Phoebe’s trip to Bados-Week 1
My first few days in Barbados I spent acclimatising to not just the new body clock but the heat as well... And yes, I know the UK has been far hotter and I shouldn't complain, but this is 30 degree tropical heat with blistering sun! Not to mention the mosquitos that I regularly see flying around my head as I get ready for bed...and the tennis ball size inflamed skin I have round one of my bites! All this aside however, and it's been an exciting first week living in Barbados! I may moan about the heat and the bites, but really it's a fascinating country with lovely people and beautiful beaches.
My first full day here I walked 10 minutes to the supermarket called Massy just up the road in Holetown. The cost of living here is extortionate and I will likely be living off pasta and rice the majority of my time here-if anything, to save pennies for the odd evening out at a fancy restaurant. They have some rather interesting things for sale in the supermarket and surprisingly Waitrose items can be found on almost every aisle... I frequently find myself going round the aisles with google open so I can check what something in Bajan dollars is in pounds-most notably a pack of Waitrose muesli will set you back £6.71...presumably due to its overseas shipping and simply not worth the brand label in my view!
My second day I braved public transport-I say braved due to the fact that Barbados has three types of buses. Blue buses are government run and drive like sophisticated people, yellow buses are privately owned and aim to get you from A to B at the speed of light (bare in mind I haven't yet walked down a street that hasn't got a pot hole every 3 yards) and finally privately owned minibuses which, to be honest, I don't think I'll brave! I did however, try out a yellow bus to take me to Speightstown (to my fellow lovers of Barbados, this is actually pronounced Spite, not spate). I was dropped off at the Spightstown bus stop, but really it felt like the middle of nowhere. Considering it is the second largest city on the island, it doesn't even remotely compare to the capital-Speightstown has a population of 3,634 compared to Bridgetown at 110,000.
I managed to navigate myself into the quiet town (without maps-using data from home costs £6 a day!), and was able to purchase a SIM card for my phone. After that I found the Orange Street Grocer where I had an amazing salad with an equally amazing view.
Later on that day I met up with a friend I made, Jai, who took me to Cheffette (McDonalds equivalent-Barbados is one of a handful of countries around the world where McDonalds is illegal!). Forget Mcflurries, they have what is called a fruit split-two scoops of ice cream, pineapple chunks, sauce and a cherry on top! A quick trip back into Speightstown let me see the pier at night as well, and all the fish swimming about too.
The rest of the week has seen me do a LOT of work for my dissertation including last minute things for my interview research that I'll carry out in the next week or so. I found the hotel business suite complete with air con-very handy, and today I went to the Beach House that is included with the hotel and worked right next to the beach. A couple of my other highlights for the week include swimming in the late afternoon when shawls of fish would jump out of the water right next to me, cocktails at Paul Owen's restaurant and bar and swimming in the sea at night.
An exciting roundup for my first week but it was not without a lot of hard work too. It is easy to forget that Barbados is a small island developing state. Whilst you may visit for a holiday and see the expensive restaurants and visit the fancy shops in the Limegrove mall, behind this it isn't a rich country. However, the tourism industry is booming and the people are hardworking-it is a lovely place to visit.
