Just a Wednesday

Hello from Barbados,

The sun is setting on an overcast day here. Not too much going on. Last night we drove to a sports pub in Christchurch to watch Nets-Cavs game 2. It was a cool place called Bert's that we'd never been to before. We had a veggie "pizza" that was not so great. As for the game, it was also not so great, with moments of serious ugliness. Cleveland certainly didn't play well (LaBron got hot at the end and they had a good first half of offensive rebounds for second and third tries), but the Nets just couldn't get anything started. Hoping for more from NJ on Saturday.

We worked today from home for the third day in a row. I've been finalizing some survey instruments and its easier and more comfy to work from here. We're both having some computer issues, so much of today was spent running virus scans etc.

Cathy asked about Jerry the van, and how we named it (I can't really give a good answer for the "why" part). The van used to be a taxi, a bus. So we were calling it "the bus", which quickly changed to Jerome (for a recently retired NFL running back who also went by "the bus"). Jerome somehow quickly became "Jerry" and that stuck.

Jerry (the van not the football player) looks OK from the outside, but is an absolute mess inside. The only gauge that works is the fuel gauge, which is good. The speedometer would be in KM/hour not MPH so we we'd be forced to do math while driving to read it, so its OK that it doesn't work. The temperature gauge doesn't work either, but that's also OK because the engine and fuel tank are right underneath the two front seats (if you look at the picture you'll see that there's no front end at all, so the motor is under the cabin) so we can definitely tell when its running warm. Our butts get really hot.

Other than the intact gauges that don't really work, the whole console is basically missing. Its all been ripped out. Wires hang everywhere. We assume they were for radio, a/c, speedometer and other things that are clearly unnecessary for this fine machine to operate. The back of the bus is pretty messed up too. There are two ripped and worn bucket seats and a bench seat. None of them stay put too well and tend to clang around on really bumpy roads. Anyway, it has tires, brakes, a motor and a transmission. We bought it cheap and already have someone who wants to buy it in June. Nothing too terrible has happened so far. We broke a timing belt on the way to pick up Jay and Diane at the airport, and that could have been bad. But Lara got a taxi to the airport and I got towed to a friend's house who has a neighbor who is a mechanic (by two separate people, both with pickup trucks, both for free) and got a ride home. The neighbor fixed it in two days, including a new belt, for $50 total. Not so bad considering an older rental car would have been around $1000 month.

So... not to jinx it, but 6 more weeks of running and we'll have to say Jerry was a great deal.

Love from Barbados,
Pete & Lara

Road trip

Its been a while since we blogged... Happy Birthday to John (May 3).
This post will be about driving. We take a lot of drives, usually on weekends, to explore the country. Its always an adventure, new sights, meeting people, dealing with bumpy roads and invariably getting lost. We're constantly saying: "well, we've never been down this road before...", and take getting lost as a natural occurrence to enjoy (unless we're late for a meeting somewhere). Our van isn't the most comfortable ride in the world, no radio and basically no shocks, and we always get interesting looks from the locals as we drive through new places, the van bumping and creaking all the way. The country of Barbados is beautiful, with different climate and landscape just up or down the next hill.

The intention of our last road trip was to visit this local rum shop called The Viewpoint. We had seen it a few times up in the hills as we were driving along lost but we were not sure where exactly it was located. We started off with a parish in mind (Barbados is broken up into 11, mostly named for saints - John, Philip, Michael, Andrew, Peter, James, Lucy, Joseph, Christ Church, Thomas and George) and we set off. Upon driving for about an hour, we decided we were not going to be able to find The Viewpoint. It was getting dark so we headed home - just not in the same direction in which we started. Driving through an area which "looked" familiar, we ended up driving down a very steep hill taking us to a dead end where about 10 kids were hanging out. Of course as we pulled up, they laughed but asked where we were going. After a brief conversation, we headed back up and through a different gap (small town in the cut between two hills). We continued down new roads and back up the hill only to run into The Viewpoint - small restaurant and bar with an open porch (we indulged in Macaroni Pie, salad and a couple cold Banks). Amazing view from the top of a hill overlooking a valley and on to the Atlantic, hills on either side covered in Coconut trees and a few small farms in the foreground. Here are a few pics from our adventure:

Love from Barbados - Pete & Lara

View from the Viewpoint

Farm

Jerry - resting

Highland Adventures Horses

De Road