surfs up

As my last weekend in Barbados loomed before me, I knew I needed to make the most of it. So I called up Boosy for a last minute surf lesson. I had a great time! Christian is an amazing instructor and such an easy guy to hang out with. He mounted his go-pro on my board and sent me some of the footage. I mess around with it in iMovie and created my first video!! I am also in love with this song (and Coldplay's whole album actually)

That's all for now. I'm leaving tomorrow which means copious amounts of packing, attempting to finish half a bottle of rum and all the food in my fridge, and soaking up as many rays as I can.

See you soon Canada!

ten weeks

Was this actually ten weeks ago?

It's so surreal. I can't believe it was ten weeks ago that dad dropped me off at the airport. We sipped our Starbucks (while dad complained about said Starbucks) and took selfies. I was pale, my hair was done, I was wearing glasses, a long sleeve shirt, and my nails were painted. All things that have changed in a mere ten weeks. I have gotten a tan (a rather good one I think, without looking like leather). I rarely do anything more than braid my unruly locks. Wearing contacts has become a daily routine so I can pop my sunglasses on without being blind. The only time I wore something long sleeve was in the office with the AC blasting, only to be stripped off as soon as I stepped outside. My nails have been colourless for the past 8 weeks or so, a true feat for those who know of my polish obsession (strangely, I haven't missed it and my nails are healthier, hooray!)

Tonight while I thought about everything that has changed while I've been here I decided to go back and read all my blog posts. There aren't many so it didn't take that long. Going back to those first posts when I was getting ready to leave and arriving in Barbados, it all seems so long ago but at the same time it feels like yesterday. I know that makes no sense. Anyways, it was nice to look back at everything I managed to accomplish while I was here. And I've been really happy to have a place to document my journey and share my photos.

But lately, I've been thinking about how many photos I've taken. I have a pretty large file on my external hard-drive. I got sad thinking about that file and its likely destiny of staying on my hard-drive for years to come, forgotten in all its beauty. The woes of the digital era. So I started looking into some book printing sites and I'm so excited to start the process of sorting through my favourites and laying out a book. But for now I'm just enjoying my lazy Saturday after a morning of surfing and an afternoon of aching (no one tells you how much you hurt after surfing!)

sharks and pirates

We had our driver drop us off after our island tour at the Shark Hole. It's a little known beach that is sheltered by a reef and creates the perfect private swimming hole. Contrary to the name, there are no sharks here, which we are thankful for. It is such an amazing hidden treasure.

After drying off in the sun we decided to make our way towards Sam Lord's Castle. I'll be honest, I really had no idea where it was, but luckily we passed a lime (people hanging out) and they pointed us on our way. One of the guys actually gave us a bit of a tour of the grounds.

According to legends, Sam Lord, a buccaneer, would hang lights in the tall coconut trees on his property to trick incoming ships into thinking it was the port.  They would wreck their ships on the reefs just off shore and Sam would plunder the ships.  He made his fortune and built an amazing mansion. The mansion was eventually turned into a hotel and resort. After some financial issues, the castle sat empty and was bought by CLICO. They claimed they would restore it to its original glory, however it sat empty for many more years and ended up being burnt (almost) to the ground in 2010.

And now it looks like this ...

 

The castle is perched behind this pretty little beach which I'm sure would have been dotted with umbrellas and sun chairs back in the day. Now it's a pretty quiet beach that the locals try to hide from tourists.

It was hauntingly beautiful. I'm sure Sam would be sad to see his home in this condition.

Steph and I caught the bus back into town, only stopping to find pudding and souse along the way. We had another early wake up call Sunday and were pretty toast (literally for Steph) from a day in the sun so we had dinner at home and hit the hay early.

island tour number three

Steph and I spent the whole week deciding what we wanted to do with our limited days together. Since I worked during the day, we really only had two full days to work with. We went back and forth between a few options (including Harrison's Cave, surfing lessons, and a Mount Gay rum tour) but finally settled on an island tour. Once we landed on that, we needed to decide which tour company to use, which tour to choose, how much to spend ... Finally, we chose Sun Tours Picture Perfect Tour. We weren't totally sold on the coach bus tour, but this tour covered a lot of the island for a decent price (and it included lunch and rum punch, very important).

Saturday morning, while we are watching for the bus to pull up, a gentleman knocks on our door. How did we miss the big yellow bus drive by? Turns out, we were the only ones to sign up for the tour that day so we had our own private driver. Score!

I won't bore you with too many details but our tour stops included: Cherry Tree Hill, Chalky Mount Pottery, Morgan Lewis Windmill, Bathsheba, Bath Beach, St John's Parish Church, Ragged Point Lighthouse and Bottom Bay. Now, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The potter at Chalky Mount did a little demonstration for us. All of the clay is from the east coast of Barbados. As much as I would have loved to buy some of his work, I think my baggage is already going to tip the scales.

We had a lovely little picnic (the picnic basket definitely made it!) We had fish and cheese cutters, bananas, coconut bread (to die for), and lots of rum punch!

I may or may not be a cat whisperer (or a crazy cat lady, but I like the first option better). These guys were begging from all the people having beach side picnics.

Clothing malfunctions all day long. You would think that by island tour number three I would know how windy the coast is and wear a shirt that doesn't have a mind of its own. At least I remembered to do my hair up so I didn't end up with dread-locks.

Please excuse the poorly painted naked lady graffitti.

I must say, Bottom Bay is defintely the most beautiful beach in Barbados.

We bought a coconut off of some guys on the beach. They hacked it open for us and we went to frolic in the ocean. The coconut water would have been way better if it was cold, but unfortunately, there was no room for ice ... 

And then this happened. 

Before we left, we had the coconut guys crack open our nut so we could eat the flesh. Much better than the water.

Our day didn't end here, but our tour did. We went on a little adventure on our own after getting dropped off in the middle of no where. That post is soon to come (well maybe not that soon because I'm leaving the country for a couple days, oh the suspense!)