The first R is for the roads in Barbados. In a word, they are pretty bad - at least in most of the areas where we drove. We actually broke our rental car on the first day due to the bad roads - more on that later.
The second R is for the Round House Inn, our hotel during our stay in Barbados. The Round House is a historic, old inn and restaurant (think of a bed and breakfast) built from the abundant coral rocks of Barbados. The walls of the Round House Inn are quite thick - our window sills were two feet wide in some cases.
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| The Round House Inn |
The third R is for rum. As in Puerto Rico, rum is a big deal in Barbados. The national brand is Mount Gay, established way back in 1703.
The fourth R is for the abundant coral rock that seems to be a primary building material in Barbados. Everywhere we went houses and hotels and cliffsides were built from the stuff.
The fifth R is for rust. Just about everywhere we went we noticed some amount of rust. This is not surprising when you consider that most of our trip was spent near the ocean, and salt water is quite corrosive to metal. Usually it was just small things - window latches, a few nails here and there.
There are more R's scattered throughout this narrative - R's that you can discover and uncover as you read our chronological account of our visit to Barbados.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
R is for Routing.
Our trip commenced in the evening at the San Jose International Airport. The first flight took us to Sea-Tac airport (which you all know is in a direct line between San Jose and Barbados) for a connecting flight to Miami. While awaiting our connecting flight to Miami we enjoyed a delicious meal from the airport's Ivar's counter. Their salmon chowder was so delicious that I saved some for the flight to Miami. We arrived at the humungous Miami International Airport on Wednesday morning, the 24th, and had to ride an in-airport train to reach the gate for our final flight to Barbados.
Our trip commenced in the evening at the San Jose International Airport. The first flight took us to Sea-Tac airport (which you all know is in a direct line between San Jose and Barbados) for a connecting flight to Miami. While awaiting our connecting flight to Miami we enjoyed a delicious meal from the airport's Ivar's counter. Their salmon chowder was so delicious that I saved some for the flight to Miami. We arrived at the humungous Miami International Airport on Wednesday morning, the 24th, and had to ride an in-airport train to reach the gate for our final flight to Barbados.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - Christmas Eve
R is for Rental.
We arrived at Grantley Adams International Airport in Bridgetown, Barbados, in the afternoon of the 24th, and after speeding through immigration and customs we headed to another of Barbados' R's - our rental car. Our ride for the week was a base-model Kia Picanto, a model not sold in the U.S. Sizewise it seems to slot somewhere between the Smart car and the Honda Fit, which is a good size for a car in Barbados to be. Despite its diminutive size, it had four doors and room for the two of us and our luggage. I'd like to say that it was a tough little car that capably handled whatever we threw at it, but I can't say that. It broke on the first day as we were driving to our hotel. Included with the rental car was an island map with all of the major roads and town areas. The rental agent was very helpful, and he showed us exactly what roads to take to get to our hotel, which is on the other side of the island from the airport.
We arrived at Grantley Adams International Airport in Bridgetown, Barbados, in the afternoon of the 24th, and after speeding through immigration and customs we headed to another of Barbados' R's - our rental car. Our ride for the week was a base-model Kia Picanto, a model not sold in the U.S. Sizewise it seems to slot somewhere between the Smart car and the Honda Fit, which is a good size for a car in Barbados to be. Despite its diminutive size, it had four doors and room for the two of us and our luggage. I'd like to say that it was a tough little car that capably handled whatever we threw at it, but I can't say that. It broke on the first day as we were driving to our hotel. Included with the rental car was an island map with all of the major roads and town areas. The rental agent was very helpful, and he showed us exactly what roads to take to get to our hotel, which is on the other side of the island from the airport.
Our first real adventure in Barbados was the drive from the airport to the hotel. At first all was smooth as we left the airport and successfully navigated the first roundabout as per the directions from the rental agent. And Becky was quite comfortable with driving on the left side of the road. As the trip progressed, however, three things became apparent quite soon - the roads are rather narrow, there is no center stripe on most of the roads, and the roads are poorly marked (if marked at all). Later on we discovered that, due to the poor roads and numerous potholes, driving on the right is in many areas more of a suggestion than a hard rule. Sometimes you have to just drive where the road is the least bad and hope no one is coming the other way. In Barbados, street signs are very few and very far between, and the signs do not show the street names - the few signs at intersections say, for example, "Atlantis Hotel," and they point down the road that will take you in that direction - >Atlantis Hotel> (If we had known that the Atlantis Hotel is just down the street from the Round House Inn we could have just followed those signs and saved ourselves a lot of trouble). Add to this the fact that some of the intersections and turn-offs don't look the same on the map as they do on the ground, and we had to navigate by dead reckoning, trying to match the shapes of the roads with the shapes on the map, asking strangers for directions, and heading in the general direction we wanted to go. I don't know how many wrong turns we made, but we ended up at one point on a dirt driveway into some kind of agricultural establishment. We turned around from there and headed back in the direction we started from. Then the car broke.
It happened something like this: after exiting from the dirt driveway we were heading downhill (the terrain is quite hilly on the east side of the island) on winding narrow roads. Becky was keeping to the far left of the road and the left front tire slammed into a huge crater. The impact could be felt through the entire frame of the little car, and through the entire frame of me. It felt bad, and the front left tire suddenly was making a new noise - a noise it might make if it was flat. Becky slowed the car and crept downhill for a couple of more curves and we encountered some local men on the left side of the road. They assured us that the tire was flat and we could pull off the road to change the tire. We pulled off and I commenced to take off the flat tire and put on the spare. As I was doing this the men were most encouraging - one or two of them reminded us to put rocks in front of the tires so the car didn't roll downhill. Did I mention that the crater impact dented the rim? I got the first three lug nuts off with no problems, but the fourth didn't want to let go. As I was battling the fourth lug nut a younger man came up the road from a nearby house and offered to help. I explained the situation and he took over battling the stubborn lug nut. I'm not sure who won the battle. On the one hand the lug nut never did give up its grip on the stud, but on the other hand the stud itself sheered off entirely and the lug nut was no longer an issue. You read that right - the lug nut was holding on to the stud so tightly that the stud sheered off entirely, leaving us with only three working lug nuts on the left front wheel. We thought the young man would merely remove the tire for us, but he also put on the spare for us without us asking him to do so. The Bajan people we encountered were all like that - very nice and very helpful. One lady actually - well you'll read about that later. With three lug nuts we could limp to the hotel. On the way we made at least one more wrong turn and I had to ask directions from some men at a table in someone's front yard. They were quite helpful, and their directions were like this, "You go back to the intersection and turn right. Then you go along this road (pointing to map) and you will go down a big hill, then up a big hill. At the top of the hill turn right and you will go down another hill. Then follow the road and you will get there. When you get there bring us back some beer." I thanked them and we went on our way. We only made two more wrong turns after that before we got to the Round House Inn. We never did get any beer for those guys. Some of you might be wondering why we didn't simply use Google Maps on our phones to navigate. The answer is money - data use in a foreign country can be expensive, and we didn't want to pay for it. We didn't even use our phones to call anyone for the same reason - money. We had our phone with us basically for emergency use, and playing games and taking pictures. There were a couple of times I almost resorted to phone navigation, but we never quite got that lost.
The proprietors of the Round House Inn were happy to see us and quite sympathetic to our plight. We got checked into our room (room #3) and called the rental company to explain the situation.
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| The view from room #3 |
While we were waiting for the mechanic from Stoutes Car Rental we took in our surroundings. One of the first things I noticed was the lack of glass in all of the windows of our room. It turned out to not be a problem - the ocean breezes blowing through the windows was very nice, and it kept the bugs away. There were shutters for keeping out birds, bats, and prying eyes. There are no TVs and no phones in any of the rooms at the Round House Inn, but there is a free Wifi signal that varies in strength from one spot to another. When the Stoutes mechanic arrived (it was after dark at this point) he told us that we could drive with only three lug nuts on that wheel, but we insisted that we needed either another car or this car repaired. He called the company, the company talked to me, and we agreed that whatever happened would have to happen tomorrow, on the 25th. They also charged us for the wheel and tire replacement. We had insurance on the car, but it didn't cover the wheels and tires, which makes sense in a country with such lousy roads. We had a delicious meal in the outdoor section of the inn's restaurant. I had the flying fish cou cou, and Becky had a different flying fish dish, possibly the flying fish sandwich. Flying fish is a staple in Barbados, and we consumed our fair share while we were there. While we were waiting for our food to arrive another man from Stoutes arrived at the inn with a replacement car for us. We weren't expecting anything to be done that night, but this man drove in the dark over some pretty awful roads to bring us a replacement car. And he had to drive our broken car across the island back to the airport. Did I mention that he did this on Christmas Eve? That's some great customer service, and we can recommend Stoutes if you are ever in Barbados. The replacement car, also a Kia Picanto, was a tough little car, and it ably handled all we threw at it.
Thursday, December 25, 2014 - Christmas Day
R is for Resort.
Our day started out when we woke up in room #3 of the Round House Inn, with sunlight filtering through the shutters and sea breezes gently wafting about us. While breakfasting in the inn's restaurant, which has glass in the windows, we were informed by the proprietors that they would need to move us to room #2, because they had mistakenly put us in room #3 when we arrived - they would take care of the move while we were out for the day (there are only 4 guest rooms at the Round House Inn). After breakfasting in the inn's restaurant we decided to head out for the day in the general direction of the Crane Resort, where we had our lunch reservation. On the way to the Crane we stopped at a convenience store and picked up, among other things, a soda that eventually proved to be quite a challenge for me - a Frutee brand Ginger Beer with a particularly stubborn cap. We had no trouble navigating to the Crane Resort, and we were early for lunch so we strolled around for a while and viewed the vista of the beach and ocean.
Our day started out when we woke up in room #3 of the Round House Inn, with sunlight filtering through the shutters and sea breezes gently wafting about us. While breakfasting in the inn's restaurant, which has glass in the windows, we were informed by the proprietors that they would need to move us to room #2, because they had mistakenly put us in room #3 when we arrived - they would take care of the move while we were out for the day (there are only 4 guest rooms at the Round House Inn). After breakfasting in the inn's restaurant we decided to head out for the day in the general direction of the Crane Resort, where we had our lunch reservation. On the way to the Crane we stopped at a convenience store and picked up, among other things, a soda that eventually proved to be quite a challenge for me - a Frutee brand Ginger Beer with a particularly stubborn cap. We had no trouble navigating to the Crane Resort, and we were early for lunch so we strolled around for a while and viewed the vista of the beach and ocean.
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| The beach below the Crane Resort |
The Christmas lunch buffet at the Crane Resort's restaurant is apparently well-known to, and well-loved by, the locals. We were among the few diners dressed casually - most of the diners were in their Sunday best. Our belief is that this was their big Christmas dinner, and they wanted it to be a special occasion. And it was certainly a special occasion for us, and a big Christmas meal. The buffet was well-stocked with a wide variety of well-cooked foods, including the ubiquitous flying fish. We lunched quite well, and we desserted quite well. After lunch and dessert we went down to the beach and enjoyed the sun, water, cliffs, and people-watching.
Among the people we watched was a young girl who kept saying that she was going to jump off the rocks into the water, as her friends had done earlier before they abandoned her. Yup. Really gonna jump this time. Okay. Now I'm really going to jump in. For sure this time. I'm really jumping in. Etc. Not surprisingly, she never did jump in, but ended up walking back down the rocks to the beach. Neither Becky nor I jumped into the water.
Our next adventure was a search for the famous Project HARP guns. Sometime in the past someone thought it would be a good idea to try to launch payloads into space by using really big guns. The guns were built in southern Barbados, just south of what is now Grantley Adams International Airport. The project never lived up to the hopes of the creators, and it was abandoned. Today the guns are slowly rusting away and gathering local foliage about them. After leaving the Crane we drove around in search of the area where we could search for the HARP guns. By a combination of poor navigation and sheer luck we managed to find the exact spot at the end of a road, near a cow field, that is the starting point for those who wish to visit the HARP guns.
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| The cow field |
After tramping through the knee-high (and sometimes waist-high) grasses toward the coast for a while we found nothing and Becky returned to the car while I soldiered on.
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| I'm sure they're here somewhere. |
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| Getting closer... |
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| Success at last!!! |
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| The view from room #2 |
Friday, December 26,2014 - Boxing Day
R is for Reef and Rum.
We woke up early on Boxing Day to head across the island to the Bridgetown waterfront for a catamaran cruise. We didn't have time to eat breakfast at the inn, so I had breakfast in the car - various munchies that we picked up at a convenience store on the way across the island. Navigating to Bridgetown was a breeze - it was basically straight across the island on one road for most of the way. Looking back on it now, I think it was a combination of directional instinct and luck that got us to the waterfront after we entered Bridgetown. I say this because our map of Bridgetown only showed a few streets near the waterfront area. This caused us a bit of trouble when we were trying to leave Bridgetown later in the day.
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| The French tramp steamer |
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| A crewman with the fishies |
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| Bajan Queen and a floating crewman |
After a sumptuous lunch, which included flying fish, among other things, I took another swim - this time sans goggles, fins, snorkel, and camera. It was nice just being in the water and swimming around the boat. Back on the boat and the cruise toward home. I decided that since I enjoyed the elegant sunrise I had earlier that I could use another one. As we were sailing home one of the crewmen explained a bit about Barbados' sugar exportation.
After debarkation we walked around the waterfront area for a bit, but most of the shops and businesses were closed up for the holiday. Despite this mass closure, we found some ice cream (in a bar) and had a nice late afternoon snack in the shade of a waterfront park area. Time for the drive home, and an unplanned adventure (and not the fun kind of adventure). We asked the boat crew how we could get back on the main road, and he gave us typical Bajan directions that went something like, "Go straight down this street, then you come to a stop light. Go straight through the light, then at the roundabout to left. When you pass the hospital go left and that will take you to the road you want." The only problem was that going straight didn't take us to the stop light, we never did find the roundabout or the hospital, and our map of Bridgetown only consisted of the few streets right by the waterfront area. We tried following the scant map, but ended up going in a loop because the map and the actual streets didn't match up. Then we drove around seemingly at random for a while (I didn't want to admit that it was mostly at random, hoping we would hit a main road that was on our Barbados map), and somehow ended up going through the same neighborhood twice, in opposite directions. We stopped and asked a lady for directions, and she basically said we should follow the bus signs that lead out of town. The problem is that they lead in different directions out of town. We somehow found ourselves back at the waterfront and in our original loop again (kind of like when Winnie the Pooh was lost in the forest and kept finding the same sand pit over and over again). It sounds funny now, but we were not having fun at the time. Things had almost gotten desperate enough for me to turn on my phone's data and use Google Maps, but Becky decided to stop again and ask for directions. Praise the Lord that she did (and I mean that literally). The lady she asked was glad to help, and she started going back and forth with another lady about how we should get to our road. "You go down to the light, then through the roundabout. No, they can't go that way. You're just going to confuse them. So you go left at the roundabout. Yes, it's left. Stop confusing these people. You know what, I'll get in my car and lead you to the road you want." That's right, this lady, a total stranger, took about 15 minutes out of her afternoon to get in her car and lead us through the city to the road we were trying to reach. Incredible! I've never experience this before, and it was just incredible. And that was our experience with all of the Bajan people we met - they are nice. They are a kind and helpful society. After we reached the main road across the island it was an easy trip back to the inn for the night.
We had planned to eat dinner at the inn's restaurant, but they apparently close early on Fridays so that the proprietors and their employees can spend time with their families. So we walked about half a mile along the beach to a little eatery right on the beach. It wasn't quite a full restaurant, and it was more than a food stand and it had outdoor tables. The food was quite delicious. We both had the flying fish entrees, and after dinner we walked back to inn for the night.
The End
R is for Really Red Hot Mad at Blogspot and Google.
There was a lot more to our awesome trip, and a lot more R's, and I spent several hour over several days typing up the rest of this great narrative, but Blogspot did not save my work, despite me hitting the "Save" button several times. I spent a lot of time on this, and it's all gone, and while I remember a lot of what I typed up, I'm not going to re-type the rest. Thanks a lot, Blogspot.
Here's a link to the rest of the photos not shown here. Picasa photo link.
Maybe I should move this blog over to another host, like Wordpress.
bIsh
1 comment:
Saw all the photos, quite an adventure.
Actual coconut palms, you know I like palm trees :-)
Scenery much like my trip through the Bahamas, Caymans, and Yucatan Peninsula back in 1986.
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