A
week after returning from The Bahamas, I must say that I am grateful for the
experience and would return to do it all again. I may have to, so Mr. Foulkes
and I can work on our GW-themed Junkanoo rush! During the trip, I was often
stressed about finding destinations that satisfied our entire group’s
interests, completing all of the visits and finishing the corresponding
participant observation forms, and from time to time, that detracted from the
experience. Now, a week after completing everything and as I explain the trip
to friends, family and clients, I wish I would have adopted the same, no pasa nada mantra I adopted during my
undergraduate studies in Granada, Spain and known that everything would be okay
all along. Thanks to my diligent notes and astute teammates, I have all of the
details I need, from the wait times to important methodologies we learned.
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| Our grad group at the Queen's Staircase |
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| Taking a photo break in Pompey Square |
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| The King of Nassau, Mr. Brendan Foulkes and The King of Goatskin Drums, Mr. John 'Chippie' Chipman |
The first major item I learned from this
experience was how to discretely and respectfully glean peak experience information
from people. I am glad that we had some flexibility in the questions we asked,
because there were many instances where we learned more useful information from
people just talking freely than directed questions. In our cab to JunkanooWorld, when asked about his feelings about tourism revenue going downtown
versus “Ova Da Hill”, our cab driver stated, “All I am concerned with is
making my clients happy and taking my money back to my family”. That statement resonated
with me and reinforced my revelation that Bahamians don’t seem to be as
obsessed with excess and wealth as we are, contributing to less stressful and
competitive lifestyles.
A Barrabas protege drumming for
his pre-Junkanoo audience
As the relaxed, Bahamian mentality trickled
into our dining experiences, I also learned the importance of being quiet and
taking all elements from the experience into consideration. Despite our
fast-paced, get-as-much-for-as-little-in-as-little-time mentality, there are
other significant elements of the dining experience that deserve attention,
ranging from the background music to the décor. Even though the wait time of
our food often claimed most of our attention and conversation, there were many,
more impressive elements on which we could focus. I cannot emphasize enough
what I would give to wait two hours for a bowl Fettuccine Alfredo in front of
the ocean with an Avicii soundtrack rather than wait 10 minutes for a
pizza produced in a toaster oven while watching college teams I do not know or
care about in a crowded bar…
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| Our view from Blue Sail at Sandyport |
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| Made a new friend while snorkeling at the Clifton Heritage National Park |
The last major item I learned was the true
importance of rooting recommendations in data rather than opinion. My heart raced during our presentations to Bahamian tourism
officials, but I began to relax a bit during our dialogue, where we exchanged
stories, ideas and suggestions. Initially, I worried about offending people who
worked in the industry and market I was dabbling in for the week, but regained
my confidence as I could rely on specific instances, observations and initial
figures on which we will build for our January 25th presentation.
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| 2019 GW Junkanoo Rush: Raise High! |
