Caribbean History Part One

    In part one of the documentary series Simon explores many islands in the Caribbean and shows off what they have to offer, both the good and the bad. He also speaks about the history of the islands and the rich culture that has been preserved for years. Simon dives into how islands stay afloat by selling and trading things such as sugar, cocoa and various other goods. I feel as it is important that he takes this approach of showing us what the islands are truly like and what they used to be like, as most people just take them for granted as vacation destination spots. In the documentary Simon explores voodoo, something I thought was only in movies and no one actually practiced. Before European settlers came over and forced Christianity down the throats of natives, they used to practice voodoo, some still do. Voodoo is something they still look back on as a safety net, something that has always held true to their culture when the Europeans came over and tried to force them into new beliefs. You can see that voodoo has not left Haiti as in the documentary it says they're a 100% voodoo still, showing that is something they created and still feel comfortable all practicing, while some have adopted new beliefs they all still practice old tradition. Another thing that Simon explored that I was shocked to see was the hustle and bustling Haiti has as the economy seems to be doing well with all the traffic going in and out for trade. As someone who doesn't really keep track of Caribbean culture and events, I was very unaware of the economy Haiti has, as I thought they were still struggling from the earthquake that had happened, but I am happy to see they've recovered and are still growing. In conclusion, Simon does an excellent job with this series showing the real lifestyle of the people of the Caribbean Islands that we typically do not see on our vacations. 

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