Wednesday, November 23, 2011

A day in Barbados

We are truly baked by two straight days on beaches, and decided we needed a break from the sun today. So we walked to the north-bound bus terminal and took a public bus to Speightstown, wanting to check out the beaches north of Bridgetown. The ride to Speightstown was easy and comfortable; on the return, we were in the midst of several schools of kids just done for the day. We were crammed in this bus with at least 75 uniformed school kids- uniforms of all different colors but usually with ties for both boys and girls, and epaulets for the boys. These were obviously high schoolers; we saw lots of moms walking little ones similarly dressed from local elementary schools. Traffic ground to a near halt, and this, coupled with the frequent stops, made the return trip an hour long.
And this is traveling just part of one coast of a small island.
The first photo is from a sign outside a little shack/shop by the Speightstown bus terminal. So many things on Barbados are sold in open stands on the roadside. The variety and dissimilarity of items sold is amazing. Today I saw a Scrabble game, fresh produce and children's jelly shoes in one stand about 4'x8'. It's quite a different world.
But say what you will about Barbados retailers, this island has amazing bus terminals. This is the Speightstown terminal; the main Bridgetown terminal is even larger.