The end of one adventure and the beginning of another – here we are in Barbados. This is me in the port saying goodbye to our home. We were greeted by a steel drum band playing “The Gambler” not what I expected but hey it’s still steel drums. After waiting for almost an hour to get through customs, we were lead to a Zed R and taken to our new home away from home. Let me explain Zed R. These are small, privately owned vans that they can cram 15 passengers into. They are very raddily, very compact, play very loud island rap, and travel at speeds near 100 kilometers an hour down very narrow streets with slim to no sidewalks and lots of pedestrians…yikes!

Zed R’s have a language all their own. Their horns play the first few bars of “La Cucaracha” or “Dixie” and their honking means either “Please, may I get in here?”, “Thanks for letting me in.”, “Do you want a ride?” or sometimes they just seem to honk for no reason.  Zed Rs are an adventure all their own. None-the-less we were delivered safely to our destination and moved in.

Our place is on the top floor and has a rooftop patio that we really enjoy in the evenings.

We are a ten minute walk from the grocery store and a 15 minute walk from the beach .

After unpacking, we walked around the neighborhood and had lunch – our first hamburger, fries and diet coke since we left home at a cost of $35 US. It was delicious but wow – the cost! We then went to stock up on groceries and were staggered again by the cost of food. In the grocery store where the local people shop, a pound of ground beef costs $20 Bajan or $10 US per pound. A 2 liter bottle of diet coke runs $3US.  Even the little bananas that grow wild all over the island run $4 Bajan or $2 US per pound.

I wonder how the local people manage.  Despite or maybe because of the high cost of groceries, we eat most meals at home and they are delicious! – Thanks, Thomasa.

We have learned that Barbados is the most densely populated Caribbean island and the most expensive – what a surprise. It is English speaking although Tom and I frequently look at each other and say, “What did he/she say?” As in any place, Barbados has its own dialect of the English language similar to Jamaican.  We are anxious to get to know it and its people.

Charli