One of the island’s treasures I spoke of in my last blog is Harrison’s Cave. Located near the middle of the island, it is a quiet, tranquil respite from the busy coast. We decided to take the walking tour of the cave which is only offered on Saturdays. Our tour was scheduled for 4:00 PM and since we are not yet proficient at calculating the amount of time that it takes to get somewhere with public transportation, we gave ourselves plenty of time and ended up arriving about 1 ½ hours early. That turned out well however because it was a lovely area with trails to follow

and a lot to see. On the paths there were signs describing the land formations

and dense flora

and interesting fauna of the area.

After walking and taking lots of pictures, we sat at a picnic table drinking a “Banana Boat” yum, and watching the monkeys playing along the cliff walls.

The cave tour started promptly at 4:00 and there were four others (a family from Jamaica), our guide, and us – a nice sized group. The tour took almost 2 hours and was great!

  

 

 

 

 

Well worth the effort and another and different taste of Barbados.

Most days begin with coffee, but after that Tom and I walk. We’ve found that walking and public transportation – Zed Rs or the regular buses are the best way to experience life on the island and also stay in shape. We are up to about 8.5 – 9 kilometers (about 5 miles) a day walking

I know that I said most days begin with coffee, but along with that goes the squabbling of the parrots and the chirping of the tree frogs. The roosters that strut around the yards and streets add their boastful crowing to the morning’s cacophonous melody. The parrots don’t talk but make their voices heard with their raucous squawks.Tree frogs you’ve heard before and there are a plethora of them chirping morning, noon and night. These along with the rushing Zed Rs and other traffic during the day and the music, conversation and laughter from the local restaurants and bars in the evenings are the sounds of Barbados.

As I explained in my previous blog, Barbados is a fairly small island with a lot of people. The houses run from large mansions

to rows upon rows of tiny little homes and everything in-between.

There are 8 main highways (keep in mind that much of what is called highways here are narrow two lane roads. I think that they are called highways because they are paved whereas most of the other streets are gravel. Where a fair number of people own their own cars, the majority seem to rely on the public/private transportation systems i.e. buses, Zed Rs and taxies which there are in abundance. So narrow streets + lots of people = constant traffic – not a criticism just an observation of the busy island life.

It rains most every day here – short bursts followed by long periods of brilliant sunshine and so it goes throughout the day. Consequently the vegetation is lush and beautiful with flowers everywhere – bougainvillea,

hibiscus, water lilies

, portulaca, ginger, bird of paradise and so many more that I don’t know the names of – grow wild and everywhere along with every kind of palm tree you can imagine.

 

The clouds drifting across a brilliant blue sky, the lush growth, the crystal clear sea with its white sand beaches –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we are in

paradise!

November 30, 2012 Barbados Independence Day

Today Barbados celebrates the 46^th anniversary of their independence from Britain. There were decorations

and banners throughout the island  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

and people have been practicing for their individual parts in the celebration.

Being a small island, the ceremonies and presentations all took place at the garrison a couple of kilometers from our place. The festivities all seemed to take place in the morning and were over by noon – no fireworks or special parties in the afternoon or evening that we know of. However, every evening seems to be a party around here.

Tom and I decided that we would spend the day checking out Bridgetown, the capital.

It is also the sea port and only large city in Barbados. We caught the city bus into Speightstown (pronounced spice town) first. It is very small and mostly closed because of the holiday so we caught a Zed R down to Bridgetown.

Bridgetown is a typical Caribbean city with tiny street side carts with venders hawking their wares to larger stores and boutique areas. There is also the canal area where the sightseeing boats and tour cruises for snorkeling and diving have set up shop. It’s a pretty area. All over the island there are lovely city parks. After checking on excursions and buses to the various we were interested in seeing, we headed home. It was only about 6 kilometers so we decided to walk it. Good exercise but, with all the walking around town, we were pretty tired by the time we got home. It was a good fact finding day and we are anxious to explore some of the treasures of Barbados.

Charli

 

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