Beautiful Barbados

Wednesday September 1

When we woke up, we could see that it had rained overnight but it was another nice sunny day.

Mostly another lazy day that blended into the others. Around noon I finally decided to get the bag I'd been coveting since we got here. I had looked at it 3 times when we were in Cave Shepherd before. Naturally, this time it had been sold. They did have it in another color which I didn't like nearly so much. Tom got another thirt, though!

We went swimming in out little pool for a bit, then the rains came. We got lots of pictures.

At first, I thought this might be hurricane Fiona but it turned out she was already north of us. This was Tropical Storm 9, now hurricane Gaston. This season has had more hurricanes out to sea than I can remember from any other year. There have been 4 in the 12 days we have been here. Pretty impressive! Someone on StormCarib said that it seemed like Africa was shooting us with fiery cannonballs and I think she was right.

When it it was pretty obvious that the rain wasn't letting up anytime soon, I took my shower and resumed reading inside. When the rains stopped, I went back outside to read even with the chairs being wet. Why not? I had just been in the pool and the clothes would be washed anyway.

When it got too dark to read, I got some good sunset pictures before coming in to get dressed...again.

This time I put on the new island-y dress I had bought last week for only $24 duty free. We stopped over by the big pool again to see if we could see any of the satellites or the Hubble space telescope. Several space objects were supposed to be orbiting around 6:30 but it was too cloudy to see anything.

We stopped by the little street market in the village and Tom bought some handmade shoes but wanted then in black so the shoemaker is supposed to deliver them to us on Thursday. I had never known that anyone in Barbados made handmade shoes and I never knew Tom to be interested in any. He also bought some bird made out of a coconut shell for one of his office workers. I'll reserve comment but he was sure she'd like it.

We took the coconut-shell bird back home then went back out for our main mission of the evening. Out to dinner at D'Onofrio's again. I had the same thing I had last time – chicken scallopini with lemon sauce. Tom had the veal scallopini with lemon sauce but said that it was tough so he had some of my chicken instead. The restaurant manager took the veal off the bill, even though we hadn't asked, and that was nice.

A week from today I'll have to check in at Weight Watchers and I don't think it will be good news.

Stopped by the pool again, just in case any of the satellites were late but nothing there. Maybe tomorrow!

More pictures! Click to view, as always:

Sunday, August 29 (but not posted until Tuesday!)

The sun was shining brightly through the window but it looks hazy out to sea so I'm not sure what kind of day it's going to be.

At least we know it's going to be quieter!

Last night when I went to bed I slathered on some nice-smelling lotion. This morning, while writing this, I had mosquitoes hovering all around me. I guess they were attracted to the lotion, too! Luckily, I have some Off! Towelettes here and I used those. Mosquitoes gone!

The haze seems to be lifting and it looks like its going to be a beautiful day. I can hear some waves coming in and that's unusual. Even though we're on the Atlantic side of the island, we don't usually get much wave activity here. Further north, in Bathsheba, they get good waves, good enough for surfing competitions in the “Soup Bowl”. I wonder if Earl or another hurricane is out to sea somewhere.

Just checked on http://stormcarib.com and it looks like Earl is already north of us. He's become an actual hurricane with winds of 75 mph so that could affect our waves. I guess Fiona will be next up. Hopefully not too soon! I did read that article before we came that predicted a hurricane for here on August 30 so we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Throughout the day, the waves her got stronger and I noticed that planes flying into the airport had changed from a southern approach to a northern one. Something is brewing out there.

The rest of the day was spent in the usual routine – reading/napping/being in the pool. I started on my third book since I've been here. This one is Kane and Abel, recommended by my good friend Alice.

Tom went over to Reception to get beach towels again. Our were lost in the great flooding incident. Then, he convinced someone to exchange the gift red wine for white. I still may not drink it, but there's a better chance. I don't get any headaches from white wine.

Today was a nice, relaxing day. So much better than yesterday.

Today's pictures:

Monday, August 24:

Rain! I got up about 8am and it wasn't long before there was a drenching rain. There had been families in the pool complex already and they got up to leave. I'm never sure about that. They were already wet, some playing under a waterfall but when the rain starts they leave.

After a while, the rain stopped and I took the laptop over to Reception where there's a better wifi connection. Several people were amazed that I was online since another area didn't have coverage. It rained again and people from the beach who'd come here just for that experience were trying to decide if they should leave or not. They finally took a taxi back to the west coast.

I tried to log into Facebook but couldn't since it didn't recognize my new location. I was supposed to identify a number of other members by their avatars. I can't remember all those and some people seem to change them daily. So, I was locked out for at least an hour. Maybe I'll take my phone over tomorrow and log on with that – I don't think I ever logged out.

I checked email, added some bios to http://www.cushie.info updated some other pages, checked banking records to be sure that none of the debit card thieves had gotten our card numbers yet. Downloaded Picasa to organize pictures to add to this.

The rain stopped again and I went back to 211A. Did some reading, more rain. Napped a bit, more wet you-know-what. I'm thinking that this is fallout from a hurricane that's out to sea. Next time I go online I'll check my favorite weather source for here – http://www.stormcarib.com – and see what's brewing out there. I remember reading before we came that we were supposed to get a cyclone on August 30. It hadn't even started raining yet but somehow the weather forecasters think that there will be a hurricane here on the 30th.

We've never had a hurricane here. They almost always veer to the north. I think the last one that came here was in the 1930s. One year, they thought that one would hit Barbados. We were out on a small cat (catamaran) and the owner was sure that a hurricane was coming so he took the cat to Trinidad and Tobago. Guess where the hurricane hit instead of here?

Others were pretty sure that wed get hit here, too, so housekeeping brought around emergency instructions, candles and so on. We already knew where the hurricane shelter was which was helpful. All the window shutters were closed and bolted down, the pool chairs sunk into the pool. We hunkered down and waited. We were in the historic hotel still at that time and we had the wonderful wrap-around second-floor deck. We sat out on that and so did our next-door neighbors. We watched the storm out to sea and waited.

The storm turned north for the cat's Appointment in Samarra...

I must be getting old with all these reminiscences and memories. It's sure nice to have them, though!

Tonight is the manager's welcome party but we've been welcomed in past years so we didn't go. I noticed on the invitation that the location had been changed to inside. They probably thought it might rain again. And it did.

Sunset on this coast is always amazing. It's light, light, light, dark! It seems like the whole sunset takes 15 minutes, like a shade dropping over the horizon. The moon right now is full, big and bright and in about an hour and a half a US telecom satellite will pass overhead.

It gets so dark here that we can see all kinds of constellations, which is pretty cool. We went out one time with an astronomer who brought telescopes and showed us all kinds of stuff. He had lots of information to share including that he was an alien from one of the planets he was showing us. When he invited us to the place he said he was living temporarily in Barbados, we politely declined...

It's so peaceful and relaxing here. No stress, no doctors, no deadlines to meet, no places to be and people to see. Very easy to take.

We decided to take a stroll down to the pool complex and sit there for a bit. Unfortunately, most of those chairs were still wet from the rain. We found some under a little roof that were dry enough and sat for a while enjoying the evening breeze, the stars and the tree frogs.

Back home we discovered we got the Game Show Network. Oh boy! More TV for me coming up! LOL

On Sunday, 9 August 2009, the tropical wave was located about 12.5 north and 20.6 west or about 2000 miles east of Barbados.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, 9 August 2009 - The first storm of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season could form around midweek.

The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Miami says a low pressure centre associated with a tropical wave in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean is showing signs of organisation.

This means that it is developing thunderstorms and beginning to take on the characteristics of a tropical cyclone.

"This system ... could become a tropical depression during the next couple of days as it moves westward at 10 to 15 mph," says NHC hurricane specialist Robbie Berg.

"There is a medium chance - 30 to 50 percent - of this system becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours."

On Sunday, 9 August 2009, the tropical wave was located about 12.5 north and 20.6 west or about 2000 miles east of Barbados.

Computer models are agreed that it will develop into a tropical storm and this could happen by Wednesday or Thursday.

What they radically disagree on is the track - where will it go? Long range tracking models are not reliable and forecasters will have to wait several more days until the global models can get a better fix on the system and the atmosphere around it.

If this wave does develop into a tropical storm, it will be named Ana.

From http://www.caribbean360.com/News/Caribbean/Stories/2009/08/09/NEWS0000008409.html

Tom worked some, of course, I updated my blog and that's about it for "work". 

I haven't checked my email today but as of last night, I had 10 Cushing's bios to format and a couple helpful doctors to add.  There are also several unread PMs on the board to read and answer.  Maybe I'll get to those today.  Maybe not!

I finished up my second book, Silent in the Grave, by Deanna Raybourn and I've started Careless in Red by Elizabeth George.  Both these books are on my Kindle and bringing books this way has really saved me weight in my suitcase.  Usually I bring about 3-4 books.  This time, I just brought the first book I read (In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner by Elizabeth George) as a physical book and the rest electronically.

I usually find a book here in the library that I like and exchange the ones I brought from home.  Oftentimes I'll find a book here from the UK or elsewhere that I wouldn't see at home.  I got started reading the Anne Perry series of books about a Victorian policeman and his family (Thomas and Charlotte Pitt) because I started one here.  I found those fascinating and I've read all them to date.  I learned a lot about Victorian manners and habits through and you could see the changes in the police department  - the addition of phones, first just at the station, then in homes.  Then the debate about carrying guns.  The criminals had them, should we police carry them?  It was also interesting to see the differences in the classes.  Things that the upper class must, and not must not, do according to social dictations.

The Victorian mysteries are continuing after Silent in the Grave.  I'll definitely read more of this series.  Even though the characters are from a long time ago, they seem so real and their issues not much different from today.  The main character is someone I would definitely like and I love the writing style!

Raybourn was a new author to me so I only invested in this one of her books but there will be more when I get home. 

Tiding me over for the moment is the Careless in Red.  This is only the third of George's books that I've read but I'm enjoying those, too.

So many books, so little time!  I'm glad yesterday was a do-nothing day.  I love sitting outside over the ocean and just quietly reading.  That's a vacation!

In the afternoon, Tom finished his work for the day and we went over to the actual Crane beach.  They have a glass elevator to the sea now and we took that down.  We actually put our toes in the Atlantic Ocean!  Then, we sat on beach chairs for a while and decided that maybe today we'll take bathing suits and go in. 

I don't remember when the last time was that I went into the ocean here.  When we go out on the catamarans, that's the Caribbean.  This side is the Atlantic.  Big difference in temperature and roughness of the water, especially with hurricanes out there somewhere.

And that was pretty much our day.  We called Michael at night to see how his first day on his new job went but, like his dad, he was still working when we called.  Workaholics!

This afternoon looks like more of the same with maybe that trip to the beach.  We haven't even been to any of the big pools yet, although we did walk around them one night.  But, there are 3 days left to do all this, right?

Tonight is the Bajan Roots and Rhythms show at the Plantation and I'll report on that tomorrow.  We've seen the show once before and it was pretty good - bears another look.

Whether it was the pounding rain or the nagging reminder that I hadn't yet written the post about the races, I woke up very early this morning.  I guess the rain was a part of one of the hurricanes that are out at sea somewhere - Hanna or Ike.  Gustav had already been past Cuba and headed towards New Orleans.  Maybe it was just rain.

Anyway, I woke up early and wrote my last blog entry.  When I went online to upload it, I found that  my hacked site and my 2 sites with the error messages were back up thanks to the hosting company.  WooHoo!  That takes a lot off my mind.

Today is Island Safari day.  Island Safari is one of two 4x4 jeep Land Rover companies that takes people on off-road tours of the island.  The other company is Adventureland.  As we later found out, Island Safari bought out Adventureland recently, anyway!

My (Our?) favorite is the Island Safari because I like the places it goes better.  The IS goes to more coastal places while Adventureland seems to go for inland places.  In the past on Adventureland we have gone to Chalky Mount into a potter's studio (stuff was for sale, of course), Welchman Gully (rain forest), St. John's Parish Church (a nice, old, parish church on a cliff but too many souvenir hawkers in the parking lot), Mt. Hillaby (the highest point on the island), Hackleton's Cliff (Hackleton wanted to commit suicide so he and his horse went off this cliff.  It is not known if the horse had wanted to commit suicide), and Bathsheba for lunch.

Ian, our driver, picked us up at 7:50AM.  Although the "official" trip hadn't started yet, he gave us a running commentary of everything we were seeing on the say to pick up people from two other locations.  5 of the other people were other "O'Connors" from Wales.  So, the O'Connors had the non-O'Connors outnumbered 7 to 4.

Ian told us all about chattal houses, various types of plants and much more as we headed to our convoy meeting place, the lion at Gun Hill Signal Station.  This signal station was restored by the Barbados National Trust and has military memorabilia and great views.  The lion was carved out of a single piece of rock in 1868 by a British Army Officer serving on Barbados. The lion has a large globe under it's paw, signifying England's world domination.

The others in the convoy were there already and had seen the lion and were just waiting for us.  We had to exchange vehicles (Scooby-Doo for Garfield) because the Scooby was too low on gas.  After getting our new vehicle, we took off to join the others.

Through the sugar cane fields, past crops of yams and eddoes, past the still-working Andrews Sugar Factory, through mud and ruts, the Land Rover took us all over.  Sugar used to be a very important crop here and it was used in another important crop - rum.  Now the main industry here is tourism but you can still see lots of sugar growing around the island.  It's a rotational crop and they rotate that with the eddoes, yams, pumpkins, cassavas, peanuts and other ground crops.

 

We went past an interesting cliff that has been painted on over the years.  Part of the outcroppings suggest a lion, so a lion was painted there and other areas features highlights of Barbados.  Here's a painting of our jeep and it's headed towards Bathsheba according to the caption.

 

 

 

This section of a bridge is over a gully - a collapsed portion of an old cave.  When this would happen, rainwater would leak in or be funneled in from the streets and birds would drop seeds in making a new forest or rain forest. 

This bridge is particularly interesting.  When they made it a couple centuries ago they ran out of building materials so they used what they had on hand - molasses, eggs and eggshells.  And it still holds up to this day amazingly well.

 

Our next stop was on a high cliff overlooking Bath.  It's hard to tell from this picture how high the cliff was but we had several warnings not to get to close to the edge - No Way!

I suspect that this cliff is part of the cliff that Hackleton and his horse leaped off.

 

 

 

 

Here are all the Land Rovers lined up ready for our next adventure.  They all have the names of cartoon characters and the jungle stripes are different colors.

The sides are plastic and roll down in case of rain, as we'll have a chance to discover a little later.  This reminds me of "The Surry With The Fringe On Top" from the musical, Oklahoma:

"...and isinglass windows that'll roll right down, in case there's a change in the weather..."

 

Looking over the banana trees into Bathsheba.  This was taken from a solid - I hope! - bridge.  To the right is one of many types of palms found on Barbados.

There are also several types of bananas, including plantains.  The smaller, green ones are called "fig" bananas and they're cooked green and mashed up and used for their large iron content with pregnant women or people with anemia.

Banana plants are often used here to help prevent soil erosion.  Also used to help prevent erosion are gabions.  These are rectangular wire baskets filled with small rocks and strategically placed so that water can flow through easily but the soil is held behind.  These gabions can often be seen near bridges.

Bathsheba and one of its curiously eroded rocks in the ocean.  These are being eroded away from underneath as the tides come and go.

Bathsheba is a beautiful little seaside town.  Although it is too rough here to swim here on the Atlantic side, surfers practice and hold competitions here.  This surf area is also known as the "Soup Bowl".

Also here is Andromeda Gardens.  Although on this trip we didn't stop here, we've been there before.  The Gardens were founded over 50 years ago by horticulturist Iris (great name for a horticulturist!) Bannochie.  There are 650 plant species there from all over.  It's an absolutely beautiful, peaceful 6.5 acres of plant heaven.  There are naturally-growing orchids, palms, flowering trees, lily ponds...and animals such as green monkeys, birds, lizards and fish.  It's a fantastic way to spend an afternoon.

Bathsheba is also a place to pick up lovely beaded jewelry and island crafts.  Here Tom is looking for a new band to replace the last one he got here.

The last time I got one was the year that Sue was with us.  We all three had them and when mine finally broke Tom fixed it a few times.  The last time mine broke and became unfixable I decided not to get any more, at least not for awhile. For me, the bracelet was a reminder of Sue (like Cocomos, in an earlier post) and when that broke, it was like a little part of Sue's memory leaving me.

And here come the rain!  We didn't roll down the curtains, at least for a while.  The rain felt good and cool on my face while riding along.

When we finally put the plastic curtains down they didn't help all that much - rain dripped off the corner of mine and into my molded plastic seat making my human seat soaking wet.

We stopped taking pictures because we didn't want to get the camera wet but we probably have some from a previous year that I can insert into here when we get home.

From Bathsheba we headed north on the Ermy Bourne Highway past Cattlewash (where they used to, well, wash cattle)  Most cattle on the island is for dairy only.  Most people here eat chicken or fish. 

After that, past Barclay Park, a popular area for locals to take a picnic or relax for an afternoon.  There used to be a railroad coming up to this point but it stopped service in the 1930's.

Further along was the side of the cliff that they call the Sleeping Giant.  When looked at it from the right angle, I could see how it got its name. 

At some point, we went through Joe's River Forest.  This Tropical Rain Forest consists of 85 acres of woodlands situated in the parish of St. Joseph. With the imposing Hackleton's Cliff on one side and the picturesque Atlantic Ocean on the other, this site is a nature-lover's paradise!

Here we saw fiscus, white woods, cabbage palms, mahogany trees (used for high-end furniture and boats, and the bearded fig trees for which Barbados was named by the Portuguese.  We also saw massive termite nests on some of the trees.

We went past the Morgan Lewis Mill, the last complete windmill on the island.  Originally there were 530 windmills, used in sugar production but the others have all fallen into disrepair due to changes in the sugar refining process.  The Morgan Lewis is kept in good running order now as a historical landmark and it's operated on certain occasions and for school tours.

Then up to Pico Teneriffe.  From this point, the next point of land is Teneriffe in the Canary Islands.  This is a very interesting part of a cliffy-beach with waves coming up through breaks in the rock as huge water spouts.

The rain let us and we could roll the curtains back up, thank goodness!  Without the breeze, it was getting kind of muggy.  But the good stuff was finished.  We headed across the island to Six Men's Bay, down past the ritzy condos of Port St. Charles, through Speightstown, past Mullen's Bay, and into Holetown for lunch.

We had a nice lunch, similar to the one I described last week in the Cool Runnings post but with the addition of macaroni pie, in a very nice outdoor restaurant attached to the Sandridge Hotel.  Unfortunately, this hotel is doomed to be torn down soon, to become the parking lot for the hotel going up next door.

After lunch it started raining a bit again and we were going fast on the ABC highway and the rain hurt.  It almost felt like hail but I knew that couldn't be.

Finally, back to the Crane and some dry clothes!  What a great day, even with the rain.  I like seeing the various sights and hearing the local guides describe his/her island but what I like most is the ride, the jouncing up and down through the fields, over cliffs, into forests, though mud.

Ever since I posted the article I'd found on Nidhe Israel Museum, I knew I wanted to visit.  I've always known that one of the earliest-ever synagogues in the western hemisphere was here but I didn't know where it was in Bridgetown, or how to get there.

Then I found out that a local department store had a shuttle to Bridgetown for shopping and I figured we could take that, shop a little, then find the museum and synagogue.  I am not a big fan of Bridgetown.  The very first year we were here a drunks/doped up man put his arm around our son and started talking to him.  Ever since that situation, I've been uncomfortable there.  The parking is also a nightmare as are the narrow one-way streets.  So, when we've wanted something, we've always shopped at a mall on the coast.

We got on the bus at 8:45 am and headed to Bridgetown.  As is usual with these shuttles, we picked up people at 2 or 3 other hotels in Worthing and Hastings before we landed in front of National Heroes Square.   This square used to be called Trafalgar Square until 1999 and has a statue of Lord Horatio Nelson in it.  This statue was erected 30 years before the one in London.  Nelson had sailed to Barbados in 1805. The new memorial, for which the National Heroes Square was named, commemorates Barbadians killed in the two World Wars.

We headed over to Cave Shepherd and bought a few items.  The, off to the synagogue and museum.  Along the way, I was accosted by someone, presumably not the same person who was interested in our son.  He asked for money for "soup" before he was sent on his way.

The Bridgetown Synagogue was just lovely.  It dates back to 1654.  At that time there was a Jewish population of 300 here.  They had left South America and were allowed to settle here.  The synagogue was destroyed by a hurricane in 1831 and rebuilt in 1837.  Today, the original sand floor has been replaced with tiles but the rest has been kept as it was.

The parking lot is being dug up as part of an archeological project of the University of the West Indies.  There were three men working today and we talked extensively with one of them.  (pictures to be posted later!)  So far, they have uncovered the foundation of a rabbi's house, the foundations of other buildings, pottery and artifacts from the Arawak and Carib Indians.  Many of the artifacts are located now in the museum.

The Nidhe Israel (Scattered of Israel) Museum is located in the middle of the synagogue's cemetery.  Many of the inscriptions from the tombs are along the walls along with translations.  We got a partial, very helpful tour from Celso Brewster, the museum's manager.  He explained a lot of the history of the Jewish people before and after they got to Barbados.  We learned a little about the Jewish Diaspora; exodus from Spain and Portugal during the inquisition in 1492.

The Dutch were a major naval power then and were colonizing Brazil.  Many Jews volunteered to settle in Reclife, Brazil, and they learned about sugar there.  Harvesting, marketing, building sugar mills.  They brought all these skills to Barbados when they fled Reclife in 1591.

By 1948 there were only 70 Jewish people still on Barbados and by 1925 only one.  The Nidhe Israel Synagogue was deconsecrated and sold.  In 1931, Askenazi Jews migrated to Barbados from Poland.  Moses Altman and his son, Paul, were among these and they rescued the synagogue from demolition in 1989.

Restoration is still going on and I'm sure much about Barbados will be learned from the archeological findings.

The museum shows the sugar trail, and how spices were traded, the history of the Jewish people before and after they arrived in Barbados and much more.  Embedded in sand and covered with glass are many of the artifacts dug up outside.  These make up much of the floor and it feels a little weird to walk over them.

There were spice exhibits where we got to smell them and guess what they were.  There was an interactive display that showed how much time you'd have to work for various products.  30 days for a pound of saffron!  Wow!

We went back to our bus meeting place and Tom ran into that same guy from this morning.  He actually apologized for hassling us!

Back home and naptime!