The Turks and Caicos

      Turks and Caicos are a string of islands in the Atlantic Ocean near Cuba, the islands were inhabited by the Taino and Lucayan Indians for roughly seven hundred years. They were known for their farming skills and colorful culture. When the natives daily work was finished the villagers would gather in teams of twenty to thirty people and play a game commonly known as 'batey'. Batey was hosted in the middle of the village where there was a court with stone walls and petroglyphs painted on them. The game was very similar to soccer but instead of just a game batey was used to help tribes resolve disputes. Occasionally, there would be a game between the married and singles, the married team would wear a cloak while the singles played nude!  Lucayan villages were very beautiful, they had circular huts surrounded by greenery, semi-accurate models have been recreated in Cuba. The natives Maipurean language originated words such as; Caicos, meaning string of islands and the word 'canoe'.  

      Turks and Caicos have forty islands, only eight of which are inhabited. The current population is 33,098 people. The capital city is Cockburn Town. The motto is "Beautiful by nature". The Flag is the British flag with the Turks and Caicos coat of arms which contains a conch shell, lobster and cactus. The government is controlled by the British after they took leadership from Jamaica in 1959. Salt farming, conch exportation and tourism make up most of the economy for the residence and they are a zero tax community!
         A few unique facts about the islands are: They are home to the one and only conch farm in the world. In 1962, after orbiting the earth three times in his space capsule John Glen landed in the ocean and was retrieved at Grand Turks Island. Also, there is a shipwreck from the 1500's that was found in the Molasses Reef that was thought to have been the Pinta. It was later discovered that it was a lesser known ship, but also the oldest shipwreck find in the western hemisphere.

       
  I have recently traveled to the islands and I must say it certainly lives up to it's motto (see second paragraph) I stayed at Beaches Resort along with fifteen other family members. The sand at the beach was white as snow and the ocean was a light sapphire blue. I was luckily able to go horse riding on the beach through Provo Ponies and it was very fun and memorable. My horses' name was Limbo, he was dark colored and was the leader of the herd. I distinctly remember going through a narrow path which I found exotic, it had all types of tropical plants along the sides and the trail was dusted with sand, when we finally got to the ocean I realized that it was very different from the beach at the resort, the water wasn't as clear and there was seaweed everywhere, none the less, it was still very beautiful. We went fairly deep about three feet in the water. it was a bit of a bumpy ride on the way back to the corral. Afterwards, we headed in a taxi back to the resort and left for the airport the next day.