Old Bank (Bastimentos)

Spread along a bay on the island's western tip, between the ocean and forested hills, is a colorful collection of simple wooden buildings known as Old Bank, or Bastimentos town. It is a predominantly Afro-Caribbean community where Guari-Guari—a mix of patois English and traces of Spanish—is the lingua franca. Most people live in elevated wooden houses, some awfully rudimentary, that line sidewalks and dirt paths instead of streets. It's a poor and crowded but friendly place, where children play in the dugout canoes pulled up on shore, families chat in the shade beneath their homes, and men play dominoes at the local bars. Most of Old Bank's men work in construction or survive off tourism. Old Bank is the home of an authentic calypso band with a not-too-original name—the Beach Boys—who rock the town on Monday nights: Blue Mondays. Old Bank doesn't have a proper sewage system, so swimming in the bay is not recommended, even though the local kids do. Rather, head to one of the nearby beaches instead.