You good?
Warm welcome back! Humbled to have you share your time with me. I do hope your past week has been amazing and your week ahead brings great promise!
With the universe's blessing I'm sure, my global network of friends continued to expand over the past week. I met Maria (works at the pharmacy), Melissa (works at the post office) and Erik ('Sugar Pie') who moved into Ocean Hollow for the next two days. I also met Michelle and Russel along with John and Manisha from the UK. The USA was also represented through the four generations of family spending the American Thanksgiving weekend at the beach houses next door. I met Sue along with Andrew and his son Cole. I also met Vanessa, Sugar Pie's partner, who is visiting from Brooklyn, USA.
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I'm in the process of adjusting my pace of my life to the environment I'm living in. I have my daily beach walks, scouring the beach for sea glass, with a dip in the warm sea. I'm making the occasional visit around the island either by walking and/or hopping on the local transportation. I do think there is a recessive gene related to driving buses wildly that is triggered when a driver gets behind the wheel.
Sam also is investing his time and patience to share Bajan sayings as I propel myself down the path of becoming a full fledged Bajan. More about these sayings in the weeks ahead!
May the universe bring endless blessings and moments of magic 🦄 to you and your loved ones in the week ahead. 🙏
Travel Administration
I forgot to mention I'm now using an eSim for the first time. My new phone has introduced this new flexibility in my travel life. I've used
Nomad, one of the more popular suppliers, as my provider. So far, so good. What's additionally new to me is the eSim installation process. More about that new week!
Travel Update
A few travel updates to share. I've extended by stay in Barbados, by three nights, until Sunday, January 18, 2026. I've also booked my flight, through Austrian Airlines, from Toronto to Male, Maldives departing on Monday, January 26 at 6:30 pm arriving in Male at 08:45 am on Wednesday, January 28. I fly Air Canada to Vienna leaving for Male after a 11 hour layover. I've also booked a seven night stay on Ukulhas, my friend Emily's new home and workplace. I'll be flying to Sri Lanka for about a week, then onto Nepal for 30 days. I'm leaning to travel to Sumatra and Taiwan for about 2 - 3 weeks each thereafter. I also think a return visit to Japan in in order!
Travel Maps
I'm wandering about parts of Bridgetown courtesy of the local buses and vans.
Memory Lane
Indulge me as I step back into my past in Barbados to provide you with more context on my previous stays. Many thanks to my good friend Sam for sharing the following photos reminding me of when I was working from Barbados. I previously mentioned I worked remotely from Barbados for two successive Canadian winters. How do you like my local office?
Sunday Lunch
I'm blessed to have my good friend Jackie prepare my Sunday lunch. I discovered Jackie one Sunday a few years ago as I was walking along the road. I noticed a couple guys with meals in a takeaway container that looked delicious. They pointed up the road, directly me to Jackie's home. Unfortunately, she had run out of food on my first visit given I arrived around 2 pm. Jackie informed me that she prepared meals on Saturday and Sundays advising I should arrive around 11 am if I want a meal. The meals are freshly made, delicious, reasonably priced and generous portions. BTW - Jackie does have a full time weekday job with the Barbados government.
Jackie has stayed in touch with me periodically over the 2.5 years that I've been away from the island. She asked me to purchase perfume for her when she learned I was returning in November. This would be the second time I've made her Christmas perfume purchase.
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| Jackie's home - pick meal at side door on balcony |
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| Jackie (in blue) along with customer |
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Grilled tuna, peas and rice, cole slaw
vegetables and salad
YUMMY! |
Local Fauna
I'm pleased to introduce my newest friend joining me to watch Sunday evening's sunset - the
green anole. According to Wikipedia - '
It is a tree-dwelling species of anole lizard native to the southeastern United States and introduced to islands in the Pacific and Caribbean. A small to medium-sized lizard, the green anole is a trunk-crown ecomorph and can change its color to several shades from brown to green.'
I'm planning to include this section in future posts, subject to being quick enough to take photos/videos of local wildlife!
I'm getting the sense, given how much glass I'm finding on the beach, that there may be very few people with the same sea glass addiction as me. The photos show what I've collected after eight beach walks. The 2 - 3 km of beach near my place have been very quiet with the occasional person/couple or family enjoying the sand and warm water.
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| Single shard of blue sea glass |
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| Time for a new container |
Beach Update
I'm staying adjacent to the Crystal Cove Hotel which is presently closed for renovations. The hotel has a beautiful beach that its customers can walk directly onto. As you can see from the photos, the beach is almost empty (everyday, so far!). I stop at this location for dip in the sea to finish my daily beach walk/sea glass hunt! What makes this beach particularly attractive is the absence of coral and limited number of rocks in the water.
BTW - all beaches in Barbados are public beaches so all of us have equal and unrestricted access to this beach area.
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| Imagine a soft warm breeze |
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| Hotel access in on right |
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| Avg water temp ~ 27C |
Roaming About Bridgetown
Join me as I meander through the downtown area of Bridgetown completing personal errands and revisiting key local destinations.
I visited the post office to figure out the best way to send a legal document to Canada, in a reasonable and predictable time period. Sam advised the best option may be express mail. The post office staff advised that express mail lacked any specific delivery commitments so sending an envelope may take a few days or it may take a few weeks. The documents were required in Canada by a specific date. I took their advice to send my documents by DHL Express Mail which had an estimated delivery date of December 1, 2025 (and a cost of $70 BBD/~ $50 CDN). Many thanks to Melissa for her help in completing the shipping details painlessly and expeditiously!
I had to notice that two of the eighteen service counters were staffed. Changing times for postal services.
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| Post Office facing Cheapside Road |
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| Upper PO entrance |
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| Service counters 12 - 18 |
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| Service counters 2 - 11; where queue starts |
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Service counter 18 on the left where my
newest friend Melissa works |
A favourite destination is this chocolate shop. The added bonus is this shop is a 'Bean to Bar' chocolatier! They make their chocolate from beans - simply the best kind of chocolate to expose to your taste buds! A small piece of heaven on earth! The big bonus is they make 70% dark chocolate with sea salt! Sadly, it's becoming progressively difficult to find this choice throughout the world. Lots of chocolate shops use caramel with salt in their dark chocolate. First world issue, right?! I also had a single scoop of chocolate and coconut ice cream. Decadent combination! Sooo good!
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| Entrance |
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| Oh what am I going to buy? |
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| Ice cream is served at far end! |
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| Dark chocolate heaven |
The market is adjacent to the General Post Office. An ideal place to buy fresh, locally grown vegetables and all sorts of other stuff.
Bakery/Eatery
I discovered this bakery, across from the market, as I was walking in the chocolate shop's direction. Just had to stop to investigate. I purchased a raisin scone (known locally as a 'rock cake') and a raisin danish. They also serve lunch so I'm likely to return as I replenish my chocolate cache. I also need to find out what the bakery's name is.
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| Bakery entrance |
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| Small eating counter |
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| Price lists |
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| Limited pastry options |
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| Appetizing food |
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| Meal prices |
Bajan Hospitality
I had to take the photo of this woman (with her permission, of course) . She was another example of someone demonstrating Bajan hospitality. I was looking for a Barbados flag that was larger than she was selling. I wanted a flag to help celebrate Independence Day on November 30. She suggested trying the nearby gift shop. She mentioned the gift shop and her exchange customers on an ongoing basis. I appreciated her suggestion as I found the flag I was looking for in the gift shop.
Thorpes Road
A favourite bakery destination is Nicholls which is about a 2.5 km (1.5 mi) walk, including a hike up Holders Hill. While there are easier ways to get bakery treats, I figure the exercise is good for my health.
I now realize that I forgot to take photos inside the bakery so you can see what is available. The bakery offers bread, salt buns, muffins, rock cakes, sweets like cakes, coconut bread and a small assortment of small hot pastries for a light lunch. I bought a loaf of coconut bread and a plain pound cakes. Need to keep my sweet tooth nourished!
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| Roadside sign |
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| Bakery entrance |
Sunsets
Yes, I continue to self-indulge on daily sunsets. You'll notice from the following photos how dynamic the colours can be in a single sunset. Sometimes, the sky is completely overcast so the photo opportunities are limited. Many times the sky is magnificent after the sun has set. Enjoy!
November 23
November 24
November 25
November 26
November 27
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I thought these two independent clouds in the
foreground were interesting |
November 28
November 29
Next Week
Watching the Independence Day parade, in person, on Sunday, November 30 is a highlight. Many thanks to Sam for the invitation to join him and his nephew Pedro (and Pedro's daughter) to watch just across from the Barbados House of Assembly in downtown Bridgetown. I'm also planning to book my flight to Maldives in the latter part of January and the initial hotel stay on
Ukulhas where my friend Emily is now going to work. I'm also planning to find out if I can attend a Masonic Lodge meeting.
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