Tuesday, January 24 – Barbados

Well, after yesterday’s record-setting step count, you can probably guess what happened today. That’s right, I set the low bar so far for the trip – 3,900 steps! Oh, well…

After relaxing around the apartment for awhile in the morning, I did work on a journal entry and got some advance travel planning done.

By mid-afternoon I was ready to venture out a little bit. My airbnb host told me about a pottery shop located just up the street; let’s check it out!

The open-air cafe here is not a problem. The weather is beautiful, with highs in the low 80s and lows in the low 70s. Mild humidity too. And very few bugs. Plus, we’re located up on a hill with some nice breezes. I’m told though that the heat can get a little stifling in the summer. Only the bedroom in my apartment has air-conditioning, and really that is all that’s needed (at least for this time of year!).

Wednesday, January 25 – Barbados

Okay, I’m on a mission today to take the bus(es) to the southern part of the island – a city called Oistins. I think I’ve got the route figured out; I take a maxi-taxi to Bridgetown and then connect to a Transport Board (normal) bus to Oistins. Each trip segment costs 1.75 USD.

I successfully hailed a maxi-taxi to Bridgetown (yes!), and then had to walk a little ways to the bus terminal in order to connect to the Oistins Transport Board bus.

I left my apartment at around 9:30am and arrived in Oistins about 11:30am. Not the most efficient journey, but it was a fun experience and cheap (my favorite word!)!

It’s getting to be around 3pm, so I think I’m going to start working my way back home (not sure how long it will take!).

It turns out I picked one of the worst times to catch the bus – it was packed with kids getting out of school! On one level though it was kind of fun too!

Traffic was brutal however. So by the time we got back to bridgetown I decided to exit the Transport Board bus and not even bother with hailing a Maxi-Taxi. I ended up walking the rest of the way home. It took about 90 minutes. Not too terrible. And a fun day with some interesting experiences!

Thursday, January 26 – Barbados

I decided to hire a driver today to take me around the island. I used the same person who picked me up at the airport. She thought 3 hours would provide good coverage, and charged me 40 USD/hour, which seemed very reasonable (especially considering those gas prices!). (A quick search online brought back rates closer to 60 USD/hour)

Travel Tip: A popular messaging app in this part of the world (including South America) is Whatsapp. I use it to communicate with the driver and my airbnb host.

Lisa picked me up at 9:30am, and our first stop was Bathsheba. It is located on the central east coast of the island, and our drive there took us through forest and farm land via some narrow roads.

Just as we were leaving two big tour buses full of cruise ship passengers arrived; glad we avoided that!

Our next destination is Animal Flower Bay, on the northern tip of the island. Normally Lisa would take us there via the east coast roads, but unfortunately they are currently undergoing repairs. That resulted in us traveling via the inland parts of the north. This is the more rural and poor part of the island.

We finished off the drive by heading counter-clockwise around the tip of the island to the West coast – the most exclusive (read expensive) area of Barbados.

Lisa dropped me off in Holetown, one of the main cities on the west coast. It is called the center of the Platinum Coast, due to the vast number of luxury resorts and mansions here that face the sea.

There is a nice grocery store in Holetown (of course!); I decided to take advantage and grab some things before heading home. My (low-cost) options to get back were: a) bus to bridgetown and then another bus to the apartment, or b) walk. You can probably guess which option I chose. The walk took about 90 minutes.

Barbados Trivia Update: I mentioned earlier that it is illegal to wear camouflage in Barbados. Lisa explained that this is due to the fact that the military’s primary uniform is camouflage, and the law is meant to deter individuals from impersonating military personnel.