Welcome back! Always a blessing to have you take your time to share my week's travel experiences. I do hope your past week was better than expected with you full of anticipation for the week ahead! I mean, it's that time of year, when there seems to be magic in the air!
I was asked this week how I was enjoying my vacation in Barbados. I had to think about my response. I have this crazy idea that my life these days is a continuous vacation. What an amazing blessing, right! I just choose different locations to live out that crazy idea. I'm developing friends in different countries that are kind enough to welcome me when I show up.
Thought I'd share the physical size of the country I'm currently residing in. Barbados is approximately 166 square miles (430 square kilometers) in size, making it one of the smaller nations in the world. The island measures about 21 miles (34 kilometers) in length and 14 miles (23 kilometers) at its widest point. All this to say, you should have lower expectations on the diversity of photos you can expect me to be sharing during my stay.
I forgot to mention that I noticed that my analog wristwatch coincidentally stopped working on my first morning in Barbados. Strange?! When I took the watch off before going to bed, it was working just fine. Ah, the universe intervenes on my behalf! A watch has little utility in my current location.
Small breakthrough on the beach this past week. There's been a fellow beach walker who has been reticent to stop and chat over the past four weeks. Well, this was the week that Iris decided to introduce herself, share she is from Montreal and is here until April. Unsure if there is more to come. Stay tuned!
Here's the third instalment of the learning
Bajan sayings - Part 3 sayings for your ongoing education. Parts 1 & 2 were included in the previous two week's post.
May the universe bring endless blessings and moments of magic 🦄 to you and your loved ones in the week ahead. 🙏
Travel Administration
I'm adding to my emergency supply of clothing repair materials for future travels. The latest additions, as I elaborate in the About Town section below, is fabric glue and iron-on patching material. They will be handy (and light weight) should I want to extend the life of any clothing that unexpectedly tear, just like my shirt earlier this week.
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My goodies -
glue and iron-on fabric
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Travel Update
Back to my Nepal and Sri Lanka travel planning in the past week. I've developed a high level itinerary for Nepal starting when I land on March 8 (need to book flight); departing for Medan (Sumatra, Indonesia) on April 4. The big blocks of time include day trips from Kathmandu, walking between villages with water projects, Kori Trek (tbd), Chitwan National Park and visiting Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. My Sri Lanka plans include a three night stay in a friend's new homestay in Dambulla.
Travel Maps
I had a fairly quiet travel week as I slow my daily activities to an appropriate 'island speed' pace.
About Town
I'm sharing weekly highlights from my meanderings about the island's west coast. As may have noticed, my life has become much more 'pedestrian' over the past four weeks. I continue to meet the most incredible people where ever I go. I may need to start videoing my convos as they are quite fascinating.
I also started walking about ~10 km/6 mi three times during the week. It's part of my activity plan to prepare for hiking in Nepal. I'm also testing my pain endurance as I'm suffering with a damaged Achilles tendon and a hip that is reminded me that I am aging.
Brankers Barber Stop
Here's the barber stop in Barbados for the best haircut experience at the fairest price. Many thanks to Sam for introducing me to the stop and Carson, the owner. The stop, which is about a 15 minute walk away, is located above Jordan's Supermarket so you do need to be looking closely to find it. After a couple visits, all you need to do is sit down in the chair and Carson takes over. I was impressed that Carson remembered the type of haircut I wanted given my over 2.5 year absence from his place. I'm now convinced that I get the best haircut in the world in this barber stop.
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| 2nd floor view |
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| Stop entrance |
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| Just reopened after lunch |
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| Carson in action! |
On the Mend - Didier's Fabrics
I experienced a minor shirt malfunction when my brand new shirt caught a thorny rosebush branch ripping a sizeable section. My solution - find an iron-on patch I could use to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Many thanks to Google Maps for helping me find Didier's Fabrics which had exactly what I needed. Gloria, a store employee, was all over what I was looking for. She was apologetic when she shared that I had to buy a square yard of iron-on fabric ($5.00 BBD/$3.44 CDN/$2.50 USD). I also purchased fabric glue ($3.75); just in case I had issues with the iron-on stickiness (which happened). I now added to my small supply of just-in-case repair materials for future travels.
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| Store entrance |
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| Consultation counter |
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| See anything you like? |
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| My goodies - glue and iron-on fabric |
It's Starting to Feel A Lot Like Christmas
My good friend Sam mentioned that he was considering going into the downtown Bridgetown area, on December 26 (Boxing Day) to see the Christmas Trees that local schools had decorated. I decided to get a preview of what he was talking about.
Cenotaph
There were four Christmas trees, one on each corner, at the Cenotaph which was a three minute walk from Didier's Fabrics. These trees were decorated by four different public service groups.
'Christmas in the Square' - Queens Park
About another 15 minute walk from the Cenotaph is Queen's Park where more Christmas trees were on display. These were the trees that Sam had mentioned visiting on Boxing Day. Most of the trees I saw in the park were in honour of African and SE Asian countries.
The Commonwealth Society organizes an event called "Christmas in the Square" where International Organizations work with a primary school to have students, under the guidance of teachers, use their creativity in decorating Christmas trees that go on display in the Capital Bridgetown. In the past, almost three hundred Christmas trees were decorated and displayed.
Feeling the seasonal spirit?
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| Park Entrance |
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| Trees everywhere along the walkway |
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| Water Fountain on park's east entrance |
I discovered this massive and magnificent building as I was making my way to my next destination - BICO Ltd. I made a detour so I could investigate further. My reaction was surprise when I figured out what the building was. Why would a country of 283,000 people need a supreme court building of this magnitude?
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| My first (and only) clue on what the building was! |
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| Full building view |
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| Main entrance |
Did Someone Mention Ice Cream?
It's been my continuing blessing to have easy access to the most delicious ice cream on Barbados. I was disappointed to learn that the two ice cream shops near my place had closed during my absence. A big smile returned to my face when I learned Sam had an ice cream guy stop at his place on Wednesday and Saturday mornings to replenish Sam's supply. Better yet, Sam invited me to drop by to make my ice cream purchase when the ice cream guy showed up. The truck has a distinctive musical melody to alert potential purchasers of his proximity.
I decided to visit the ice cream mecca at the BICO ice cream direct sales office which is about a 15 minute walk from the 'bus station'. I had the most welcome greeting from the guy operating the gate to let vehicles into the parking area. He came out gatehouse to greet me, reassure I could make purchases and pointed to the Direct Sales office indicating I needed to press the buzzer just below the yellow sign by the door.
I met Susann, the sales person, inside the store. She gave me a personalized tour of the freezer units explaining the different products available for purchase when she learned this was my first visit. What a lovely experience in one of my most favourite places in the world - an ice cream mecca. I did buy a small Crunchy Chocolate ice cream treat to enjoy outside the store. A small reward for all my walking! 😉 I will be back!
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| I'm getting close! |
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| I'm saved! |
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| Frozen confections for everyone |
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| Even frozen lollies |
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While buying ice cream was impractical,
buying this product was a winner! |
Local Fauna
A few friends I met this week in or about my yard.
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| Looking for its next meal |
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| Bird's eye view? |
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Sam says it's unusual to see ducks
on the beach |
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| Guess who has mice as fellow house guests?? |
Sea Glass Hunt Update
Joanne, the sea glass jewelry maker, is dropping by to pick up my sea glass collection on Sunday. My prayers for an increased number of sea glass hunters on the beach has gone unanswered. I've accumulated a small pile of blue glass which is very surprising. I've also collected a few intriguing seashells and fragments of tile and pottery. I have this strange idea that the pottery and tiles are somehow part of a larger story I should be interested in. For you Lord of the Rings fans, my excitement on finding sea glass:
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| So much sea glass! |
Sunsets
I continue to indulge on your patience and time with my sunset photos. Overall, I try to capture the sequence of the sun slowly disappearing below the horizon. The first photo is typically between 5 - 5:10 pm with the sun falling below the horizon by 5:36 pm. I have this thing for including sailboats whenever I can as I think they increase the photo's appeal. Capturing the sky's colours after the sunset, in a meaningful way, is more challenging. Enjoy!
December 14
December 15
December 16
December 17
December 18
December 19
December 20
Next Week
It's Christmas next Thursday! Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates Christmas!🎄 As my friendly barber Carson said to me, many blessings to everyone for however they celebrate at this time of year! Peace, happiness and goodwill to all people! 🙏 There's a good possibility that I'll be going out on a glass bottomed boat to swim with ocean creatures like turtles.
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