Hike of Barbados - Barclays Park - December 25th, 2012

This is a picture of me and my daughter, Alisha, at the beginning of the hike.  Notice that we are smiling and all relaxed looking.  This picture was taken at Barclays Park which is on the eastern coastline of Barbados.  At Barclays Park, you have the Atlantic ocean on one side and mountains on the other.  So, when the Hike of Barbados group publishes that the hike will take place at Barclays Park, you can pretty much bet on the fact that there will be some mountains to climb - otherwise, it would be a swim meet.  :)


OK, folks - this was Christmas Day!  My children had just arrived on Christmas Eve, on the evening flight.  As a mother, I was so excited to have my children with me.  The last thing on my mind on Christmas Day would be a hike - especially one on the northern east coast!  But, Alisha had heard me talking so many times about my past hikes that she wanted badly to do one herself - and since she was only going to stay with us for one week, it had to be the one on Christmas Day (sigh).  I really wanted to do it because of her - I wanted her to experience things that I have experienced here on this beautiful island.

So, after we had gone to the early Christmas Day church service and opened our Christmas presents and I had gotten the turkey stuffed and in the oven....we hurriedly packed our backpacks and put on our hiking gear and headed off for the eastern side of the island.  Now, although Barbados is a small island of about 166,000 square miles, it still takes a good while to drive from one side to the other.  The hike was to start promptly at 3pm - so, we left the condo around 2pm to ensure that we didn't miss the hike (I have done that before, by the way - missing a hike, they are very prompt with their start times on these hikes - which I find amusing in that in a lot of other areas of living on the island they are notoriously late).

Picture looking on one side:

And the other:

Yes, I am apprehensive looking at this mountain we are in no doubt about to climb - but, I wanted Alisha to see that her mother was in shape and I wanted her to be proud of me - so, I wasn't about to let her see my fears.  So, George - the leader of most of these hikes starts us out along this journey.  I have a great video of his first talk about this area of the island - but, I tried to download it into the blog yesterday and it just wouldn't download.  Maybe I can post it on You Tube later.  George is a great narrator.  He loves his country and it shows with his talks.  He is very proud of the Barbados heritage and all that went into his country becoming free.  I really admire George a lot and enjoy listening to his talks.  Here is a picture of the first incline that we started up.  Notice the guy leaning over trying to catch his breath?

So, already not 30 minutes into the hike - I am like this guy here - having to stop and catch my breath.  But, there is Alisha ahead of me - young and energetic - I just kept climbing - I could do this.  One really nice thing about having Alisha along for the hike, is that she would constantly turn around and make sure I was ok.  She would help me up many times along this hike.  She was such a pleasure to be with.  If you can't tell - I really love my daughter.  So, here is an example of how much nicer it is to have a partner on these hikes:

You know, someone that will lend that hand to help you on up.  Do you see in this picture how far we had already climbed in just 30 minutes?  It was a brutal hike, I'm telling you.  Ok, so we come to a landing and everyone gets to catch their breath and get a swig of water and if you have any energy left - take some pictures.  What I have found is that I really would like more time in these little breath catcher sessions, but George is relentless and all too often says "On With The Hike" way too soon.

Some pictures taken at the first stopping point:

Yeah, I know - my face was flushed but I was really trying to appear like I had my act together and not that I was about to collapse.  :)  Of course, Alisha was loving it.  She said, "Oh Mom, thank you so much - this is just what I wanted to do.  This is awesome."  ;0

I had really hoped at this point in the hike, that most all of the climbing would be over.  I mean, look at the pictures - we are already pretty high above the sea level.  And after all, it was Christmas Day and George had told us that he would cut the hike shorter today because they were wanting to have a lime afterwards.  Now for any of you reading this - that have never heard of "liming" - well, it is the Bajan way of saying having a party - food, fun, dancing, music, and drinks.

Oh, horror of horrors, we started up another incline!  This incline was so bad, that it really was more of a mountain climb than a hike.  I was having to pull myself up and pick places to position my feet kind of routine.  And there were tall blades of grass that we went through - I kept offering my shirt to Alisha but she said she would not put it on if I took it off - I believed her but felt bad that her arms were getting torn up with the branches, limbs, thorns that were rubbing against her.  At this point, I was thinking - "Lord, please just let me get to the top of this, please protect us and keep Alisha from getting hurt."  Alisha turned back around to me after this portion of the climb - with the most exhilerating expression on her face - she did not get this from me!  LOL

I was really hoping that because everyone was slowing down ahead of us, that it wouldn't be really bad - but, I was so wrong.  When we finally reached the top of the latest climb, there was no plateau - the other side looked a lot worse than the one we had just climbed  up!  It looked really bad.  I mean, there wasn't even much grass to hold on to, just a lot of slate looking stuff and small, loose rocks, AND a ledge not too far away that had a very significant drop under it.  I was petrified!  Alisha went ahead of me and she made it fine, but I was not too sure of how I would make out.  There was no way, that I could stand up and try to get down, there wasn't much of anything to hold on to.... I got down on my bottom and slid down the rocky area and just hoped and prayed that I would stop and not go over the ledge!  Now would be a good place to stop and tell anyone who is reading this - that there are some really good people that live in Barbados!  There were many times when a helping hand was extended to me along this journey.  And it was never more appreciated to be received than by me!  Several gentlemen positioned themselves along this treacherous landscape to help out.

Well, after this - it was all downhill from there.  George got a little lost at this point and we finally just followed the river bed to get back down to the bottom and the road.  This was also quite interesting - walking through the stream, jumping over logs and rocks, bending way down to get under tree limbs, just hoping that I didn't encounter one of those centipedes I keep hearing the Bajans talk about.  Trying to watch the person in front of you as well - so that when they let go of a limb, you wouldn't get hit in the face with it.  But, we made it.

One of the things that I look forward to at the end of these hikes is the fresh juice!  There is a  guy who brings homemade juices from the fruits of the island!  Oh my, they are to die for!  Alisha couldn't believe how great they tasted - we tried five fingers, golden apple, and black cherry - outstanding!

Also, we stayed around for the lime.  The group gave George a cell phone for a Christmas present and I tasted probably the best lemon-aid I have ever had.  Lorna, if you ever read this blog - I would really love that recipe!

I hope to post many more blog entries on the other hikes, and please don't get me wrong with this first post - I love these hikes - not all of them are mountainous regions and there is so much to see and stories to hear from George that makes it all worthwhile.