On the fifth day of va-cay, my daft brain said to me... let's go hiking by the Bajan sea...
through forests and glens, up hills, down dales,
acrosss fields of green...
walk the village paths, trundle down the road and drink water by the load...
and go hiking by the Bajan sea.
[Bonus points to those that apply the tune "12 days of christmas" to those words - you figure out where in the chorus it starts. Baha.]
So, yes, then. Indeed.
That is precisely what we did. All of the above.
The day started early - we were picked up by our hike master, Stephen Mendes of Hike Barbados, at 7:00 a.m. sharp. He carried us about 40 minutes through the mainland to the Eastern shoreline, about 25 miles away. He explained (after having a good up'n'down look at us, motley crew that we were) that he actually had two 6-mile hikes and offered the choice up to us.
We could do the "easy" 6-mile hike or we could do the "challenging" 6-mile hike, that included the famous Monkey Jump Pass. He suggested that we, as Canadians not acclimed to hiking in such tropical temperatures, might wish to consider the "easy" 6-mile hike.
I think he was truly hoping we'd say yes to that - he knew what we were in for. We didn't have a
clue. After an extremely short deliberation, it was determined the "easy" version was likely the more suitable one.
Baha.
Yes.
It was.
Serious.
It - the "easy" one - was hard. It was some of the most challenging hiking I've done in a long, long time.
Our first 1.5 miles was basically straight up the steep cliffsides of the Atlantic Coast, for all intents and purposes. 650 feet straight up from sea level. That's the equivalent of 65 stories, peeps. Up. Over uneven terrain. We bundled forward, fresh as daisies and ready for adventure. About an hour in -- after having a 10 minute break halfway up our climb -- we found ourselves at a small village, where the men chortled for a break to buy some water (they didn't have any). Jon gathered up 4 bottles of water and chugged back 3 in a flash. It was HOT on that hike. Like heat I've not experienced since Costa Rica.
Charlie grabbed a bottle and drank it back. After Stephen took a pitstop around behind a derelict building (in the middle of the village), we were back on the beat, pounding down the pavement to the entrance to the jungle portion of our walk.
Which. was. way. cool.
The next 2.5 miles was a pleasant hike through the jungle bush and along quiet roadways, through fields alongside small homesteads and through a small village. It was the easy part to navigate, though the descent through the jungle was quite steep. It was a wonderful feeling to be in that jungle, and not hear any man-made noise, like cars... that constant drone that is part of city living. W-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l natural noises reverberating through the overall silence (and whispering in behind our chattering along the trail).
Stephen, our hike leader, was a study on human interests... the man has been involved in a great many things, is educated on a great many things, is interested in a great many things. He has a strong bent to science and the scientific - maths, physics - but also a quiet fundamental faith, too. He is definitely a study in contrasts! He shared a great deal about himself, his life, and his beloved Island. I asked him if he'd ever been to Canada. A look of horror crossed his face: "NO! I don't like the cold! Can't stand it! I'm sure your country is lovely, but it's far too cold for me!"
He explained that he'd been in New York City for a couple of days, on a work conference, and found it bone chilling cold. I asked when he'd gone, thinking it was in the deep winter months. "Ummmm, it was in September, I think. The weather dropped down to 69F at night! I cranked up the heat in my room, I was so cold!"
It's all relative, folks. Baha.
Our final two miles we walked along the coastline - literally on cliff's edge for a good portion of that, ducking through scrub brush and low trees. It was a challenging stretch, for certain. Four of the five of us whacked our heads - hard - several times on the low-lying branches inside the scrub. The open stretches between scrub patches was stifling hot.
About 3/4 mile from the end of the hike, we had to stop and take a break. The heat had gotten the
better of us. Poor Charlie hadn't had any water for a couple of hours and was parched. Navigating the risky craggy outcrops of stone path along the sea cliff's edge was strenuous work. And dangerous! Ducking through the scrub brush was a full-body aerobic workout. We were, by all accounts, ready for the hike to be finished by the time we took that break.
Stephen was patient (and perplexed) with us. He is so incredibly fit and brimming with energy that I think he had a hard time trying to accommodate backwards to our decidedly less fit Canadian abilities. After a good rest, we picked up and carried on. The final half-mile was actually quite lovely and more jungle-like. When we broke to pavement, I could hear the collective sigh of relief from my compadres.
We'd just had the workout of our lives.
We walked into Bath, where we'd started, to find that a Cub Scouts day camp jamboree was happening - there were kids everywhere. Running and jumping and hopping about. We were dragging our asses across the finish line. I'm sure they found us amusing.
We stopped at the canteen and found that they were selling Banks Beer at 4 bottles for $10 BBD (that's $1.25 each CDN - dirt cheap). Several bottles were bought up and we hit the grass to park and drink. I had water, the others beer. I'll wager that was some of the best-tasting beer they had.
On our way back to the hotel, Stephen shared numerous stories about his teaching experiences at the University. He got quite passionate about his disdain for a number of issues. I found him most entertaining. Almost back to the hotel, we got stuck in a traffic jam. On an Island with a total population of 300,000 or so, their version of a traffic jam is a two-lane highway going about 10 km/hr. Stephen wasn't interested in waiting. We had already taken about 90 minutes longer than
he had anticipated and he was anxious to get back home (he'd told his wife he'd be home early). The detour around that jam actually took us an additional half-hour! Once we were back to the hotel, I understood Stephen's excitability around traffic jams in Barbados.
There is no straight path on that Island, anywhere. A detour could take you three times as long to traverse! We'd left at 7:00 a.m. -- Stephen had us on a 6-mile hike over rough terrain, had a beer with us at the end of it, diverted around a traffic jam and still had us back to the hotel by 1:30 p.m.
I think we Canucks rocked socks in Barbados!
While everyone was very relieved to be done with the hike, all were very glad they did it. We had definitely been pushed outside of our comfort zones, we were pushed beyond our limits on a number of levels and we finished the trek. SCORE.
Everyone had a v e r y lazy afternoon, with napping and swimming and more napping. We rounded off the day with a FANTASTIC meal at the Waterside restaurant in St. Lawrence Gap. It was an exquisite meal in outstanding surroundings. To dine on the shoreline of the Caribbean Sea cannot be matched. It just can't.
Delectable, delightful, delicious. It was the best meal I had on the Island.
We were back to the hotel and in bed by 11:00 p.m.
Totally spent, and completely satisfied...
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