We went out to lunch at Conch Fritters and many of us had our first taste of conch. After settling into Towne Hotel, (which has a friendly parrot in the lobby) we had a private safety briefing on the sun deck with two police officers dressed in their handsome British-inspired uniforms and we met the famous Valdez, our contact at the College of the Bahamas who helped coordinate our trip.
Then we went on a walking tour of Nassau with Wanida our tourguide/police woman. (She flashed her badge a couple of times at passerbys.) With her as our animated leader, we were invited into several government buildings and some of us broke records for the number of pictures taken.
After discussing the local spots with Sean, a 12-year-old baseball player outside a church across the street from our hotel, we all split up for a little. Some went to the pirate museum, others went home to shower, and the rest went on a photo shoot by the docks.
Before dinner, we met by the pool in the courtyard and discussed our observations about tourism in Nassau and the hospitality and friendliness we encountered. We started to try to guess what it would be like to grow up in a town where you are constantly playing "host" for countless tourists each day.
Dinner was difficult, as we discovered that most Nassau restaurants only stay open for cruise ship hours. After what seemed like hours of walking around looking for a place to eat, we had to settle for Dunkin Dounuts Sandwiches and Imperial Take-Out "chicken in a bag."
It was an exhausting but fun day. It was great to begin to get to know everyone on the trip and we got our first taste of The Bahamas.
Rachel and Katlin
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