Barbados - October 10, 2008

12:26AM

I'm lying in our hotel bed practically falling asleep as I write this so excuse me if its not interesting.

I met with a rather unenthused young woman (about 25 years old) from the car rental agency at a little after 8:30 this morning. We signed some papers and shortly thereafter we were the proud temporary owners of a 2008 Suzuki Spirit 4-door hatchback, silver in color, and only 12,000 kilometers on the odometer! It was really much nicer than either of us expected. Immaculately clean on drop-off, I hope they realized it would not be returned in the same spotless condition.
We had an adequate breakfast at the hotel buffet and finally set out on the road around 11am.

We were lost within 15 minutes. Driving on the left side of the road while sitting on the right side of a the car was a bit bizarre at first but grew more comfortable as the day wore on. The driving of the locals, said to rival the most terrifying roller coasters, really wasn't that bad either. I personally think Manhattan on any given day is worse.

Our original goal was to drive up the Eastern coast which boarders the Atlantic ocean, as our excursions over the next few days should give us some time on the more placid Caribbean West coast.
It took us about 45 minutes to find the right highway and after hitting a series of dead ends (usually ending up at some remote shack with chickens and goats running amok outside) we had to back track halfway to the hotel before we found the proper way. Other than the route, we really weren't looking to go anywhere specific, so we couldn't really be considered lost.

After finding the proper route on the ABC highway (ABC being an acronym of three names which I don't remember), we began making headway up the coast, stopping to take pictures and gaze at the scenery. By this point, Alice had settled into her role as navigator and was essential in keeping my stupid mistakes from getting us turned in the wrong direction.

We stopped at the exquisitely dilapidated East Point Lighthouse to take some pictures. A short but muddy walk down to a steep cliff face revealed to us the craggy Atlantic coastline, carved out from endless swells lashing against the rocks. There was no clear blue Caribbean water to be found here.
On the other side of the lighthouse, a brightly colored, new looking house sat behind a thin wire fence. The hand spraypainted sign posted in front read in large red letters: "PROPERTY! NO ENTRY! GUARD DOGS! -The owner" We made sure not to cross the line.

We continued up the coast, the car's tiny engine revving hot to get us up the steep hills. Our next stop was the Andromeda Botanic Gardens in Bathsheba. The garden was set up there by a woman named Iris Bannochie who collected tropical plant specimens from her travels all over the world. They really had some interesting plants to look at. My favorite was the massive Bearded Fig tree, which some say gave the island its name ("Os Barbados" meaning "The Bearded Ones" in Portuguese). I got some good pictures of Alice beneath it.

After finishing up at the garden, food was rapidly becoming a priority. We decided to press on while looking for somewhere to eat on the way. We continued north and eventually hooked around to come down the West Coast. We ended up actually finding St. Lawrence Gap after some confusion with the roundabouts and some time spent sitting in "rush-hour" traffic (which actually only lasts one hour). We ate at a Trendy, new-looking place called "Harlequin" I had flying fish again, which was slightly better than the previous night's, mostly because they gave me four fillets instead of the usual two. Alice had a Caribbean style chicken in a light cream sauce, which was also excellent. For dessert we shared a slice of Bajan Lime Pie which was a less-tart version of Key Lime Pie. The custard part also had a slight grit to it which added some interest to the texture.
During dinner, a small cat kept appearing to look for scraps. It was slender, mottled gray, white and orange. One of the waiters saw her and kept calling her "Harlequin," the same as the restaurant. I told her that I wondered if the cat was named after the restaurant or if the restaurant was named after the cat. He replied in a mellow Bajan accent, "Well, if it was named after 'er, de restaurant would be named 'Cat.'"

After dinner we drove back to the hotel and soaked in the hot tub for a while. We experimented with Alice's new waterproof digital camera, which made me extremely uncomfortable to submerge in water. It just goes against everything you were ever taught to take an expensive electronic device and dunk it in the pool. It worked flawlessly, however and we came away with a few good shots and one of me looking like a giant Beluga Whale swimming in the sea.

After showering off the chlorine, we had a few drinks at the bar and took a walk down on the beach. We went down by the water's edge, away from the floodlights and looked out on the ocean. The nearly full moon threw its light on everything, but out along the horizon, it was just dark; the darkest dark you've ever seen. So dark, you could understand how people hundreds of years ago could think that if you sailed far enough, the sea would swallow your ship whole.

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