A California Girl’s Experience In Barbados

I spent 10 days vacationing in Barbados which was nice because I got to meet a lot of my Bajan family members for the first time! Barbados is a small, tropical island where everybody knows everybody. Like literally, everyone knows each other on the island!

Some cool places I went on the island were Browne’s Beach, Miami Beach, The National Museum of Barbados, Oustin’s Fish Market, and The Cove Nightclub.

The only place that was super lame was the museum because they have a rule that did not allow me to take pictures. Hello, it was 2019 when I was there! The whole point of visiting museums in 2019 is to take pictures to share and post on social media… I saw cool stuff in there but since I couldn’t take any pics, there’s no point in trying to describe it now, so whatever.

In Barbados, they pump your gas for you at gas stations! I think that it’s pretty cool and I wish there were gas station attendants to do that for me while I’m in Nevada and California. Bajan folks are convinced that pumping gas is dangerous for people to do by themselves without a gas station attendant, which I found to be kind of silly since I’ve been pumping my own gas since I was sixteen years old. It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t absolutely love and appreciate the help of someone else pumping my gas for me anyway!

Beauty services in Barbados were a lot more cost-effective too! Getting my acrylic nails done with gel was only $50 US dollars for both my hands and feet. Getting my lashes done was only $65 US dollars and she did an incredible job! Getting my nose re-pierced out there cost me only $35 US dollars.

I learned about the first black woman to ever own her own property or business on the island of Barbados and she was a prostitute who was very bodacious with large breasts. She attracted many wealthy white men in her twenties and thirties. She gathered all of her money together and saved until she could make something of herself. She’s lit! Kudos to her. Her name was Rachel and I dined at a restaurant that was built through her inspiration. The restaurant itself is called “Rachel’s”, totally inspired by her badass-ness. The tables are all decorated with pink tablecloths, chairs, and flowers. The food was delicious too.

I noticed in Barbados that the men are not shy. Aside from the ones who were my own age, a boy about age 12 tried to flirt with me and a man (who told me he was 75) flirted with me as well. He said, “I might be 75 according to my birth certificate but I can be 25 for you”. Everyone there called me “clear girl” for my lighter complexion. They also talked about me and the length of my legs as if I wasn’t standing right there to hear it which was amusing. A bartender on the beach gave me a free drink as a way of trying to flirt with me and it was really sweet of him! I took I pic with him and I added it below.

The roads are different there than California roads. They drive on the opposite side of the car and the opposite side of the road than I’m used to. The roads are also mostly just single narrow lanes. Even though there was usually only one lane, I only encountered traffic twice the entire ten days I was there.

Something that is super cool about Barbados is the fact that the advertisements mostly all feature people of color. Every ad I saw had black people! It was surreal. It wasn’t just a few ads here and there… it was basically ALL of them. It was nice to see people who look like me being represented.

Browne’s beach was very calm and relaxing… the water was flat and soothing. It was perfect for floating. Some of the other beaches on the island had choppier waters. The main downside I had on this trip was the fact that my legs, arms, neck, and body were completely covered in bug bites that were extremely itchy. The best part of the entire trip is the fact that I got to meet family members I’d never met before for the first time and the fact that I got to see such pretty beaches.