Back From Barbados

And I can't get back there soon enough. Despite a rough beginning (the airline lost one of our bags and it didn't arrive for two full days), we ended up having a fantastic vacation. Now, I never fancied myself much of a beach person, but I decided to try and make it happen anyway, packing enough reading material to survive being in a bomb shelter for a month. Of course, I barely dented it. There was so much to do on the island, and we tried to take advantage of as much as we could. At first, we weren't sure how we were going to get around - we hadn't rented a car for fear of the English way of driving, and it would've been impractical and too expensive to just take taxis everywhere. But then we discovered the buses. In Barbados, there are two types of buses: the government owned bus, which runs on a schedule (albeit once an hour), has a licensed and uniformed driver, and a machine to drop your $1.50 Barbados ($0.75 USD). They are big buses, and they run on a set route. Waiting at our bus stop, there would be smaller buses going by every so often, and we weren't quite sure what to make of them. Until the day we decided to brave the unknown. We step up into the bus, and there is no uniformed driver, and there is no machine. We take a seat, and about 30 seconds later, the hip-hop music started blasting from the speakers. It was around 3pm, and there were several school children on the bus, all of whom were nodding there heads to the beat and mouthing the words- something along the lines of marijuana, and avoiding STDs. I'm not joking. So we took in the atmosphere, almost feeling like a local, perhaps figuring that a schoolbus had picked us up as a favor. There was a man on the bus designated to collect the fare, and it was the same as the government bus. It was a fun and interesting bus ride to say the least. Later, we found out that there are two bus "systems". The government-run system, and the privately-owned system. We frequented the latter many many times, and it was always an adventure, with music playing almost everytime, and wonderful, helpful people that told the bus driver where we wanted to go if he didn't know it, and more often than not stopping the bus for us exactly where we needed to be, as opposed to the bus stop. So once we figured out the bus system, we were golden. In fact, the Concierge at our hotel labeled us 'Bajan' (which is a term for Barbadian), she was so enamored with our adventurousness.
So, needless to say, we had a very busy week, filled with exploring, eating, drinking, soaking up Bajan culture, touring Rum factories (and of course sampling the finished product), snorkeling, sailing, tubing and kayaking. For anyone looking for a caribbean vacation on an island that has the right mix of things to do and beaches to rest on, I think Barbados is it. I would probably rent a car though- the bus system is fun, and it'll get you where you need to go, but it takes about twice as long, and there is no guarantee you'll get back to where you came from.
The food on the island was terrific. We sampled very fancy, exotic caribbean cuisine, and we had very simple fish shack cuisine. To me, having a variety of choices to eat is also important, and again, Barbados fits the bill. You can also fly there directly from where we live, which is another bonus.
I did manage to find some time to read though, and want to mention two books specifically that I started, but have not yet finished. The first, compliments of MH & RH, is a book about some of the world's most famous chefs retelling culinary disasters that they've experienced. It's called "Don't Try This At Home: Culinary Disasters from the World's Greatest Chefs." The stories vary from having the main course of a 2500-plate meal go bad and having to scramble to find replacement food, to the story of a young cook who had been going through electro-therapy to repair nerve damage to his arm who is miraculously cured when he electrocutes himself. The stories are interesting and funny, and if you're into food and chefs (and really, who isn't?) then you will certainly enjoy this book. The other book I started is a memoir about a young man growing up in England and developing his hunger and affinity for food. It is called "Toast," by Nigel Slater. And it is written very well, with great wit and humour. I'm still reading about the early part of his life, but his memories are warm, heartfelt and hilarious.
I also manged to dig into a couple of New Yorkers, and read two fascinating articles. Unfortunately, the New Yorker doesn't archive their articles, so I can't link to them. The first article is about Matthew Carter- one of the preeminent typeface designers today. He designed Verdana for Microsoft, among other things. The article traces his life as an apprentice in a very old school typeface shop (where they use methods no longer in existence) to his success today. It was really quite interesting.
The second article involves a case in Pennsylvania where the school board tried to introduce "intelligent design" into the biology curriculum of the public schools, a few teachers sued the school, and the trial apparently is being overseen by a very witty, humourous and fair judge. The article was laced with many of the judge's quips, but also paints a frightening picture: the transition of 'creationism' to 'intelligent design' as the latter masks any religious connotations, and the fact that you can see how proponents of creationism are learning from their defeats to narrow down the appropriate angle to wedge creationism into biology curriculums. Unfortunately (for them- fortunately for the rest of us), the school board members were so blatant in their advocay of creationism from a religious standpoint (one advocate was quoted as saying, "Two thousand years ago, someone died on a cross. Can't someone take a stand for Him?"). I mean, reading the article, it is really upsetting to see what is happening with this issue. Thankfully, the creationism advocates painted themselves as religious zealots that it is likely the judge will rule in favor of disallowing intelligent design to be introduced. However, someone, somewhere, is going to find a way to wedge it in. In an update, the Judge just announced that it is unconstitutional to even mention intelligent design in biology class.
I've been feeling very philosophical recently, and I think I can trace it back to the U2 concert I saw for my 30th birthday, and the stunning NY Times Magazine profile of Bono. The man will change the world. I'm convinced. Visiting Barbados, where people are happy and carefree even though most of them pretty much have the shirt on their backs and not much else, really put some things into perspective for me. Material needs and wants, conspicuous consumption, vanity. Also, attending the concert and seeing the efforts being made to fight poverty and disease is also enlightening. I am convinced that I can be doing better things for this world. I'm just not sure how.