So it was Saturday and the day for us to really explore and learn about the island. Matyas had been going about his usual subtle flattery with one of the interviewees we had met with (this time a local travel agency- he sure knows how to pick ’em), so he managed to get us booked on a half day tour for free. Not too bad 🙂

We were picked up by our tour guide Glyne in an open, safari style truck. It felt a bit like South Africa again, except this time we would be exploring the much less dangerous sugar cane plantations of the island and northern coastlines. Glyne was eager to teach us about his island and I was eager to learn. For example did you know that Barbados got its name from the Portuguese word for beard (barba) due to the itchiruganen trees found on the island that look like little hanging beards? I bet you didn’t

And it seems that Barbados is unique even for a Caribbean island. For example the island actually falls one latitudinal degree outside of the Caribbean Sea so technically we were swimming in the Atlantic. How awful. I want my (company’s) money back. For the Bajans they don’t really care as it means they are east enough to be able to claim the sunshine touches their island first above all the others 🙂 in your face other islands

Barbados is made up of 11 districts – called 11 parishes ; St. George’s, St. John’s and another bunch of Saints. Barbados as you can tell (as well as many other islands in the Caribbean) is a very religious place. In fact, this small little island alone has over 180 denominations of Christianity and you are never more than a stone’s throw away from a place of worship. Sunday is the day everyone goes to church (unless you’ve had too much rum the previous evening and then you’re in trouble with the missus). A lot of ladies are seen walking around wearing hats on church day- another tradition they picked up from the Brits. But even though most people on the island are quite religious, there’s no need to worry, there are still more rum shops on the island than churches. Priorities.

Another thing that makes Barbados unique is the fact that the island is made of White Coral limestone, while the other islands surrounding Barbados in the Caribbean Sea are volcanic. This means Bajans can’t grow coconuts and other fruits- they have to import them, but they do get the best tap water as it filters through the coral. Not sure it’s the best trade off, especially as I didn’t see a single local drinking water the whole time I was there. When we made our first quick break from our tour at around 11am, Glyne brought out the refreshments aka the rum punch. Alcohol at 11am – a young Serb has never felt more at home. To my great delight it also attracted the other tour guides, one of which was a 2m tall hunk of delicious muscly goodness. He might’ve noticed me dribbling a little bit of my punch as he approached, coz he started joking with the other tour guides and directing conversation at me. The only problem was that I didn’t understand a single bloody thing he was saying in his super “tik Bajan akcent” (emphasis on the k) so I had to just smile and nod and try to be cool (which for those of you that know me can be a challenge at the best of times).

Our second stop we made I went to buy a coconut to have a nice refreshing drink. I exchanged a few words with the coconut man and he appeared to find me friendly, coz before I knew it he was getting out his secret stash of rum and filling up my coconut to make it extra tasty. Lol. But I’m sure that tap water has come in useful somehow….

Aside from drinking rum, I was actually really enjoying the tour. Glyne was an amazing tour guide and took us all around the island. We were driving through the non-touristy parishes; in the centre of the island right up to the north of the island, where it’s super windy and exposed to the naked ocean so quite dangerous. These beaches are mainly avoided by all tourists except surfers living on the dark side. Glyne took an interesting approach to discouraging us from swimming in the north by highlighting how expensive it would be for our families to transport our dead bodies back across the Atlantic. Subtle.

One of the things I loved the most about the island was the different colours of the houses. Each house is a different colour and you can actually chose what colour you want to paint your house. Of course, it’s your own house (explanation of Glyne). And if you’re wondering what colour Rihanna’s grandmothers house is, it’s green (Glyne pointed that out too).

And there were other fun things we did with Glyne. He drove us past an old cotton factory which was extremity lucrative in the 1600s but is now only used to export cotton to Japan. Apparently the Japanese love their “Barbadian sea island cotton” and in return the Bajans love their Toyotas. An unexpected and weird friendship but there you go.

When our tour came to an end, we decided to hit the beach, me to top up my golden tan, and Matyas to try to even out his burnt red legs that had been hanging out the back of the Safari truck and were now clashing nicely with the rest of his untanned white body. These white boys never learn.

For our last evening in Barbados we decided to go back to our favourite fish fry and stuff our faces with fish and macaroni pie in a true local fashion. Man I was gonna miss this place.