Barbados: Home and Healer part 2

First off, I have been loving and appreciating the love I have received in my Instagram DMs and under my posts about Barbados Home and Healer pt1. Thank you so much for those of you that read and commented. It is really great to know I am not just typing into the abyss. If you haven’t read it yet, stop right here and click this link to take you back to pt 1, then come back here quickly!

Landing in Barbados, the first thing I did was head to my apartment and get comfortable. It had been a LONG day. All I wanted was some food, and to let my loved ones know I had touched down safely. For some odd reason, I decided against doing an online grocery shop to arrive when I got to the apartment. So, I had no food… Luckily, I could order in from one of my favourite fast-food places in Barbados, Chefette. Easiest way I can describe Chefette is like a elevated Caribbean version of McDonalds.

I always laugh now when I eat Chefette. As a kid I HATED their food. I’d come close to throwing a tantrum if anyone would try to give me crinkled fries. Look at me now. All grown up and it’s one of the first places I want to get food from. I got their nugget meal – Chefette’s nuggets and bread rolls are delicioso! You can get also get a good Roti from there but I didn’t think I was that hungry. Turns out I was lol. If you get a Roti, I’d always advise the all meat options. Otherwise, all you’ll be tasting is potato.

Note: Get two roti’s if you are hungry or something in addition as they are small.

Day 2: Blessed in Barbados

I woke up feeling so blessed and amazed that I was FINALLY in Barbados. I quickly got ready as my cousin and I had planned for him to pick me up to go food shopping then make breakfast since I had no food. As men do, he proceeded not to communicate properly and left me starving until around 1pm. I was so hungry that we went and ate before we went to the supermarket.

The places I ate at on day 2 aren’t anything I would rave about to be honest. Although it was very interesting to see cockerels roaming around the food court whilst I was eating my food. Almost made me feel bad.

TIP1: If you are dairy free/vegan – I cannot shout this loud enough – TAKE ENOUGH CARTONS OF DAIRY FREE MILK WITH YOU WHILST TRAVELLING. Why on gods green earth does almond milk cost the equivalent to £3/4?

Once we had finished shopping and had brought a sim card, we headed back to my apartment. A Bajan friend of mine that lives in the UK, linked me up with one of their friends – someone I like to think I can also call friend now 😊 <3 – she was lovely enough to offer to take me out for the night. We drove around Barbados, going up to the West and I think North of Barbados. It was a lovely drive, I’d never been so far up before as we usually just stay in the South. We then came down to Bridgetown and checked out National Heroes Square. A must see when you are in Barbados!

You can check out the pictures and videos from this evening out on my Barbados highlights.

TIP 2: Make sure your phone is unlocked so you can use a sim that functions in the country you are travelling in. Having a phone with dual sims is handy. I took two phones only to realise when changing my sim over that I had a dual sim phone.

I was really thinking to give you all a day-by-day itinerary of what I did, but I remembered my memory is poor and it has been 9+ months since my trip… Also a decent amount of time was spent chilling at my apartment or inside with my family. After day 2 I had a flare up, it also rained quite frequently throughout my stay. My cousin liked to joke that I brought the rain from England because as soon as I landed it rained.

Instead of testing my memory and word count, here is a categorical breakdown of my fun in the sun.

Beaches

I spent nowhere near as much time at the beach or in the sea as I would have liked. However, I spent my beach days mostly at Brownes Beach – I loved it here. The fish cakes were tasty but could have had more fish, and the view was spectacular. I would normally go to Dover or Miami beach but this time I didn’t venture that far south.

One day I wanted to switch things up and go to a different beach; it was an awful idea. We went to Rockley/Accra Beach. 1/10 experience. I felt like I was back in England. We spent less than an hour there and drove to back up to Brownes.

None of the beaches I visited had beach wheelchairs or anything other than wheelchair accessible toilets/changing rooms which was really unfortunate. I didn’t see changing rooms at Rockley/Accra; I wouldn’t say this one was the most accessible in my experience. I found that Worthing Beach was probably the easiest to access as you could get further onto the beach in your chair. My top 3 favourite moment in Barbados was at Worthing Beach watching the sunset (albeit on a very cloudy evening) eating with my cousin, hearing reggae in the background.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get into any water activities this time around. I enquired about a couple catamaran ridss but one didn’t get back to me and the other wasn’t accessible. Crossing my fingers and toes that I will be able to find some water activities for next time I go.

3 Solo Outings in Barbados

A key fact that I keep forgetting to mention is that I travel NOWHERE without first knowing that there is a wheelchair accessible way to get around. If I can’t find a wheelchair accessible taxi service best believe I ain’t booking a flight. For all my solo outings in Barbados I used Blessed Rentals taxi service to transport me, and I also hired a manual wheelchair from them for the entirety of my trip to use when I was with my cousin.

Welchman Hall Gully

Welchman Hall Gully was my first outing. I opted for attending the tour so that I could learn more about the history of the Gully. Check out my IG reel and caption to find out some of the facts I learned during the tour.

On this tour I nearly lost my life…When I tell you my eyes flashing before my eyes, they really did lol. We got to a part of the Gully where the walkway was extremely narrow and wet. On one side there was the Gully wall and the other was a seemingly endless ditch. Whilst trying to proceed to the last ¾ of Gully I struggled to safely position my chair. As I was doing this my wheels started to skid causing my chair to slide. I had to forcefully and painfully digging my feet into the ground whilst trying to work the joystick to make it stop. It was a very scary experience.

The tour leader and all but a British pensioner had already gone out of sight. The man asked if he could lend me a hand and just stand behind me as I try to go back to where we came from. This was super helpful and made me feel a bit safer despite knowing if it went tits up he couldn’t do shite. But at least he could let someone know I potentially went to go meet my maker. I was then stuck with the man gossiping about his family, especially his daughters relationships, her profession and her children’s experience with racism their fathers were either Black or Asian. Let’s say I got to know a lot about him and his family until those from the tour slowly made their way back to us.

Barbados History Museum

The access here was pretty decent. They had a disabled toilet and ramps to get across different areas of the museum.

It was incredible to look around and see centuries worth of history! Unfortunately, I was prohibited from taking pictures whilst in the rooms so nothing to share but the beauty of the grounds.

Here I learned about Barbadian musician J Hamilton Grandison. There was a whole room dedicated to him. In the museum there were areas that lead you through how the unique Barbadian style of homes emerged, information about Amerindians, the road to Barbados becoming a Republic. One fact I noted down is that during the early 1800s a number of hotels in Bridgetown were owned and run by free “coloured” women. These women included Rachel Pringle, Caroline Lee and Sabrina Brade.

There was a room exploring ‘400 years of a political experiment, African connections and continuities’. A proverb that I took from the latter room was “Unless you know the road you’ve come down, you cannot know where you are going” Temme proverb.

KiWest Spa

Nearing the end of my trip I decided I needed a little pampering. I booked myself in to KiWest Spa for a relaxing massage and facial.

Upon entering they gave me slippers (you are not allowed shoes on), I sat and waited for my beautician whilst listening to some calming spa music. This was a much needed experience and the treatments were a great ! The spa was beautiful and clean; the staff were really kind and helpful!

If you ever venture to Barbados and decide to go, go down the 3^rd avenue to access the staff entrance, not the 2nd as it says in their directions. The accessible entrance is through the back of their spa, at the front there is a massive step. There is also parking at the back I believe.

Harrison Cave

Despite confirming prior to booking the Trail, Tram & Rum Experience that it was fully wheelchair accessible, the rum experience was not. I decided to cancel in the end as I had another little flare up and my cousin wanted to spend more time with me as it was my second to last day.

Making Connections

Earlier in the year I had joined a twitter space called Caribbean and Travelling or something like that. One of the hosts mentioned that they used popular dating apps to meet new people. I wanted to get out more, especially to see what the queer life on the Island is like so I thought why not and downloaded the app despite it being quite late in my trip. This quickly flopped when I was too confused to continue a conversation when the person proceeded to start the conversation by saying goodnight. In my defence it was around 10/11pm when we started talking. I did ask for clarity on whether they were greeting me or going to sleep but their response furthered my confusion lmfao.

Food

Did you really experience Barbados if you don’t go to Oistins? You especially cannot miss a Friday night out at Oistins. In addition to the beautifully authentic Barbadian food which is to die for (depending on the vendor you go to lol), on a Friday it’s more of a social. There is loud music playing, people out with loved ones just catching a vibe with good food and drinks and dancing. Parking can be a bit scarce so get their early!

Crumbz Bakery – I can’t lie to you – I do not recall access here as my cousin got us a take-away and we ate at the beach but I thought it worth mentioning as their bread roll was delicious! I got a bbq chicken wing meal and this included the roll. It was a very large box – definitely not UK price chicken and chips but I did prefer the taste.

Whilst at Worthing Beach we got food from The Seafood Shack. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted shrimp or BBQ wings, so I got both meals… best choice ever! You need someone able to step up on a ledge to order and collect the food which is a bummer if you are solo (I wasn’t at the time) and the meals are a bit on the pricier side but I would definitely go again if I had they help.

Barbados, my love, my home, my healer

My time in Barbados was filled with a tremendous amount of healing, rest and happiness. I always feel at one when I visit and I can’t wait to go again. Hopefully my next trip there I am more successful at making more connections and experiencing the scene out there.