The Hats of Sandy Lane Gold Cup

I had an extremely good time this last Saturday at what is known around here as the "Sandy Lane Gold Cup."  Sandy Lane is this really nice, 5 star hotel that sits on the west coast of the island.  (It is where Tiger Woods was married.)  So, the first two years of living here on the island - if I heard anyone talk about the Sandy Lane Gold Cup - I had differing ideas of what this was all about.  Usually entailing rich people and the west coast.  But, I didn't realize until it was too late last year - that this was actually a horse race.  And that it is raced at the Garrison which is right by where I live on the South Coast.

I went along with 6 other people to this race - and had a great time. Definitely going to be one of my top memories (other than Queen's Park on Christmas Day).  We decided to sit in the stands for this event - so that we could see the horses as they crossed the finish line.  So glad we made this decision - it was ecstatic/electrifying as those horses raced towards the finish line each time.  There were 10 races in total.  The 9th race was the "biggie" - the Sandy Lane Gold Cup!  Each race was rather short in time and then there would be about a 30 minute wait between that race and the next one.  (So that anyone that wanted to bet on the next race - had time to get their bet placed.)

But, it was just so much fun watching the people in between the races, that the time passed very quickly.  I got carried away with looking at the hats that everyone wore.

I like the ribbon and how it was tied into such a nice, elegent, long bow.

                    

Hey, the jockeys had to wear a hat, too.....

Nice strong hat with a very nice, stylish ribbon - on a guy by the way....

Nice hat...

I bet this guy likes Bob Marley...

Here you go.......

Back in Mississippi, my uncle wore one like this to fish in....

This is one of my friends - he wanted to get in on the picture taking by putting on his wife's hat...

Wait, what is this - flowers tucked into the hat?  Nice...

 Now, this guy was the announcer - I think he wins the prize!

Love the ribbon.  I want one of those hats....

Hum, I wonder where this one came from?

Even the little ones had their bonnets on...

Ok, this guy is totally deciding on who to bet on in the next race.  If his horse doesn't win, his hat would.

Pretty good...

This is fantastic - love the white ribbon around the white hat.

Very nice.

Hey bandannas can count, too.

Ok, this young lad just couldn't get it straight.

Love it...

Now how many people do you know have a pair of sunglasses to match their hat?

Love, love it.

Hat matches the shirt - cool!

Totally awesome.

Love the purple accessory.

Man, I didn't realize a hat could come in so many different colors/stripes.

Love them both - I've always wanted to wear a red hat.

You have to look closely here - but this is actually a very cool hat with the gorgeous accessories attached to the side.

Hat?  Who needs a hat when you have all these cute berets?

He was actually walking on stilts - and wearing that hat at the same time!

Barbados colors - blue and yellow - for the sun and sea.

Who says you have to wear the hat actually on the head?  Why not about a foot back of your head?

Nice...

Seriously?

I wish I could have gotten a better shot of this hat - very eloquent! 

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.

Prickle

Pudding and Souse is one of the Barbados dishes that is usually sold around the island on Saturdays.  Why on Saturdays - I have no idea - but, that is their way.  As one of their songs goes, "This is what we do."  It took almost two years of me living here on this island before I had an opportunity to eat this dish.  Gary and I had lived at Maxwell Beach Villas all this time and little did we know that some of the best pudding and souse offered on the whole island was right across the street from us!  It is sold most every Saturday at the Golden Sands Hotel - but, you need to go early to purchase yours - because they do run out.

Ok, so you ask - what is this pudding and souse?  Well, the pudding is made from sweet potatoes and the souse is from the pig.  Now, at Golden Sands Hotel - you can request that your souse be lean meat - which is what I always do - that way, I'm assured of not getting what might be gotten otherwise.  What do I mean?  Well, souse is usually made from the pig's head and trotters!  Yikes!  To be quite honest, I'm not a big fan of the pudding made on the island - even though I like sweet potatoes - they put some type of spice in there that is not appealing to my palate.

But, the real reason I am making this post is that everytime I have ordered pudding and souse, they also serve this yummy cucumber relish.  I have wanted to know how this was made since the first time I tasted it.  I love it!  Well, I finally got a Bajan cookbook and the recipe was in there for this cucumber relish.  I bought all the ingredients and yesterday asked Betty to show me how to make it.  This is the result - it was a quite successful cooking expedition - and a dish that will definitely stay on my list of favorites.  Betty said they call this dish Prickle!

So, there you have it - another Bajan term - Prickle!

PS - if you are not a fan of cucumber, onion or parsley - then you probably wouldn't like Prickle.

Sometimes paradise isn't

This is one of those days that I really don't like being an ocean away from my children.  James and Ali are celebrating their engagement tonight in Austin with friends and family - and I'm not going to be there.  Just typing these words makes me want to cry.  So, if any of you reading this - think I have it made - that I live in paradise, etc. etc. - no, there are lots of drawbacks - the grass is not always greener on the other side.  Sigh.

On a lighter note, Sandy and Peter Raymer came over for dinner last night - and Sandy brought the dinner!  She taught me how to make sushi - and I can not wait to try this out for myself.  It was very good.  She was able to buy sushi grade king fish at the local fish market.  I definitely need to take advantage of this situation while we live here.

I'm looking out the window right now and I see a low flat fishing boat with at least 20 young bajans on it - they are going for one of those fish netting expeditions.  It makes me wonder sometimes how that boat can hold all those guys PLUS all the fish that they catch!

Sharon Dalinda and I came to the conclusion the other night - that because we live here on this island in the Caribbean - where there is never an end to summer - that that is the reason, that we have lost all sense of time!  It is like we are in the twilight zone or something.  There is no fall, winter, spring - just summer - continuously - all the time - day in and day out - are you beginning to see the monotony of it all?

Another turtle story - but, probably the best

If you have read any of my previous blogs, then you will know that I have been picking up turtle hatchlings in the mornings - as we walk along the beach and boardwalk - and then I help them find their way to the ocean.  They go in the wrong direction a lot of times because of the lights from the hotels and when the sun comes up - they will die if they are not rescued.  Several people had told me that I needed to quit releasing the hatchlings in the morning and keep them until dusk to release them.  This way, they have a better chance at survival as it is getting dark and less predators would be able to spot them.  So, on Monday - Gary sees a hatchling in the grass near our condo.  So, I pick it up and bring it into the apartment - and realize that I don't know what to do with it all day!

I sent an email to the Barbados Turtle Project with the question on how to best keep them.  They did not respond back before the end of day on Monday.  I put the hatchling into a cardboard box and placed him in our hall bathroom which has no light filtering in from the windows/outside.  He squirmed a lot during the day and I was worried that he would be too exhausted by the time dusk would come around.  But, he made it all day and Gary and I went down to the see and released him.  The waves were strong and we released him in an area where he had to navigate around rocks - so, we were worried that even then we were not doing the right thing!  This simple activity that Gary and I did together was so much fun - for both of us.  It reminded me that there are so many things in life that people can do and enjoy without having to spend money.

I did hear back from the Turtle Project group on Tuesday, which was a good thing because I had picked up another hatchling that morning.  This hatchling looked exhausted to begin with, so I was very fearful for his living through the day.  But, the email told me to put him in a bucket/box with some sand at the bottom and then to cover it with a warm towel - that this seemed to calm them down so that they would sleep.  Turtles sleep!  The email also said that someone from the turtle project would come and pick him up that afternoon to release him.  I really didn't understand why they were asking me to do this - why couldn't I just release him myself?  Then, I got to worrying that the little thing wouldn't make it - and there would be this dead turtle when they came by later to pick him up.  But, anyway - I was supposed to have sand in the bottom of the box.  I went to the shore - and dug up enough sand to cover the bottom of the box and on my way back - I discovered another very healthy hatchling!  Whew!  Now at least when they came to pick up the hatchlings at least one would be alive. The warm, damp towel - did the trick - I no longer heard them scratching against the side of the box.  Gary asked me when he got home wasn't I going to release these two and I said No, that they were coming by to pick them up at some point.  This is when I got to thinking that maybe hatchlings could stay a number of days in the box before being released?  One of many questions that I didn't know the answer to.

For some unknown reason, I was not sleepy Tuesday night.  So, I stayed up and worked around the home.  My cell phone rang at 10:30 pm - just as I was putting the last dish in the drain.  It was the turtle project team and they were on their way to pick up my two hatchlings.

I met the group at the front gate - and let them in to park inside the condo's parking lot.  The group consisted of two young ladies that I would guess were in their early twenties.  One of their names was Carla.  She was going to take the box from me and then go and release the turtles and I asked her if I could tag along - and she said yes.  So, we walk through the inside of the condos around the swimming pools towards the back gates.  I was surprised to see that both hatchlings were all of a sudden very active.  That was a relief to me to know that the one didn't die.  One of my questions had been answered - they do seem lethargic at times, but you should still rescue them.  Just as we were approaching the gate to go to the beach, we notice there are ALL these hatchlings around this sidewalk night light!  We start picking them up and putting them in the box.  Then, once we opened the gate - they were all over the place - in the sand - headed toward's Carla's flashlight.  We were picking them up and trying not to step on any of them at the same time.  They were all headed in the wrong direction.  They were going towards the lights at the condos instead of the ocean.  There were a lot of clouds last night - and so the moon was not shining brightly.

Carla started walking in the direction that the turtles seemed to be coming from.  She even saw a crab take one of the hatchlings into it's crab hole - and guess what she did?  She stuck her hand in the crab hole and worked her fingers in there until she had grabbed the hatchling and pulled him out.  She grinned and said, "This is the lucky one."  I'd say so!  It would have taken a lot of money and nerve for me to have done that.  Anyway, she was very experienced and it seemed just minutes before she said - "Ah, here is the nest."

The moment I had been waiting for - to actually see the hatchlings coming out of the nest.  I looked over and there were about three of them with their heads and front fins sticking out of the sand.  So cute!  She sat down by the nest and started working the sand away from the hatchlings.  She explained to me that a lot of times the roots from nearby trees and plants grow in the nest - and the hatchlings get caught in the roots and can not make it out of the nest.  She was helping them.  She pulled probably 6 or so live hatchlings out this way.

Then, she kept digging with her hand - very carefully - not in a hurry.  I watched in silence, didn't want them to be bothered by my presence.  I was seeing the experts at work!  Who cared what time of the night it was - I had always wanted to see this and experience it and it was happening!  I was so glad that I had asked to tag along.  Very perturbed that I hadn't brought my good camera along, though!  No way to record this momentous event.  I did have my iphone V3 and was able to take a few still shots that I am including with this story.  Another tidbit that I have learned is that it is not good to take pictures of the turtles with the flash on.  She dug down for about a foot and a half and then, she started pulling out the empty egg shells.  Her partner had come over and was now seated on the ground opposite her - and she would hand over these empty shells to the partner - who I found out later - was taking them and counting them.  They explained to me that they needed to know approximately how many eggs were in this particular nest.

Carla let out a girly "oooooeeee" and brought out her hand where one of her fingers had jabbed into an undeveloped egg - ooooooeeee.  She brought this egg out as well as 5 more like that - she set these aside in a different location.  At the end, when she could not find any more egg shells, then she took each of these 6 eggs that hadn't hatched and opened them and poured out their contents into the nest looking for any embryos.  5 of the eggs had no embryo and one looked different with some globs of matter - they classified it as unknown.  She then took all the empty egg shells and placed them back inside the nest and then she put all the dirt back into the nest and then she put some leaves on top.  It was as though nothing had ever happened at that location.

So, all in all - there were 175 empty egg shells, 1 unknown egg and 5 unhatched eggs in that one nest!!!  Who would have ever thought this could be?  The interesting thing to me was that if someone had just walked up by the nest, you wouldn't have known it was an active hatchling nest - there were no empty shells - and not that big/deep a hole.  So, I learned from this, that the hatchlings hatch from the shells down a foot or so in the sand - and after they have hatched, then they start working their way up to the top of the sand - they use each other in their struggle to reach the top.

So, my little box that started out with 2 hatchlings had quite a few in it.  Sorry for the quality of this picture, but it was the best I could do with no flash on the iphone V3.

After we had saved all the hatchlings that we could find, we went to the sea shore and Carla sat down and started taking the hatchlings out one at a time.  At first, I didn't understand why she didn't just  empty the box and let them go, but then I realized that she was counting them.  I am very delighted to say that we saved 78 hatchlings last night!  :)  I asked Carla about whether it mattered where we released them in terms of rocks in the ocean or the waves being too strong - and she said no, that for the most part that didn't make a difference.  Only if the tide were very low would the hatchlings have trouble making it over all the rocks.  She told me that the hatchlings immediately go on out to the open sea.  They don't really understand what happens to them at this point in time.  They do believe that the hatchlings eat off the sea sponges and that at some point, the small turtles eat among a reef and when they become mature - that is when they magically swim back to their original nest site to lay their own eggs! It is also better to release the hatchlings the day they are discovered, their chances of survival are better.

I hope you enjoyed this blog - it was one of my favorites to write.  I feel so blessed to have gotten to experience this opportunity.