Sandy Crest Medical Centre, Holetown

Very fortunately, our hosts P. and D.H. arrived at Gibbs Beach in their car just moments after the Good Hubby had had his accident. They drove us to the Sandy Crest Medical Centre in Holetown.

I can't say enough good things about the treatment that the GH got there. The attending physician, Dr Trudy Weeks, found that the force of the wave in dragging his chin along the bottom had opened up a deep laceration inside his mouth, essentially ripping the flesh away from his jawbone. The laceration was full of sand.

His right eye was similarly rather sandy, so the first task was to irrigate this eye and clean it out as much as possible. Miraculously, although it was already clear he would have a huge shiner, his vision was unaffected.

Also miraculously, he had all his teeth, so the main task was to sew the hole in his chin back together again, after all the sand was cleaned out (she did this by poking her finger in the hole repeatedly!) I assisted in the suturing by holding his bottom lip open so that Dr Weeks could see what she was doing. So I'm afraid I've now seen my husband's jawbone.

There was very little tissue left on the bone, so Dr Weeks had a difficult time trying to attach the other side of the laceration back to the gum. But she was very patient and also quite deft with her hands. It took about an hour for her to put all the sutures in and to close up the hole.

She then ordered x-rays as she was convinced that the GH had broken his orbital bone. Luckily this was not the case, but I was rather impressed by how modern the x-ray facilities at Sandy Crest were (my father is a retired radiologist so I have a faint interest in these things).

I was most impressed by how kind and cheerful everybody was. In many countries that are as touristed as Barbados, the prevailing attitude might be one of impatience or disdain for a tourist that had got himself into trouble this way, but both the nurse and Dr Weeks were extremely sympathetic and unrushed in attending to us.

In the reception area of Sandy Crest, there is a framed photo and letter from Tony and Cherie Blair, thanking the staff of the centre for their kind treatment. Not a big fan myself, but I think I can say we couldn't have been treated any better if we had been celebrity politicians!

Farley Hill

About twenty minutes out of Speightstown, the Bathsheba bus makes a stop at Farley Hill, a small public park set atop a 300-metre escarpment. This is also the stop for the Barbados Wildlife Reserve.

The view from Farley Hill is spectacular, taking in almost all of the Scotland District (the name given to the rugged northeast coast of Barbados).

The cordoned-off, charred ruins of a 19th-century sugar baron's mansion stand in the middle of Farley Hill park. I had always thought the house must have burned down in its heyday, in a time before electric lighting, but my guidebook informs me otherwise.

Apparently, the mansion had been restored in 1956 for a lavish Hollywood movie starring Harry Belafonte. Sadly, the various movie-set embellishments turned out to be fairly inflammable, so that a few years later the house was destroyed in a fire.

The bus back to Speightstown stops by at about 20-25 minutes before an odd hour. Or if you're going on to Bathsheba, cross the road again and catch the bus at 20 minutes past an odd hour.

From Bridgetown, the Indian Ground bus that leaves from the Princess Alice bus terminal makes a stop at Farley Hill. The best departure times for a day excursion are 11.45 am and 1.45 pm from Mon-Fri; 9.45 am and 12.45 pm on Saturdays; and 10.45 am and 1.30 pm on Sundays. You'll have to check with the driver for inbound times.

St Peter's Parish Church in Speightstown

This is St Peter's Parish Church in Speightstown. When our friend The Curmudgeon was little, he served as an altar boy here.

St Peter's Parish Church is one of the oldest churches in Barbados, having been built in the 1630s. It was destroyed in a hurricane in the 1830s, then burned in a fire in 1980, but was lovingly rebuilt and restored after each of these events.

Our friend The Curmudgeon has yet to revisit this old haunt of his boyhood, but I always think of him when we are in Speightstown and hope we can visit together one day.

"My Island Is Smaller Than Yours"

The first time I ever met a Barbadian, I got very excited when I realized that here, finally, was someone from an even smaller island than the one I'm from (Singapore).

I crowed, I stamped, I clapped. But, far from being insulted, my friend (let's call him The Curmudgeon) seemed quietly pleased.

I've since realized that Bajans are quite proud of their island's smallness. It is all of 430 square kilometres (or 167 square miles). Compare Singapore, at a bloated 705 sq km (272 sq mi) and getting bigger all the time, thanks to land reclamation projects.

When entering the country one time, an immigration official looked at my passport and asked me, with a twinkle in his eye, "How large is Singapore?"

"About twice the size of Barbados," I answered, stoutly.

He chuckled and shook his head with smug satisfaction.

If I were actually as clever as I tend to imagine I am, I would have added, "But only half as a nice!"

Speightstown

Speightstown (pronounced "Spikestown") is a very charming town in St Peter's Parish, at the north end of the West Coast.

It is the "second city" of Barbados after Bridgetown. Named after its founder, William Speight, Speightstown was a thriving port until the 20th century.

Nowadays, however, Speightstown has a pleasantly sleepy air to it, and the words "roaring trade" do not exactly apply.

The former wealth of Speightstown is still apparent in some of the grand stone buildings that stand along Queen Street. One of these, Arlington House, has been turned into a museum that's well worth visiting for insights into Barbadian life, both past and present.

Virtually all buses running north along the main West Coast road will end up in Speightstown. From the Speightstown bus terminal (about which more elsewhere), you can also catch buses to other parts of the island, notably Bathsheba on the wild, Atlantic East Coast.

There are nice places to eat here (watch for a future post about the Fisherman's Pub), a well-stocked supermarket (Jordans), and several banks, including a branch of the Royal Bank of Canada.

West Coast Barbados Beaches

Here I must pause to rhapsodize a little about the beaches in Barbados. The West Coast of the island faces the Caribbean Sea, which for the most part is as shown here. Calm and gentle, warm and clean.

The most amazing thing about Barbados beaches is not just how beautiful they are but how free of litter. Where I come from in Southeast Asia, people treat the sea like a rubbish dump. You can't go to a beach without tripping over discarded water bottles, plastic bags, styrofoam clamshells, and other things too gross to mention.

In Barbados, however, you can walk for miles on the beach without seeing so much as a candy wrapper. I think I once saw a page of newsprint floating in the sea off Fitts Village in Paynes Bay, but that was it.

I sort of imagine that the Barbadian government employs an army of trash collectors to comb the beaches every night when all the tourists are sleeping.

The Yellow Bus is Fun but a Tad Frenetic

These yellow buses are privately run and they buzz around the island in an exuberant, hair-raising manner.

Like the blue government buses, it costs only BBD 1.50 per ride. The advantage of taking a yellow bus is that you can get change when paying your fare. In fact, you can pay in US dollars, but you will get your change in Barbados currency.

It's a good way to get a lot of small change, fast.

Another advantage of taking the yellow bus is that you don't have to schlep yourself all the way to the nearest bus stop. Just flag 'em down from wherever you are standing; they will screech to a halt nearby.

You'll be sharing the bus with lots of people. There will also be loud music playing; sometimes the entire busload of passengers will sing along too. And when yellow bus drivers sound their horns, it's often the first bar of La Cucaracha that blares out as the bus skids around the corner.

So the yellow bus is fun but a tad frenetic. Definitely a great way to travel with the locals, but if you're feeling tired after a day of sightseeing, it may be worth waiting a few minutes at the bus stop for the blue bus. Calmness and efficiency are part of Bajan culture too!

Getting Around Barbados

We think the best way to get around in Barbados is by bus (surprise surprise). There is a flat fare of BBD 1.50, which is the equivalent of USD 0.75. That's about 46p, if you're from the UK.

You can take the government bus (pictured here) or a private yellow bus (about which, more later). Either way, the fare is the same.

If you take a government bus, you must pay the exact fare. You wait at designated bus stops and the ride is on the whole very peaceful and sedate.

A detailed timetable of the various routes may be had at the website of the Barbados Transport Board.