Ian knew the names of all the flowers. He told us how the colours of the houses made him feel, and the types of fruit that hung on every tree that we passed. He was the proud creator of Jungle Juice, a home-recipe rum punch, and was charming without equal to everyone he met. But most of all, despite this unusual catalogue of particulars, Ian was the most quintessential symbol of everything that makes Barbados special.
On our first full day in Barbados we were treated to an Island Safari, which involved all 10 of us jumping aboard a well-loved Land Rover and being chaperoned around Barbados by Ian, our cheerfully eccentric tour guide. The Island Safari takes the term “tour” in its grandest sense, exploring not only our immediate area, but the entire island, east to west, coast to coast. It was an ambitious undertaking that led us around the diverse landscapes of the island, from the flourishing jungles to the sand-hills of St Andrew’s Parish.
We saw the great White Lion of Gun Hill, a relic from the times of colonialism. We got to pick wild cotton straight from from the stem, and inspect its cloudy folds for the hard black seeds within. We saw the oldest sugar cane processing plant on the island, a monument to Barbados’ most significant export. Perhaps the most bracing experience was standing atop Cliff Edge, a precipice that overlooks the powerful Atlantic Ocean, allowing us to admire the East Coast from an inspired perspective. It was breathtaking in the most literal sense, as the strong winds from the ocean playfully snatched the air from our lungs, creating a real feeling of astonishment.
What’s more, every inch of this island-spanning narrative was punctuated by Ian’s opinions on anything and everything, ranging from his dislike of the bulbous grapefruits that sprouted intermittently from the trees that we passed, to his ambitious renovation suggestions for pretty much every property on our route. Everything had a tale to tell, not just focused on historical significance, but also the inspirited yarns that Ian loved to share with us.
I expected a more conventional tour of the important sights and locales that formed the cultural backbone of Barbados, but in hindsight this missed the point entirely. It is precisely this openness, this typically Bajan inhibition, that defines the cultural treasures of the island. The aim of Ian’s tour wasn’t to define how the island should be important to us, but to celebrate how important the island is to him. Every observation he made, be it on the colour of a house or the secret to cooking green bananas, was a little piece of how Barbados actively shaped and defined its inhabitants. It gave the impression that Barbados was so much more itself because every element of the island meant something to someone, housing their anecdotes for countless uniquely wonderful reasons.
I asked Ian if he would do me the honour of posing for a picture with Bayley. “I’ll hold him close to my heart” he said, without even a pause for thought. It was precisely this desire to incorporate every individual event into a greater identity that formed the most rewarding discovery we made during the Island Safari.
Inspired by this refreshing way of life, we were all motivated to find our own stories written into Barbados, ready to take back to England in celebration of this island’s vitality.
Our next adventures would take us into the famed waters of the Caribbean, but for now here are some highlights from our Island Safari:
