Day 4 - Antigua

It was a Sunday. It started bright and early for me but that was all the excitement I could handle. All the drinking, partying, running around, traveling had taken a toll my body and I needed some much required rest. Staying out in the sun all day on Day-3 had finally taken its toll. So, when everybody wanted to head out to the beach and do water ski and stuff, my body just refused to cooperate. I stayed in bed all day while everybody went out and even had a celebrity sighting! I laid comatose till about 4 PM and finally decided to take walk around the area where we were staying at, Freeman's Village and get a pack of smokes. I walked about couple of miles and a funny thing happened on my way back. A pickup truck pulled up close to me and a man jumped out from the back. Apparently he was being dropped off from work. I was lost in thoughts about the similarity of life and living in the Carribeans to what I was used to back home in India and I was startled to see a man jump put of a truck in front of me. He walked up to me, "How is going, my brother?" in his Antiguan accent and started inquiring about where I was from and how good a time I was having in Antigua, enjoying cricket etc. While we were talking, a stray dog (at least that's what I thought) came rushing towards us. As I prepared to take evasive action, he said, 'Don't worry maan. He is learned. He's mine" and proceeded to instruct the dog to head home.
Soon after I got back to the apartment, the guys got back from the beach and we started planning for the rest of the evening and night. After asking around about the places to go on a Sunday night, we were told to go to Shirley Heights, which is the venue for an outdoor party that runs from 3 PM till Midnight. After much deliberations (I still do not know for what!) we finally got to SH around 10 PM and Jesus Eff-ing christ.. it was easily one of the biggest outdoor party I have ever seen, outside of concerts and football games!Since we were so late in joining the party and we needed to get in the mood quick, all of us ordered ourselves couple of shots of Bacardi 151 and a few beers. We had a pleasant surprise waiting for us at Shirley Heights and also a rude awakening for one of us :) Since it was an off-day for the Australian cricket team, couple of their current players and a couple of their former players who were in the Carribeans as commentators, were at SH. Adam Gilchrist, arguably the best wicket-keeper batsman to have ever played the game was standing a few feet away at the bar ordering drinks!!! Greg Blewett and Damien Fleming were also around! There were so many people approaching Gilly for autographs and photo-ops and he respectfully refused every demand. Rohan took Gilly's picture anyway! Blewett, for most part, was standing with his back against a wall in the bar, with a completely stoned look on his face. People hardly recognized him! This was a man that scored centuries in his first two test matches and was involved in one of the highest partnerships in Test cricket!! Golu and Nishant took a photo with him! We were getting a picture with Fleming as well when the camera malfunctioned (Actually, Adi screwed up !!! :) The best part of the night was yet to come. You might remember I made a passing mention of Nishant's drunken debauchery from "Abracadabra" on Day 2. He hooked with a "woman" Alice! Since it was dark that night and we were all "bombed" we didn't know exactly who it was that he hooked up with! But in the bright lights of SH we got to see Alice in her full glory!! I am trying real hard to restrain my temptation to put the picture of Nee-shawn with Alice. After that night, the theme song for the trip ended up being, "Alice, Alice! who the fuck is Alice?". (Although, if there is enough public demand for that picture, I'll put it up in my next post!)

At the stroke of midnight, the party at SH ended and everybody dispersed and we decided to explore other parts of the island, looking for more parties!! By this time, it looked like the B-151 shot had taken its toll on Rohan and he started feeling sick. Also, while we were waiting at the parking lot waiting for Shawn to say his goodbyes to Alice, it came to our knowledge that Alice did not have a ride back to her place (Whaat?!) and since it was late at night, Adi (overcome with her motherly emotions blah blah) suggested we should drop her off at her before we head out to other bars (Again....., Whaaaaa?!!!). So, the 5 of us and Alice piled into our little Toyota and headed out! Golu and Adi were talking non-stop non-sense, such as introducing me to Alice as "Sean Connery", and Golu as "Andy Garcia" and Adi as "Catherine Z Jones" blah blah!! It looked like Alice wanted to hang out with us for the night but, Nishant was very clear this time around, and told her, its best for her to go home and call him the next day!! We drove across the entire freakin' island to get to her place (By this time, Adi apparently was hungry and asked Alice whether we could come in and scrounge around for some food!). Nishant and I were, literally, pissed off that we are missing out on quality partying time!! Thankfully, we didn't go in! Rohan had passed out in the back of the car by the time we got back to Jolly Harbour looking for a place to party!
At JH, Rohan couldn't get out of the car and wanted some rest. We were discussing, louldly I might add, about the options. Whether Rohan could stay with Adi in the car, while we go to the bars and meet up with them later! All the talking got to rohan and he yelled, "Can't you guys understand?". Eventually, Nishant decided on staying with them, Golu and I went in to the bar. There was wedding reception party going on there and karaoke for entertainment. I put my name down for 'Twist and Shout" by the Beatles - which, Golu had apparently never heard of - I comforted him saying its a pretty easy song!! We went to the bar and realized all the money we had was Pounds and no US dollars or local currencies. The bartender - she was giving us such a bad conversion rate, but yet, we took it as we were desperate for some beers! We got gypped man! We met up with the groom, the bride and the best man and promised to buy them a round of drinks which we never did as we were getting gypped on the rate!
It seems Rohan wanted to head home around this time, so Nishant came looking for us but never could find us in the bar!! When he went back to the car, he heard on the PA system, the Dj calling my name out for it was our turn for karaoke!!! After a lousy start with no sync, Golu and I ended up ripping the song so good, the wedding party decided to join in the sing along! Golu, didn't know to twist.. but he was shouting and doing this "convulsion moves" that may pass for dancing in some remote parts of the galaxy!! Hearing my name on the PA system, Nishant finally found us in the middle of the dance floor and we headed home. Rohan was still passed out. On the way back, Golu needed to take a leak, so we pulled over! He climbed up the ledge on the side of the road, relieved himself and tried to slide down! All we heard was him yelling in pain, as he slid over a nail that was sticking out from the ground! OUCH! He had a hole in his pants to take home as souvenir!! Hilarious!! On the ride back, Nishant and I decided we should get back out after dropping the people off! Adi was mildly inclined to join us, but she bailed out when we got home. After everyone had gone to bed, Nishant and I rushed back to JH as it was getting close to last call. We had to convince (beg) the waitress to give us a couple of beers as it was past last call. After hanging out for another 30 - 45 minutes talking to people from all over -who offered a variety of things for personal recreation - we finally got home at 5 AM and hit the sack!
I still do not know whether the others know about our little jaunt back to Jolly Harbour!! Here is a picture of us at Shirley Heights as I sign off on Day 4.