Riikka maailmalla: Babygirl in de Barbados!

Shock. Shock. Culture shock! People speak English but we have a hard time understanding their accent. The houses and roads look so different from Guadeloupe. The money is different and I can't remember the exchange rate. And the buses are honking at us funnily!

Looking back it seems ridiculous that the couple of our first days here in Barbados we were battling with such a bad culture shock. Maybe it happened because we hadn't prepared for our stay at all. Maybe it happened because we were so sad to leave Guadeloupe behind us. What's for sure is, that the first house we stayed in, a blast from the past of the 70's, did not quite make us feel at home. Nor did the monkeys rattling on our roof at 5 am every night.

We got over it, and little by little this strange little island country started to show its best to us. We know how to use the buses and laugh at their funny, cartoon show style honking. We know what to buy and what not to buy from the incredibly expensive supermarkets. We slowly started to understand the very special (difficult) Bajan accent. But what's really made our stay here worthwile has been taking up surfing!

Things to remember from the island:

- Surfing. Surfing. Surfing. Cathing a wave on your own is not easy, until you get the hang of it. And when you do catch it, it's one of the best feelings in the world. Imagine spending a couple of hours under the sun, in the bright turquoise, warm water with seaturtles. Paddling, waiting, positioning yourself to catch the waves, riding, jumping or being thrown off the board by a crashing wave, diving, and doing it all over again. And again. In the water there is no place for anything other than the present. No worries, no troubles. Just you trying to connect with the most powerful element of the nature to have the time of your life. After the most succesful lessons and a couple of succesful tries independently I've been utterly and completely exhausted. And so happy. A big thanks for this goes to our most skillfull coaches. Especially for turning this scared-of-the-water girl into a can't-stay-out-of-the waves wannabe surfer girl! Thank you Ride the Tide Surfschool!

- The people. Not always easy to understand but always helpful. The funny rastafari guys. The cute little school children in their univorms. Our most lovely, funny surf coaches. Our sweet hostess in our second appartment. Being called Baby Girl by a middle aged shop keeper (woman) and some dodgy men on the side of the road smoking weed.

- The bus system. For 2 Bajan dollars (0,80 euros) you can travel anywhere on the island! The mini vans competing for customers, picking you up and dropping you off when you want to. The competition is so fierce sometimes we've been pretty much dragged to the buses. And what a disco it is inside! Reggae, RnB, hiphop playing so loud at first you find it funny, then exhausting, until you get so used to it you don't even hear it anymore. I'm going to have such a boring time in the Finnish buses after this.

- The monkeys! The sea turtles! The humming birds! The bats!

- The wonders of Harrison's Cave and the rugged view on the East coast.

- "You want to buy weed or other drugs?"

- Crystal clear, torquise water. White sandy beaches. Sun sets. Heavy rain. Flowers. The days when the sea on the West coast was completely flat. Colorful houses.

- Did I mention surfing already?

Our Caribbean adventure has now come to an end and I am not ready to leave. The last two days we spent surfing in the most beautiful scenery with the best people. For me the last two days were the best of our travel. The Caribbean has been extremely good, sometimes bad, challenging, surprising, everything and nothing I expected it to be. And it's made me happy.

I will be back.

Babygirl over and out!

Riikka