The next day I woke up even more excited to learn more about this incredible place. We had another round of meetings in Bridgetown, some of which were a 10/15 minute walk between them. Now most “businessmen/women” would take a taxi when wearing suits and heels at 30+ degrees but not us. We wanted to see and experience Bridgetown properly so we chose the pedestrian approach. This left many locals confused as it’s clearly not a common sight to see two white guys dressed in suits (sweating balls by the way) walking around central Bridgetown at 30-something degrees. One lady even stopped her taxi and told us she will help us as we are far from the cruise ship. This was slightly offensive to me as I was wearing my nicest linen suit and heels and I thought I looked way too professional to be heading back to a cruise ship full of rowdy Americans, but I guess she was confused so I’ll let it pass.
Our last meeting of the day was with a merchant- a very posh hotel located on the fancy side of the island. We knew our meetings wouldn’t finish until after 5pm and it was Friday so we were hoping to hit the beach straight after without going back to the hotel. We hadn’t managed to get to the beach on time the rest of the week as we were too busy with work but I needed to get my tan on somehow. So in the morning I took my fancy work bag with my laptop, my notepad, my business cards etc. and for the first time in my life I also packed into it my skimpy little bikini and my tan intensifying oil (hidden from view of course). We’ve already established we weren’t your average businesspeople 🙂
So while we were approaching the end of our meeting with the poshest hotel on the island, Matyas just casually dropped in that we were looking for a beach to go to nearby and could she perhaps recommend a place? Remember, this was the posh side of the island, so although all beaches are technically public in Barbados, this coastline was owned by the hotels so if you didn’t have $1,000+ to spend a night, you didn’t have access to the “public” beach, so unless you planned to swim to it from the other side of the island, those beaches ain’t public. And obviously those were some of the prettiest beaches on the island.
Luckily for us, Matyas’s subtle (#notsosubtle) flattery of how incredible this hotel was, and how we would simply love to go for a dip, worked, and a few phone calls later we found ourselves being personally escorted onto one of Barbados’s most luxury resorts. We were even given a room for the afternoon to change and get ready for the beach. (Very lucky because we didn’t have a plan B of how to change from suit to bikini, I don’t imagine it’s a common dilemma)
In fact, we were so lucky we EVEN got some complimentary piña coladas. Now this brings me onto my next discovery- Matyas’s secret love of sweet cocktails. He had taken quite a fancy to the rum punches and piña coladas of the island. This was especially funny because one thing you’ll find in the Caribbean is the men are very proud and very macho. They wouldn’t be caught dead doing anything “girly”. And Matyas’s girly cocktail drinking was exacerbated by the fact that I don’t really like sweet drinks, so while I would enjoy the odd piña colada, most times I would order a local beer, which would stand in stark contrast to the pink, umbrella clad concoction (with a cherry on top) that he would be drinking. This got a lot of funny looks and quite a few secret smirks from our waitresses, but most only dared openly joke about his manliness when fuelled by his number one teaser, obviously me. Remember what I said about the Bajans being polite and respectful. This was a whole different kettle of fish in the Bahamas where they needed no encouragement to openly rip the piss out of him.
So we enjoyed the best post work Friday I’d had in a while and when it was home time we changed back to our suits and walked to the bus stop. We acknowledged that we were most probably the only people who had ever walked out of that hotel and taken the local bus (I actually didn’t see a single tourist using public transport while we were there, let alone a businessperson). But public transport in Barbados is the best transport ever!
Firstly, it’s simple to follow: there are only two directions – to city and from city. So wherever you are you check the bus stop and you can basically catch any bus you like and it will take you in the right direction.
There are three different types of buses 1. Big blue buses, 2. Big yellow buses 3. Various little white vans that are smaller and look more like Del Boy’s three wheeler than a bus. If you want to catch a big blue bus you can forget about it- they’re government owned so they never come on time. We actually didn’t catch one the whole time we were there. Matyas even waited an hour and a half for one the first day he arrived. The other two, however are privately owned and have quotas to meet each day. This means they compete against each other for passengers and they wizz around the island like their lives depend on it. An ironic contrast to an island that appears generally calm and stress free.
As they drive up to the bus stop they barely stop and the “conductor” is jumping out and yelling at you to “‘urry’ up an’ get on de bus’”. This is even crazier in the little vans, which don’t have much space so everyone is piled up on top of each other. There are fold out chairs in the passageways so every bit of space is used up and you get told where to sit by the conductor so if he decides your butt is small enough to fit in between those two big mommas in the back row, then you’d better get squeezing.
The best thing about the buses for me though is the music- every driver plays music of their choice and it’s usually some local soca (faster, more upbeat calypso), rapso (a fusion of soca and hip-hop) or dancehall (faster more modern version of reggae). Needless to say that local pride and joy Rihanna often makes an appearance.
That Friday evening, as we sat there, in our suits, probably the only western businesspeople ever seen on Bajan public transport, the tune of the day was “Ah wan give it to ya”. It’s a super tune I definitely recommend you check it out. This however caused an embarrassing misunderstanding because if you listen to someone singing “Ah wan give it to ya” in a thick Bajan accent it ends up sounding a lot like “I want ya big tuna”, which is what I thought was being sung. For the rest of the week I was walking around the island singing “I want ya big tuna” (it’s a very catchy tune). Only when I asked some locals who had no idea and after half an hour of googling “Bajan tuna song” did I realise what the words actually were.
So we’d already had a busy day but we wanted to end with some fun so we headed over to Oistin for the local ‘fish fry’. Most islands have a fish fry which is basically a food market located next to the fish market where locals come to eat fresh fish. There are various competing stands but they all sell the main fish: Mahi Mahi (know as dolphin by locals), Flying Fish, Marlin, Kingfish, Shrimp, Lobster, as well as others. And to accompany your fish you get a few sides. Now this isn’t just a fish market thing, this is very much a Bajan thing. Most meals, apart from rotis, will be served as meat (usually chicken) or fish with sides. And the staple sides are coleslaw, plantain, breadfruit, potatoes and the most popular one and my latest obsession; Macaroni pie. It’s like Mac & cheese but usually with tomato sauce and it seems to be popular around the Caribbean. Now I’m sure all the Mediterraneans and my mother are reading this and thinking they wouldn’t be caught dead eating delicious fresh fish with Mac & Cheese but for me this was my heaven- fresh fish and delicious junk food all in one, yes please. Talk about having your cake and eating it too. I even had meals with chips and plaintain and Mac & Cheese. In fact, I think I ate Macaroni Pie with almost every meal I had on that island. By the end of the trip I was being chosen noticeably less by the bus conductors to be the skinny girl who get forced to squeeze in to the tight spaces. Trust me guys, the food is delicious, but this is not the place to diet.
The fish fry is also a very “happenin’” place and a popular local hangout on a Friday evening. The centre has a DJ with music which locals dance to, there’s karaoke, there’s even this weird kinda more laid back “country” music scene with more mature couples and some Caribbean cowboys. Yes I did get excited, but no, I didn’t get asked to dance, but I’m pretty sure it was coz Matyas was crampin’ my style as people thought I was his ‘woman’.
We had a lot of fun but it was a long day so we hit the party district for a couple of cocktails and then made our way home in a local van with a slightly older driver who has some more relaxing reggae tunes for us to enjoy.
