Monday
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2009
1
2
7
Trip End
Jun 12, 2009
Hastings,
Christ Church,
Barbados
Monday, June 8, 2009
The bird who stole my breakfast while I was getting my coffee
The gentle trade winds have decided to kick it up a notch or ten. Sitting on the beach chair, staring at the sea and it starts to rain the wind blows and the sun shines ~ all at the same time. I've been in Florida when it rains and shines, but add the wind blowing around like a hurricane getting ready for action and you feel pelted by the individual drops. I moved my chair under a coconut tree to seek shelter (yes, I made sure there were no coconuts overhead) and when I went to put my towel down, I tried several times, to no avail, to put it on the chair. Finally I pounced on it to make it stay put.
Thieves
Please Lord, I hope no one was watching. This day was full of people stuff...
Lorraine ~ an elderly woman who starts drinking at 10 in the morning. We have had several short conversations and I started praying for her. Today we talked about her faith. She seems so hopeless, bitter, lonely. Her kids own this resort. They take her as long as they can handle her (the beach waiter told me) and then bring her back. Please pray for this precious soul who is so lost in her pain.
Graham ~ the autistic 6-year old who swims like a fish and runs everywhere. His parents are very loving, seemingly connected at the hip with this little guy. He and I got to see the fishies as they even went between our legs about 30 ft from shore! They were very colorful and required no snorkel mask! What a playground they have as the coral that the island is surrounded by has housing for them with doors and windows. How fun to be able to swim out your window! His dad told me that they couldn't afford this vacation, but decided they hadn't been away for a very long time and needed to spend some time with Graham. I can see why.
The two surfer dudes from New York ~ here on a most excellent adventure
Beach vendor
. They looked like the kind of guys who could have written the script for the movie. They left this morning, but were out for a last swim. They went on a surfing tour. Apparently, there is world class surfing somewhere on the island. They said they loved it even though they weren't the best waves. We did a brief comparison of Barbados vs New York waves, well, you know the outcome. I didn't make them talk to me too long, it was probably like hanging out with their mom. Sue ~ the helpful Bajan that helped me find my way around Bridgetown. I ventured out on public transport and would have included pics, but sometimes it doesn't feel right to stick a camera in someone's face. I always, well almost always, ask if it's okay to take a shot. I think it's rude to intrude. School was just out, the students, all smartly dressed, were in their uniforms. The bus was packed. I don't mean full, I mean PACKED. Crisp white shirts, polite, black hair braided into many fascinating options, cell phones and giggling girls. Sue didn't tell me she needed to do errands first, so off we went on her errands. It was a hoot. She had a cordless home phone to return. We waited while the shopkeeper did all of the necessary paperwork to put it in for repair. Then he asked, "are you charging it every night?" She looked at him in wonderment that this would be necessary. She did ask him, "Are you serious that I need to do this?" I contained myself and acted very appropriately although stifling a snicker
Giggling school girls
. If you've never had a phone like this, how is one to know. They wrapped her phone back up, trying to put all of the pieces back (even though they wouldn't fit in the original box) and sent us on our way. They told her to come back in a few days if this didn't fix her problem. Some of the smells were, well, I held my breath. We saw people dressed, in public, in their pj's. I guess the city's mentally ill. The domino men ~ this is a simple, straight-forward game of dominoes and when they play, it's on a chalkboard type table and when they put the domino down to play it, they SLAM it down. It makes for a much more interesting game. I may try this method with Mexican train. I mean it's LOUD. Scare my friends to death. Check out how they hold their dominoes. Kinda cool.
I saw the German girls at the beach ~ the story is way too long to include here. Take a short trip with someone you intend to travel with and see how it goes. Then you can make a decision about the two week trip to Barbados!
Fellow passengers on the return trip from Bridgetown ~ after an hour wait, "our" bus came. As we were getting ready to load, it backed up
Can you hear the slam?
. We have no idea why, but he left the terminal. So, I'm between the Bajan's, truly the only pale face in the terminal. They talk SO fast, it is impossible to understand them. Maybe this is okay since they decided the topic of choice was how in today's society to tell if a man is really a man and what makes him stay that way no matter how he dresses. About five people participated and they were very loud. Do you sense a theme here? Everyone seems to know everyone inspite of the 3/4 of a million souls that are here. I think they were all at the bus terminal. Off to the airport soon to get the peeps and welcome them to paradise!
