St. Vincent off the map

EDITOR: When I was growing up in St. Vincent, I wasn’t too proud of my village – Chapmans. Whenever I visited posh places like Villa or Kingstown – I’d tell people that I came from New Grounds or Lowmans Windward; because I didn’t think city folk would have any idea where my remote village was, or even how to get there.{{more}}

Lowmans and New Grounds had good roads for cars and buses. They had schools and churches, big shops selling foodstuff, clothes, and household goods.

These recollections take me back well over fifty years. But today – I still have to summon my knowledge of the Geography I learned all those years ago to explain where St. Vincent is located. And, most importantly – how to get there.

I’m looking at a brochure advertising Caribbean cruises on ‘Ocean Village’ which include five days at sea: “Tortola, St Maarten, St Kitts, St Lucia, Mayreau, Barbados, then fly to UK. St. Vincent is not mentioned; it’s off the Map! Or is it that St. Vincent had a ‘hush-hush’ name change to Mayreau? After all, Columbus named the place St. Vincent and they say that he didn’t discover the island.

Avil Cupid