Tales of a Grocery Trip

Earlier today (obviously since its 3:47am here!) I went grocery shopping.  It is becoming my habit to go shopping, do laundry, clean the apartment, etc on Friday since being "domestic" is a nice way to start the weekend; you're not doing homework but you still feel like you're accomplishing something important.  Anyway, to get to the grocery store in Holetown, which is the one with a large selection of US/UK products, I take whichever bus comes first to my stop.  Today it was a yellow "rasta" bus and my experience reminded me of something I had been meaning to post about but forgot.  One of the distinctive features of the rasta buses is the loud, "gangsta" music they blast out their speakers.  Oftentimes this takes the form of some ridiculous rap song objectifying women in the most absurd way while the radio host/mixer/dj YELLS out (incomprehensible) commentary over it.  Imagine it like this: boom boom boom thump tump tump "yo yo yo baby come shake your fine ass baby" {YA HEAR MEH WOMON COME SHAKE EIT! THATS RIGHT YUH LIKE EIT!} boom boom boooom thump thump {HEY, ANY MON WIT MORE DAN FIVE DOLLUHS IN HEEZ POCKET RAISE UR HOND!}.  Its insane.  There's more commentary than music.  First, you can't make out what anyone is really saying - they could be speaking in tongues for all you know.  Second, its hard to imagine ANYONE cares what this person is yelling out on top of the song.  Who the hell is going to let everyone know they have more than $5 on them by raising his hands?! That's going to invite unwanted attention. Third, it's really hard to understand why this is the way things are because NOT A SINGLE PERSON on the bus is singing along, nodding his head, tapping his feet, or showing any other type of expression that would indicate enjoyment.  Most people are just staring off into the distance.  Clearly it must be a popular type of music or else it wouldn't be produced, but still, the whole experience is just bizarre.

The other interesting thing that happened to me today was that I was told, flat out, that I had been getting scammed by the taxi drivers at the grocery store.  This didn't really come as a surprise to me since I have long suspected that $20 to go 4km is insane no matter what country you're in, but I doubt I would have done anything about it without getting this feeling confirmed by a local.  I was told this by a random nice guy sitting at the grocery store shuttle pick up spot (the store runs a free shuttle to bring people and their bags back to their homes, but it's a hit-or-miss affair since it can come in 10 minutes or 2 hours).  I decided to give the shuttle a try this time since I had a good feeling that it wouldn't be too long of a wait and since I had no frozen food that needed to get home immediately.  Thankfully the shuttle arrived in 25 minutes and I was dropped off outside my apartment for FREE!  WEEEE!  So now I know that next time I have to take a cab from the grocery store I tell the driver "The last guy charged me $15" and refuse to pay a cent more.  To be honest it is upsetting to think I've been getting taken advantage of because I am white/perceived as a tourist, but I know it's just small taste of what non-whites have had to put up with for centuries.  That said, its still a lot of money I'm losing and it's going to stop NOW!

So those were the exciting parts of my day.  Tomorrow I am going to do work in the day so that I can hopefully go to a party at night, which is being held outdoors in the national cricket stadium.  It sounds like a really neat event and I hope my friends decide to go so that I can tag along.  Also, on Sunday a bunch of us are planning to go to the beach for a swim/walk.  It looks like I will finally get to break out the new snorkeling gear! *knocks on wood*  I'm looking forward to these excursions because I've set the grueling, hellish goal of finishing another paper and presentation by next Monday.  No rest for the weary!

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!  All the best from Barbados.