Saturday tour

Saturday was a day of varied experiences. The Forbes’ welcomed friends from Louisiana who had put to port in Bridgetown for the day. Basil had arranged for a van to take the 6 of us touring (little Nathan came along!). As we began the journey, we went past the airport. It was nice to see it from a bit of a distance for there are some attractive architectural features. I had been far to preoccupied to notice anything on the day that I arrived.

The east coast of Barbados is far more rugged in its coastline features than I had seem before. I also noted more market gardening lands with peppers, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and spinach. The earth appeared rich and loamy. I saw a few “black-bellied” goats but few other farm animals. I noted to Mary that I didn’t see very many chickens wandering around, something that was perhaps more common in other parts of the Caribbean. She explained the nearly all the chickens are now raised commercially in barns because of the health risks. A few of the “oldtimers” may still have them in the rural areas.

Our first stop at Ragged Point was the site of the abandoned East Point Lighthouse. It had been erected as one of the many that ringed the island in order to provide protection against pirates and enemy ships. Information from the lighthouses would be conveyed to Gun Hill at the height of the island through a series of flags. Because of this defense system on this small island, Barbados had a relatively quiet history and was rare compared to other islands in the West Indies in its continuous rule by the British Monarchy. I came across a similar flag relay system of defense when I visited Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada this past fall. The view of the Atlantic Ocean from this location was wonderful.

As we drove along the coast there was a notable amount of new construction of homes. Although there was a mixture of styles, many were indeed large homes; in fact, these homes are referred to as villas. Basil explained that these homes are being built by Barbadians who had left the island to work and live overseas for most of their lives. Leaving their lucrative careers and nearing retirement, the former residents are returning “home” in substantial numbers. They are building homes that would be similar in size and comforts to that which they have left behind.

Further up the coast we stopped at St. Mark’s Anglican Church located on Conset Bay. The presence of the Anglican Church is evident everywhere on this island from the names of the parishes, to the names of schools and certainly in the visual landscape with cemeteries and steeples on hills doting the countryside. This grave marker is dated 1881. In the background you can see the East Point Lighthouse. Walking about this site certainly gave me an appreciation of the ruggedness and tenacity of the first missionaries that brought the religion of the English Monarchy.

Our last stop was further north at St. John’s Anglican Church, one of the oldest on the island (1645). Judging by the number of tourist taxis and vans in the parking lot and the small scale vendors under the shade trees, it was a popular stop on the tours around the island. The inside of the church was beautiful, stately and rich in its use of mahogany woods. What was very unusual was the cemetery that spanned the area between the church building and the cliff. There were many, many family crypts – stairs leading down to a sealed door with an ornate structure on top. As you can see from this one example, the names were inscribed over time as family members “ passed over”. There was one crypt that had obviously had a fairly recent burial. What I noted was a maybe a 1 ½ ft x 1 ft hole that had been broken through on the side and resealed with cement. The hole would have been just large enough to slide the cremated remains of the deceased into the crypt. The plaque above this recent addition had the date 2005 on it.

Some crypts were not as ornate nor necessarily in such good condition. But they were all equally fascinating! The landscape was mature and added almost a park-like feel to this special cemetery at the cliff of the island. There was certainly a sense of wholeness and balance in the scene aided somewhat to my eye, by the fascinating tree that looked dead yet flowered beautifully at the ends of its branches! By the time we finished walking around and taking in the special nature of this place, the tours had all disappeared leaving me with an opportunity to speak to one of the young vendors. Making beaded, metal and leather bracelets and necklaces I guessed this man to be a Rastafajarian by his long dreadlocks. His name was Andrew and he lived in the village below the church for most of his life. He just smiled when I asked if he enjoyed or grew tired of the rhythm of the tourists coming in and out and kept working on his craft.

It was time to head home. This leg of the trip took us through the middle of the island, through old plantations, much older vegetation than I saw anywhere else on the island so far, irrigation ponds and systems, fruit trees, including grapefruit, mangoes, banana as well as larger market gardens. It was beautiful and restful on the eyes and nourishing for the spirit.

When we arrived home, the typical Bajan Saturday lunch awaited us – Pudding and Souse (see former blog). I felt like an “old hand” at eating this food and thought of my own friends and family that would likely find themselves picking through the fare in a similar fashion to Basil and Mary’s American friends. I chuckled to myself and remarked how similar people are when we go into different cultures and begin to sample their foods. After lunch, Basil took the guests back to Bridgetown for some shopping.

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent re-writing my sermon for the next morning as well as finalizing the worship service. I went to bed early for it would be a very early start for this “non-morning” person.

Thanks for visiting - come again!