Los Barbados - the land of the Bearded ones

It is said that travel is educational - today we did learn a number of things about Barbados that we probably would not have known if we had not landed there yesterday. We learned that the name is pronounced by the locals as "Bar-bar-dos", and not as we have always pronounced it. We saw the original "Trafalgar Square", complete with statue of Horatio Nelson, both built/erected before that other one in London. We learned that the local monkeys (Green monkeys - actually brought to the island with slaves) are the source of most of the world's supply of Sabin Polio vaccine. And we discovered RUM PUNCH!!!! We also rediscovered something that I have been aware of for some time. And that is - that the more experience you have of something, the more critical you become of it and the more blase you become about it. This applies to travel experience as much as anything else. And hence, we came away from Barbados with a slight feeling of disappointment. We took a 3.5 hour tour of the island - which got us out of the Capital city of Bridgetown (where we were docked) and took us to the higher interior part of the island and to the rugged east coast. Apparently the most touristy part of the island is the west coast - which is famous for it's calm beaches and incredibly blue water. We saw only a little part of this side - and the water colour certainly lived up to it's reputation.
We later walked into the city. It is probably a little unfair to make a judgment in such a short and limited exposure to the island - and I am fairly sure that a week in one of the resorts on the west coast with some longer and more relaxed tours around the island (by the very extensive and inexpensive local bus network) would be very enjoyable. As Aussies however, living a long way away, and also as Queenslanders who
noted that much of the island was very much like a cross between the northern tropical area of Queensland and the New South Wales coast, we are not sure at this time that we would go to the effort and expense of
coming back.  We are on to Aruba tomorrow - with today at sea! We are looking forward to Aruba - as it seems that it is very different from what we are accustomed to at home.

You can view a Youtube video of our visit to Barbados here