A Little History, Transportation OptionsWell, after spending 3-1/2 hours with the constabulary, I have had plenty of time to ponder the question "How could you have been so dumb?" To add to my experience, the police called my old guest house and my favorite, Adrian, came down to give me some grief. After a round of "What are you doing here?" and "if someone was coming why not Caroline, you weren't even there," and a sneering kind of scolding. I said, "Look, I don't need a lecture from you and I don't think you're here to help me, so please go away." So Adrian went in the back and whispered with his cop buddies. I don't give a damn. Eventually they took me back to the Croton Inn where the proprietors graciously allowed me to eat dinner and pay for it on Monday. So I have spent the day (Sunday) holed up in my room, sitting on my balcony, wondering how I could be so dumb and preparing to pretend on Monday that I just arrived. Here's what I think about being dumb. First, I was feeling comfortable here, it seems quite prosperous and everyone says, oh, there's so little crime and tourism is so important to the country. Two, I had made it through downtown Bridgetown and to the burbs on a Friday night with no mishaps, not even a "Hey, baby, you need me to help you." Three, I had been riding in all kinds of vehicles for 2-1/2 days and they were all fine, although sometimes a little uncomfortable. Four, I (or I and another) had been given rides by strangers in Belize, Korea and Malaysia when the public transportation was late and it was hot and it seemed like a natural thing for someone to stop for me. So this time it wasn't safe. Well, I've been such a lucky traveler, I was probably due. And all it cost me was some money and some pride and some time. Still pretty lucky. But I'll be more careful and more observant in the future. So now, I'll tell you the little I've learned about Barbados so far. It's very beautiful. The rainy season was very rainy so it's still green and lush, not dusty at all and the bougainvillea and hibiscus are in full bloom. The infrastructure is in good shape, most of the streets are paved (although the existence of sidewalks is a little spotty) you can drink the water from the tap. The garbage is picked up regulary and it's quite clean and smells nice. Not like dust or decay at all, but fresh and spicy overlayed with ocean. There is music here and there from shops and clubs and bars, but it's not the constantly-blaring thing I have noticed elsewhere. Quite a few young men, not just the drunk ones, walk down the street singing. Now it's the best-developed, best-educated and richest country in the West Indies, and not just because of the super-rich who congregate here. But political equality and a reasonable standard of living were a long time coming. Barbados was colonized by the British in the mid 1600s, at which time it was essentially uninhabited because all the native Caribs had been gathered up and enslaved or killed by Spanish slave-traders. After some experimenting, the colonists settled on sugar as the way to make their fortunes. Over the next 150 years, indentured laborers from England and Scotland and slaves from West Africa were imported to work the sugar. In the early 1800s slavery was abolished, so of course, the plantation owners, just like everywhere else, stopped feeding and/or otherwise taking care of their workers, but worked them just as hard. And very few of the workers found a way out. After another 125 years of social upheaval, universal suffrage was established in 1950 and independence from Great Britain in 1976. Barabados is a member of the British Commonwealth and about 93% of the permanent population of 280,000 is black. Still, there are areas where you see more white than black faces, like the duty-free shop street in downtown Bridgetown, tourist row "The Gap", which is about halfway between Bridgetown and Oistins, and all the resort hotels. Amerinds, the original populations way back when, are nearly non-existent. Mostly what I've been doing is riding back and forth on the bus or walking up and down, so I'll tell you a bit about what I've observed. Maybe I'll have some better adventures this week. First of all, transportation is great. There are two bus systems and two kinds of taxis. The taxis that come and pick you up and take you to a specific place are pretty expensive, I guess. At least the Bajans think so. (Oh, here, I'll do the aside about the word Bajan. It is an elided contraction of Barbadian---say it really fast, b-badian---and pronounced Bay- jun, not Baa-han. Much easier to say than Barbadian.) The busses and the taxi-busses drive routes, but I gather the taxi-busses get to make their routes up. They each cost $1.50 BDS however long or short your ride. There are bus stops in some areas with bus-poles marking them and in other places the bus-pole is beside a bus shelter. For a reason I have not discovered, the shelters all have women's names—Susan, Jennifer, Vivienne, and my favorite, Esme! (I've never heard this name outside J.D. Salinger and cross-word puzzles!) There is no indication that these names are used for anything. I don't think people say, let me out at Pamela, or I'll meet you at Anne, but the wooden name signs are kept up, not faded or splintered, so it must be important to someone. Anyway, the taxi-busses are much more freuqent than the regular government bus or the sanctioned private bus. But some people don't like to take them. This is likely because you really get stuffed into them and have to get out to let people in and so forth. I don't think they drive any faster or are any more dangerous that the other busses, they all drive like the devil is after them in a Ferrari. But you also might not want to go where the bus it's sign says it is going. So almost every bus, when approaching an occupied bus stop, sounds its horn to see if you want to be picked up. If not, shake your head and maybe wave your hand "no" at chest level. If yes, arm straight out and down, patting the air by your knees, easing the bus to a stop. Of course, they never ease to a stop. But all of them can stop really quickly. (I think a brake shop must be a good business here). The regular busses have sort of regular, but quite musical horns. But the taxi busses are great and each has its own sound, sort of like cell phones. It might be a startling "beeble-beep!" or "tootle, tootle tootle, tootle" or "awheeee-sik, awheeee-sik" or "quank-quank, quank- quank." Anyway it makes for a unique Bajan background sound, one I haven't heard anywhere else. Very nice and folksy. One more thing about the traffic. If you even hover your foot over the curb at a painted cross-walk, everything screeches to a halt, even the old, old men on bicycles that you wish wouldn't. But if there's no cross-walk, you're on your own and they will courteously "beeble-beep" you before they make you jump for the side of the road. Well, time for me to be in bed, tomorrow will be a big day, trying to get money without its costing me a huge tranfer fee. Carol, the bartender here, says I should be able to get it done for 5% if I work it right. I'm going to wear a dress and try for charming. If the whole country doesn't yet know how dumb I am, it might work. I know I told everyone I didn't need any mail for just two weeks, but I do--especially if my friend Dawn can't come and spend the last week with me. |
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