Barbados Diary: Day 1

Waking up to the sound of the sea washing up on the beach, whilst the sun tries to shine through the thin curtains must be one of the most relaxing ways to be awoken. It certainly was for us. Paradise, pure!

Breakfast of cereal, fresh fruit (of course mostly exotic), plus some local pastries and banana bread set us up for a lovely morning on the beach. The local wildlife also quite liked the breakfast, and if you left your tale unoccupied whilst fetching more food, you would come back to find birds eating up your leftovers.

 

Lying under the palms (actually this day they were almond trees - they may be smaller than coconuts, but still hurt when they fall on you) watching the sun move across the sky, the people in the water and our room about 30m above us, we devoured the pages of our books feeling fully relaxed.

The temperature here was great. Never did it go below 20 degrees Celsius (meaning you didn't get cold at night, even with the window open) and during the day it reached about 28 degrees. Perfect for drying off after a swim in the warm waters for the Caribbean. Of course, this being near the equator, a sun lotion is required most of the time, as the sun burns your skin pretty quickly. But even I survived intact, applying the cream whenever we went out.

Once the hunger pangs started occurring, it was our sign that we had to move onto to something else. Returning to our room, showering and picking up cameras and guide books, we went out to get a bus to the capital - Bridgetown (or B'town as the signposts suggested).

We were told there are three types of buses in Barbados. The official, state run ones (blue school-bus size, with yellow stripe down middle), private company ones (yellow school-bus size, with blue stripe down middle), and the minibuses which are all privately owned (and white in colour). They all cost the same and so we got on the first one that came along, which happened to be a little white minibus.

More people climbed on board at every stop, with few disembarking, until we realised there were more people than seats inside.Some people were sitting on other's laps, feet, and the floor. The speed of acceleration and braking even out-did the Colombian buses. We found out later these are nicknamed the suicide/kamikaze buses.

However, after about an hour and a half we arrived at our destination (well, actually it was the non-state bus depot just outside of the centre), and made our way in the midday sun to the centre of town.

Looking at our Lonely Planet, we decided to take one of their recommended spots to eat lunch, called the Balcony Restaurant, found on the first floor of a department store called Cave Shephard. We were the only non-locals eating here, and apart from the slight chaos in filling your plate and finding a table to sit at, we enjoyed it very much. The food was very tasty, the servers friendly, and the price was very reasonable for the quality and quantity provided. We tried some of the local specialities including a bit of flying fish, which was very tasty.

After the late lunch we spent the rest of the day looking around Bridgetown, taking in the sights, the harbour and the old buildings, before getting back to the bus depot and taking a yellow bus back to the hotel (only took 45 minutes).

Seeing as we had filled ourselves at lunchtime, we decided that an evening dinner would be too much, so instead we went to a small mall down the road and had some home made ice cream and cakes.

Back at the hotel, leaving the balcony door slightly ajar, we then headed off for bed so that we could make full use of the next day. Listening to the waves lap onto the shore and the turning of the roof fan made sure we relaxed into the dreams which were in fact reality.