Sarah and Ian's Move to Ottawa

The story so far...having planned and booked a three month trip to South America, we were given a difficult decision to make when Ian was offered a job in Canada. After much hard thinking, we took the job, but get the best of both worlds as we still have two weeks in Brazil and Chile before arriving in Ottawa. We are now living in Ottawa and enjoying the big adventure of living somewhere new. This is the story of our experience...

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Tight Teachings

I’m the first to admit that I have deep pockets and short arms. I look after my money. I particularly like the free samples that are given away at coffee shops, so when I saw a plate of biscotti segments on the coffee shop counter, I nabbed one (the biggest of course) and popped it straight in my mouth. This caused the waitress to look at me as if I was the filthiest person in the World and it was then that I realised it wasn’t a free sample plate, but someone else’s left-overs!

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Quiet Christmas

After racking up the miles in the December, it was really nice to have a quiet week at home together. We spent the week in cafes, lazing on our sofa bed, which we opened up in the lounge, going to the cinema and browsing in book stores. It was just the two of us on Christmas Day, but we phoned our family and friends, opened a few presents, had a really big meal and then got over competitive playing a travel game we got as a present.

We did have a day trip to Montreal, where we went to the Olympic Stadium and the Bio-dome, an indoor zoo with four different habitats. The bio-dome was a little bit small, but we did see some interesting animals and we saw a beaver do a poo. We also did the tour of the stadium. Wouldn’t recommend this as it only consists of the swimming pool hall (open to the public anyway) and the athletics stadium that is now thousands of plastic seats around a concrete floor.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Sad Goodbyes

We got up earlier as today was our last day in New York and we wanted to make the most of it, which for this trip meant shopping!! The decorations on and in the shops were fabulous. The big department stores had moving displays of Christmas stories in their windows. We had a good walk around Macys, Bloomingdales, FAO Schwartz and had a look around Tiffanys and some other nice shops. In the middle of the day we went up to the top of the Rockefeller Centre and enjoyed the fantastic views of Central Park and the Empire State Building. We would really recommend this. You can even make out the Statue of Liberty.

We had afternoon tea and then had to say our goodbyes to Becky and John. It was really strange to say goodbye in Times Square and head off in different directions. We headed back to the hotel and picked up our bags headed to the airport dreading the thought of a journey like the one we’d had getting here. This time our flight was on time and was direct flight to Ottawa. We were quite pleased when we landed as we thought we would be back home relatively early. Not so. We have to go through a special immigration section (due to our work visas) and joined the back of the queue. There were only four other people in the queue, but this doesn’t mean a queue is going to be quick. Two British teenagers were yelling and swearing at the immigration officer and threatening to sue the whole of Canada. We sat down to watch and try to figure out what had happened. The immigration officer made it clear that if the kids didn’t calm down he would refuse them entry to Canada and have them arrested. No self respecting, hysterical British teen is going to listen to authority and so the police were duly called and were trying to calm down the dramatics. After half an hour of this, we started to get annoyed because all the immigration officers were dealing with this stupid girl who didn’t know when to shut-up when they could have been seeing to the queue.

From what the girls yelling we gathered that she and her brother had been searched. Closely. No doubt this would have been traumatic, but the girl was screaming that she shouldn’t have been searched when it was her brother who had been caught with drugs previously. Oh dear, the high intellect of the British youth. When we were finally seen by immigration, I made it clear that not all Brits were like this banshee, that we had nothing to do with her and despite what it says in our passports, we were not actually British anyway.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Christmas on Ice

After another fine breakfast at the Manhattan Diner we walked over to Central Park. We had a great walk around Central Park and then popped along to get a look at the Guggenheim Museum – which, wait for it, was covered in scaffolding! The shop wasn’t very good either and we weren’t in the mood for looking round the exhibits. We went back to Central Park and Becky and John went ice-skating. Becky was fantastic, doing rings around everyone else. John was entertaining in his own way!

From Central Park we took the underground to Times Square and walked to the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings to get pictures of them in the day. We stopped off at the New York Public Library, a lovely building both inside and out.

Sarah suggested an hour in Greenwich Village as it sounded nice in our guidebook. But, we got off at the wrong end of Bleeker Street and it wasn’t what the guide book had raved about! We had to have our coffee and cake in an ‘Au Bon Café’, which wasn’t bon at all as the service was painfully slow and the hot chocolate was foul (John did liked his pecan delight so Sarah and I didn’t feel quite so bad for dragging Becky and John to a crappy area). We did eventually find the nice bit of Greenwich Village but unfortunately didn’t have too much time to walk around and enjoy it. On the way there we found Washington Square Park.

From Greenwich Village we got the tube to the Rockerfeller Centre and got caught up in the crowds admiring the huge tree and skating rink in front of the building. We had Chinese in the basement of the Rockerfeller and then went to see the Rockettes Christmas Show. It was fantastic (apart from the nativity scene at the end which was just thrown in to appease the religious crowd) and really put us in the mood for Christmas. When we got back to the hotel we had our cheap champagne and chocolates to celebrate.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Monkeys Take Manhattan

We were fortunate with the location of our hotel as it was opposite a fine diner. We had a filling and cheap breakfast at Manhattan Diner and hopped on the tube, or subway as they call it here, to Battery Park, the port for trips to Liberty Island. There was a huge queue to get through security. The security system was extremely tight and accurate. The metal detector was even able to tell the security guard that my package was not secure and that my flies were open!

We enjoyed our walk around the island and the up close look at the Statue of Liberty. It was a wonderfully clear day and we had picture perfect views of Manhattan. When we got back to Manhattan we walked to Wall Street, Trinity Church and on to South Street Seaport. The Seaport has a new shopping mall and gives you good views of the Brooklyn Bridge. Walking away from the Seaport area we came across a nice cobbled stoned street with interesting shops and a choir arranged like a large singing Christmas tree. We also saw the most authentic looking Father Christmas ever. Beige dungarees, a real, long white beard and small, round glasses. I think this is how the old man must always dress though, because when John asked for a photo the old man just walked off in a huff.

We got a taxi to the Flatiron building but it was covered in scaffolding. We walked up Broadway towards Times Square and ate in a nice restaurant. Then we went to a cinema to see King Kong. I’d really been looking forward to seeing King Kong and it had to be seen in New York. This was the first film we’d seen in the US. It was a strange experience because the audience cheered, clapped and ooh’ed at dramatic scenes. Becky and John even got the Spanish translation from the family sitting behind them.

Friday, December 16, 2005

If We Can Make It There…

We had purposely booked an early morning flight so we could have as much time as possible in New York. Winter had been mild so far in Ottawa, so of course it had snowed all night and our 6.30am direct flight had been cancelled. We were told the cancellation was because flights couldn’t get out of Ottawa. Strange then that we were put on a flight an hour later that went via Toronto. This flight was delayed and so we missed the connection. When we finally set off to New York we were delayed again and when we got to La Guardia the plane sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes. It had taken us as long to get to New York from Ottawa as it had for Becky and John from London.

Once we arrived at our hotel we quickly dumped our bags and walked down Broadway. We ate pizza at a quaint café. We ended up in Times Square, where we were dazzled by all the lights. We strolled along 42nd Street to Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building. New York was getting ready for Christmas and there were decorations and festive markets everywhere. We dropped by the Empire State Building’s lobby and then had a look around Madison Square Garden, ending the evening with a hot drink in Roxys, back in Times Square. It was my first visit to New York and despite the delayed journey getting here, I loved it already.
When we got back to the hotel we sat in the lobby to wait for Becky and John to arrive. It was so good to see them again and we were chatting away as if we saw them yesterday (we didn’t see them yesterday though – it’s been 11 months). After nattering for a while we all went to bed exhausted.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Beach and Baggage

You couldn’t really say that today was our last day in Guyana because we were at the airport by 4am. We were heading home, via a couple of hours in Barbados. After the obligatory flight delay from Georgetown and then long immigration lines at Barbados airport we eventually found our way to St. Lawrence Gap. We couldn’t check our bags in for the flight to Canada so we took them to the beach with us. Sarah fell asleep on a bench. We had lunch at Café Sol, a good Mexican and then got the bus back to the airport. With more airport delays it was a long journey back to Ottawa, via Toronto. It was really cold when we got back!

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Natural Wonder

We were in the car, on the way to the airport for another small plane flight back into the interior, when we got a phone call saying that the bad weather had delayed the flight. Guyana is a tropical climate so, whilst the rain storms are heavy, they don’t usually last very long. We headed back to Aoife’s to get a drink and wait. After 15 minutes we were on our way out again.

At the airport we met Margaret, the eccentric, talkative Scot who had arranged our interior trips and her husband Malcolm, who was our pilot for this day trip. Malcolm is an ex-RAF pilot, confident and very capable at flying aircraft. I think he’d have no problem flying a tin can powered by two hair-dryers, under attack from spear welding Amerindians.

Part of me doesn’t want to say where we went to today. It is the most beautiful, tranquil place I have ever been to and I don’t want to ruin it by encouraging too many to visit. But who am I kidding, the readership of our blog isn’t that big. We were heading to Kaieteur Falls, at 741 feet, the tallest single drop falls in the World. A direct flight would have taken us about half an hour, but first we took a detour to Baga Nara Island to pick up another passenger and then Malcolm treated us to a low level zip up the Essequibo river. Flying at 300 feet, we were level with the canopy top. Sarah isn’t a big fan of flying and it didn’t help when Malcolm tried to calm her nerves by flying no-handed. To make it worse, we’d flown along the river so that we could see the wreck of another plane that had crash landed on a sand bank in the river!

I was seated behind Malcolm and when we reached Kaieteur Falls, he told me to lean forward and reach my camera out of a window whilst he flew circles around the falls so I could some great photos. There is only a small airstrip near the falls. Flying in is the best way to get there as it takes two weeks over land through the jungle. This adds to its charm for me.

Once we landed, we walked to Johnson viewpoint. On the way, Malcolm pointed out the unique vegetation and animals that can survive here due to the spray from the waterfall. Tiny golden frogs live in pools of water that collect in the base of giant bromeliad plants. The graspid crab also finds a home near the falls as it feeds on the tiny frogs. The faunal highlight though was seeing a male Cock-of-the-Rock bird.

We had a better view of the complete height of the falls from Boyscout viewpoint. We had a picnic lunch here, listening to the roar of the water and watching blue macaws fly down the ravine. Then we walked through a small section of cloud forest to get up close to the waterfall. Being an untouched habit, there are no man-made safety barriers to spoil the view. We walked up the rivers edge, right at the point it hurtled over the cliff. To get the full appreciation of the drop, we lay down and shuffled forward to the edge of the rock so we looked straight down. It was dizzying. I was glad to be lying down as I sometimes get the inexplicable urge to see what it would be like to jump when I’m high up.

When we stopped at Baga Nara on the way back, we had a quick look around the resort, which was lovely. Back in Georgetown we took Aoife and Ben out for dinner by way of saying thank-you for having us and organising such a wonderful trip.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Weight A While

We were woken early this morning by the animals. After breakfast we went for a walk to a nearby trail. There were no birds except vultures and no monkeys as there wasn’t any fruit on the trees. Spring is the best time for nature spotting. From the top of the trail hill we could see a mountain in the distance. Our guide told us that it was called Poison Arrow Tree Frog Mountain. Locals did not visit the mountain, not just because of the obvious animals, but the mountain was also home to jaguars and wild boar. It will be our first priority on our next visit to Guyana.

We were leaving the interior today, but instead of the long bus journey we were flying back to Georgetown in a Cessna propeller plane. The plane was so small that we had to have ourselves and our luggage weighed!! Embarrassingly, they thought they had run out of weights for me! They had left the lock on, but why did it have to happen to me?

The plane arrived and we got in and then the plane wouldn’t restart so we had to get off. Whilst the pilot went to phone an engineer, we played Gin Rummy with Aubrey and Daniel. The engineer had decided the problem was due to all the rain and that the engine had got waterlogged. We sat and waited until it dried out a bit. The last 30 minutes of the flight were very cloudy and we went through several rain clouds and heavy downpours. We could see that Georgetown was very wet and waterlogged in places.

Back at Aoife’s we ordered pizza and watched Starsky and Hutch on DVD. Not a classic, but good simple fun.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Not-so-City Slickers

We were quite pleased and proud that we survived the night in the benab, with no electricity and surrounded by bats, hornets and snakes. We had a relatively good nights sleep despite being woken by the rain at 4am. Sarah was pleased that the snake didn’t find our room! We left Surama at 9am for the 1 hour drive to Rock View. Making use of a vehicle travelling between villages, we were joined by an Australian girl called Rachel, who worked at a research station near Rock View. Sidney, our guide, said that he had seen a jaguar at the Canopy Walkway the previous evening – quite frustrating as we had been there the previous day. We stopped at Bina Hill and saw the research centre (where Ben works) and the secondary school that is attended by children from the surrounding villages (some of which are several hours walk away) and then we went on to Rock View. Rock View was established by a Brit, Colin Edwards. Think public school, colonial governor who built the country single-handedly and you get the idea. He’s lived an interesting life and is happy to share a story or two over a glass of rum after dinner.

Rock View is more luxurious than the other places we stayed. It is well designed with nice rooms, a small pool and bar. It is self-sufficient and we had a tour around the fruit trees and animals. After lunch we were shown how cashew nuts are roasted. It is really hard, hot work. You have to roast the nuts to burn off the oil otherwise it would burn your lips and cause blisters. We felt a bit guilty that someone had spent all that effort just for us to try a couple of nuts. The cashews did taste lovely, especially as they were hot.

After the exertion of watching someone else roast cashews and crack them open in the boiling sun we needed a rest so relaxed in our hammock. At 3.30pm we went for a horseride around the grounds. It was my first time ever on a horse! My horse was called Normandy and Sarah’s was Chestnut. Luckily both horses knew the trail route and we didn’t have to worry about steering them. We saw the hills and the villagers’ homes and got back as it started raining. Castro, the horseman guide showed us how to round up cattle using a bull whip. It sounded like a gun going off. We sought shelter from the rain in the cowshed, which had further proof of Rock View’s self-sufficiency as there was a bloody cowhide drying out.

When the rain had passed, we went for a nice swim and met Aubrey and his grandson Daniel. Aubrey is Guyanese, but has lived in Cheshire since he attended school in the UK. At dinner we met Mr Prince and Archie, Guyanese engineers working for the water authority. After dinner we had drinks with Colin and the other guests. There were only the seven of us. It was set up perfectly for an Agatha Christie novel…but who had the guilty secret and who would be the victim?

After drinks, Sarah and walked to the airstrip with Daniel and Aubrey to do some star gazing.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Back to Basics

We had an excellent night’s sleep under the mosquito net last night. The field station had prepared a packed lunch for us, which we took with us on our next journey. We were sad to leave Iwokrama as we really enjoyed our stay there. We left Iwokrama by boat, the favoured mode of transport in these parts and made the short journey back to the river crossing. There we were met by Georgio, who would drive us a couple of hours out of the jungle to an Amerindian savannah village called Surama. On the way we detoured to the jungle canopy walkway. We had been told the day before that walkway was closed for safety reasons, but we thought maybe we were going to get to visit the walkway after all. What we hadn’t appreciated was that villages coordinated together to make the most out of any road transportation. Our little detour now was to deliver some fuel tanks to the staff at the canopy walkway and to pick up some papers for another village.

Surama is an Amerindian village with a population of approximately 250 people. The accommodation was more basic than Iwokrama, with no electricity but was still nice. Sarah was a bit concerned about the hornets’ nest on the wall!

It was interesting to see a different landscape. We had a tour of the community and learnt about what they do to harvest and use cassava. We were shown the painstaking and time-consuming process involving grating the cassava and weaving a basket to extract the poisonous liquid before it can be baked. We really liked visiting the school (55 children aged from 5 to 13 taught by 3 teachers). The kids were really sweet and very well behaved. The village buildings were spread over a wide area and we got very hot walking in the sun. We were just a few hundred yards from our benab (a type of hut) when the rains came again and we got drenched.

Back at the lodge near our benab, our guide showed us a boa constrictor that had made a home in between some planks of wood about 50 yards away from our benab. Sarah was not happy! In the afternoon we walked 3 miles through the jungle and got onto a small canoe and paddled down the Burro Burro River. Within a minute, we got a brief glimpse of a giant river otter. The river was much narrower than the river yesterday. There were deep banks with kingfisher holes. We felt very adventurous – just the 4 of us in a small canoe. We heard lots of monkeys and saw an eagle as well as smaller birds again. We managed to shower by torch light and then dinner. We were in bed before 8pm as it was pitch black everywhere and we were all alone. We played cards by torchlight in bed for a couple of hours and then tried to sleep, whilst listening to some bats in the rafters.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Sweaty Monkeys

We got to the Kuru Pukari river at 6am and watched the bus and the rest of the passengers get the little ferry across the river and continue on with their journey. We were told we’d be met by someone who would take us to our next stop. We didn’t know who this person would be or if they even knew to expect us and I was a bit worried we would be left stranded in the jungle next to a piranha and caiman infested river. Luckily we noticed a small boat coming towards us down river. We were saved!

It took 5 minutes to get to Iwokrama, a lovely little field station with 5 guest chalets. We had breakfast and Sarah went for a nap. I was eager to see the forest and went exploring with a guide. We saw lots of toucans and heard the screaming piha bird, and the caracara bird. Once the caracara had seen us, the guide said that we would not see any other birds or animals because the caracara is the intruder alarm for the forest. I did see some Hiowa trees, which have aromatic smelling gum. When I returned to the camp, we had an introductory talk and explanation about Iwokrama and their work. We were disappointed to hear that the Canopy Walkway was closed, but had an excellent lunch.

Shortly after we took a boat ride to the base of Turtle Mountain to make the climb. It was a 25 minute boat ride there. We went down the Essequibo river which is really beautiful and wide and just at the end of the journey we could see the rain down the river. It looked a long way away, but it got to us very quickly and we didn’t have time to get out rain jackets on. We got absolutely drenched. We walked to the base camp and left our jackets to dry as the rain had stopped and then made the hour and a half climb to the top of the mountain. It was very hot and humid and the drenching from the rain was replaced by sweat. We were exhausted. Gary, our guide, managed the climb effortlessly and carried water for us! The view at the peak was spectacular and well worth the effort. We looked out over rainforest for as far as we could see in every direction. We saw red howler monkeys, macaws and lots of steam rising from the warming forest as the rains passed. On the walk back down we heard lots of monkeys, particularly capuchins, and birds.

We got back to the camp in time for dinner at 6pm. It was another delicious meal – beef, rice, potato, pumpkin and pak choi. Afterwards we had another boat trip out, this time by torch light to look for caiman, bats and snakes. There were easy to spot because the torch light reflected in their eyes. We saw a caiman after only a few minutes and didn’t like the way it came towards us instead of being scared by us. We also saw ghost bats, fish and boas constrictors in the branches of trees over hanging the river. After our adventurous, sweaty day we showered and huddled under our mosquito net in bed. As we were drifting off to sleep we heard 2 or 3 shots fired. We forgot to ask about the shots when we got up in the morning.

Monday, December 05, 2005

By George! We’re in Georgetown!

We had a lie in this morning and didn’t get up until 10am. Aoife and Ben were at work but picked us up at lunchtime and we went to pay for our trip to the interior and then for lunch at the Oasis café. It is a new European café and we had a nice sandwich lunch. The cappuccino was good. Aoife and Ben went back to work and Sarah and I walked around Georgetown. It is a small city and a bit underdeveloped. There are open sewers and the traffic lights don’t work. Luckily the traffic is so jammed that no one can go fast enough to have a bad accident. Georgetown is rundown but there are some old colonial buildings, which we liked. We looked round the cathedral, and then past the town hall, high courts and parliament. On the way to the Botanical Gardens two schoolboys walked next to us using us as shields against other schoolboys across the road that were throwing stones. At the botanical gardens we saw manatees for the first time ever. We then went to the Walter Roth Anthropological Museum. This was free and had some interesting exhibits on Amerindian tribes in Guyana. We had Chinese takeaway at Aoife’s and then went to get the overnight bus in to the interior. The bus stop was situated at a bar! We met two English people, Fiona and James, who are doctors and were going to Lethem to work. The bus was meant to leave at 8pm but eventually left at 10pm. It made several stops in Georgetown and seemed to take hours to leave the city. The road got quite bumpy after a couple of hours and the journey took about 8 hours in total and was fairly uncomfortable. I slept one and off, but when I woke I checked the bus speedometer and saw we were hurtling through the jungle on a, luckily deserted dirt road at 100km/h in the mist. I stayed awake after that.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Lazy day at the Beach

Had a better nights sleep but woke fairly early, this time due to the cleaners. We walked down to Accra Beach and had a leisurely walk and sat down watching the crabs racing around.

We’re not beachy people so only stayed for half an hour, went back to the apartment to change before heading out to Sunbury Plantation, a 17th century plantation house. It was interesting to look at but had no information about the plantation or slavery. We had planned to visit a nearby rum factory but it was shut on Sundays. We wanted to get a bus back to Bridgetown, but we’re told that the service was even less reliable at weekends. A group from a cruise ship were doing a tour of the plantation so we asked if their coach driver might give us a lift back but he wasn’t allowed. We were facing a very long, hot walk. Luckily we caught a taxi as it leaving. We were so glad for the lift that we didn’t even ask the price. This was a big mistake as we got charged twice what it had cost us to get to Sunbury. To make matters worse, I got flummoxed by the cost and in trying to convert between Bajan and US dollars I ended up giving the driver a huge tip as well!

Back in Rockley we had another walk on the beach and lunch at Sugar Reef. This was also on the beach and we enjoyed sitting there listening to the steel band playing festive songs. Afterwards we collected our bags and went to the airport. We arrived early but unfortunately the plane didn’t and we had a 3 hour delay.

We eventually arrived in Guyana and were met by Aoife (Sarah’s cousin) and Ben. It was good to see her again and meet her boyfriend. We chatted for an hour and went for some much needed sleep. We were disturbed by a heavy storm in the night. Georgetown floods regularly in the rainy seasons due to the storms, high tides and power cuts, which stop the pumps working. The location of the city was chosen by the Dutch, but they didn’t do such a good job of land reclamation here as they have with Amsterdam.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Too many cocks spoil the sloth!

We both had a bad nights sleep; Dogs were barking all night and we had an early wake up call by cockerels. I was very annoyed. We headed back into Bridgetown and walked around the historical buildings to see them in the day – Parliament, Synagogue, Anglican Church and the Market. After walking round town for an hour or so, we went to the Atlantis Submarine. Neither of us had been on a submarine before and we hoped that the clear Caribbean waters would be filled with fish, turtles and sharks. It was a short boat ride out to the submarine. It was a cozy sub, but everyone had their own porthole to look through. We descended to 150 feet and floated over a reef watching lots of coral and small fish. We even saw an eel and a ship wreck and Sarah spotted a stingray.

Back on land we had a quick stop off at the Pelican Craft Village to buy some pottery as a souvenir. We had a delicious bagel (with ham, onions, peppers and mushrooms) at the Bean and Bagel Café opposite parliament and finished off the meal with a heavenly traditional rum cake dessert (almost as good as Joan’s!). We think this meal was much better than the Waterfront café. As we have wandered around Bridgetown we enjoyed listening to shops playing Christmas carols with a reggae twist!

After lunch we went to Gun Hill Signal Station. It has a nice red building in lush landscape with good panoramic views of the island. It was built by the British following the failed slave uprising of 1818. Then we took a taxi to the Atlantic East coast and went to the Andromeda Botanical Gardens. We enjoyed a peaceful walk around the gardens and after we walked down to the beach and strolled along. The sea is much rougher on this side of the island. We didn’t want to spend more money on a taxi so decided to wait for a bus. This being the seerioussly easy going Caribbean, we had an hours wait before the scheduled arrival of the bus. It was dark by the time the bus should have arrived and we started to get a bit nervous. It finally turned up a long ten minutes late and it took 45 minutes to get back to Bridgetown and then we had to get another bus to Rockley, where we were staying.

We had a super Greek meal at OPA! overlooking the ocean. The food and cocktails were great. Being a Greek restaurant we were given a plate to smash as we left. Sarah felt bad that we would make a mess so I threw it on the floor in the bar. On the way back I was told off by a Bajan man because Sarah was carrying the bags – “Help the lady with dem bags man”, but Sarah wouldn’t let me help. I think she wanted me to look bad.

Friday, December 02, 2005

It takes a long time to de-ice a plane

We had a very early start today as we got up at 4am. It was snowing so the plane had to be de-iced (just like a car but it takes a lot longer!). The flight out of Toronto was 1 hour and 15 minutes late due to de-icing. Once we got through the clouds we had beautiful blue skies all the way to Barabados. We could feel it getting warmer and could see some of the Caribbean islands en route. There was a very long immigration line in Barbados and the airport is being refurnished. We got a taxi to Adulo Apartments which was very cheap (only $86 for 2 nights). We thought we’d struck lucky when we found this great looking yet cheap apartment on the internet, but when we arrived we realised the best thing about it was the photographer that took the pictures for the website. Still, it was fine and the landlady was helpful and friendly. We got a bus into Bridgetown. We had planned to walk around the city tomorrow, but it’s a very small capital city so it didn’t take long to walk around and we saw all we wanted to in one evening. Parliament, the oldest in the Caribbean (1639), was lit up due to the independence celebrations. We watched a dance off competition outside parliament and then had dinner in the Waterfront Café, it had a nice location but was a bit pricey.