Farewell, Barbados

Our last day on this gorgeous island! The time has gone by way too fast (except, of course, the time spent waiting in airports during layovers... haha!). We went to church this morning at the Savannah Beach Hotel- the three branches here had district conference- so for two glorious hours we got to sit in an air conditioned room and listen to wonderful talks. It was the first time we've enjoyed AC during this whole trip! The things I take for granted.... :)

The buses are a different ride altogether on Sundays. Even though the members of the LDS church are not very many here, the overall religious dedication to God is evident in much of the general population. People get dressed up and wear those wonderful hats that I lovingly call "old lady easter hats" and hug and wave at everyone as the bus trundles down the road.

After our church meetings, we moseyed down to our little beach spot with our scriptures and the last of our passionfruit juice to watch the sun sink into the ocean.

We will board a flight to New York tonight at 3am and will land (hopefully- haha!) in Salt Lake tomorrow night. Cheers to jet lag!

Rotis!

I am somewhat ashamed to admit that it has taken us this long to finally get around to eating rotis:) A roti is kind of like a chicken and potato curry wrapped inside an unleavened flat bread- similar to a tortilla, sort of. Anyways, they are really really good! I have scrounged up a wonderful recipe from a local to make some when we return! The story behind how we got our rotis is kind of a funny one:

We finally caught a bus headed back to town after our adventures for the day (which I'll go into detail about later) and were looking forward to showering, changing clothes, and going to the beach. Allow me to deviate for a moment to talk about the three types of buses here: blue government buses which are like a government- frequently held up, boring and equipped with breaks that will ensure a throbbing headache, yellow buses which are colorfully graffitied (each bus has a different theme) on the inside and have bass speakers that will make your teeth rattle the whole ride, and finally, ZR vans are little white 9-15 passenger vans that operate like buses wish they could operate- people packed like sardines, no seat belts, off road driving and seemingly no speed limits. Anyways, we happened to jump on a ZR bus on our way back and our driver took a keen interest in making sure we had a fun ride! Kenric got sick from his maniacal driving just 5 minutes into the ride. Then, as we passed through a small town, the driver drove right through someone's yard and up to their front door and purchased rotis for himself, his partner and us. After that, we drove up on top of a plateau and the driver jumped out of the car and told us to follow him. I almost got out and then ran for the road or nearest house because I was sure he was insane, but we followed him as he pointed out a few cows, some nice rocks and finally, when we got to the edge of the cliff, to the ocean below. "And dis, dis be the sea" he jovially told us- I think he may be an aspiring tour guide. The spot he showed us was pretty cool though, it is a secluded inlet with a gorgeous coral island growing in the middle of it. Once we all made it back to the van, the rest of the ride back to town went without any more crazy stops, but it felt like riding the Wild Mouse ride at Lagoon:)

Ok, well with that one out of the way, today we went exploring to Farley Hill, the site of a sprawling mansion that Sir Graham Briggs built in 1879 for the purpose of entertaining visiting royalty. The mansion was destroyed by a fire in 1965, but its coral stone bones still remain standing amid several acres of lush jungle that is slowly reclaiming the building's remains. The area is cared for by the National Conservation Committee and is used by Bajans as a popular picnicking spot because of its stunning views that overlook the rugged Atlantic coastline.

Just across the road from Farley Hill lies the Barbados Wildlife Reserve. The reserve occupies four acres of mahogany forest and is a wonderful alternative to a zoo. Green monkeys, caymans, parrots, flamingos, iguanas, turtles, agouti and armadillos populate the reserve and are free to come and go as they please. Workers offer the animals food at 2pm each day but are careful not to feed the animals by hand because hand feeding can encourage them to be more aggressive than they naturally are.

Codrington College and Chanko the Cat

Many of the wonderful people we have met through our photographic endeavors have mentioned that they studied, at some point, at Codrington College- a theological institution located in the St. John parish on the island. Codrington College is an Anglican theological college and was founded with funds from the bequest of Christopher Codrington, who after his death in 1710 left portions of his sugar cane estates to establish a college in Barbados. Construction was started in 1714, and the college was eventually opened in 1745.

Today, it houses 17 resident students that are preparing to be ordained priests. As we arrived on campus this morning, we met one of the students who kindly gave us a tour and answered all of my endless questions about the college, his experience there, and his goals as a future minister. The students come from all over the Caribbean to study theology at Codrington, our gracious tour guide is from Belize and informed us that his classmates come from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the Virgin Islands, and Turks and Caicos just to name a few. I had no idea that so many people would come to Barbados just to study theology, but our guide said that Codrington is known all over the Caribbean and the UK as a wonderful college for aspiring priests and ministers to study at. Also, as we headed down the front steps of the college, a small cat came running up to us and let us pet it:) Our guide said that the cat's name is Chanko and that he is the resident pet at the college. (P.S- we've been missing Coco terribly!) Any college that has a pet cat must be a wonderful college indeed!

I thought that maybe by the end of this trip that I would get tired of going to the beach... but it hasn't happened yet!

Savannah Garrison

Today we walked along the coastline from Bridgetown to Needham's Point to see the lighthouse and to the Savannah Garrison to watch the changing of the sentry and to see the racehorse track. The lighthouse has a stationary light, rather than a rotating one, and was constructed in 1855. While it was in use, it had a red light reflector on one side and a green light reflector on the other so that sailors could tell if they were on the port or the starboard side of Needham's Point.

The Change of Sentry is a ceremony dating back the late 1700s, and features members of the Barbados Legion marching past the sentry post at the Clock Tower of the Garrison with a drum corps, all dressed in colonial attire. The Barbados Legion is made up of retired members of various military units, who were trained by the Barbados Defense Force.

The West India Regiment was the first British Regiment of black soldiers, providing 132 years of service both in the British West Indies and worldwide. The colorful Zouave uniform of the 1st & 2nd West Indian Regiments, and the uniform that the Legion still wear today, was selected by Queen Victoria in 1856 and was modeled after the French Zouave regiments. 

After getting our fill of history lessons for the day, we retreated to the beach! We heard some of the locals talking about how the sea turtles have started nesting and noticed that quite a few sea turtle crossing signs have been posted around beach areas:)

Tree of Life

This morning was dedicated to searching out the location of the Mt. Pisgah Spiritual Baptist church in Bridgetown. We wandered for a few hours looking for it, but we couldn't find it:( So, we decided to take a walk through Queen's Park because we had heard that the park is home to the largest tree on the island- a Baobab tree that is estimated to be over 1,000 years old and has a trunk circumference of about 81 feet!

The Baobab tree (Adamsonia digitata) is originally from Africa and is also called the Monkey Bread tree because of the peculiar looking fruit that it bears. In Africa, it is also called the Tree of Life because it becomes hollow once it reaches maturity and as a result offers the capacity to provide food, shelter and water for animals and humans alike.

This particular Baobab tree has an oval shaped trunk, so we took a picture from both the top and side angles so you can see just how huge it is!

While at Queen's Park, we strolled through the gorgeous flower gardens and the Queen's Park House which was built in 1786. The house was initially used as the residence of the Commander in Chief of the British Garrison when they were permanently stationed in Barbados at St Anne's Fort.

After we left the park, we made our way to the beautiful Jewish Nidḥe Israel Synagogue. Information at the site says that the building is arguably the earliest constructed temple in the Western Hemisphere. In Barbados, Jews have played an important role in the country's development since 1654 when Sephardic Jews arrived on the island as refugees from what formally was Dutch Brazil during the Portuguese Inquisition. Jewish refugees brought with them expertise in producing and cultivating sugarcane and coffee- these skills greatly contributed to the development of Barbados becoming a major sugar producer. 

The existing Jewish community in Barbados is few in number, but they work hard to maintain the Nidhe Israel Synagogue and actively support archaeological and historical investigations of the building, surrounding graveyard and long destroyed remains of the rabbi's house. One of the excavations done in the rubble of the rabbi's house revealed an intact 17th-century mikveh which was constructed over a freshwater spring that is still flowing today.  

This was completely unintentional, but I find it neat that we found both a tree of life and a site with living waters both in the same day! haha:)

Sea Turtles and Shipwrecks

We took the day off today (hahaha) from taking church pictures and went on a day cruise on a local catamaran boat. It was so so so much fun!

We boarded the boat in Bridgetown in the morning and sailed around to a few different bays where we got to snorkel with sea turtles, schools of sergeant major fish, and around an old ship wreck! We then left the shoreline and sailed out through the deeper water around the island and headed to a little cove near the northern end of the island. As we sailed, we saw lots of little flying fish and more sea turtles bobbing near the surface. The crew was super nice, they taught us how to dance and adjust the sails and kept our glasses full of fresh pineapple juice the whole day:) Once we arrived at the cove the crew made us lunch and we got to dive off the deck and swing off the ropes of the ship into the water. Every time we go swimming I am just blown away by how clear the water here is! Even when we were out on the deeper parts of the ocean it was still clear enough that I could see all the way to the bottom.

My favorite part of the day was definitely the sea turtles, they are so cute, but the whole experience was a blast. If you ever have the chance to come to Barbados, I highly recommend a catamaran cruise as a must-do activity!

Island Color

We set out to find the elusive St. Joseph's church in the Bathsheba area again today. Last week, we made the trek to the east coast of the island in search of the old church, but had no luck finding it. Today, however, was full of good luck! We studied some maps last night and were able to find a bus stop in the general area where we were told St. Joseph's is located and with the help of a kind bus driver, we found it! The church building is absolutely breathtaking- granted it is completely abandoned and falling apart in some areas:) But I think that sometimes the most beautiful things in the world are abandoned buildings- they have so many stories to tell! The graveyard out in front of the church showed signs of recent care and we ran into a man as he came down the long pathway that was visiting his grandmother's grave. We found a side door that was rotten through, so we were able to walk into the church and look around. The foundation was cracked and leaning and many of the windows were crooked and broken but the building still held the beautiful sense of serenity that we have found in many of the other cathedrals on the island.

While we were well prepared for our trip to the church, we forgot to have a plan to get home:) haha! After I finished taking so many gorgeous pictures, we decided that our best chance of finding another bus was to walk about 3km (close to 2 miles) into the town of Bathsheba. Alas, Google let us down once again. The route that Google suggested we take was blocked by construction and we ended up hiking through about 5 miles of banana tree forests before we finally found Bathsheba beach! I'm so glad the giant banana spiders stayed in their trees and didn't attack us. We had to wait about two hours for another bus to make its way through Bathsheba, so we decided to cool off by drinking some coconut water- it is amazing! There is nothing better than a fresh coconut on a hot day! The man who hacked open our coconuts with his machete was super nice and offered to teach us how to surf! Maybe we'll take him up on the offer later this week. We also found a rock just off shore that looks like a thumbs up:) When our bus finally came, we jumped aboard and headed back to Bridgetown. About 5 minutes into our return ride, the bus started sputtering and then came to a crashing halt in the middle of a steep hill. Black clouds started billowing from the engine and the bus driver asked us all to get off for a few minutes. After he inspected the engine, he told us that we would have to wait for the next bus to come and take us back- another hour wait:) We spent the time trying to chat with the other three ladies who were on the bus with us but we didn't have much success because we had to ask them to repeat themselves over and over again. The native language here is English, but it's hard to believe sometimes!

I have been wanting to write about all the brightly colored houses we see here since we arrived and have just been forgetting to take pictures of them so I could show you. So today we decided to not forget:) I think that Bathsheba is the most colorful area in Barbados. We saw so many vibrantly colored homes and shops all over the little surfing town that could rival the rainbow.

Black Rock Branch

Happy Mother's Day! We attended the Black Rock Branch church meetings today and got to meet several missionary companionships, senior missionaries, the mission president and his wife and about 15 native members of the church. One of the members, a woman named Sister Ennis (I think that is her name, It was a bit hard to tell with her accent:), remembers an Elder Shumway from way back in the day! She is the oldest member in the Black Rock Branch and has been attending church their for around 30 years. When I told her that her Elder Shumway is my dad, she was so happy and couldn't wait to tell all her friends.

After church, we headed back home to grab lunch and a blanket and strolled down to the beach to walk along the shoreline and read scriptures in the shade of the coconut trees:) At some point in our reading, Kenric fell asleep and a little lizard crawled up on his back to sun itself. Our little green friend hung around for most of the afternoon, alternately sleeping on one of us or on top of our scriptures.

Beach is the New Black

The sun came back out today so we spent our Saturday at the beach! We keep thinking that one day we'll go down to the pristine sand and shores by our little house and have to actually share it with other humans, but it hasn't happened yet! We are so blessed:) We built a massive sand castle and gave it a wall of broken coral pieces to protect it. The whole thing only lasted a few hours before the tide started to come back in and swept it all away. We also found a guy digging for crabs and he taught us how to do it. I felt bad for the little things so I couldn't kill them, but they were fun to watch scuttle along the shoreline. We swam out to a little sandbar a few yards from shore and had a bunch of flying fish swim by and "fly" around us.

When we came home, we found our little monkey friend waiting on the fence by the front door. Kenric got him an apple and he snatched it up and ran to the roof to eat it.

We found a quaint little chapel with some of the most reverent and dedicated worshipers I have ever met. The building is one room, about the size of an average bedroom, and has two rows of chairs going down each side. The patrons of the church come and go in small waves around the clock and the building is never left vacant- all day and all night it is a continuous site of devotion to Christ. The feeling of being in a holy place permeated the building and the heart of the people who came and went.