Caribbean Curiosity
Walking down Whitehead street in the Old Town part of Key West is a pretty delightful experience. For one, it is in the Caribbean, and secondly it is full of history. There's an old lighthouse and keepers home that is directly across the road from Hemingway's house. As I head towards the Green Parrot-recently voted one of America's top ten bars thanks in part to Key West's thriving music and cultural scene-I noticed an old boarded up shack nestled in a gap between houses. Naturally the place piqued my interest. It's not everyday you get to explore the remnants of a Caribbean construction.
This mouldy, decrepit structure is a very small two roomer, maybe an old guest house or servants quarters. It's now, similarly to many Perth abandoned buildings, full of bags of clothes, linen, toys, and other home contents. Although not the most exciting of buildings, it's a pretty exciting exploration. It's a lot worse for me to be caught here, by police or angry gun toting locals and the constant stream of tourists down the road mean stealth isn't really an option. Brazen confidence is the only way in. Luckily nothing untoward came to pass and my thrill was free.
Perhaps this building was occupied by Hemingway's cook. An middle aged Caribbean lady known as Rosy by those she served. A docile and subservient woman, no one realised she was constantly stealing from the larder. Perhaps I was standing on the same sullied floorboards that would have seen the crusts of a slice of stolen Hemingway bread! (With such a thrilling story, i should write novels) I'm waxing lyrical, but I'm sure you can forgive me when I'm on holiday, and in this heat.
