Wha' gine on? I'm in Barbados

I'm in Barbados!! Ok, so I've been here twice already and yes there are many islands in the Caribbean but dammit I like this one and its my holiday! (Just thought I'd get that off my chest ;-)

I spent some time on my own in Negril last week trying to psyche myself up for this whole lone adventurer malarkey and it was hard! Nobody told me that travelling on your own as a woman would be so stressful! Trying to actually be on your own anywhere outside your room is damn near impossible. Walking down the street, sitting in a cafe, going on the beach (no surprises there) you name the place, a man is gonna come and try his luck. The funny thing is that they actually don't care if they've just seen one man leave, they'll still try their luck, its everyone for themselves! Maybe its the Caribbean, clearly a woman cannot possibly be travelling alone in this area, what madness!!

One interesting phenomenon I've noted is how I'm being treated before people hear my accent and after. Clearly, before they hear my accent I'm a Jamaican or Barbadian no sweat. As soon as they hear my accent, I'm a tourist and either the price of anything goes up, or I get bracketed as the latest super drug trafficker in the Caribbean and have my bags searched no less than 3 times by Jamaican, Grenadian and Barbadian immigration for one 3 hour flight! Kinda sucks huh?! Fair enough, I can imagine Jamaica to Barbados is a bit of a dodgy route for certain things, but I note (and it is important to note) that of the 10 or so white tourists that I struck up conversation with and that were on my flight from Jamaica to Barbados I was the only one who got stopped and searched.

I might start up a niggle hall of shame, Morgan's Harbour Hotel still have prime place (oh, I've since realised that I'm also missing my little leather jacket that I had worn from the UK, seeing as I didn't need it, I clearly didn't realise I left it at the hotel....funny how they didn't find that either!), but Jamaican Immigration and ALL the staff of Air Jamaica are coming close second!

So, Barbados, I'm catching up with old acquantances, making new ones and checking out the bus routes around the island while I'm here. I'll try to see as much of the island as I can but don't hate me if I spend all my time at the beach! lol!