Last night I went down to the South Coast for dinner with some new acquaintances. It was a fun time and I am happy I went, but getting there was an absolute pain. According to my friend Sunera, the bus to Oistins on the South Coast leaves from Speightstown, which is directly north of where I live in Prospect, every hour on the hour. Therefore, the bus should make it to Prospect at roughly 15 minutes after the hour. Knowing this, I left my apartment at 5pm to try and catch the 5:15 bus. It never came. I waited for an entire hour for a bus to come, finally grabbing one at 6:02 which put me into the South Coast at roughly 6:50ish. Luckily there was a guy waiting for the same bus as I was at the bus stop, so we were able to chat to pass the time. Once again, transport here failed to deliver. I find myself wanting a car more and more every day. It's a shame they are so damn expensive!
Once in the South Coast, we went to a place called Carib Beach Bar, which has good food but is pretty expensive. My Thai Curry with Shrimp only had five shrimp and cost $22.50 U.S. The highlight of the meal foodwise was getting to try Carib beer (brewed in Trinidad and Tobago), which is pretty good and only cost $3 for a 9.75oz bottle. The best part of the whole experience though was getting to meet a bunch of new people, including two former Fulbrighters, an intern at the U.S. Embassy, and one current member of the Barbadian Defense Force. We had some great conversations and I'm looking forward to getting together again.
At the end of the meal I was taken back to one of the Fulbrighter's apartment where I was bequeathed a printer and a host of other goodies that she did not need anymore. To top it all off, I was then driven back to my apartment, which I really appreciate since it was my first time out at night and I otherwise would have had to take a huge box of stuff on to the bus, which does not sound fun given how crowded they always are.
One other thing of note: the South Coast is much more developed than the area in which I live. There's much more activity and many more things to do down there, which makes me quite jealous. That said, once school starts I know I will be happy to be living within walking distance of the University. Still, I've been kind of disappointed by the lack of activity around the school. One would assume that the area around a major University would be hopping, but in Barbados, it's not.
Today is going to be a quiet day. I am going to run to the grocery store in a couple minutes to pick up some things (hopefully including a new trash can as the one in my apartment is the stickiest thing I've touched next to maple syrup) and then come home and plan my activities for tomorrow. Joseph, who was at the dinner last night and was the kind person who drove me home, has offered to take me to a Costco-like store to stock up on items if I need to or to just hang out in general. I learned last night that St. Nicholas Abbey, which produces the most amazing rum I've ever tasted, is here on Barbados! (http://www.stnicholasabbey.com/) I am going to try convincing Joe to go there.
Enjoy the weekend everybody!
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