Diaries of statia                                             -Blue beads

Here on the island there are these rare blue beads that people find sometimes. You can find them snorkeling or scuba diving, sometimes they wash up on the beach after a huge storm or something. Or people have even found them hidden on the island. They’re like a pentagon cylinder piece of blue glass that have a whole through them to string on a thread or a necklace or something. Everybody wants to find one, they can be worth hundreds of dollars sometimes if it’s a good size. They’re so rare and special because statia used to be a transport hub for slaves back in the day. So they would come from Africa and get sold off here and taken to wherever they were sold. The slaves weren’t allowed to have money as currency so they would get rewarded for good behavior or something with blue beads, and sometimes if a slave got a whole bunch of them they could buy back their freedom. Its pretty crazy! There’s a trail here call the slave trail where the slaves had to walk with their loads and stuff. It’s really steep apparently. I haven’t walked it yet.

Crazy statia!.