This is me at Polly’s, a food/coffee/internet cafe in St. Croix. It’s a favorite spot for the entertainment department, myself included, but I realized at some point that Polly’s wouldn’t look too out of place in any coastal city in the U.S. There are bags of organic coffee and handmade crafts for sale, wraps and salads on the menu, parents pushing strollers, and twentysomethings using the internet on the patio. ABBA is playing softly on the radio, and outside, a street musician is playing “Margaritaville” on a synthesizer with a steel-drum sound and a backing track. The vendors sell crafts, jewelry, dresses and lawn ornaments, and it reminds me of a street fair in Park Slope, Brooklyn. But it’s one of my favorite ports to be in. It definitely brings up one of the contradictions of working and travelling simultaneously.

I haven’t seen much of this island, just the one street by the port. The waterfront street has a tree-lined walkway and a bunch of old tin-roofed buildings that have been converted to craft shops and restaurants. There’s a ramp right down by the water where you can sit out of sight, read, and listen to the waves on the rocks. If you walk one block away from the water, the restaurants give way to tiny cafes with plastic tables, blasting Caribbean music and hosting maybe three or four locals. There are houses, an old library, and I don’t know what else. I’m leaving the Caribbean in 10 days, and I don’t feel like I know anything about the local food, music, culture, anything. Though, can you learn about the culture of a place just by showing up for a few hours, every couple weeks? And are you obligated to have a learning experience when you’re essentially taking a break after work? I’ve meant to try one of those Caribbean cafes, but can never justify passing up good coffee and eggs on a bagel.