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Hard Times Can Fix Anything

Hard Times is coming. He's the repairman who will fix the water system so I can shower. My stink didn't preclude adventure. Learn about the Saba Road today.

Hard Times is coming.

No, that is not a typo. In case you missed it, I wrote a lengthy post HERE about water conditions on Saba.

As soon as the post went live, I ran out of water at my cottage. I haven’t showered since last Thursday, washed my hair since last Monday. You can probably smell me wherever you are.

Hard Times is the repairman’s name. He’s supposed to come today and fix leaks in the water system. Someone will deliver a load of water to fill the cistern, and I can finally be clean!

Despite my stink, I trekked to the other side of the island yesterday. I’ve hiked the Saba Road as far as Windwardside, but it goes from the airport to the island’s capital, The Bottom.

The Saba Road is so named because it is the only road that spans the island.

For a long time, it was little more than a crude trail. But in the 1930s, the Sabans decided to build a concrete road. They brought in Swiss and Dutch engineers, even some from the United States, but every expert told them…

This is the road that cannot be built.

Imagine building a road on Grand Canyon’s cliffs. In places, Saba’s landscape is almost as dramatic, though sculpted by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions rather than water.

The Sabans wanted a road that twisted, tied itself in concrete knots. A local man, Josephus Lambert Hassell, claimed he could do the impossible. He hired a crew of Sabans and started digging out the road by hand.

hard times

They toiled for almost twenty years to complete the road. The final section opened in the 1950s. A roadside plaque commemorates Hassell’s leadership and names the vertiginous ribbon of concrete….

THE ROAD THAT COULD NOT BE BUILT.

If you’re new to this adventure, go to THIS POST and read forward for context. Maybe you’ll discover a hidden part of the world to enjoy someday.

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6 Comments

  1. Showering\/bathing is overrated. Grab some leaves and rub away

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