Creepy: Calcite deposits, people who stare and cockroaches

I think I’ve got the Blug- The Blog Bug. I just spent a lot of my free time tweaking the template design and settings. Don’t fret, I’m not actually ill. My immune system is like Fort Knox – impenetrable. I haven’t been sick all winter and I don’t have a logical answer for my immunity. Maybe my white blood cells have the work ethic of Justin Bieber’s PR team, or maybe it's just a blessing. Anyways, you didn’t come here to read about leukocytes or J-Biebe.

Let’s continue with Barbados. As the flakes steadily fall and crystallize on Winnipeg’s roads and the city continues to spend millions on snow removal, I like to think about the warmth of Barbados. Do I wish I was there right now? No. I’d rather be cozy under a blanket than sweating 24/7. You’re probably thinking, “Chui, you’re crazy- A hot beach would beat a cold sidewalk anyday. Which one would you rather be laying on?” But make note of this: We didn’t really have air conditioning unless we were at the Bank or a shopping centre. So besides nighttime, there was this permanent, icky film on our skin. Some might call it sweat, but the jury’s still out on that one. It just wasn’t pleasant.

However, when we were in the Ocean,  everything was copacetic baby. It cooled us off like nothing else. The unfortunate thing is, people weren’t created to live in the Ocean. So out of the water it was fairly icky. Oh and did I mention the bug bites? These weren’t our normal West Nile Mosquitos out there. These were stealthy bed-bug-esque ones. We never saw them, but woke up with big, itchy bites all over. The number and level of discomfort these bites caused me was far worse than the bites I suffered at Gospel Light Bible Camp, Clear Lake.

We also had the chance to visit Harrison’s Cave. 10 bucks you can’t guess what kind of geological feature that is. A CAVE! I majored in Geography, so I found it really interesting. But I’m not going to bore you with all the details- just some. (Skip the rest of this paragraph if you don’t want to read about it). As we were briefed on the cave’s geological history and the role of plate tectonics, I was reminded of the many classes I took in the Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources. It was no longer just theory and concept, it was physical and tangible. We rode on this trolley through the tunnels, which was cool (literally and figuratively), and calcite water was dripping, which was also cool (more so literally). We saw flowstone, stalagmites and stalactites. I saw the beginnings of a column, when the calcite builds up between a stalagmite and stalactite to form a pillar-like structure. These take millions of years to form because it’s a very slow, successive process. Outside of this experience was this rainforest-like vegetation area. Here we saw monkeys and lizards. This is also where a millipede crawled over Faith's foot. (Sorry Faith, I think you might've repressed this memory).

Ok, if you’re still with me, here are a few more experiences:

- A lot of the locals liked to unabashedly stare at us. You know that social situation when you look at someone and they’re looking at you, and you quickly avert your gaze even though you both know you were both looking? Anyways, most people look away when they get “caught,” but these locals didn’t. One time I decided to stare back in hopes of hindering this one guy’s stare. It didn’t work, and it just got really awkward. It was like I had challenged him to a staring contest and he knew I would lose.

- We went 10-pin bowling at the only bowling alley on the island. The bowling alley also had bumper cars. We didn’t participate. Ever since I caused a huge traffic jam at Wonderland, I’ve had anxiety towards this mock fender-bender experience. About 5 seconds into driving, I had front-ended the wall and didn’t know how to unjam myself because the cars didn’t have a reverse gear. Shortly after, a guy hit me and consequently couldn’t move his car, and then about 6 other cars followed suit, creating a long line of stalled vehicles all because of me. I can still hear the guy on the PA system, “Would the girl in the blue car please turn her wheel all the way to the left.” I didn’t realize he was speaking to me until the guy who had hit me screamed, “Turn your wheel all the way to the left!” I couldn’t hear him, and yelled, “What?” And then the ride was over. So that was embarrassing and not fun. But back to Barbados…

- Birds crapped on Steph, multiple times. Steph was definitely a visible minority. Two guys walked by and asked to take a picture with her once haha. As for me, we saw a total of 4 Asians on the island, and 3 of them were part of a family.

- I had the chance to taste Sour Sap, Guava and Sugar Cane.

- And we saw our first Cockroach…

The three of us all happen to be irrationally scared of bugs. It was during the evening and we were in the process of doing laundry when I saw it. In the corner of my eye, I saw this orangey-brown critter,  about the size of a baby mouse. As I freaked out, it skittered underneath the computer and to my horror, disappeared. Naturally when I informed Steph and Faith that the cockroach was MIA, we took the precautionary measures to protect ourselves and our possessions from coming in contact with it. Steph and Faith hastily zipped up all of our backpacks (which were a hallway and a room away) and I jumped up onto a chair and stayed there clutching my laundry sheets until I knew for sure the roach was dead. The roach was shortly found (by Faith’s parents), confirmed dead, disposed of, and all was well. Irrational = Absurd, ridiculous and unjustifiable.

That about sums up our 2 week Barbados experience, and next up was London, England. The 3 of us would be on our own now. With a hostel booked and an itinerary planned, the United Kingdom beckoned us as we flew 7 hours over the Atlantic Ocean to Prince William’s soon-to-be marriage location.