Monday 16th October
On the buses 1
We gather that the bus service around the island is excellent and extremely cheap, each journey is $2 where ever you go and no matter how far it is. So we put it to the test. I fancy visiting St Nicholas Abbey today it is right at the top of the island on the Atlantic side, i.e the furthest away, on the opposite side to where we are. Finding the main bus station is the easy part, but as luck would have it, we want the other bus depot, on the other side of town. And then again that won’t be so straight forward. The bus will only take you so far, and then you will need to walk for a good half hour. I like the way the lady is explaining all this. It really does sound like a major adventure. So off we trot in search of the other bus depot. The streets are much busier this Monday morning, everyone is rushing around, many cars and a few traffic jam. At the station we are given 2 options of buses the one to Indian River or BoscoBelle, whichever comes first. We wait for a bit but then it transpire that neither of these will not depart for another 2 hours, so we take the Speightown’s direct, that’s very close and take it from there. These buses are out of the city bus, stopping at scheduled stops, which all have a name, a girl’s name. Lisa, Sharon. Tracey, Tasha and other more or less exotic names greet you in more and more exotic places. The road follows the coast going north but you can’t see the sea. Nearly all the way all you see is the entrances of hotels on both side of the road. The passengers on the bus are obviously going to work and the numbers thin down by the time we reach Holetown. Hanging out of the window, I watch the nice posh place on the sea side of the road and the not so nice but colourful one on the other side. And then I am transported in a third dimension.... Cartier appears, in a building as prestigious as any in the centre of London and Paris, then Ralph Lauren and Michael Korrs, also housed in huge beautiful buildings, just there by the side of t the road. We also pass a mall or two, very obviously high end... It is all very weird.
Speightown bus station is quite busy. The cleaner lady is very knowledgeable about routes and time table. She directs us to the right gate and informs us we will have a little wait. When she learns where we are going, she tutts, not a very good walk, a bit isolated and dangerous, she says. An English lady comes and has a chat. She has been leaving here for over 10 years and is now in the process to relocate back to Devon, Selling her 2 properties has been difficult and she is bemoaning ht fact that Barbados is not as good as it use to be. Crime is on the up and the economy is a bit of a shambles. The bus finally turns up and leaving her mop, the lady escorts us to the right gate. The scenery changes, it is all farmland, sugar canes fields and small quiet villages now. We see a few remnants of old plantation with their windmills and buildings in ruins. The bus obviously service small communities out of the way, and then turns around to go back to the main road. It is now midday and we are being set out of the bus in front of Robert’s bar, deserted at this time of the day. The walk along the road is not bad, there are plenty of habitations and it does not feel that isolated. The sugar canes are back, so is the rain. And then out of nowhere, the chime of an ice cream van, I look at Ian, to make sure that I am not dreaming and he laughs, it is for real. Rounding the next bend there it is blaring out its little tune and going quite fast too. The young man at the back waves as the van speeds past us in a shower of spray.
