Barbados

Chapter 2- Travel
So once we got through the drama at the check-in counter it was easy sailing through security to wait for our plane. As we waited an American Airlines representative came over the loudspeaker and informed us that there would only be food for purchase in the main cabin during our five hour flight. This was the first international flight that I have ever taken where they did not provide food. The food's never that great anyway, but it's still pretty ridiculous. So we slept while the plane flew us south to Barbados. After getting our bags and heading through Customs we went to find our rental car. The woman who met us had no accent, which was kind of sad because when I travel somewhere new I like to hear as much of the accent as I can. We asked her for directions to the hotel. She would be the first in series of people who would tell us all the ways to get there. We were to go straight through the roundabout and then make a left at the gas station, a left where the road T's and then a right (somewhere...). Once we had gotten off the main road the directions seemed to no longer make sense. Needless to say after the first left we stopped two older women who were walking up the hill to ask for directions. I loved this lady. She had an accent and talked in a really high pitched voice. She said, "You go straight down dis hill, and so. Den, you turn right, and so. Den you see signs for de Silver Sands, and so, and you follow dem, and so." I was so caught up in the way she sounded I was barely listening to what she was actually saying. It also is very funny to me that everyone who gave us directions the entire week loved to use the word straight. None of the roads were quite straight, especially the ones with ninety degree turns in them, but it made us laugh. We headed down the hill and after the few turns we didn't see any signs, so we stopped and asked a young girl who was obviously on her way home from school. She didn't know how to get there, but she offered to call her dad. He told us to go straight (of course) and then head left toward the water. We thanked them and made it to the Silver Sands Beach which was not our hotel, but we knew we were nearby. We pulled up to the beach and asked the Park Manager how to find the hotel. Luckily it was up the hill and around the corner. Whew! We finally made it! We received a map of the island from the front desk and here we learned that the government had only recently started a sign campaign to mark all the streets on the island in 2007. I think that the people who live there have made it this long without signs, they'll continue giving directions by landmark instead of street name. I think it should be part of the experience to ask the locals for help. It sure made my day.
Chapter 3- Vacation Begins
After we got our room key we headed around to our building and there I saw my first and only monkey. Yes, I said it, a MONKEY!!!! He crossed the road in front of us and I about fell out of the jeep. It was to be the only monkey we saw all week, and I never got a picture of him. Until now I had only ever seen monkeys in zoos. I think I might have even clapped my hands and screamed! Yes, I know, I'm a big kid, but it's fun to experience new things and it reminds you that life is never truly redundant- there is something new always. I like to view the world through the inquisitive eyes of a grownup child...
We dropped our bags and headed to the bar on the beach for beer and food. We hadn't eaten since we left the airport. Did I mention that American Airlines didn't even give us peanuts or pretzels? We were hungry. Unfortunately we had just missed the snack time (when you stay at a resort you are kind of beholden to some weird retirement home schedule). But, it was tea time and so we had some cake and Banks Beer to tide us over until dinner. I walked down to the beach and sat watching the waves and the sunset, while drinking my beer. A local guy, Owen, walked up to me and chatted with me. I could barely understand him, but he was nice enough to give me some suggestions for fun things to do. He suggested Oistins and St. Lawrence Gap. I headed back up to the bar where Jeff and Andrea (the bride and groom) were sitting with Ob. They were coming to check that we made it in okay. After they left we had dinner at the restaurant at the resort. The food was good, but the portions were small. I know, I know, American portions are out of control, but we ordered a calamari appetizer and there were only five pieces. They were really good and I was about to eat off my arm before they came, so we really could only laugh. I had seafood crepes as my main dish and it was yummy. Ob had baked chicken and it was also good- he's so nice to share with me.
The next morning we went to the beach and swam, I read my book and then we waited for Jeff to come by to show us around. The drive to the main road was so easy, I laughed at how difficult it had been for us to get there the day before. Jeff drove us to Miami Beach, Oistins, St. Lawrence Bay and into town- the capital city, Bridgetown. Navigating the island is actually pretty straight forward. If you want to head toward Bridgetown, you follow the bus stop signs that say, "Into city." If you are heading away, the bus stop signs say, "Out of city." I guess the only real problem is that if you know you are going out of the city there are a lot more directions to head.
Later Ob and I drove ourselves to Oistins for dinner. The fish comes right off the boat to the market where they scale it and sell it to the vendors on the street. We sat down at Mo's and ordered flying fish, rice, and macaroni, and of course beer! It was delicious. The fish was so fresh it melted in my mouth. We ended up having dinner with Owen (the guy from the beach) who passed by and recognized me. That was interesting. Later we drove over to the gap where we walked around and ended up at Jumbie's for more beer, music and dancing. When the DJ really started it was so much fun. He played the hits from the 90s and Ob laughed at me while I sang all the words to Humpty Dance. Then he played Reggae hits from when Ob was growing up and we danced and danced. It was a blast!
Friday we were determined to get a real Bajan breakfast. I was really looking forward to some Ackee and salt-fish. But, we would come to find out it is not an easy meal to find. Most places that serve breakfast, serve American or English style. Jeff came and picked us up. We had to go to the country with the chef for the reception and pick up some things from Andrea's mom's house. Before we headed up we got fishcakes, beer and tamarinds (a really well-rounded meal!). It was fun to watch the guys barter at the vegetable and fruit stand and generally give the ladies there a hard time, but I think they enjoyed the attention. Andrea's house was in St. Joseph so we all piled into the Jeep and raced up and down hills. Once we picked up the things we needed and I visited with the pigs and goats, we headed back down to town. We got our lunch from Chefette, a Bajan fast food chain and took it back to the beach to eat. We had Roti and coconut ice cream and I had a Red Juicee and Ob had Maubi. I tried it and it's good, but it really has a strong after taste exactly like you imagine bark to taste like.

Chapter 4- The Wedding
On Saturday morning we woke up and were planning on heading to the beach, but there were some other wedding guests at our hotel (Keano and Ollie and their son Ky and Ollie's sister Lisa) and we ended up showing them around. We went in search of breakfast and ended up going to Edith's Coffee House. I have never seen it take so long to get breakfast together, but it really was funny to laugh about how slowly the island moves. There was this nice lady there who asked us why we were all in town and then offered to guide us to the church and the reception hall so that we wouldn't get lost when we were on our own later that day (Jeff had shown us the way to the church, but as you can already guess the directions were a bit muddled in our heads). So, we followed her all the way to town in search of the Church. All of us had pieces of information, but no one was really clear about where we were headed. We got turned around again and again until we ended up calling to get the name of the Church and eventually found it and then headed back to the hotel in enough time to shower and change. The wedding started at three. Ob and Keano were joking that they bet the wedding wouldn't start on time. I had never heard of that happening, but I guess it happens a lot in the islands. We were on the road and who should pass by but Jeff who waved to us and signaled that the wedding would be starting at four. Good thing because it was almost three and the groom was still on the road not wearing his suit. When we got to the church we found out that both the bride and groom weren't there. We all sat there waiting until after four. Ob and Keano were joking that Jeff probably got cold feet, but they all arrived and the wedding was beautiful. Then we headed to the reception, it was almost sunset and it was gorgeous. We had a lot of fun.
The next morning we headed down to the beach for our last time and swam and took pictures. We headed to breakfast at Cafe Luna with Keano and his family. It was great to sit around the table and eat with our new friends talking. We walked a bit around Oistins and then headed to the airport. It was a beautiful way to end our vacation.

Epilogue- American Airlines
American Airlines is jokey. When we got on the plane to head back to NYC the seats in the center next to us were destroyed and had do not use signs on them. They were also covered in brown electrical tape to keep people off of them. I have never seen anything like it and we joked and laughed about how horribly managed they must be to not offer any food and to have seats that look like a giant bowled them over. I cannot figure how this happened...