My husband and I went to the Caribbean last month and had a FABULOUS time. We were on a cruise that left from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and went to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, Tortola, and St. Thomas. It was great, but too short! In Antigua, as soon as we got off the ship, taxi drivers were everywhere, trying to get the cruise passengers to hire them for the day to show them around the island. We took a guy named Christopher up on the offer, along with another couple. It was only $25, and he would take us to all the main sites and get us back to the ship in time for the port departure.
One of the main attractions in Antigua is Nelson's Dockyard, which is a historical site where Royal Naval warships kept intruders out of the Caribbean, which was a territory in dispute for a while because of its sugar cane. The ability of the British ships at Nelson's Dockyard to keep intruders away was instrumental in increasing Britain's wealth and power.
On the way to Nelson's Dockyard, Christopher told us a lot about the island. He had been born on Antigua and lived there most of his life; he knew a lot about the history of the island. It was a pretty good tour-- he took us to his church and told us about the failure of the sugar cane industry on the island in recent years, and told us that Antigua was famous for its "black pineapple."
When we got to the Dockyard, we paid the fee to get in and, as soon as we stepped out of the van Christopher drove for us, he pointed to a tree at the edge of the parking lot and said something that made my ears perk WAY up: "See this tree? It will take the sugar right out of your blood. You don't need needles or pills anymore if you have diabetes. You just grind up this tree and drink it in tea." I looked at my husband and raised my eyebrows! Christopher was absolutely certain that this tree was a cure for diabetes. I asked him, "How do you know it does that? Do they sell the leaves in Antigua?" Christopher said no, the tree's leaves were not available for purchase. He said he knew about the tree being a treatment for diabetes because his grandparents had told him, and that people in Antigua had used the leaves for years as treatment. After hearing this, I told my husband, take a picture of that tree!!
Now I'm curious about this tree. Christopher did not know the name of the tree, and I'm far from a horticulture specialist. But I would love to find out what kind of tree this was and if it really can "take the sugar right out of your blood"!
