Pollywogg Holler South?

No, Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore. Bilvis has left the building. You're looking at a picture (swiped from the internet) of Great Exuma in the Bahamas, where Bill and Barb Castle have been brought in until April as indigenous building consultants for a new eco-village. On the outlying islands, imported building materials are very expensive, and use a lot of fuel to get there. The overall effect is hard on the local economy and ecology. The plan is to re-teach local builders how to build with local materials while building a self-sustaining community. Bill will be periodically sending reports from the field, which I, Chris McClellan, the self-appointed Pollywogg Holler Minister of Technologies and Public Relations, will be editing, commenting on, and posting on the blog. I leave you with Bill's first post, describing the transition from a snow-covered, slumbering paradise to a new construction site in the warm part of the Garden of Eden. Do they make a steel toed flip-flop, Bill?
--CMC

The get away,
It is Monday, December 4, 2006, mid day at the Holler. Laredo is on top of the Buffalo weather report and it is sounding bad for a Tuesday morning departure so we make the decision cut out early and get a motel near the airport. It is now 4:pm and off we go for the 2-hour trip. Surprise, we come onto the Thruway and we are into a storm. Five lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, roads glazed over with ice. We are stuck, every 20 minuets or so we inch ahead. With every slight rise there are tractor-trailers spinning their tires, putting a fine polish on the well-glazed road. I can’t believe there are not fender benders all around us. We conclude that these Buffalo drivers are experts with these conditions. Three, white-knuckle hours later, we arrive at the Motel. Five hours for a two-hour trip, exhausted, and very grateful to be in easy striking distance to the Airport, sleep comes easy.

The worst is behind us, the airport is partially empty, the plane half full and we are happy. The last leg from Ft Lauderdale to the Island is just we three and two others. No crowded conditions here. We step on to the Island, from the twenty-passenger plane, into the warm tropical air and walk into the customs office, smiling and heads filled with tropical visions. Next surprise, the stern customs girl, wants to know how long we are staying and what we are doing here. Volunteer work is not a valid option, it’s still work and we are not allowed to work. She plays with us and threatens us to be off the Island in a week. In the course of a few minuets she has reconsidered nd now we have 31 days and wants us to prepare a statement as to just what we are doing here.

Our ride arrives and off we go to the house on the beach where we will be staying for a while. We are assured not to worry about the 31 day thing and soon get in to the swing of the waiting BarBQue party and peaceful sleep to the soothing sound of the waves, caressing the sandy beach. The next 4 days are filled with touring this wonderful Island. There is some generalizing one can do about the Caribbean Islands but there are also striking differences. The vast majority of the population is smiling, friendly native blacks, eager with warm greeting and offers of assistance. The Island is spotless, no trash or litter anywhere. The occupied houses are painted with soft pastels of blue greens that match the sea and sky. There are quite a few little towns with names that reflect the surnames of the residents, many of whom have been there for many generations. George Town, the largest, conveys the feeling of a quaint little town, bustling with commerce, and even an occasional tourist or two. The business district is spread out with a generous amount of greenery in between. We were welcomed into the office of tourism where we bowled them over with by volunteering to be Santa and Mrs. Clause at the annual tree lighting ceremony, with word that there will be a parade with us topping one of the floats. We are excited with the whole thought and what an introduction to the community. I can only imagine being referred to as Santa for the rest of my time in this Tropical Paradise, not an unpleasant thought.

Then there is Williams Town, Rolle Town, Mt Thompson, Ramsey and Steventon. The local common construction is plastered cement block walls and low-pitched hip roofs. There is evidence that the older buildings are limestone but still plastered with well adhering lime plaster made with burned up conch shells and sand. There are many "shells" or buildings that are started, with the walls are up but no roofs. We will be looking in to the reasons for this. One suggestion is that the various owners work on them as money allows. Many appear to have been waiting for that extra money for many years. We have heard of some thatch being used for roofing but we are yet to see it. The old timers say that all the building used to be thatch and there seems to be an abundance of raw material. We vow that thatch will one day be popular again.
No pictures at this time due to some tech problems but soon to follow. This next week we will be looking closer at the proposed building sites and expanding on the various possibilities that eager await with every turn in the road. Our first impressions are very positive with the exception of pricing. Everything seems expensive when compared to our rapidly shrinking value of the good old, US Dollar.

--Bill and Barb Castle, December 10, 2006