A celebrity visit has Seychelles all in a tizzy. Folks jammed the arrival area of the airport hoping to greet and meet, or catch a glimpse of the arriving stars, and the highway leading into town was lined with cars full of waving people. In neighborhoods all along the route of the motorcade women in nighties emerged, hair not yet combed, kids in tow, and stood in the morning heat waiting.
And the motorcade! Two fancy cars (we don't have limos here, but a set of matching BMWs serve the purpose), one for each celeb, were surrounded by police escorts in cars and on motorcycles with an ambulance pulling up the rear as slow progress was made toward State House for a meeting with the President.

TV crews, all of them (there are three), jostled for position, and a local newspaper held publication until their photographer could get photos for the front page.

And just who was it getting all this attention?

No one seems to actually know their names.

Here's the write up from one local paper:

'Paloma' and 'Barbara' in person!

The two best known actresses on the telenova series "Cuando Seas Mea" arrived at the Point Larue International Airport on Thursday morning about the Air Seychelles flight from Paris. A small crowd of fans was present outside the gates to greet them but hundreds more turned up outside the "Rendezvous" restaurant where the two Mexican ladies had chosen to have lunch.

Allow me to explain ...

"Cuando Seas Mea" is a Mexican soap opera that was most likely aired in the rest of the interested world about ten years ago. It's been on TV here for months and has quite an audience. With big hair and sparkly clothes, pretty women and bare-chested men, plot twists that involve just about everything daytime soaps can throw in, and what passes for a view of the world beyond the confines of our island, it serves as high entertainment. The Spanish has been dubbed into English, of a fashion.

Now, many people here speak very little English, but that doesn't seem to discourage anyone from following whatever plot they decide is taking place on screen. All sorts of discussion happens regularly when two or more Seychellois fans get together to rehash last night's episode, as since most folks are filling in large blanks with whatever sounds likely in their frame of reference, there are vast differences in interpretations.

'Paloma' and 'Barbara' are leading characters on the show, or were way back when they shot the series. (Now they are doing altogether different gigs.) Neither speaks more than a couple of words of English.

In their already frequent television interviews, they manage to convey an admiration for the beauty of Seychelles, and much to their credit, a complete bafflement at the treatment they're getting. (Queen Elizabeth didn't get this much attention, although they did put her on a stamp after her visit.) They've been flown here First Class, are being put up at a very nice resort hotel, then there's the welcoming committee and the aforementioned motorcade, meetings with all the higher-ups and fans clamoring for any little brush with their fame.

They must be thinking: Que?

People here are confused, too, but not about what they see as a normal response to major celebrities of this ilk. No, they're wondering why the women seem to want to be called something other than 'Paloma' and 'Barbara'. And their voices sound completely different. And, hey! they speak good enough English on the show, so what's the deal now?

We don't watch "Cuando Seas Mea", but we're a minority family. My housekeeper can not understand why we opt out of the frenzy. After all, her four-year old wants to be just like 'Diego' when he grows up. (Yikes!)

My kids will get some of the residue, however, as the effects of these Mexican soaps tend to linger. I'm predicting that when Cj starts school every other girl in her class will be a 'Barbara' and that someday Sam will date a 'Paloma'.