The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 69

BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE November 26, 1978 bd Mr. 4 Do you hing in Caribbean S4 Illustration lor The Boston Globe by Terry Allen 4 traveler hanks giving Some places and events of '78 were (gratefully) missed By William Davis Globe Staff Munching my way through Thanksgiving dinner, I paused to reflect that like many other travelers, I had a lot to be thankful for this year. To take a few for instances: Air Fares I still don't understand how the International Air Transport -Assn. (IATA) arrives at its tariffs, but I do know a bargain and there were a lot of them around this year and a lot of us wouldn't have been able to travel without the Super Savers, Standbys, APEXes, and TGC's. And, of course, there is good old Freddie Laker oops Sir Freddie Laker.

The International Cow Chip Throwing Contest This non-Olympic competition was held in April in Beaver, and I missed it. Again. The Beaver Chamber of Commerce (Yes, Virginia says the contest is "a specialized athletic event which attracts dung flingers from around the world." Uh huh. Until they offer a $75 roundtrip promotional 2 to 21 day excursion fare to Beaver, the Cow Chip contest own the Grenada, the Grenadines, Tobago, Trim dad, Haiti, the Dominican Republiq, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Curacao, Bonaire. In the Caribbean you never know what to expect.

I'm speaking of how vacaT tioners dress. That's the Caribbean. It's colorful. It's what appeals to these sun worshiping vacationers. If they choosej they can get by wearing nothing at all, sunning in the buff but only on certain islands.

As for St. Thomas, it attracts the shoppers. They run around with bags filled with loot. Just like the old buccaneers. The reason is that St.

Thomas is the major duty-free stop in the US Virgins. Those shopping bags are bulging with Thai silks, Swiss watches, Japanese pearls, German cameras, Italian knits, Bally Amalfi shoes, Metzger shirts and other snappy clothing with the names of Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior and Gf-venchy. Stores line both sides of Main street, such as in Charlotte Amalie. Other roads reach to the waterfront. In St.

Thomas, it's Christmas year-round (there's a bonus awaiting shoppers beginning this month as the duty-free allotment here rise to $600 instead of the customary $100 limit elsewhere in the world). Regular air shuttles run seven days a week between St. Thomas and San Juan. It's a 20-minute hop. Some come over for the day.

Others make it for a week, twp weeks. And occasionally someone stays forever, succumbing to the peacefulness found elsewhere on this island. i -CARIBBEAN, Page 75 2 0 of The Boston Gtote toy Dor or -f Djrr By Jerry Hulse The Los Angeles Times ST. THOMAS, US Virgin Islands -Unless you've been to the Caribbean, you'd never understand. It's the weather, maybe.

Or perhaps what the rum does to vacationers. Whatever, a tourist in the Caribbean is something else. Take the staid American businessman the same bloke who wouldn't be caught outside the house without a coat and tie. In the Caribbean suddenly he shows up looking like a pup out of Playboy. He wears Daks slacks, a floral blazer and snappy patent leather shoes.

Trailing behind is another vacationer from suburbia dressed in Bermudas and long white stockings. And then there are' the female travelers in their sunsuits, bikinis, shifts, peek-a-boo gowns and, of course, contented smiles. The Caribbean is where tourists go to do their thing. And their thing could be anything from the limbo to diving for lost treasure or water skiing across a rainbow-colored lagoon. St.

Thomas is where the big cruise ships tie up, the jumping-off place to other islands in the Caribbean, a sun-blessed spot only 75 miles from San Juan. Or, to put it another way, 1200 miles southeast of Miami. Roughly 100 islands, islets and cays are acattered throughout the waters of the American and British Virgin Islands, and then there are those dozens of other islands that are up to their white sand skirts in blue waters, such at St. Martin, St. Barts, St.

Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, '0 .0 i The Armenians of Watertown It's a lively community that retains the flavor of Asia Minor 9 joins the Hinckley, Ohio Buzzard Festival in the attic of my heart. The America She sailed without me on a voyage to nowhere this summer that really took passengers somewhere else. Billed as a new concept in cruising, The America offered overcrowded cabins (some with cockroaches) and few of the amenities swimming pool, night club, entertainment that was promised.

The passengers practically mutinied, a sight I would have liked to have seen. But, since Venture Cruise Lines, which organized the trip, has hauled down its Panamanian flag and sold off The America guess I won't at least this year. The Tanzanian Ugandan Safari I didn't take one this year (I almost went to Uganda once but changed my mind at the last minute, a practice which has become habit) leaving the field to General Amin and company. I plan to put off tours of disputed East African borders for a few Thanksgivings, along with visits to Nicar-aguan university towns, tours of Belfast back streets, and anything that involves passing through Rhodesia. AROUND THE WORLD IN longed to the Armenian Apostolic Church or some other "oriental" Christian church.

The missionaries made considerable headway and soon a trickle of young Armenians was coming to Massachusetts to study at Andover Theological Seminary, Amherst, and Clark. Some of the students decided to stay, others returned home, but came back a few years later bringing their families with them. And, local missionaries often brought Armenian servants home with them when they retired, and they often acted as advance parties for their villages. The 1890s, when thousands of Armenians were massacred during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid, saw a flood of Armenian immigrants to the US. Those coming to this area settled mostly in the f1 .11 jr St.

Stephen's Armewan Apostolic Church breaking the bargain barrier and initiating the no-frills "skytrain" service that led to much lower fares on the North Atlantic run. But, I'm thankful that I flew over on his inaugural flight last fall, rather than trying to join him this summer, which would have required a several day sojourn in the improvised camp called "Lakerville" which sprang up around Victoria Station. Lakerville's residents were remarkable for their decorum and courtesy, causing speculation that they were cockneys trying to get out of town. Turkey Is Not Just a Bird It's a country, too, one I've been meaning to visit. However, in the wake of "Midnight Express" about a young American drug smuggler's harrowing experiences in a Turkish jail I'm thankful that I postponed the trip.

Think I'll put off Turkey for a few years, just to make sure my hairline has deteriorated to the point where there isn't the slightest danger of my being taken for a hippie. (Cheer up Turkey, it won't be long.) the feud between Christian and Moslem Arabs, and their section of Beirut was heavily damaged in last month's fighting. "The new wave of immigration, coupled with a younger generation looking for its roots has really had an effect on the Armenian community. There is more going on now then when I was a young girl," said Barbara Merguerian, editor of the Armenian Mirror-Spectator, oldest English-language Armenian weekly in the nation. Aimed at the American-born and concerned primely with events within the Armenian community, the Mirror-Spectator has a circulation of 3000.

A symbol of this new interest is Watertown's Armenian Elementary School one of the few in the country. Started a few years ago it now occupies what used to be the Sacred Heart parochial school on Mt. Auburn street. Another sign is the growing interest in Armenian studies. The Armenian language is now taught in Watertown and Belmont schools and Watertown has the nation's only federally funded Armenian bilingual school program." The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), 175 Mount Auburn Cambridge, was founded in 1955 to advance Armenian studies and culture.

NAASR has been responsible for establishing Armenian study programs in several colleges and universities, including UMass, Amherst. It is particularly proud of the permanent chair of Armenian studies it endowed at Harvard at a cost of $400,000. Funding came almost entirely from the local Armenian community. "It was really a grass roots endowment," said Dr. Martin Halabian, a NAASR director.

NAASR does its work in English, maintaining a library, running a bookstore with more than 300 titles, and acting as a clearing house for books on Armenian subjects in English. Among the most WATERTOWNPage 75 National Nude Beach Day It was July 14 and I missed it, too. Instead of gamboling on the beaches of southern California or diving into Sylvan pools in Vermont I was, if I recall correctly, mowing a lawn in Cambridge. I'm sure I missed some interesting sights, but candidly I think my absence was probably an esthetic plus. London A favorite city, I was lucky enough to last see it early in the spring when English was still the working language.

As it turned out, I was in the vanguard of an army of about 13 mil- lion visitors from Pakistan to Patagonia, Darmstadt to Abu Dabai who passed through this summer. The native cockneys, normally the soul of courtesy, are reportedly getting a touch grumpy and muttering about "tourist pollution" but I have faith that the English will reconquer their capital and regain their good humor. Lakerville Part of London, actually, at least for a few weeks this summer and probably the next one. Like most travelers, I'm grateful to Sir Freddie for NEW ENGLAND 6 South End of Boston, but colonies also grew up around the Hood Rubber plant in Watertown and the American Steel and Wire Works in Worcester. (The first Armenian church in the US was founded in Worcester.) Another influx followed World War during which the Turks slaughtered an estimated 1.5 million Armenians a holocaust still vivid in Armenian memories.

That memory is one reason for the recent surge in immigration from Lebanon, where nearly three-quarters of a million Armenians live and which is seat of one branch of the Armenian Apostolic Church (the other is directed from Soviet Armenia). Despite efforts to stay neutral, Armenians are now caught in the middle of in Watertown. I 'M. jvr i By William A. Davis Globe Staff Driving or strolling down Mount Auburn street in east Watertown, both eyes and nostrils let you know that you are on the main drag of Greater Boston's Armenian community.

The cursive, distinctive Armenian alphabet is seen frequently over the doors of churches, on window posters, and the shop fronts of groceries and bakeries; the name on just about every doctor and lawyer's shingle seems to end with the suffix and on some blocks the air is pungent with the smells of pilaf and "lahmejune," the spicy, pizza-like Ar- i menian meat pie. It's estimated that there are some 30,000 persons of Armenian origin in east-j era Massachusetts, concentrated mainly in Watertown, Belmont, Arlington and i Cambridge. The community is a lively one supporting half a dozen churches, two daily newspapers in the Armenian language, two English language weeklies, an elementary school, and a multitude of music, dance, drama, literary, educational social sports and benevolent organiza tions. There were no Armenians on the "Mayflower" but they can and do boast that they were here when it arrived. Armenians were involved in the Jamestown, Va.

settlement, which preceded I Plymouth by three years. (The Virginia colonists planned to raise silkworms, and brought along experienced Armenian silk-makers for expertise.) The Armenian roots in New England don't go back quite that far, but are still very deep. Armenians come from Asia Minor, their ancient homeland now divid- ed between Turkey and the Soviet Union. Until this century, most of them lived within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire fertile territory for the American Board or Foreign Missions based in Boston. In 1831, it dispatched a mission to the LArmenians of Turkey, most of be-.