Bajan style

Although life is one long holiday really (apart from the little maintenance tasks we have to undertake of course), we had another one to get some "winter sun". This time it involved flying to Barbados, the home of  Bob (trolley shopper, cross Atlantic sailor) and Lin (the same but much better looking). Of course, they knew about this and timed their return to Antigua to re-launch their yacht perfectly. 2 Brits in, 2 out. One could get a complex.

However, John (the knees) and Tina were around for a while so that saved us from having to talk to each other all the time. Of course, the 28 centigrade temperatures brought out those famous knees girls:

We don't think that John is all that wild, and certainly not reserved though.

Never having been to the island before, we enjoyed all the typical tourist "things" and will repeat them for the benefit of those who also haven't seen the place and to bore those that have (or live here, Bob and Lin). Firstly, after an unseasonal wildly rainy day that invoked local flood warnings, the stunning sunset that followed:

We loved the evening temperatures, chilled approach and friendliness of the place. Relaxing and "liming" (the local word - see liming video for the tourist board's view on it) seemed the thing to do. Firstly, having seen the "Berghaus triplets" on the Ben Nevis mountain range in Scotland (see earlier post this year), the crew and Tina decided to be the "Butterfly hair grip twins":

Not quite as impressive as some of the locals attire or hair-dos. Brading and beading are of course the norm. We saw far too many pasty white, overweight tourists with beaded hair to know just how unappealing it is. On the locals, it is rather different :

The local chattel houses were designed to be moveable, as people changed jobs around the plantations they could move their wooden house around with them. Some are still stunningly maintained and painted. Some need a little TLC (for the non English speakers TLC = tender loving care). Of course, if you are a jet-ski freak, maintaining the house comes second to having fun:

The locals love colour - sometimes they go a little overboard (for our taste) and we really think this guy either has to change his car or house colour to avoid the clash:

Actually, the car (up close) looked like it wasn't capable of moving too far under its own power. Mind you, there are plenty of local cars like that.....

For the boating folks, there are some pretty fishing boats and some even get painted too!

Of course, the approach to authority and rules is interesting - the "do not litter or dump" sign seems to be a waste of time for example:

On the other hand, the island also has a fair share of the super-rich folks. No, we are not amongst them and we didn't stay in Sandy Lane. For the wealthy boating types, there is a new facility being built called Port Ferdinand:

As you can see, nothing too posh compared to the average chattel house. The guttering and downpipes on the buildings are made out of copper. Gives you an idea of the money being spent here and hence the cost of an apartment. We are not planning to sell our house in Hythe Marina to try and buy something here. The annual maintenance charges alone are as much as we spend on boat diesel, maintenance and moorings!

Transport - well, we were suitably brave and took the reggae buses into Bridgetown and Holetown. In case you've never experienced one, dip in and out of this video Reggae bus video and they are truly an experience. Seeing the buses racing each other to get to the passengers first is quite something. Less so if you happen to be on board of course! Still, for $2 Barbados flat fare ($1 US) they are a very cheap way of getting about.

We will share a little about the east coast of the island and Bridgetown in our next post. Just to keep you checking back for updates.....