Today featured lots of Rum Punch drinks and I’ve only had rum a few times before. My excursion included a drive up to Gun Hill signal station for an view of the Caribbean side of the island and their farming belt, then a visit to Tropical Garden(which included a Rum punch drink) and finished off with a visit to Sunbury plantation house(which included rum cocktail mixing & tasting followed by a rum punch drink). I suppose I *could* of had the fruit punch.
After the excursion, I took a short walk to the craft hall. It’s confusing in a different country to try to cross the roads with no crossing lights and traffic coming from odd directions & angles but I managed without injury thanks to the kind drivers that stopped before they hit me.
On the way out of the port, the taxi drivers had to direct me to the exit. It’s easy to get to the taxi station but a bit harder to figure out how to exit by walking. And it was easy to get back but the sidewalk dropped you off into the middle of the taxi parking lot! I guess they really don’t want you to walk.
I kept looking for the Antillean Crested Hummingbird which is only found in the Caribbean but never saw it; I did hear lots of birds but didn’t really see many. Jennifer got to see and photograph the hummingbird- it’s a life bird for her. If you look closely, you can see the tiny crest on it’s head.
Barbados is a coral island and not a volcanic island like many other Caribbean islands and it was interesting to see all the plants growing out of the coral. And it is the furthest east of the Caribbean Islands and consequently much(almost all) of the trade between Europe/Africa and the North/South America used to come thru Barbados.
Barbados is the first country where the McDonald’s restaurant chain failed. Our guide said it was because Barbados is a chicken not beef eating country and McDonald’s didn’t have enough chicken offerings. KFC and Chefette (their local fast-food chain) are doing well.
One interesting observation- both the Dominica and the Barbados tour guides mentioned they supply water for the cruise ships.