of day. The thick brown gravy definitely sticks to your ribs and puts some heat in the belly – it is perfect for a rainy day in paradise. I made a batch of fish stew with a woman named Patrice who lives in a village in the center of our island of Eleuthera. She said that is important to start with a nice filet of native fish, but the rest of the stew you make with what’s on hand. As we began cooking together, I was surprised at how long she browned the roux. Every few minutes I’d say, “It’s done, right?”, but she’d just keep stirring saying, “Not just yet.” When the oil began to separate from the almost black paste, she nodded with satisfaction, “Now it’s done!”...

Bahamian Fish Stew

Awards & Publications

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"Hamams and Sacrificial Altars”

SLAB, Fall 2016

"Which God Is Ours"

Summer 2016 Colere

"The Mysterious Crotch-Grabbing Handshake: Hard Lessons in Vietnam" 2015 Literal Latte Essay Award

"Halloween in Bulgaria"

2015 Travelers' Tales Solas Awards

"Thanksgiving on the Bosphorus"

Santa Fe Writers Project, February 2016:

"Garlic Naan for Hanuman"

Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition 2015:

"Escaping the Swine Flu, Nearly"

Halfway Down the Stairs, December 2015:

"Farewell to the Highlands"

Your Life Is A Trip, October 2015:

"Homeward Bound"

Your Life Is A Trip, May 2015:

The Big Field Trip

"Escaping the Great Mosque of Uqba" World Press Review, April 2015:

"Homeschooling on the Road"

International Living, August 2014:

AWARDS & PUBLICATIONS

Stories and Photos from

The Big Field Trip

Front-page feature story

Santa Fe New Mexican, March 2015:

"Which God Is Ours?"

2015 Travelers' Tales Solas Award and

published in Asia Literary Review, Spring 2015:

"The Scorpion Whisperer"

Eventus Magazine, June 2014:

The Big Field Trip

What do you get when two blissfully-ignorant lovebirds get the harebrained idea to schlep three children,

five backpacks, a guitar, and a garlic press on a two-year journey around the world?

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