Day 7 ~ Barbados
Friday, April 29
For once, I’m awake before dawn – 5 a.m. in Barbados and 10 a.m. in London, where the streets are filled with wacky Brits in hats and flags gathered to watch the royal wedding. I do the same (minus hat and flag) from the privacy of the cabin. We actually have two TVs, so I can watch the SkyTV version, as well as the BBC, which has decreed this the only news event of the day.
Snookie heads off to his photo tour of the island and returns four hours later with his camera full of pictures and his brain full of tidbits from his guide, a third- or fourth-generation local who has driven him off the beaten path to various villages and plantations. (Slide show below.)
For once, I’m awake before dawn – 5 a.m. in Barbados and 10 a.m. in London, where the streets are filled with wacky Brits in hats and flags gathered to watch the royal wedding. I do the same (minus hat and flag) from the privacy of the cabin. We actually have two TVs, so I can watch the SkyTV version, as well as the BBC, which has decreed this the only news event of the day.
Snookie heads off to his photo tour of the island and returns four hours later with his camera full of pictures and his brain full of tidbits from his guide, a third- or fourth-generation local who has driven him off the beaten path to various villages and plantations. (Slide show below.)
Island tidbits: Race is not an issue, but class distinctions run deep, based on wealth and birth. Next to Japan, Barbados has the highest per capita population of centegenarians. Best of all, it is (the guide claims) the only country in the world without a McDonalds. (The locals found the food hopelessly bland.) The island is very British, and out in the countryside, every village has a small church a few steps from a rum shop, the tropical equivalent of the neighborhood pub.
Barbados turns out to be the most appealing of the islands so far, clean and free of aggressive street vendors, so – perversely, perhaps – we shop. Snookie brings home a pottery dish from his forays and I snag a Christmas ornament made from a seashell. Now all I have to do is remember to take it out of the bag in December.
There are several cutesy shops, obviously catering to the tourist trade (that would be us) and painted in various Easter egg colors. Snookie blends right in with his new aqua shirt, which may be illegal. For some reason, camouflage clothing is banned on most of the islands.
It is also raining, and we get caught in yet another downpour before ducking into an art gallery to avoid a complete soaking. The Department of Environment, Water and Drainage has its work cut out for it.
There are several cutesy shops, obviously catering to the tourist trade (that would be us) and painted in various Easter egg colors. Snookie blends right in with his new aqua shirt, which may be illegal. For some reason, camouflage clothing is banned on most of the islands.
It is also raining, and we get caught in yet another downpour before ducking into an art gallery to avoid a complete soaking. The Department of Environment, Water and Drainage has its work cut out for it.
We manage our usual hour of dancing, although the band seems even more tired than we are tonight. And for dinner we try the Bistro on Five, where I polish off a dessert crepe that consists mostly of butter, sugar and Grand Marnier. Maybe it’s not just the motion of the ship that lets me sleep so well . . .
