Having a few extra weeks on the island after having finished most of the projects gave us the time to do what we didn’t have the opportunity to do before.
In the third week of July we got to enjoy the Calabash Festival, another festive time on island. Named after the calabash fruit that was traditionally used to produce eating utensils, musical instruments and decorative items, the festival seeks to promote Caribbean culture through a range of events. Although it’s not as big as the Christmas Festival and the St. Patrick’s celebrations, it is definitely another event that brings the community together to celebrate on the street.
Volpanics, the steel pan band, was invited to play in a couple of events so I got the chance to have my last performances as a steel pan player – no idea when I will have the chance to play again “Under the sea” from The Little Mermaid with such enthusiasm!
Grabbing the opportunity to explore the world under the sea was also another thing I ticked off my list of things to do on this Caribbean island. I went scuba diving for the first time and I got to see a lot of amazing creatures from sting rays to fishes with the most beautiful colours and shapes.
Besides that, I decided to go on a couple more hikes up in the wet and dried forest and revisited some of the hidden treasured places I’ve been before, recognising some of the plants and birds I’ve been learning the name of.
Meanwhile, I continued with the violin and cello classes and the group got the chance to learn a few more notes – in the end “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” didn’t seem so difficult to play after all!
The past weeks just flew by and yesterday we left the island where we spent the last 10/11 months getting familiar with. There’s a lot of nostalgia about all the people and the lifestyle we left behind but also a sense of accomplishment for all the things we got done in such a limited period of time. All the projects will continue throughout the next year, with a new teacher coming in mid-September, and I hope the students keep nurturing their love for music.
Personally, I feel that Montserrat will always be an important threshold both in my professional and personal pathways and I am sure I won’t resist coming back there some time soon.
Now it’s time to go back home… 5765 km to go, but we will get there.
THANK YOU MONTSERRAT
and I will see you very very soon!
