Long Bajan Weekend!

Well in exactly a week I will be in Venezuela! Hard to believe that the time is so near. Like many I am getting excited for the next step to begin but as we were reminded today we still have this last week of lecture phase here in Barbados to go through (we have one more while on outreach) so we do need to keep somewhat focused :).

We just came off a lovely long weekend. Our first! It was Barbados Independence Day (43 years) yesterday, so we had no classes. It was actually quite the nice relaxing, fun filled weekend that I think we were really in need of. Saturday morning Solomon began fulfilling some of his promised to us by taking us to Oistins to swim with the Turtles there...well two turtles to be exact :) Three at the end. It was pretty neat and I was glad I had brought my swimming goggles along from back home for this. Though I have to say, I could have done without getting smacked on the head from the raw fish meat we picked up at the fish market to attract the turtles. Definitely didn't want to accidentally take a gulp of the water around us, let alone for the salt all the fish guts, lol. Afterwards we headed into town to pick up ingredients as we were having a potluck on Independence Day that we were all making a dish from our own Country.

In the evening, Solomon fulfilled his other promise by taking us camping on the beach, starting off with a hike there. Well, let me say....that was an interesting evening that was a good introduction into living circumstances in South America, haha. At about 9 pm, we headed out from the base and ventured out in the dark with some food, clothes and sleeping bags. Solomon, our fearless leader, led us though the bush on some trails for about an hour and a half as we hiked our way to the beach. When we finally got there we were welcomed with the stench of dead fish and as we looked around to find the source we discovered a dead dolphin decaying on the beach, which is odd because you don't find dolphins around Barbados. We left it there and moved a bit farther down so that the smell was less strong. We set up a fire as we cleared the seaweed to make a nice clear patch of sand to lay our sleeping bags down on. Some went to the jetty to try and catch fish, but they had no luck. We spent hours talking, roasting hot dogs, marshmallows (s'mores :) ), hamburgers, sweet potato and bread over the fire. I have to admit, I was one of the last girls to go to sleep. I wanted to make sure I was good and tired before I laid down so I wouldn't spend any time trying to keep the sandfleas away from me. I wrapped myself up like a cacoon in my blanket and dropped down to the ground. Earlier when I had laid my blanket down to just set out a spot, it was instantly covered in sand fleas :P I grabbed it back and shook it out and decided to keep it packed till I was ready to sleep.
Some people didn't sleep all night but I did manage to get a few hours of sleep. I woke up when I thought I felt Sarah poking my back. I turned around to see what was going on and realized she wasn't that close to me and she was obviously still sleeping. I turned back over on my side and felt it again. I put my glasses back on and pulled myself up and that's when I realized I was laying on two crab holes! Yep, I was awake now! I joined a couple others by the fire for about an hour or so and then all of a sudden we had an official waking up at 5:30 as the skies opened and it poured! We ran up to an abandoned summer house, that Ekkehart had discovered was vacant during the night, and climbed up to the porch where we hid out till the rain stopped. After that we headed back home, to the base, to crash in our waiting bunk beds for majority of Sunday.


Monday was an exceptionally exciting day for me as it finally worked out to get together with Malcom and his family. I spoke of Malcom in one of my first blogs. I met him on the plane coming to Barbados and we just clicked and hoped to get together while I was here. We assumed it would be within the first week or two, but finally entering week #10, it worked! Isn't that the way it goes. Bekah and Claudia came along with me and we drove to Accra Beach to spend part of the day. It was nice to finally be able to meet Malcoms wife and two beautiful daughters. He was very interested to hear about what we had been up to with YWAM and looks forward to hearing about our outreach when we come back. Unfortunately, it didn't end up working out for them to come and join us in the potluck but I'm still so glad it worked out for us to connect before I headed out on outreach.
We got home with about an hour to spare and I quickly finished getting my dish prepared. I made sweet potato fries with spicy mayo! It was sooo good and I was so happy as it was my first time making them and there potatoes are a little different then the ones back home and I couldn't find all the right spices. When we first arrived we discovered that Yams and Sweet Potatoes are in abundance here, so I made mention they must have some really good S.P. Fries here and they looked at me weird. I couldn't believe they had never tried them, so I was determined to make them for the potluck. They were a great hit!
It was such a great evening with so much amazing food from many cultures. Some very interesting food as well :) Rodney got his mom to make his dish which is an old traditional Bajan dish - Saous. Basically its Pork snout, ears and feet, mmmm, right? :P lol.
We all filled up on the many dishes and desserts and paid for it right after, with eyes bigger than our stomachs. We played a few fun games, danced a little and then cleaned up. Good times :) Great weekend!