BARBADOS

As I figure I've just about exhausted Trinidad & Tobago (and I'll stop now while its still good!), it's a good time to move on to Barbados. When one spends a semester abroad in the Caribbean, you are bound to yearn to do a little island hopping! So a few friends and I headed to the next island up from Tobago, which led us 200 miles north to Barbados.

We stayed in a hotel right across the street from heaven on earth. Dover Beach is quite the picturesque utopia. The sand is white, the water is clear aqua, and I was a happy Frani swimming in the water! One of my favorite parts of the trip was a little excursion I took called Snuba. It's a combination between snorkeling and scuba diving, without the required certification. You are attached to a 20 ft. air pipe which is attached to a tank of air that floats on the top of the water, allowing you to be underwater the whole time! I saw amazing tropical fish, a shipwreck, and even a sea turtle! After Snuba, we also got to go on the water trampolines that the resort had... in the ocean!

Barbados was quite the retreat. We lounged around the beach all day, swam in our hotel's pool at night, went out to eat and bar hopping at night, it was great! One day, a friend and I did manage to make our way to Bridgetown, which is the capital, and a place where not many tourists go. We took the bus there, and were given many foul comments from the local Barbadians, telling us to take our money and go take a taxi. But, I was broke, and couldn't afford a taxi. Barbados' economy is mainly derived from tourism. We even read a sign that said the following:

"Tourism is our job. Lets do out part."

I felt sickened when I saw this. The colonial era in Barbados' history (also previously known as Brimshire) has created quite a division between the tourists and the locals. After taking a course all about colonialism and Caribbean tourism, we could not find any reason not to try and break through these barriers, even if we weren't given the warmest welcome. If you would like to learn more about colonialism in Barbados, I suggest you to read The Polished Hoe - by Austin Clarke, which is an incredible story.

Well, what more can I say about Barbados? The pictures speak for themselves!