Bye Boston, hi Barbados!

Yesterday at 4:30am, I said goodbye to my mom at the gates of Terminal C at Logan Airport, and joined the surprisingly large crowd of early-morning travelers filing through security. Around 1:00pm, I landed at Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) in Barbados.

Rihanna welcomes you!

I took a taxi from the airport in the Southeast of the island, past the capitol (Bridgetown), and to my accommodations in Cave Hill, Saint Michael Parish. Unpacking my things took about 3 minutes (two backpacks, no checked bag), so after a moment of indecision I decided to ride the wave of adrenaline and venture out.

Passing by a neighbors house, I was invited into a backyard party to share in some delicious fried chicken and macaroni pie. After sitting and chatting for a while, I made my way to the grocery store down the hill. Food is rather expensive here, and while I shopped it drove home the generosity of the meal I just received. Most everything is imported and taxed on arrival, driving up the prices.

Though I have only seen a small snippet of it, Barbados is a truly beautiful place. The houses are mostly made of concrete, painted bright colors and embedded in the hills. It is hot, ~80 at night and 85 during the day. It will be blazingly sunny, and then out of the blue a torrential downpour will whip through, carried on the winds that have been blowing consistently since I got here. Honestly, the heat makes me a little panicky during the afternoons and I have to seek shelter and lay very still under my ceiling fan. Hopefully I will adapt!

Monday and Tuesday are the end of Crop Over, Barbados' carnival celebrating the end of the sugarcane harvest. I have been advised that nothing will be open, nobody will be reading emails, and the whole island will be on holiday. Cheers!