The Barbados Trip

Friday morning, Sam, Shannon, Deb and I set off for a weekend in Barbados. There are two other Canadian volunteers there, so we were going to hang out with them, and they’d show us around a bit. Our flights left at 6am, so we’d have the full day to hang out in Barbados. We got there, got settled in our room, did a little grocery shopping and came back to eat breakfast. When the girls tried to find their friend Christie, though, they got some bad news. Christie was in the hospital for something she caught while they were all in Trinidad the week before. So on our way into town to wander around, we stopped by the hospital to visit Christie. It was unlucky for her, that the weekend we all came in, and that Spring Break was happening, she’s stuck in the hospital. But she had her boyfriend there to keep her company.

In town, we stopped for lunch and then wandered around and shopped. Many of the shops were like back home, big department stores with Clinique counters, and things like that. It was nice to see some fancy stuff for a bit of a change!  In town, we got the average amount of harassment that we would find here.

After being in town, we all were kind of drained so we went to lay on the beach. The beaches in Barbados were AMAZING. Our standard beach in St. Lucia is beautiful. The water is blue and the sand is ‘white’. But in Barbados the sand was truly white, with flecks of pink. Next to this, the water was amazingly blue. The sky looked dark and cloudy next to the water. We splurged and rented chairs because the wind kept blowing sand all over us.

Later in the afternoon, Emily, the other Canadian volunteer, and some friends of hers came over to play volleyball. I took a nap.

In the evening, all the volleyball players met us in a town called Oistins, just down from where we were staying (in the heart of the tourist strip). Oistins is the fishing capital of the island, and they have a big fish fry every Friday. For those who have been to Anse La Raye in St. Lucia, this was three times bigger. The fish was a little different too. Most of it was barbecued instead of roasted, fried or cooked in juices and foil. And they had better side dishes to go along with it, instead of just bakes (like biscuits). There were all kinds of tourists and spring breakers there. It was a little strange at times… I’m not a tourist like these kids are, but I am still a tourist to Barbados. Anyway, we had a drink there, then went to a bar that normally is the place to be on Fridays, and was even more so with the Spring Break stuff. It was called Harbour Lights. It was a giant house with several bars, but most of the stuff was happening outside. There were several different areas with dancing space, and lower down, closer to the beach, there were picnic tables in the sand.

The music situation was kind of funny. At first, we were really excited to hear something that was not soca/reggae/hip hop. They were playing some pretty cool techno. But I found that I had forgotten how to dance to that! We all just kind of stood around. But when they came on with the soca, Caribbean stuff, and BET stuff, we all went nuts and danced. I felt special that I knew the Caribbean songs and the spring-breakers didn’t! At first we were kind of apprehensive to see that everyone in the line to get in the bar was about 18 years old. But as we were hanging around, we all met some cool people. There were several kids about my age in a group visiting from St. Vincent. They all appeared to be Americans, and they are in a medical school program in St. Vincent and Grenada. Later on, Deb and I found some of our Digicel friends, Donal and Stephen (who I met for the first time). They normally are on St. Lucia, but were in Barbados setting up for their company. (This is all part of the cell phone war encompassing the entire Caribbean these days). So it was kind of funny to go all the way to Barbados and see people we normally hang out with in St. Lucia, but we had a good time.

The next days, Saturday and Sunday, we mostly recovered from Friday and lay on the beach. It was a long and wide beach, but not very crowded. It was cool to be able to just roll out of bed and onto the beach. The winds were better on that beach than our normal one here, so there were many windsurfers and kite surfers. The kite surfing was crazy. You’re harnessed to a thing that looks like a parachute, and you stand on something about the size of a knee or wake board. The sail is way up in the air and pulls you along. Some of the guys were really good and could leap 15 feet in the air, doing flips and turns, and land 25 feet further down the way. It was amazing, but looked kind of scary. I would worry that I would fly away or something….

Saturday night Deb and I indulged, throwing away all concerns about money and calories. We went to a Mexican Restaurant. We both about jumped for joy when we saw that there was a Mexican place on the island. We got Margaritas (2 for 1 on happy hour); an appetizer that was a wonton filled with cream cheese and chopped jalapenos; and we each had nachos. They were yummy! Since I knew that nachos wouldn’t travel well or be good the next day, I knew I had to eat all of them I could right then. I waddled home.

That night we went for a drink later, but all of us were pretty sleepy from the late night on Friday.

Monday Sam, Deb and I had to tie up our loose ends and spend all our Bajan (bay-jun, easier than saying ‘Barbadian’) dollars before flying home. Shan left Sunday night so she could work on Monday. We went to a number of surf shops so Sam could look for a bathing suit. I also was looking for a hat or visor. Sam and Shan have them and I was jealous the whole trip. I wanted one that said Barbados, and I found it. I also found a picture frame, something I like to get on each trip to frame a picture from the trip.

We left for the airport at about 4. Sam’s flight left at 5:30, but Deb’s and mine got cancelled and we didn’t leave until after 7. Sitting in the crowded, nasty airport for 3 hours was fun indeed.

In keeping with my standard vacation game—while on vacation you need to see someone famous or someone you know (who you didn’t plan to see)—I saw someone I knew. In the airport on the way back, we saw Betty from our training group who’s on Grenada. PCs from our group who are on the other islands are flying in for a training event this week.

So that was the trip. It was lots of fun, and I would recommend Barbados to anyone. If you’re looking for a cheap but decent hotel, inches from the beach, tourist stuff, banks and busses, let me know!

Now though, I’m sick. For the second time in a month. I’m vex.