Hell isn’t the typical vacation spot people want to pay money to go see. I know I wasn’t looking for it when I found it. However, if Hell were a tiny city located on an isolated small corner of a beautiful island beach, replete with an official-looking and aptly-named post office where you could send a letter marked “from Hell” to friends and family, well…you might go there too.
And if you did, here is what you would find: ugly rock formations that look like a rough version of coal (it’s limestone), the Hell Post Office (a small while clapboard building), a souvenir shop that looks like a red barn and has a devil painted on the outside (I went to Hell T-Shirts are a big ticket item with tourist), the Hell road sign (so everyone knows how to find it…and then how to leave it, of course), and that’s about it.
So just where is this Hell on earth? It’s located on Grand Cayman Island, occupying a tiny little corner on the Northeast end of the Island known as West Bay. Follow seven-mile beach to its end, take a right onto Church Street (I kid you not), and at the end of the road take a left: You’re in Hell. But if you want to really feel like hell, or you are just clueless about the size of the island and can’t be bothered with a map, just try walking instead of taking a taxi from your hotel. You’ll have the blisters and feel about as hot as hell by the time you get there and return to your hotel. Guilty as charged!
So do people really travel to Grand Cayman in order to visit Hell? No, but it makes for a neat excursion while on the island known for its pristine, white, seven-mile beach and the clearest waters in the Caribbean. And who can’t resist sending a postcard to family, friends and co-workers while on an exotic getaway? All it takes is just a minute to mail your card or letter from Hell’s Post Office (even if they are closed) and get tongues wagging back home: “I got a post card from Suzanne, boss?”… “Well, where is that nut off to this time?”… “Oh, she says she is in hell.” “What?!” Spread that one around the water cooler at work!
If you are wondering how the city arrived at its name, the verdict is still out on that and you will get different opinions if you ask the natives. Some say it was a tourist who labeled it hell long ago after muttering as much when they saw the most desolate part of the beautiful island, the black limestone making it impossible to reach the water below. Others think it was a great idea arrived at by some island employee bent on seeing tourism grow…but all I know is that it has been called that since I first went there in the early ’80’s and a friend said it was called that at least five years prior, when they visited the island.
I guess you will have to visit it yourself to find out, but don’t forget to take a taxi or the bus when you go! You’ll thank me for it later.
