Survivor: Eleuthera Island

Thursday, April 29, 2010

To be honest, none of us really knew what to expect when we stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac at North Eleuthera airport. As a visitor--- a tourist---I did the touristy thing and took out my camera to snap a photo of the welcome sign, at which point a security guard began to hustle my way waving at me to put the camera down. Perhaps I should have taken that as a sign that this trip was not going to be the usual girls' weekend.

We quickly gathered our bags and found Edward, our cab driver, who drove 70 miles per hour on the left side of the road to our destination about an hour away. Pineapple Fields, our home away from home for the next few days, was nice enough, except for a peculiar smell--- best described as a dirty hamster cage---emanating out from one of the bathrooms. But we could overlook that given our other surroundings. We poured ourselves a beverage and headed for the deck to bask in the view of the ocean blue. But the deck was shrouded by shrubs. And, even if they had been hacked down, the image before us would have been of other buildings and trees that sat between us and the beach. That's okay, we thought, as long as we are together. Our tribe of five including me, Tracy, Michelle, Laura, and Pam, were here on this tropical island to witness the wedding of our friend Kathleen. It was going to be a wonderful adventure!

We got dressed for the evening and headed over to the Cocodimama resort where the other wedding guests were staying. The cocktail party started around 6:00, and, here, we saw the beautiful view of the Caribbean waters that we longed for. The sun set, a stunning sight, but then it started: the slapping and scratching. We were getting eaten alive and no amount of bug spray can save us from the little biters on that island.

Friday, April 30, 2010

The next morning we awoke to rain. Seriously? So much for the savage tan. To top it off, our limbs were so swollen and red with bumps that we looked as if we'd acquired a rare skin disease. Plus, we were all dehydrated. We needed water (we only thought to buy booze at the store). With no room service and a tiny corner deli a good hike down the road, we settled for the tap. Which later, we found out, was a risky move. Suddenly, as we all sat in the living room with no food (other than chips), no water, and no place to go (you need a car or at least a bike to get anywhere) the SolSista tribe realized what was going on. This was our own personal episode of Survivor. And, in the next few days we would find out who would outwit, outplay, and outlast the others...

Later that night, at the rehearsal dinner, we danced and drank as if we hadn't a care in the world--- some of us more than others. We ended up splitting up, a few of us heading back to our hotel to sleep off the over indulging, and a few of us (Tracy and I) sticking around for a little while longer. When it was time to go we found Jeff, a friend of the groom's who was staying at the same hotel as us, and we all got into the cab together. Terrance, a local, was driving and agreed to take Jeff to the bar he said he had been at the night before. Tracy and I, now in vacation mode, thought it would be fine to go out for one more, so we tagged along.

When we pulled up to the bar we spotted a man sitting on the rocks in front of us. He had no shirt and he was holding a hatchet.  "I wonder what that guy is doing," Jeff exclaimed as he jumped out and ran over to introduce himself to the machete man. Tracy and I, who had had a few too many drinks ourselves, thought it nothing more than odd that there was a shirtless guy with a weapon in front of us. Looking back, that should have been a red flag that this place was a little different...

We entered the bar, Terrance and Jeff ordered us a round of beers, and then they were gone. There we stood, two white chicks in dresses. Was it my imagination that every woman in the bar was giving us the evil eye? An older woman with gold teeth and a head wrap came over and said something to us then walked away. "Did she just put a curse on us?" I asked Tracy.

When I turned around and older guy with long white stringy hair stood before us. "Do you girls want to go downstairs and dance?"

I looked down the stairs at a well lit room with pool tables and dart boards. Tracy and I looked at each other, shrugged, and said, "Sure, why not?"

We followed the old dude down the stairs, but he wasn't going to the pool room. He took a left and opened a door, waving us into what was a cold, dark, musty room with dim lights in the corner and really loud music. We were the only three in there, until Terrance showed up. So, we danced....yeah, I know, weird. It suddenly dawned on Tracy how weird it really was. She grabbed my hand and said, "We're done dancing," leading me out of the dark room, through the bar, and onto a deck. "Where did Terrance go?" she asked, as he whizzed by us. "Terrance! Terrance!" she was chasing him now. "We want to go home."

I stood there waiting for Tracy when the creepy old man returned. "Hey, you didn't finish the dance."

I couldn't even respond. "What are you doing here, anyway?" was all I said.

"Oh, I'm just waiting for my drugs!" was his cheerful response.

Great. I was just about to make a citizen's arrest when Tracy yanked me to the side. With her finger waving in my face she began her instructions in her most serious 'mom' voice: "Don't look at anyone, don't talk to anyone, act like you're supposed to be here, and follow me." She turned around, flung her purse onto her arm and started walking like she owned the joint. I tried to follow in her footsteps but the reality had just sunk in.

"Tracy, this is bad, huh?" I said.

She swung back around, and, now, in her sarcastic mom tone she said, "Oh, ya think it's bad? No shit it's bad! Let's go." And she started off again, this time holding my hand in a death grip. We went out to the parking lot where we were greeted by a gang of guys draped across their cars. "Hey girls, whatcha doin', baby?"

Tracy grabbed the car door handle of Terrance's car, and, to our great relief it was not locked--- until we got in, locked the doors and waited for Terrance. He came out about five minutes later (although it felt like five hours). "Ladies, ladies, I take care of you," he began.

"You did not take care of us, Terrance, you were running away from me!" Tracy said. She was in rare reprimanding form.

"And what was with that dark room?" I asked.

"Oh," Terrance said, "that's where people go to dance and have sex."

"WHAT!!!" Tracy was on fire. "Terrance!! We are 40 year old women. I have three young kids and Steph has two teenagers! We do not do drugs! We do not do that crazy sex thing! You take us in there and just leave us?!! Now, where is Jeff??!!! You can't leave him here!"

Jeff, it turns out, had already left the building-on to another party.

Back at Pineapple Fields, we sat on the deck and told Laura about our adventure to the drug/sex den. It must have been about 3:00 am when we heard a voice from the bushes. "Hey, are you the Medfield girls?"

Laura jumps up, lowers her voice--- trying to sound like a man, I assume. "No. Get out of here. Scat!"

That was enough for me. It was time to go to bed.

Saturday, May 1, 2010 - Wedding Day

When we woke up and assembled in the living room to recap the events from the night before, Tracy made an announcement. "Steph and I can't be voted out at tribal council today because we successfully avoided being raped, kidnapped or killed, so we won the challenge and we both have immunity."

Everyone agreed.

On the way to the wedding, Tracy tripped on a step and broke her toe.

And, three days after the wedding, back at Logan airport getting ready to board a flight to Washington, D.C. for a business trip, she noticed her legs were swelling and a bug bite rash-for lack of a better description--- was creeping up her torso, her arms, and her neck. The flight staff did not let her on the plane, instead, they asked if they could call her an ambulance.

She's fine now. But, for her courageous actions in the drug den, for her strength and endurance to withstand the pain of a broken toe during her best friend's wedding, and for getting eaten alive by bugs causing her body to launch into an allergic reaction-for all of that and maintaining her composure every step of the way--- the winner of Survivor, Eleuthera is: Tracy Coyne.

The tribe has spoken.