Well, our time in Barbados is drawing to a close. Today is our last full day. It's been challenging on some fronts and rewarding on some fronts. Would we come back? YES! Would we change some things about the island visit? YES! It seems that, try as they may, the tourism bureau has not made navigating the island very easy without a car. Yes, the buses do come often, but they are often standing room only, the bus drivers seeming to ignore the posted sign for how many people should be onboard. Signs to get places are often non-existent to confusing.People giving directions from information areas such as the bus station don't give it in enough detail to be of any use. Several times, after asking someone to repeat what they had just said, I was told just go to number 12 and ask the driver, or just ask someone when you get off the bus where to go. This might seem like good information to the person who lives here, but to a stranger, it is just not comforting.
It's expensive here for an American. Canadians and the British get a higher exchange rate than do Amercians, which could be why we are the only ones who think that food is expensive.
They don't grow enough food here. We heard several reasons for this, from "the people are too lazy"," we don't have enough time" to "the salt gets on the leaves and kills the plants." Whatever the reason, this should be remedied. We expected, at the very least, to be able to buy local tomatoes, pineapples and oranges at a reasonable price. Instead, whatever was available was blemished and expensive.
The people are priceless. Almost everyone that we met was welcoming and friendly. We felt mostly safe here, the exception being when we were approached by drug addicts trying to get money from us in Bridgetown and at the beach in Worthing.
It's a great destination for getting close to the sun and experiencing summer every day. As the country develops more and the locals begin to grow and make more things that are actually Barbadian, we think it can't be anything but a stellar place to vacation.
Monday, 28 February 2011
Just when you think it's safe to take a shower....
Sunday was a very busy day for us here on the island. We got a wakeup call from a neighbor at 5:50 AM to go to church with her. Church starts at 7AM. We raced around getting ready, gulped down a cup of coffee and a danish and out the door with us at 6:30 AM. After church, we walked to the bus stop to catch a bus to town to see the agricultural fest, but the neighbor drove by and stopped and said she'd drive us there. $30 to get in and $1 for a map. The first thing that Gordon wanted was food, as it was now around 9AM and he can't go more than 2 1/2 hrs without food or...well, I'm not sure "or what" because I'm not sure that he has ever gone that long without food. So we found the "Plantation Breakfast" which was there on the grounds. The tent was crowded and we thought "oh, a buffet". This looks promising! The first appetite killer was the price..$25 each! Gordon said that was ok, because, with the cost of food here and "all you can eat" (not sure where he got THAT idea), that it was a fair price. So we plunked down $50 and got a red ticket that, ONE FOOT LATER, they collected in a white plastic bucket and gave us a plate and a plastic fork and knife wrapped in a paper napkin. First dish was scrambled eggs. I was given ONE TABLESPOON of these! OK, I thought, there must be more food ahead and they want to save room on my plate. Next up, FLYING FISH! OMG! What kind of maniacal mind came up with THIS for breakfast???!!! "No, thank you", I said and stepped to the next dish. "Salt Fish?" the kid asked me. "I keep from shrieking! "no fish", I said. But, inside, I was about to shout out, "are you people nuts??!!" Next was bacon. Yes! Bacon! They gave me 3 pieces of half cooked bacon, usually a turn off for me unless it's crisp, but Bacon! Next looked like scrambled eggs with stuff in it. More fish! And they disguised it in eggs!. I passed. Then there were things that looked like mini sweet potato torpedoes. "No fish in this?", I asked. They said no so I took one. Next there was curried chicken and they slapped a drumstick on my plate. Then curried lamb. All I could think about was "Mary had a little lamb", and here it was, swimming in curry. Ok, it wasn't fish, so I had a tablespoon of it. Then there was flour mixed with water and steamed into something almost edible. I got one of those. There was a bisquick biscuit of some sort with currants in it. I got one of those. And then there was HAM! Now, that was good, but I was given only a small piece of this. We got to the soup tureen and were told we couldn't have any for some reason that I could NOT understand, even after the boy said it 3 times, so we moved on to the drinks. "Sweet tea", I said. I might as well have been speaking alien talk because he looked at me very strange and I repeated it. He said "lemonade?", so I said ok. Then we found our seats. When Gordon went back for soup after foraging through the things on our plate, he was told he couldn't have any because he didn't have a ticket! Remember the ticket that they collected right after collecting our 50 bucks? Well, I complained to our table girl and she got us a bowl of "crab soup". We knew that it was crab soup because it was BROWNISH YELLOW and had a crab claw floating in it. OK, maybe the brownish yellow didn't scream crab soup. Gordon had 2 spoons of it and said "it must be an acquired taste". He tried to get coffee to wash it down, but the coffee pot was always empty, so we moved on. We walked around for several hours, our colons trying hard to process the $50 food fest we had just subjected them to. We finally found a bathroom where we found out that this food can be just as bad going as coming. We caught a bus to the bus station and another bus home. We got nice and crispy around the pool for 2 hours and then back to the apartment to lay in the ac where I watched a race for awhile through the miracle of technology on son's tv thousands of miles away. For supper, I stir fried some vegetables and chicken and added local seasoning that we picked up at the supermarket. It tasted like a raisin sauce. I did the dishes and decided to turn off the race and get a shower. It was already dark and I was tired. I got undressed, got both feet over the side of the tub and got the shower water on when everything went black! "Gordon!", I shouted. "Stay where you are", he shouted back. "It's a power failure". "I'll get the flashlight". I heard drawers opening and then he shouted "where's the flashlight?". "Locked in the safe" I shouted back. Probably not the brightest idea I've had here, to lock the flashlight in an electronically locked safe. "It belongs in the drawer!", he shouted back. Well, this was no time for an argument over who has the bigger brain, so I felt my way along the wall to turn off the water and to gingerly step out of the tub. "Follow my voice" he said. Ok, I did that and ended up on the bed to wait out the power failure. It was getting hotter by the minute with no fans or ac and we couldn't open the doors and windows because of,mosquitoes, so I got the brilliant idea of turning on the battery operated laptop and carrying it to the bathroom where I managed to shower by the light from it. Luckily, the screen saver didn't take it to black during the hasty shower. I was drying off when the lights came back on and then I got the flashlight out of the safe for him. I'll bet the power stays on for the rest of our vacation now that we're ready for it.
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Everyday's the 4th of Juky
On the 4th of July, the weather is wonderfully hot and humid and nobody is in a hurry to get anywhere or do anything. That's island life every day. The people here make frozen molasses in January look speedy. I watched a worker at the supermarket putting 12 packages of Jello pudding on the shelf. She would place one, then study it, rearrange it and stand back and look at it. Then she would rest, then reach for another one and repeat this. She got to 3, then put one back and rested some more. I think I've seen corpses in caskets move more than this! By the time we were ready to leave the store, she had still not finished, so I guess she probably took a lunch break.
The store was hopping today. They had gotten maple syrup in! Only $48 for a small tin! No thank you, ma'am!!! We managed to get out with only spending $128. Found out why we complain about the prices and the Brits and Canadians don't. We get a 1.98 BDS to the US dollar. The Brits and Canadians get much more. No wonder we feel poor. Gordon's in mourning because beer went up a dollar. Guess we'll have to cut back on the food because you'd die here without a cold beer. At least that's what he tells me.
The store was hopping today. They had gotten maple syrup in! Only $48 for a small tin! No thank you, ma'am!!! We managed to get out with only spending $128. Found out why we complain about the prices and the Brits and Canadians don't. We get a 1.98 BDS to the US dollar. The Brits and Canadians get much more. No wonder we feel poor. Gordon's in mourning because beer went up a dollar. Guess we'll have to cut back on the food because you'd die here without a cold beer. At least that's what he tells me.
"This breakfast was almost civilized"
It looked like rain but then the sun came out. Now it's clouding up again. We have no plans for today except that we have to finance the supermarket so that they can meet their payroll this week and we can have orange juice for breakfast.
Gordon said his breakfast was "almost civilized" this morning. I made a cheese omelet for him with substandard cheese and eggs that only took a 1/2 hr to break the shell. He made a sandwich of it on a hamburger bun with ketchup, figuring that ketchup can cover almost any taste.No meat again this morning. Can't wait to get off the island and get a decent meal with meat and real cheese and potatoes that don't have black spots in them and fresh fruits and vegetables..all of the things that an island SHOULD have but this one doesn't.I had a crumpet and juice because I cannot face another plain egg or another bowl of oatmeal. To say that we have been lacking in delicious meals is an understatement. Flavor has been an illusive goal here. We have settled for just trying to get nutrition, though I think we missed the goal with the crackers and warm water for lunch at the cave! If we were willing to sign over our life savings for a delicious steak meal at a restaurant, we wouldn't be able to complain, but what fun would that be:) Can't even imagine how much that could cost, when the Indian lunch with about 4oz total of chicken split between us, was $100.Some things you just can't buy, no matter how much money you have, like maple syrup and avocados, unblemished vegetables and good hamburger.
We have classified the birds, which means we've been here maybe too long. The black ones are "men in black" and are the most vocal birds I've met. The little ones are "walnuts with wings" and are as cute as little baby chicks, but doesn't prevent me from screaming, "hey..get off the bed".."hey, get out of my kitchen", "hey, get out of my house". It is a constant battle when the doors are open. I could record these statements and..OMG! I just had to chase one off the rug inside the front door as I was typing this!
We see baby doves all of the time. Never saw baby doves before. These adult doves have been mating since we got here. Must be the full moon and the romantic tropical breezes.
Well, I must stop and wash the dishes and pans (crime instruments) and get on with the day. My dreams these days are of everything I see on the Food Network, what I now call my porn channe
Gordon said his breakfast was "almost civilized" this morning. I made a cheese omelet for him with substandard cheese and eggs that only took a 1/2 hr to break the shell. He made a sandwich of it on a hamburger bun with ketchup, figuring that ketchup can cover almost any taste.No meat again this morning. Can't wait to get off the island and get a decent meal with meat and real cheese and potatoes that don't have black spots in them and fresh fruits and vegetables..all of the things that an island SHOULD have but this one doesn't.I had a crumpet and juice because I cannot face another plain egg or another bowl of oatmeal. To say that we have been lacking in delicious meals is an understatement. Flavor has been an illusive goal here. We have settled for just trying to get nutrition, though I think we missed the goal with the crackers and warm water for lunch at the cave! If we were willing to sign over our life savings for a delicious steak meal at a restaurant, we wouldn't be able to complain, but what fun would that be:) Can't even imagine how much that could cost, when the Indian lunch with about 4oz total of chicken split between us, was $100.Some things you just can't buy, no matter how much money you have, like maple syrup and avocados, unblemished vegetables and good hamburger.
We have classified the birds, which means we've been here maybe too long. The black ones are "men in black" and are the most vocal birds I've met. The little ones are "walnuts with wings" and are as cute as little baby chicks, but doesn't prevent me from screaming, "hey..get off the bed".."hey, get out of my kitchen", "hey, get out of my house". It is a constant battle when the doors are open. I could record these statements and..OMG! I just had to chase one off the rug inside the front door as I was typing this!
We see baby doves all of the time. Never saw baby doves before. These adult doves have been mating since we got here. Must be the full moon and the romantic tropical breezes.
Well, I must stop and wash the dishes and pans (crime instruments) and get on with the day. My dreams these days are of everything I see on the Food Network, what I now call my porn channe
Monday, 21 February 2011
Trying to board a bus with souvenier money?
We walked the 1/2 mile to the bus stop and waited and waited and waited and finally a Bridgetown bus came. Got to Bridgetown where we got conflicting advice from some "information" person, which is a laughable title. If they don't know, they just make up stuff. We were told to buy tokens to get on a bus to take us to the OTHER bus station, where we would be given a transfer to go to the cave. We took a transfer bus out of the main terminal to go 1/4 mile( which took forever). After 20 min of riding and numerous stops, we passed within sight of the original bus station and later we found ourselves at the other bus station where we caught a bus called some weird name that started with an S that was not on any map that we have, but yippee. Many, many bumps later, after having careened through small villages where abandoned cars on blocks took up almost ALL of the available road space, and yet the bus squeezed through, we were at the cave.
We made our way to the ticket window and the woman said "$120 please". Gordon said "WHAT?? DOES THAT INCLUDE LUNCH?" "No mon", she said, "no food available here". Well, I got out two $50 travelers checks (USD) and she said that I would have to pay $3 to cash them! Ok, graft is alive and well in Barbados.
We got the elevator down to the $120 cave and found that we would be riding a tram through it. This cave was so commercialized. Seemed to be dug out by people rather than natural and the roof dripped on us for the entire 35 minute trip.
We disembarked and commenced to go to the exterior of the building. There were a number of small vendor huts. Gordon said maybe we could get food there (fool that he is). No food there. The woman was right. Gordon was getting hungry and ugly. We made our way up to the exit and were told the bus came every 1/2 hr to go to town and it would be there in 20 min. No problem. After an hour, we decided to eat some crackers that we had packed and have some warm water to wash them down. (for breakfast, all we had was crumpets and coffee and juice thinking that we would eat a good lunch. NOT!) After 1 hr and a half, we thought that we might be spending the night in a cave (if we could scrape another $120 together to get back in). About the 2 1/2 hr mark or so, the bus finally came. It was a school bus, as we would soon learn, as we picked up hundreds (OK, maybe thousands) of school kids at every bus stop we passed. We were packed in so tight that it made us appreciate the spaciousness of former bus rides when we were only packed in like sardines. By the way, we noted that little school kids don't sweat as much as adults, making them much less non-stick.
Finally, we arrived at a stop where a mass of humanity exited the bus. Ah! Our ribs can expand at last! But wait! There's more. Physically challenged people with walkers and wheelchairs were waiting at the next stop. Drat. Must we really give up our seats? Nah! If fetuses are on their own, so are the lame.
We see a very white couple..whiter than we used to be when we got here, ask where to get off for Oistens. Somewhere in the melee, we saw them exit in a very questionable part of the island that we would never exit a bus at. Obviously the wrong stop for them. We never saw them again. May God rest their soul.
We finally got to the terminal (the alternate bus terminal) where we were given bogus information about which bus to catch for the main terminal. This was supposed to be a shuttle bus where we would only pay one time. Forget that. After underway, the driver told us he doesn't give transfers, that we would have had to get the shuttle (which we thought we were on) and we would have to pay again at the next terminal. By this time, I was down to an American $2 bill, legal tender all over the universe EXCEPT with the next bus driver who accused me of trying to pay with a souvenir bill and he demanded that I put 2 one dollar bills in real money in the collection box. I refused, explaining to him that I already paid him $2 American which equals 4 dollars Bajan which is the bus fare. We were at an impasse. He would not let us pass and we would not let anyone else on the bus. Long lines were forming and tempers were rising. People were shouting "What is the problem, mon?". I shouted "The problem is that this man won'rt accept valid US currency for the fare"" The bus driver tried to hush me, but I would have none of it, so he called the only other white woman on the bus forward and asked her "Did they start using $2 bills again in the US?". She said "What;s the problem?" (she was not even American, rather, French Canadian) She told the driver that they use this currency all of the time, so he held up the bill as if he were a currency expert, and gave us 2 receipts. OMG! They drive buses and handle money every day! He was sure that it was a souvenir bill. The topper was when Gordon told him that he might want to save it as a souvenir! I'm surprised that we didn't go to jail!
We finally got to the main terminal where we waited in line for 20 min for a bus and then were told to get on a different bus for some unknown reason my a local expert in buses perhaps? Anyhow, this bus was standing room only after we got the last 2 seats and we arrived back in our town about 3/4 mile from home. We got off the bus early because we noted that people walking were making better time than this bus in traffic.We made our way to to the supermarket via a shortcut through the gas station parking lot and bought the essentials..beer and rum..oh, and mayonnaise. Then we started to walk the road of death (no sidewalks-rush hour) up the rocky path uphill all the way to home, stopping traffic with my cane when necessary to get to whatever sidewalk remains from all the traffic crushing it for years. We felt fortunate that this trip took so long, because at this point in the walk home, we would be burning up in the afternoon sun. Because this took so long, we had cooler temps in which to drag our sorry asses home and take stock of the day.
We didn't kill any goats today but it was close.
Bus fares: $20
Cave admissions $120
Lunch-crackers and warm water that we carried with us
grocery bill:$37
Experience: priceless
We are too tired to make supper and eat it. One or the other would work. Not both. So we had cheese crackers and olives and rum. Let's not forget rum.
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Americans take so much for granted
After being here in Barbados for nearly a month, I can see how much we Americans take things for granted. Something as simple as food safety, for example. Our meat is inspected, trimmed, packaged well. We have a huge selection of meats and vegetables and fruits. Here, I have found that the meat is not great in quality or quantity. The hamburger is a coarse ground with too much fat in it. No markings on the package to tell you what percentage is fat. Lots of things are only available frozen. The prices of almost everything are very high. Lots of street vendors with questionable food. No guarantees on freshness or how it was stored or handled. I miss those things. No Canadian or Vermont maple syrup. A simple thing, but my pancakes went wanting for it this morning.
A punch in the nose and almost kidnapped
Message View
Sometime in the middle of the night I was taking off my sleep shirt in bed and my hand slipped and I socked Gordon right in the nose! Why he was that close to me in a king sized bed is beyond me. He sat up and said "why'd you do that?". I said "that was for losing my car in my other dream". He was confused. I told him to just go back to sleep.
Yesterday evening he got a phone call from a man we'd never met (except he talked to him once on the 2 way radio) to go to the airport to watch planes take off (must be a man thing). Well, Gordon was waiting at the round about and this white van pulled up and the man jumped out and opened the sliding van door. Gordon said, "Mike?" and the guy said "Hi" and Gordon handed him his card and said "I don't think I can get in the back of the van over all of these tools", and the man said "You not supposed to get in the van mon..I fix your car". Gordon said "I don't have a car". He said "Have you been waiting long" and Gordon said "no" and the man continued to look at Gordon's card and Gordon finally said, "you're not the Mike who's a ham radio operator, are you?", and the man said "No mon, I just here to fix you car". Well, it turns out that the Mike Gordon was waiting for was not this repair man, coincidentally named Mike, who came to fix someone's car!
The "right" Mike finally came and whisked him away and I started to worry at once. Man we never met calling on the phone to take Gordon to the airport. Could be a kidnapping of a "rich American" for ransom! I tried to research the man's phone number on the internet and got the name of a Maurice..not Mike. Ok, I thought, I'll look up the number to call the police..211 here. I figured I'd wait till 1/2 hr past when he was due back and then I'd call the police and the American Embassy (fat chance that THEY'LL be in the night of the Oisten's fish-fry) So then I thought I'd have to get a cab to the fish fry and try to find some official looking people. Well, 3 minutes before the deadline, Gordon showed up with this man in tow. He was some tall, native man who had his kids with him and just wanted to show Gordon the commercial flights taking off and landing at the airport. Apparently that's a big thing here on Saturday nights. Hey, it's free. Good thing they didn't want ransom money. I wonder if kidnappers tale traveler's checks?
Yesterday evening he got a phone call from a man we'd never met (except he talked to him once on the 2 way radio) to go to the airport to watch planes take off (must be a man thing). Well, Gordon was waiting at the round about and this white van pulled up and the man jumped out and opened the sliding van door. Gordon said, "Mike?" and the guy said "Hi" and Gordon handed him his card and said "I don't think I can get in the back of the van over all of these tools", and the man said "You not supposed to get in the van mon..I fix your car". Gordon said "I don't have a car". He said "Have you been waiting long" and Gordon said "no" and the man continued to look at Gordon's card and Gordon finally said, "you're not the Mike who's a ham radio operator, are you?", and the man said "No mon, I just here to fix you car". Well, it turns out that the Mike Gordon was waiting for was not this repair man, coincidentally named Mike, who came to fix someone's car!
The "right" Mike finally came and whisked him away and I started to worry at once. Man we never met calling on the phone to take Gordon to the airport. Could be a kidnapping of a "rich American" for ransom! I tried to research the man's phone number on the internet and got the name of a Maurice..not Mike. Ok, I thought, I'll look up the number to call the police..211 here. I figured I'd wait till 1/2 hr past when he was due back and then I'd call the police and the American Embassy (fat chance that THEY'LL be in the night of the Oisten's fish-fry) So then I thought I'd have to get a cab to the fish fry and try to find some official looking people. Well, 3 minutes before the deadline, Gordon showed up with this man in tow. He was some tall, native man who had his kids with him and just wanted to show Gordon the commercial flights taking off and landing at the airport. Apparently that's a big thing here on Saturday nights. Hey, it's free. Good thing they didn't want ransom money. I wonder if kidnappers tale traveler's checks?
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Touring the island
We took an all day tour on Friday with Ted's Tours. Wow! This is a great tour! Only $70 pp USD and you get transportation from your place, admissions and a great buffet lunch at Sunbury Plantation plus a tour of the house. It was a great day and I recommend it to anyone who wants a thorough tour of Barbados. We've been trying to see the island by bus, but some places, like the East coast, have not been easy to reach. Ted stops several times for picture taking plus he mixes a great rum punch and serves it many times during the day. His van/bus is air conditioned with big, clean windows to look out through. It really was a great day.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
The Dream
OMG! There's bird poop on the bed!
We slept till 7 this morning and then just sat around drinking coffee. The sliding glass doors were wide open to let the morning breezes in and the birds were playing on the lanai. Last night Gordon scraped out leftover lentil soup into the base of the flowering plant on the lanai. We thought that it might kill the plant but he wanted to feed the birds. The little walnuts with wings, as he calls the small birds that just come right on in the apartment when the doors are open, were hopping in and out of the door all morning. I saw them on the hassock and the floor at any given time. They come one or two at a time, practicing their cute looks so that you feed them. I never saw them come any further.
After the breakfast dishes were finished, I went to lay on top of the bedspread on Gordon’s side, as he was on my side, “because it‘s closer to the bathroom“, he said. JUST before I climbed in, I spotted it. Bird poop on the bed spread!!! One must have been sitting on the bed while I was washing my hair and not keeping an eye on them! Bad bird!
I guess the moral of this story is never feed lentil beans to the birds and always look upon your husband with suspicion if he is suddenly laying on YOUR side of the bed.
After the breakfast dishes were finished, I went to lay on top of the bedspread on Gordon’s side, as he was on my side, “because it‘s closer to the bathroom“, he said. JUST before I climbed in, I spotted it. Bird poop on the bed spread!!! One must have been sitting on the bed while I was washing my hair and not keeping an eye on them! Bad bird!
I guess the moral of this story is never feed lentil beans to the birds and always look upon your husband with suspicion if he is suddenly laying on YOUR side of the bed.
Did you ever spin like a top?
Did you ever spin like a top while riding a bus and land in the lap of a black lady? Well, I can now add that to my resume! We were on another packed bus coming home from a tour of the local brewery and I got up to give my seat to an old black lady. I had one pole to hold onto when the bus driver did a sudden acceleration and then hit the brakes. I went spinning like I was being shot off a top and I landed in the old ladies lap! I put my hand along her face and said "are you my mamma?" Well, the whole bus erupted in laughter! I struggled to my feet and made sure she was ok. Some man then gave me his seat (I guess he was afraid I'd land on him next)
It was an interesting day of trying to understand dialects here. It's a mixture of African, Creole and Queen's English with localism thrown in. You can listen to 2 people talking and, even though they are speaking English, you often will not understand one word that they say. It made the beer tour interesting. We were the only people on the tour and we were right there with the guide, but, many times, the only words we understood were "beer" and "Barbados". We got our choice of their products in their beer garden after the tour. What did we ask for? Lemonade! Lemonade mixed with beer. Not too bad but very, very sweet. Everything here is sweet. Even the bread. They probably all have diabetes.
It was an interesting day of trying to understand dialects here. It's a mixture of African, Creole and Queen's English with localism thrown in. You can listen to 2 people talking and, even though they are speaking English, you often will not understand one word that they say. It made the beer tour interesting. We were the only people on the tour and we were right there with the guide, but, many times, the only words we understood were "beer" and "Barbados". We got our choice of their products in their beer garden after the tour. What did we ask for? Lemonade! Lemonade mixed with beer. Not too bad but very, very sweet. Everything here is sweet. Even the bread. They probably all have diabetes.
Never order curry at a Chinese takeout
Today dawned cloudy and a little rainy. On the island, showers don't last, so we headed out about 10:30 to go to The Sheraton Mall.." featuring 120 stores" with a "multi-cultural food court featuring local and international cuisine". I am quoting from the book Barbados in a Nutshell. I should lie as well as they do!
We walked to the bus stop, which Gordon says is 1/2 mile away not 1/4 mile as I had guessed. The bus to "town" came right away. Here, there are only 2 bus stop signs.."to town" and "away from town". They have 9 parishes on this 168 square foot island, but "town" means only one thing and that is Bridgetown. You have to go to Bridgetown to get anyplace on the island. You pay your $2 each to go to "town" and then walk to the bus station and pay $2 each more to go where you really want to go. We found out that we wanted to go to St Patrick's and waited in that line of people. The bus was there, the people were there, but the bus driver was missing. Missing for a very long time. After about 1/2 hr, he showed up and opened the gate and we piled on-board. We got a seat. It's going to be a good day. I asked the driver to tell us when we got to the mall. He said he would. 20 minutes later, as we were pulling out of a stop, I happened to glance to my left and see an obscure sign that said Sheraton on it. "Driver"., I shouted, "is this the mall?" Oh, yeah", he said, absentmindedly. He slammed on the breaks and we got off the bus.
We walked up the street to a building that looked like it housed maybe a small set of offices or a branch of a phone company. No, this was the mall. 120 stores? Oh, that's right, they forgot to print in the book THAT THE STORES WERE THE SIZE OF A TINY JUICE STAND AT ONE OF OUR MALLS!! So far, we have spent $8 to get here. The mall was laid out by the person who invented the corn maze. Nothing made sense. We kept doubling back to where we had been and there were no signs to tell us how to remedy this. We saw the same stores many times and then decided to go to the food court for lunch. We asked someone how to get there. She said we had to go outside to do that. I asked if it was outside and she said no, but that was the best way to get there (?) Ok. We went outside, figuring that, if we stayed in the same pattern of walking that we had done for an hour, the mall would close and we would have seen maybe 20% of it.
FOOD! Sure smelled good. The "special" at the first food stand was "only" $18.95. Pass. There were all sorts of "cuisines", but they all looked remarkably the same to me. Gordon spotted a Chinese takeout and said, "Look. Chinese!. I speak their menu", so we went to their counter. I think what he meant was "Look..only $6.95". Ok. I looked over the selection and it was pretty grim. Rice in 3 types, 2 types of LoMein, ribs from an unknown animal, sweet and sour chicken and chicken curry. Hmmm. I know chicken curry. Maybe that would be safe to eat. I ordered Lo mein with vegetables and chicken curry. We got a table ( the first time we had sat since the bus because this mall has NO chairs or benches in the whole mall unless you are buying shoes or eating.), I unwrapped my plastic fork and opened the Styrofoam container. This looks bad. Blind men with no taste buds made this, I thought after tasting it. Now I had a new goal for the day. Keep from vomiting and poop this out as fast as I could digest it. This was NOT chicken. I am acquainted with chicken bones and these were NOT chicken bones. Good Lord! Who knows what animal I was eating? I ate some of it, trying not to think about it, and some of the LoMein, until I just couldn't do it anymore, and then I threw it away. It was an insult to my colon which has seen some nasty shit before. Faced with this meal, the starving kids in China that your mother told you about when you were a kid, would rather.
We left the food court and found a set of stairs. They had a 2nd floor. This was an easy floor because it had four little shops and they were all selling valentine stuff. Even the hardware store.
We left this great mall and walked across the street to the "to town" sign and a different colored smaller bus came by. Gordon said we should take it. I asked the man who to pay and he said "get in". Ok, we're being kidnapped, I thought. A little yellow bus full of black people and 2 very white people careening through the streets and a teen finally came by and collected $2 each. We eventually got to Bridgetown where we once again walked to the bus station and boarded a bus to Sam Lord's Castle. Don't ask me. That's the one we were told we needed to get to go back to Worthing. We waited about 20 minutes and the bus pulled in and we got our seats (yes!) and the bus continued to fill and fill and fill and fill and fill, Soon people were pressed into each other just like our trip last week. This time, a postal employee was standing pressed into Gordon's left shoulder. He was being squeezed from all directions and all I could think of was "Lord, don't let him go postal!". A long 1/2 hr later, with stops all over the place where more people got on than off, and we were at our stop. When we body surfed to the door and were standing on the sidewalk, Gordon said "Well. That didn't work out well did it?" $16 spent on bus fare and all I bought was a $1 postcard and some crappy curried mystery meat. Oh yes. I forgot. He spent $1.75 for a piece of candy that had stones in it. We are sure that they were stones because he couldn't bite them, break them or even recognize them. He doesn't even know how do describe what the candy tasted like except to say it was sweet.
Guess what he's getting for Valentines day? He's getting to carry 2 loads of laundry down the stairs for me and I get to wash it, dry it and fold it. Ah, romance is in the air...or is that curry?
We walked to the bus stop, which Gordon says is 1/2 mile away not 1/4 mile as I had guessed. The bus to "town" came right away. Here, there are only 2 bus stop signs.."to town" and "away from town". They have 9 parishes on this 168 square foot island, but "town" means only one thing and that is Bridgetown. You have to go to Bridgetown to get anyplace on the island. You pay your $2 each to go to "town" and then walk to the bus station and pay $2 each more to go where you really want to go. We found out that we wanted to go to St Patrick's and waited in that line of people. The bus was there, the people were there, but the bus driver was missing. Missing for a very long time. After about 1/2 hr, he showed up and opened the gate and we piled on-board. We got a seat. It's going to be a good day. I asked the driver to tell us when we got to the mall. He said he would. 20 minutes later, as we were pulling out of a stop, I happened to glance to my left and see an obscure sign that said Sheraton on it. "Driver"., I shouted, "is this the mall?" Oh, yeah", he said, absentmindedly. He slammed on the breaks and we got off the bus.
We walked up the street to a building that looked like it housed maybe a small set of offices or a branch of a phone company. No, this was the mall. 120 stores? Oh, that's right, they forgot to print in the book THAT THE STORES WERE THE SIZE OF A TINY JUICE STAND AT ONE OF OUR MALLS!! So far, we have spent $8 to get here. The mall was laid out by the person who invented the corn maze. Nothing made sense. We kept doubling back to where we had been and there were no signs to tell us how to remedy this. We saw the same stores many times and then decided to go to the food court for lunch. We asked someone how to get there. She said we had to go outside to do that. I asked if it was outside and she said no, but that was the best way to get there (?) Ok. We went outside, figuring that, if we stayed in the same pattern of walking that we had done for an hour, the mall would close and we would have seen maybe 20% of it.
FOOD! Sure smelled good. The "special" at the first food stand was "only" $18.95. Pass. There were all sorts of "cuisines", but they all looked remarkably the same to me. Gordon spotted a Chinese takeout and said, "Look. Chinese!. I speak their menu", so we went to their counter. I think what he meant was "Look..only $6.95". Ok. I looked over the selection and it was pretty grim. Rice in 3 types, 2 types of LoMein, ribs from an unknown animal, sweet and sour chicken and chicken curry. Hmmm. I know chicken curry. Maybe that would be safe to eat. I ordered Lo mein with vegetables and chicken curry. We got a table ( the first time we had sat since the bus because this mall has NO chairs or benches in the whole mall unless you are buying shoes or eating.), I unwrapped my plastic fork and opened the Styrofoam container. This looks bad. Blind men with no taste buds made this, I thought after tasting it. Now I had a new goal for the day. Keep from vomiting and poop this out as fast as I could digest it. This was NOT chicken. I am acquainted with chicken bones and these were NOT chicken bones. Good Lord! Who knows what animal I was eating? I ate some of it, trying not to think about it, and some of the LoMein, until I just couldn't do it anymore, and then I threw it away. It was an insult to my colon which has seen some nasty shit before. Faced with this meal, the starving kids in China that your mother told you about when you were a kid, would rather.
We left the food court and found a set of stairs. They had a 2nd floor. This was an easy floor because it had four little shops and they were all selling valentine stuff. Even the hardware store.
We left this great mall and walked across the street to the "to town" sign and a different colored smaller bus came by. Gordon said we should take it. I asked the man who to pay and he said "get in". Ok, we're being kidnapped, I thought. A little yellow bus full of black people and 2 very white people careening through the streets and a teen finally came by and collected $2 each. We eventually got to Bridgetown where we once again walked to the bus station and boarded a bus to Sam Lord's Castle. Don't ask me. That's the one we were told we needed to get to go back to Worthing. We waited about 20 minutes and the bus pulled in and we got our seats (yes!) and the bus continued to fill and fill and fill and fill and fill, Soon people were pressed into each other just like our trip last week. This time, a postal employee was standing pressed into Gordon's left shoulder. He was being squeezed from all directions and all I could think of was "Lord, don't let him go postal!". A long 1/2 hr later, with stops all over the place where more people got on than off, and we were at our stop. When we body surfed to the door and were standing on the sidewalk, Gordon said "Well. That didn't work out well did it?" $16 spent on bus fare and all I bought was a $1 postcard and some crappy curried mystery meat. Oh yes. I forgot. He spent $1.75 for a piece of candy that had stones in it. We are sure that they were stones because he couldn't bite them, break them or even recognize them. He doesn't even know how do describe what the candy tasted like except to say it was sweet.
Guess what he's getting for Valentines day? He's getting to carry 2 loads of laundry down the stairs for me and I get to wash it, dry it and fold it. Ah, romance is in the air...or is that curry?
Wildlife in the tropics
We have an array of different things here than at home.
There are these tiny, tiny insects..ants maybe, that dart everywhere. They are nearly impossible to see. And they bite. You'll see someone walking along and suddenly they will grab their butt cheek and let out a yowl! You'll think, "My God! They just threw out a hip!".. No, they have been bitten in the ass by an ant! Grown people have been seen ripping off clothes to get rid of the offender. We were on the beach a few days ago when I got this pain between my shoulder blades and I hiked my blouse right over my head! Did I care that my bra was sticking out? Heck no! People just chuckle and look away. Their turn is coming! There is a large psychiatric hospital here on the island. We suspect that it is full of people who got bit in the ass one to many times by these invisible insects and went over the edge.
Monkeys. Locals say you have not been thrashed properly until you've been thrashed by a monkey. It's best not to feed them because they don't get the concept of "one for you and one for me". They want it all..whatever it is. It's like trying to feed one fish to a flock of pelicans and keeping the remainder of the bag for yourself. I know, firsthand, that this does not work. They gang up on you until you scream and throw the bag up in the air and run like hell. It's organized bird gang warfare. I suspect that these bad monkeys are the same. They torment the dogs here. A monkey will hang on the fence where there is a dog and mock the dog until it is in a canine frenzy. The monkey will then toss whatever is handy at the dog and run away. If these dogs ever get loose, there will be a monkey Valentine's Day Massacre. I have seen only one cat here. I believe that the monkeys are somehow responsible for this. I have not yet figured out how or why.
Free range chickens. I don't know about your town, but mine does not have chickens running in the streets. Call it island life. I don't know. I do know that their eggs have shells of steel and I can see why. If they get smacked by a bus, their embryo has to have a way to survive. These chickens could take a 50ft smack up into the air off the front of a bus and their eggs would not crack. I am still trying to peel eggs that I hard-cooked 4 days ago. I make a little progress each day. With any luck, the shells should be off by Thursday and I will be able to make egg salad. I think their cement walkways here are made of egg shells.
Birds. There are numerous birds here and they are pushy. When we open the patio doors, if we do not crumble crackers or bread for them, some will walk right into the apartment, sit on the bed and give us that look that says, "Hey. I'm here! Where's the food?!" One is about to earn a big fat punch in the beak. He ate $15 worth of scones last week and, this week, he is going through an $8 package of crackers. I told Gordon that we should just buy bird feed for them. "No", he said, "We don't want them to think we'll feed them every day." ?????????????? Not only do we feed them everyday, they have now altered their nature and they stay up after dark to beg on the patio! If it wouldn't be for the lights on the golf course, they would never find their way home. Millions of years from now, scientists will try to discover the moment in time that these birds in Barbados became night birds. It will be Gordon's fault.
There are these tiny, tiny insects..ants maybe, that dart everywhere. They are nearly impossible to see. And they bite. You'll see someone walking along and suddenly they will grab their butt cheek and let out a yowl! You'll think, "My God! They just threw out a hip!".. No, they have been bitten in the ass by an ant! Grown people have been seen ripping off clothes to get rid of the offender. We were on the beach a few days ago when I got this pain between my shoulder blades and I hiked my blouse right over my head! Did I care that my bra was sticking out? Heck no! People just chuckle and look away. Their turn is coming! There is a large psychiatric hospital here on the island. We suspect that it is full of people who got bit in the ass one to many times by these invisible insects and went over the edge.
Monkeys. Locals say you have not been thrashed properly until you've been thrashed by a monkey. It's best not to feed them because they don't get the concept of "one for you and one for me". They want it all..whatever it is. It's like trying to feed one fish to a flock of pelicans and keeping the remainder of the bag for yourself. I know, firsthand, that this does not work. They gang up on you until you scream and throw the bag up in the air and run like hell. It's organized bird gang warfare. I suspect that these bad monkeys are the same. They torment the dogs here. A monkey will hang on the fence where there is a dog and mock the dog until it is in a canine frenzy. The monkey will then toss whatever is handy at the dog and run away. If these dogs ever get loose, there will be a monkey Valentine's Day Massacre. I have seen only one cat here. I believe that the monkeys are somehow responsible for this. I have not yet figured out how or why.
Free range chickens. I don't know about your town, but mine does not have chickens running in the streets. Call it island life. I don't know. I do know that their eggs have shells of steel and I can see why. If they get smacked by a bus, their embryo has to have a way to survive. These chickens could take a 50ft smack up into the air off the front of a bus and their eggs would not crack. I am still trying to peel eggs that I hard-cooked 4 days ago. I make a little progress each day. With any luck, the shells should be off by Thursday and I will be able to make egg salad. I think their cement walkways here are made of egg shells.
Birds. There are numerous birds here and they are pushy. When we open the patio doors, if we do not crumble crackers or bread for them, some will walk right into the apartment, sit on the bed and give us that look that says, "Hey. I'm here! Where's the food?!" One is about to earn a big fat punch in the beak. He ate $15 worth of scones last week and, this week, he is going through an $8 package of crackers. I told Gordon that we should just buy bird feed for them. "No", he said, "We don't want them to think we'll feed them every day." ?????????????? Not only do we feed them everyday, they have now altered their nature and they stay up after dark to beg on the patio! If it wouldn't be for the lights on the golf course, they would never find their way home. Millions of years from now, scientists will try to discover the moment in time that these birds in Barbados became night birds. It will be Gordon's fault.
Today dawned mostly cloudy and maybe 78 degrees. It's very breezy. Nothing lasts here, so I have confidence in the sun shining soon.
Yesterday, we took a bus trip to Andromeda Gardens. It was a very L-O-N-G bus ride with a change of buses and, at one point, we were on what looked to be a dirt road! This driver was insane, just like his brotherhood, and Gordon swore that all wheels left the road at least once and that we pulled negative G's on at least one turn. We went to probably the highest point on the island. When we got off the bus, we had to walk uphill about 1/2 block and I swear, it was like climbing a mountain! It was the steepest hill we've climbed since Seattle.
Coming back, the driver blew past all of the "Warning..slow down NOW!" signs and beeped his horn before hurtling around the one lane blind turns! Why there are not bodies and wrecked cars all over the highway is beyond us. They must have a great tow-away service. I would never drive here, even if they gave us a car for free!
The closer we got to the bus terminal on the way back, the faster the driver went. We figure that he had to use the bathroom, or he was hell-bent on committing suicide and mass murder. We skidded into the bus station and hollow eyed people who had just looked death in the face and survived, got off the bus. But wait! Now we got on the 2nd bus! This driver was forced to go slower because it was now rush hour. He vented his frustration by an almost continuous laying on of the horn. We missed our stop on the way back, but got off at the following one. What's another few blocks to walk? We have no bones in our feet anymore. They are just globs of tissue with calluses on the bottom. One thing is for certain. We have the most open pores we've ever had. We have to drink water constantly to be able to replenish what we are sweating out.
Gordon went to the local ham radio club meeting/social last night. They fed him pork that he said was cooked without heat..just spices! Kidding, of course, but they do cook that way here. They gave him a free hat with their logo. He didn't get back till 11PM. I was beginning to think that he was kidnapped by nationals or forgot where he lived. (or the monkeys got him. Bad monkeys)
Today, I have one goal. Poop:))) It's a simple goal and, with any luck, I should be able to accomplish it before noon. Then the day will be wide open for other activities.
Daily Musings/ Day 10
We decided at 10:30, the height of the heat in Barbados, to take a 2 hr walk. Who would believe that the ocean and the surface of the sun could be so close together all in one place?
Everywhere you walk in Barbados, you see pennies laying on the ground. That is because they are not worth anything here. They are 1/2 of a US cent. Not even that, because it takes 198 of them to make up a US dollar. We picked up about 10 of them on our walk today. We figure it will make a weak down payment on our plastic surgery to replace the skin on our knees that we forgot to put suntan lotion on this morning. Who would believe that knees and earlobes could crisp up so nicely 13 degrees from the Equator?
We stopped at the supermarket for more beer. We now know why every supermarket is next to a bank. You need to stop at the bank to be able to buy anything at the supermarket. Today's purchase was a 6 pk of beer, a quart of milk, 2 sweet rolls for breakfast and a toothbrush for Mr "My toothbrush is too soft..whine whine whine". $29.99. A bargain.
We walked a little slower on the way from the market to the apartment. Did I tell you that it is all uphill from there? If we could catch one of those green monkeys, we could put a leash on it and make it pull us up the hill, but that might not work, because they scoot off into the trees. It would kind of be like having a seeing eye cat.
This walk included a walk on the beach before the market. The tide is high this morning and we watched someone's beach chair, towel and belongings trying to return to the sea. We didn't interfere with nature. At one point we had to sit on some limestone rocks and chug water from our bottle. We've gotten smart enough now not to buy it at $6 a bottle at a beach bar for a small bottle. We plunked down money for a backpack earlier in the week and now carry our own.
When we got back here, we ripped off all our clothing and turned on the fans to high and set the ac to frigid. It still has taken an hour to feel cool enough to take a shower and have some lunch here at the apartment.
Off to the pool to singe off the rest of our skin. It's a rough life but someone has to do it.
Everywhere you walk in Barbados, you see pennies laying on the ground. That is because they are not worth anything here. They are 1/2 of a US cent. Not even that, because it takes 198 of them to make up a US dollar. We picked up about 10 of them on our walk today. We figure it will make a weak down payment on our plastic surgery to replace the skin on our knees that we forgot to put suntan lotion on this morning. Who would believe that knees and earlobes could crisp up so nicely 13 degrees from the Equator?
We stopped at the supermarket for more beer. We now know why every supermarket is next to a bank. You need to stop at the bank to be able to buy anything at the supermarket. Today's purchase was a 6 pk of beer, a quart of milk, 2 sweet rolls for breakfast and a toothbrush for Mr "My toothbrush is too soft..whine whine whine". $29.99. A bargain.
We walked a little slower on the way from the market to the apartment. Did I tell you that it is all uphill from there? If we could catch one of those green monkeys, we could put a leash on it and make it pull us up the hill, but that might not work, because they scoot off into the trees. It would kind of be like having a seeing eye cat.
This walk included a walk on the beach before the market. The tide is high this morning and we watched someone's beach chair, towel and belongings trying to return to the sea. We didn't interfere with nature. At one point we had to sit on some limestone rocks and chug water from our bottle. We've gotten smart enough now not to buy it at $6 a bottle at a beach bar for a small bottle. We plunked down money for a backpack earlier in the week and now carry our own.
When we got back here, we ripped off all our clothing and turned on the fans to high and set the ac to frigid. It still has taken an hour to feel cool enough to take a shower and have some lunch here at the apartment.
Off to the pool to singe off the rest of our skin. It's a rough life but someone has to do it.
The bus ride
Dear Diary,
A bus ride to explore the island of Barbados!~ What a charming idea! The advertising promises a delightful travel experience when using the public bus system with buses conveniently servicing every portion of the island! We can hardly wait to take advantage of this opportunity! In fact, the first day, we treked the distance between our apartment and the "convenient" bus stop..over cobblestones and dirt paths and risked walking on the road where there were no sidewalks, which is more common than not, with vehicles hurtling by. We got to a charming little lean-to with a girls name above it, sprinkled with locals waiting for a bus. Certainly the girls name above the bus stop has some meaning, but we are unable to determine it at this point. Oh good. Here comes a by-pass bus. We know it's a bypass bus because it says Speightstown...not bypass. Thanks to a local who gave us this information. We boarded the bus. Had the fare of $1.50 each ready. Wait..It's $2 each? When did that happen? Did the fare go up while we were waiting? 40 minutes is a long time. It could have happened. Oh, never mind, $2 is reasonable for this charming experience.
Off we went on our photo-op. Accelerating like we were on a carnival ride. He must be going this fast because it's a bypass bus. We figure the other buses must be a lot slower. We are lucky to have this skilled driver. He slams on the brakes, then quickly accelerates then here go the brakes again! We are at a bus stop. We thought this was supposed to bypass things like this, but, what do we know. We are visitors to this lovely land.
We stop again and again and again and again..we bypass nothing! We hurl through charming little villages at a break neck speed, careening inches from stone walls and oncoming traffic, honking horns...our highly skilled driver is able to honk his horn in many languages to clear the path as we speed our way to the bus station so that we can catch another bus to go to our destination. We're there! Look! We can still walk! People pour out of the bus. Wow. We thought there was a maximum number of people allowed. Oh well, the driver must have been counting them.
We went into the bus station and didn't see the sign for the town we needed. Did see signs like "Pie Corner", "Good Intention" and "Poor Outcome"..that last one must have been our town! Anyhow, the bus, we were told, contrary to the advice I had received on the phone from a bus official, only comes every 2 hours and it wasn't our hour. We didn't see the point in wasting this beautiful day waiting in a bus station with pigeons threatening us and we knew we couldn't get to the animal reserve and back again before dark, so we massaged our aching muscles (did I mention that we had to stand for that entire hour bus ride? Having packed people on the bus way beyond it's capacity, we stood toe to toe, compressed like marshmallows in a vacuum packed bag. Oh the humanity! We would have stuck to each other if it wouldn't have been for all of the sweat. At one point, I thought someone was trying to remove one of my kidneys with their bare hands!) and climbed aboard another vessel and headed back toward home.
Look! There's hardly anyone on the bus! We get to sit! Slowly the bus begins to fill up again. Is the driver even looking at that sign that says how many can be on this thing? Even with a calculator, we loose track! If this were India, we would have people clinging to the roof with handles! Look! Did I just see a chicken run up the aisle? I'm sure that I hear one clucking it's last cluck in the mass of people in front of us. The first few days, we gave up our seats to pregnant women and old people. Now, it's every man ,woman and fetus for themselves.
We decide not to get off the bus in our town. Are we insane? No, we just didn't want to waste the $2 and we are courageous explorers, after all. Suddenly, we are the only ones left on the bus! The driver, trying to impress, shows us what the top speed of this baby can really be! It appears that we have been merely creeping along all of this time. The blurred pictures on my camera must not have been from speed, rather a technical glitch! He opens up the throttle, beeping the horn as we careen through the narrow streets, shouting back over his shoulder, "Relax, mon, you're still in Barbados!" We reach the southern-most tip of the island and screech to a halt in a vacant sand lot. Apparently , even he has reservations about ramping out over the ocean. Hey, this is the bus station! We ask how we can get back to Shandra (remember the girls names over the stops?) and, with a puzzled look on his face, the driver asks "what is that near?" OMG! Even they don't know what the heck those names mean! We are leery about getting off the bus in this sand lot because all we see are fishermen selling today's catch and we have no immediate need for a fish. The driver tells us to just stay where we are and he'll take us back for no additional charge. Eventually, after mach-3 speeds back up north, we arrive at Shandra and get off the bus. This stop is located on a charming triangular, 3 point intersection, with a pedestrian push button to give the walkers the right of way. We have learned that some of these buttons have been disabled since the dawn of electricity. You learn which ones don't work by waiting, and waiting and waiting, as traffic constantly zooms by from every direction, the drivers all honking their horn messages to each other. Did I mention that they drive on the wrong side of the road here? So you must always look in the wrong direction first to see if someone is poised to run over you. It's amazing. We dash across the street against the light. We wobble up the street to the nearest restaurant, where despite our objections to the prices. we collapse and, being insane from the heat and humidity, bodies still tingling from the speed, we order a $100 lunch.
A bus ride to explore the island of Barbados!~ What a charming idea! The advertising promises a delightful travel experience when using the public bus system with buses conveniently servicing every portion of the island! We can hardly wait to take advantage of this opportunity! In fact, the first day, we treked the distance between our apartment and the "convenient" bus stop..over cobblestones and dirt paths and risked walking on the road where there were no sidewalks, which is more common than not, with vehicles hurtling by. We got to a charming little lean-to with a girls name above it, sprinkled with locals waiting for a bus. Certainly the girls name above the bus stop has some meaning, but we are unable to determine it at this point. Oh good. Here comes a by-pass bus. We know it's a bypass bus because it says Speightstown...not bypass. Thanks to a local who gave us this information. We boarded the bus. Had the fare of $1.50 each ready. Wait..It's $2 each? When did that happen? Did the fare go up while we were waiting? 40 minutes is a long time. It could have happened. Oh, never mind, $2 is reasonable for this charming experience.
Off we went on our photo-op. Accelerating like we were on a carnival ride. He must be going this fast because it's a bypass bus. We figure the other buses must be a lot slower. We are lucky to have this skilled driver. He slams on the brakes, then quickly accelerates then here go the brakes again! We are at a bus stop. We thought this was supposed to bypass things like this, but, what do we know. We are visitors to this lovely land.
We stop again and again and again and again..we bypass nothing! We hurl through charming little villages at a break neck speed, careening inches from stone walls and oncoming traffic, honking horns...our highly skilled driver is able to honk his horn in many languages to clear the path as we speed our way to the bus station so that we can catch another bus to go to our destination. We're there! Look! We can still walk! People pour out of the bus. Wow. We thought there was a maximum number of people allowed. Oh well, the driver must have been counting them.
We went into the bus station and didn't see the sign for the town we needed. Did see signs like "Pie Corner", "Good Intention" and "Poor Outcome"..that last one must have been our town! Anyhow, the bus, we were told, contrary to the advice I had received on the phone from a bus official, only comes every 2 hours and it wasn't our hour. We didn't see the point in wasting this beautiful day waiting in a bus station with pigeons threatening us and we knew we couldn't get to the animal reserve and back again before dark, so we massaged our aching muscles (did I mention that we had to stand for that entire hour bus ride? Having packed people on the bus way beyond it's capacity, we stood toe to toe, compressed like marshmallows in a vacuum packed bag. Oh the humanity! We would have stuck to each other if it wouldn't have been for all of the sweat. At one point, I thought someone was trying to remove one of my kidneys with their bare hands!) and climbed aboard another vessel and headed back toward home.
Look! There's hardly anyone on the bus! We get to sit! Slowly the bus begins to fill up again. Is the driver even looking at that sign that says how many can be on this thing? Even with a calculator, we loose track! If this were India, we would have people clinging to the roof with handles! Look! Did I just see a chicken run up the aisle? I'm sure that I hear one clucking it's last cluck in the mass of people in front of us. The first few days, we gave up our seats to pregnant women and old people. Now, it's every man ,woman and fetus for themselves.
We decide not to get off the bus in our town. Are we insane? No, we just didn't want to waste the $2 and we are courageous explorers, after all. Suddenly, we are the only ones left on the bus! The driver, trying to impress, shows us what the top speed of this baby can really be! It appears that we have been merely creeping along all of this time. The blurred pictures on my camera must not have been from speed, rather a technical glitch! He opens up the throttle, beeping the horn as we careen through the narrow streets, shouting back over his shoulder, "Relax, mon, you're still in Barbados!" We reach the southern-most tip of the island and screech to a halt in a vacant sand lot. Apparently , even he has reservations about ramping out over the ocean. Hey, this is the bus station! We ask how we can get back to Shandra (remember the girls names over the stops?) and, with a puzzled look on his face, the driver asks "what is that near?" OMG! Even they don't know what the heck those names mean! We are leery about getting off the bus in this sand lot because all we see are fishermen selling today's catch and we have no immediate need for a fish. The driver tells us to just stay where we are and he'll take us back for no additional charge. Eventually, after mach-3 speeds back up north, we arrive at Shandra and get off the bus. This stop is located on a charming triangular, 3 point intersection, with a pedestrian push button to give the walkers the right of way. We have learned that some of these buttons have been disabled since the dawn of electricity. You learn which ones don't work by waiting, and waiting and waiting, as traffic constantly zooms by from every direction, the drivers all honking their horn messages to each other. Did I mention that they drive on the wrong side of the road here? So you must always look in the wrong direction first to see if someone is poised to run over you. It's amazing. We dash across the street against the light. We wobble up the street to the nearest restaurant, where despite our objections to the prices. we collapse and, being insane from the heat and humidity, bodies still tingling from the speed, we order a $100 lunch.
Coffee Pots
Dear Diary,
Lets talk coffee pots. The French Press. A delightful little glass apparatus that requires no electricity to make coffee. A very British idea. When I first encountered one in Seattle at a 5 star hotel, I didn't even know what it was or how it worked. After I read the instructions, I was enthralled. Imagine. Just add the grounds to the pot, boil water, pour it over the grounds and wait 3 minutes (the instructions say 4 is better), press the plunger down, turn the lid to strain and you have a cup of coffee and a spare one in the pot! Wow! My first cup, I waited the full 4 minutes. No use hurrying it. Lets be civilized about this. It was a tolerable experience for 3 days in Seattle.
When we arrived home, I even bought one for myself, but never used it once. It sits under the kitchen counter. It was only $19 and it looks so European.
Here in Barbados, guess what? The coffee maker is a French Press. Ok, I can deal with that. Wish I had seen that before I spent $11 for 11 oz of drip grind coffee, but I'll make it work. What to measure the ground with? Whomever put this kitchen together didn't include a measuring cup or measuring spoons. Ok, the old spoon-out-of-the=drawer measure. The electric stove (well, that's another chapter all together) waits forever to heat the water and then, BAM! It's a rolling, maddening boil! I poured the water on the grounds and waited 4 minutes. Do you know how long 4 minutes is when you're waiting for your first cup of coffee? Good, now I pour it! Wait! This is pretty darned strong! Even for me who loves strong coffee! I pour a cup for husband and he tries not to make faces, but I noticed he used an unprecedented amount of milk and sugar. I made a second pot. This one was weak. I could see the bottom of the cup. No good. I'll get the hang of this.
The next morning, I wasn't as enthused to start the coffee process. I looked in the lower cupboards. for a "real" coffee maker. Perhaps I had overlooked it. Nope. Get the glass pot out, scoop in an undetermined amount of grounds, wait for the water to boil, pour it on the grounds and wait 4 minutes. OK, maybe they were over estimating. Is 4 really necessary? I shave a 1/2 minute or so off the wait and I pour it. Hmm..not as bad as yesterday but it has a long way to go.
Here we are on day 10. I dread waking up and facing that glass torture machine! Why isn't there a Starbucks here in this God forsaken country? I boil the water. Ok.. I make it hot. Takes too damned long to boil on this poor excuse for a stove. I pour the grounds into the pot right out of the coffee can. Who needs a spoon? Doesn't seem to make much difference how I do it. I either get wash water or a jolt that makes your body think you grabbed hole of a high tension wire and couldn't let go! The one I made this morning will have me shaking like I was on that 2 1/2 hr bus ride again from yesterday. The British and their damn evil inventions! I HATE THEM ALL.
Lets talk coffee pots. The French Press. A delightful little glass apparatus that requires no electricity to make coffee. A very British idea. When I first encountered one in Seattle at a 5 star hotel, I didn't even know what it was or how it worked. After I read the instructions, I was enthralled. Imagine. Just add the grounds to the pot, boil water, pour it over the grounds and wait 3 minutes (the instructions say 4 is better), press the plunger down, turn the lid to strain and you have a cup of coffee and a spare one in the pot! Wow! My first cup, I waited the full 4 minutes. No use hurrying it. Lets be civilized about this. It was a tolerable experience for 3 days in Seattle.
When we arrived home, I even bought one for myself, but never used it once. It sits under the kitchen counter. It was only $19 and it looks so European.
Here in Barbados, guess what? The coffee maker is a French Press. Ok, I can deal with that. Wish I had seen that before I spent $11 for 11 oz of drip grind coffee, but I'll make it work. What to measure the ground with? Whomever put this kitchen together didn't include a measuring cup or measuring spoons. Ok, the old spoon-out-of-the=drawer measure. The electric stove (well, that's another chapter all together) waits forever to heat the water and then, BAM! It's a rolling, maddening boil! I poured the water on the grounds and waited 4 minutes. Do you know how long 4 minutes is when you're waiting for your first cup of coffee? Good, now I pour it! Wait! This is pretty darned strong! Even for me who loves strong coffee! I pour a cup for husband and he tries not to make faces, but I noticed he used an unprecedented amount of milk and sugar. I made a second pot. This one was weak. I could see the bottom of the cup. No good. I'll get the hang of this.
The next morning, I wasn't as enthused to start the coffee process. I looked in the lower cupboards. for a "real" coffee maker. Perhaps I had overlooked it. Nope. Get the glass pot out, scoop in an undetermined amount of grounds, wait for the water to boil, pour it on the grounds and wait 4 minutes. OK, maybe they were over estimating. Is 4 really necessary? I shave a 1/2 minute or so off the wait and I pour it. Hmm..not as bad as yesterday but it has a long way to go.
Here we are on day 10. I dread waking up and facing that glass torture machine! Why isn't there a Starbucks here in this God forsaken country? I boil the water. Ok.. I make it hot. Takes too damned long to boil on this poor excuse for a stove. I pour the grounds into the pot right out of the coffee can. Who needs a spoon? Doesn't seem to make much difference how I do it. I either get wash water or a jolt that makes your body think you grabbed hole of a high tension wire and couldn't let go! The one I made this morning will have me shaking like I was on that 2 1/2 hr bus ride again from yesterday. The British and their damn evil inventions! I HATE THEM ALL.
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