subject: Renting in Barbados and moving to the Caribbean [print this page] Renting in Barbados and moving to the Caribbean
What I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog was that a strange thing happened at the Grantly Adams Airport, now bear in mind that we are here on a recky with a view to moving here permanently. So whilst we were in the queue for passport control, an official approached us to check our immigration forms. The first thing he said was you look like you've been here before and when I told him that I had been a in December of last year but prior to that it had a long time, he said I thought you looked like a regular and you need to work on getting your residency and then you can join the other queue. How did he know what my plans are!
Anyway today has been both uneventful and eventful at the same time. I woke up and got up at about six o'clock local time as it was beginning to get the light. My intention for the day was to check that the Internet connection worked and that my Outlook settings etc on my laptop worked. I'm glad to report that everything worked for us other than my "soft phone" which some reason was malfunctioning, fortunately we have a very good engineer and he is working on resolving the issue.
So in the morning I managed to get done what I planned including checking and responding to my e-mails. Unfortunately Janet was struggling with the temperature as it was very warm and she had not slept particularly well and just wanted to cool off. After I had completed my work we had a spot of lunch and then we went down to the local beach, Paynes Bay, which is just a short walk away.
Alec and I went snorkelling in the Caribbean and it is just amazing to see all the different sorts of fish in abundance. Unfortunately this included the what looked like sea snakes! I'm not sure if they were Sea Snakes or not and not sure whether they are poisonous. (I later found out were small eels and harmless)
We also swum out a little way to watch the turtles that live just off shore of Paynes Bay. I really love snorkelling in the Caribbean with the wide variety and concentration of fish and sea life.
Whilst we were on the beach the original "Mr Pineapple" came and introduced himself to us and insisted upon carving a pineapple for us on the beach. He was very persuasive and I ended up doing just that! Ah well you live and learn as they say. I thought he was asking too much for the Pineapple but later learned that I had paid going rate and they were allot more expensive than I realised. (about $15 BD in the supermarkets)
Alec wanted to leave the beach slightly early so that he could communicate online with his friends back in the UK, which is five hours ahead of Barbados at the moment. Janet had got over her "overheating" and wanted to stay on the beach for longer so I took Alec back to the house then returned to the beach and we spent little longer there enjoying the late sun.
Tomorrow I have a tender to sort and so I will have a busy morning. Janet is planning on going with our friends food shopping.
The weather has changed in the last half hour or so and although you can still see the stars, it is raining fairly heavily (how can that be with a clear sky?) hopefully all this will be cleared for the morning.
The house we are staying in is right at the heart of the local community and it was great to get back from the beach and hear all the goings on including kids playing and someone practising on the Saxophone.
