The
more we travel in the region, the more convinced we are that
certain facts of Caribbean life are immutable. For instance: New or
renovated hotels never open on time, especially when the general
manager deviates from the typically vague wording in the press
release to state unequivocally a specific time and date for the
grand ribbon-cutting. That's a surefire guarantee the property will
be at least a month late in opening, well over budget and short of
staff. The pace of life in the Caribbean contributes to these
delays -- so we were told some time back by a hotelier in Trinidad.
Speed is definitely not of the essence, as Insider noticed during a
hard-hat tour of a construction site recently in St. Thomas. It was
midmorning, the opening date was fast approaching, but many of the
construction workers were drinking coffee, shooting the breeze or,
in the case of the laborer pictured above, dreaming of sun, sand
and sea -- or perhaps of doing construction work in somewhat more
temperate climes.