Beautiful Barbados...

After a 2 hour delay (found out when reaching Pearson) finally made it to Barbados - coming in over the island I could see the lovely turquoise water. We were picked up at the airport by one R. C. or Richard Daniel of Neptune Tours gave us the spiel and had a great sense of humour - his brother is a vegetarian. This boardwalk is across the street from the pink palace as I like to call it - or Santa Neta Apartments - operated by the lovely Sandie who has another property nearby called Rosebank - also pink...a charming place and very conveniently located. I would highly recommend staying here - there is even a "pet" bird - well, he does like the cereal and ginger cookie bits I gave him - I'll post a photo of him/her later Now ensconced in the Pink Palace, but off to the See-U and Bathsheba on the East Coast. The south coast has been great though - the Hastings has lots of restaurants and shops. R.C. pointed out Big John's (a fast food spot - that is very close and yummy roti) also the Ackee Tree - again yummy roti, had a lovely dinner at Aspara - Indian food...hmmmm....can you tell I like curry? I am in heaven as I loooove roti! Thank you again to the Vegan Caribbean blog - invaluable.... Also, the Tri-Mart grocery about 20 minutes walk away has good selection - great mangoes and soy milk, cereal, etc. etc. Also had a meal at Eve's Garden - an impromptu veg meal - peas and rice, steamed veggies and salad - yesterday was Errol Barrow day, a national holiday, Eve's fortunately was open as a few places were closed - he is the first prime minister of Barbados. Thank goodness we checked out Bridgetown on Wednesday then - ate lunch at Jenns' - a health food store and restaurant - beans and rice and greens and a mango smoothie. Shouldn't have tried to walk out to Mount Gay Rum in my Payless Shoes though....still have blisters today....though the rum and tour was worth it - it's great stuff - got some Extra Old. Got a cab back to Hastings which was more sensible although the bus ride in was fine too at $1.50 - we were told to take blue and yellow or yellow and blue buses - though the numerous red and white vans looked fine too. Something I have noticed Barbados drivers are very polite, honking to alert pedestrians on narrow sidewalks! As for the ocean and beaches - I am proud to say I have been in the Caribbean a couple of times - wave jumping and swimming a little at Accra/Rockley Beach - which has a nice little shopping mall across the street as well as vendors next to the beach - I got a red sundress there...and there was a man selling coconuts - but I missed him....wonder if he put de lime in de coconut as the old tunes goes....one last beach visit tomorrow morning as I understand the water and current is too rough for swimming on the East Coast. Quayside Mall or Centre perhaps has a nice little Best of Barbados store and a Barbados version of Starbucks....Caffe Italia as well as a nice little gourmet food store - where you can get chocolate, jams, snacks etc. There is also a convenience store in the mall. Closer to our place, next to Opa is the Dolce Gelato - I enjoyed rum/raisin and vanilla soy ice cream amidst the chirping of what I call the French alarm frogs - they sound like emergency vehicles in French films...

Ginger beer - Drabbie's - Scottish and sooo good. Between that and the excellent rum, I see how easy it could be to fall into the all inclusive trap. There are a few vacant properties in the area - upscale veg restaurant anyone? Veg B and B?

Today was also a ride on a sub - Atlantis subs, "under the sea, under the sea"....I will post more photos in the days that come....