Living in Grand Cayman

The large government building I talked about a few posts back is pretty much finished now.   Although no one has actually started to occupy it, the outside part if definitely completed and I think it looks really good. Fitting for the government of this lovely island.

Here is the sign on the side of the road indicating the purpose of this facility.

And here is a full view.  Its got to be the largest building in the Cayman Islands.   It took +-2.5 years by my estimates to complete.  It must have started sometime in late 2008 or early 2009. I honestly don’t remember.  I did get to see the progression though ; my office is in the building just to the right in the picture.  I took this picture late Saturday morning, so there was very little traffic on the newly redone Elgin Ave.

At the government house (and many other places on the island where there is a new building or large home), you can find newly planted palms.  I asked a landscaper I know and he told me that palms like these are imported from the USA.  They can cost anywhere from 3000-10000$ each depending on the height/size/type.  Who knew palms could cost so much.   But thinking about it,  I guess it makes sense since shipping these must be somewhat complicated; probably cant go cargo in Cayman Airways!  Since they are so tall, its frequent to see newly planted palms with stilts till they have time to develop their roots.

Next … I had the opportunity to see this marvel of landscaping.  An awesome pool with a waterfall.  Notice the bottom of the pool is black/gray ; awesome.

Needless to say I had to test the “funness” of this fall. The verdict : lots of fun!

Here is when we turned it on.

For the geeks reading this blog, here is the plumbing behind this magnificent pool waterfall.  Its basically a pump that takes water from the pool (obviously …) and pushes it up though two four-inch pipes.

Lastly, summer is on its way.  How do I know?  The mangoes are getting bigger every time I look at them.  Yumm. Cant wait.

No, I did not get a sunburn by spending too much time at Seven Mile beach.

One of the things that you can observe in the Cayman islands (and probably anywhere in the tropics) is the abuse cars take in these parts of the world. Here in Cayman we get 300+ days of sunshine, so they essentially get roasted in the parking lots.  (plus they get battered by massive rain and hurricanes in the summer, but that is another story …)

If you are going to buy a car here, I would highly suggest that you get a white car like me.   White will keep the car cooler and the paint will stay nice for a much longer time.  Black cars, when you touch the hood are usually scorching hot when in the blazing sun.   Inside, the dash is literally burning up.  Most people put a “sun screen” in the windshield.  I do also.  It makes a huge difference in the car.  It keeps the inside cooler by reflecting out the sun.  Without it and even with air conditioning it takes many minutes to cool down the inside.  I have seen many times people who do not use these shades with massive cracks in their dash boards.  Obviously not a good thing for resale value!

Here is a sample of cars on which the sun did some heavy damage.  Obviously, the hood and roof are the most sun damaged.

White 2002 CRV … still looking great 🙂  The perfect Caribbean color and a coat of wax +- every 2 months has done the trick so far.

Lastly, found this little guy in the house.

Its probably the smallest little gecko I have ever seen.  To demonstrate the smallness, I put him on my Blackberry.  S/he must have been terrified since it did not move the whole time I was taking the pictures.  I then put it outside so it can live happily ever after.  🙂