Barbados: Day 3

3/11/2025

Monday, March 10, 2025: Whew, I took my first picture of the day at 8:07 a.m. We didn't sleep the morning away. Today is Larry's birthday and he's been reading through birthday texts and emails all morning. One of his friends texted him before I was even awake enough to remember it's his birthday! :-)

We've settled into a morning routine; sitting on the terrace with coffee eating a very light breakfast (Raisin toast, pineapple, and an orange) spread out over a couple of hours. Larry reads while I write and we watch the waves. It's breathtaking. Around 11:00, we're ready to move around. We're not fast movers in the morning when we don't have to work.

I love birds and I've noticed a couple here. This morning, they made themselves known. A morning dove attempted to perch on top of the exterior wall sconce light next to one of the terrace doors and she's unhappy that we're sitting too close. Then, two black birds came to the railing while a small finch-looking bird flew inside the villa and quickly back out as if he was scoping things out. It seemed like a set-up and that they were working together. The finch came back out and then go to the door and wait. I'd get up and shoo him off. He went around the terrace to the other set of doors and went inside there. He'd go to a chair or table and I'd chase him out. Then he'd make his way closer and closer to the kitchen. This chase game continued for awhile and then he flew out and away.

Once we were dressed and ready to go out, we walked to the office to ask about going to a grocery store. Rodney, the taxi driver who picked us up at the airport just arrived to pick up a paper from the office that has the name of another guest's name on it. Their flight is arriving at 2:30 and he's on his way to the airport to get them. It worked out perfectly that he could drop us off in Oistins on his way. As he made his way around the roads, Larry and I looked at each other in relief and confirmed we made the right decision to not rent a car. It was much less stressful to depend on the locals who know to watch for every bump, pothole, or ditch. He dropped us off directly in front of Surfer's Cafe and recommended we have lunch there before going to the grocery store that was located across the street. He said to give his card to a supervisor in the store when we were finished shopping and they will call him to pick us up.

Surfer's Cafe is right on the edge of the water with a beautiful beach; however, they don't have any outdoor seating. We sat inside with a view of the beach. We ate the most amazing tacos! They were called Shark Bite Tacos. Larry ordered his with grilled shrimp and I chose grilled fish so we could share. They both had guacamole and Greek Yogurt, diced tomatoes, and cilantro infused cabbage. Absolutely delicious!!!! I'll look for a recipe for the Greek Yogurt/guacamole combination when we get home. It was better than sour cream which says a lot coming from someone (me), who can eat sour cream by the spoonful. :-)

After lunch, we happily walked along the pristine beach as far as we could. It's bigger than the beach at our villa but still not very big. We found a rock in the shade to sit for awhile and soak in the views. Then we walked across the street to the grocery store. As instructed, we asked for a supervisor to call Rodney and then we went to sit on a bench outside and wait. 50 minutes passed before I decided to go back in and ask the lady if Rodney said he was on his way. She called him again and then told me there was a misunderstanding but he's on his way now. About 20 minutes later, Rodney pulled right up to us, opened the doors for us to load our bags, and walked over to two authoritative looking people. Rodney was clearly upset by his mannerisms while he spoke to them. When he got into the car, he apologized profusely and did his best to explain what happened. We can't understand everything he says but the gist of it was he asked someone to tell us that he was delayed and another driver would take us back. That didn't happen and he was ashamed. He said, "when I ask someone to do something, I expect it to be done right. They've upset me." He's a genuine, responsible and caring person and he's clearly well known in this community. We feel as if we're being escorted by a celebrity because people walking and driving by are constantly calling out his name. One woman was walking along before he dropped us off at Surfer's Cafe and shouted out, "Rodney!" He stopped for her as she was reminding him to take her to a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. I wonder how he can possibly keep all of these requests straight with no physical calendar or obvious use of technology.

It was after 5:00 p.m. before we got back from our adventure. We were still full from lunch and decided we would stay in for dinner and eat breadsticks, cheese, and grapes that we bought at the grocery store. Sitting on the terrace, I watched the rain clouds in the distance, certain it was staying away from us. It seemed like moments later, Larry walked out and saw it and said we should close the shutters just in case it starts raining. Just as we started closing them, the rain came. Soon the clouds were gone and the moon was nearly full and bright. We noticed one star from our chairs and that it was twinkling. We stepped out onto the lawn and then we saw LOTS of stars! As well lit as this property is, we were so surprised to see any stars at all. Out of them all, only the one was visibly twinkling. Larry got out his star gazer app and discovered it is called Canopus. Amazing!!!

There's a boat way out in the distance. We can see it's navigation lights and clearly, it's not moving. I'm so curious to know why it's anchored there. Can it possibly be calm water out there? That's hard to imagine from my perspective. It seems the waves continue forever. Hours later, the boat is still there and now there's a second one to it's left. Gah! I want to know what made them stop there!!

And I also want to know why there are no fishermen on the cliff tonight. Not even one. Hmmmm.