From Wikitravel

Barbados [1] is an island in the Caribbean, northeast of Venezuela. The island is portrayed as the little England of the Caribbean because of its long association as a British colony.

Contents 1 Cities 2 Other destinations 3 Understand 4 Get in 4.1 By plane 4.2 By boat 5 Get around 6 Talk 7 Buy 8 Eat 9 Drink 10 Sleep 11 Learn 12 Stay safe 13 Stay healthy 14 Respect 15 Contact

Cities

Barbados has the following towns and cities:

• Bridgetown - 'Capital'

• Bathsheba
• Holetown
• Oistins
• Speightstown

Other destinations

• South Coast -- The south coast is made up of several very small villages strung along the coast. Most of the budget hotels, guesthouses, and apartment are located here. Towns include Hastings, Rockley, Worthing, St.Lawrence, Oistins, Silver Sands and Maxwell.

Understand

Barbados has experienced several waves of human habitation. The first wave were of the Saladoid-Barrancoid group, farmers, fishermen, and ceramists who arrived by canoe from Venezuela's Orinoco Valley around 350 CE. The Arawak people were the second wave, arriving from South America around 800 CE. Arawak settlements on the island include Stroud Point, Chandler Bay, Saint Luke's Gully, and Mapp's Cave. According to accounts by descendants of the aboriginal Arawak tribes on other local islands, the original name for Barbados was Ichirouganaim. In the 13th century, the Caribs arrived from South America in the third wave, displacing both the Arawak and the Salodoid-Barrancoid. For the next few centuries, they lived in isolation on the island.

The name "Barbados" comes from a Portuguese explorer named Pedro Campos in 1536, who originally called the island Los Barbados ("The Bearded Ones"), after the appearance of the island's fig trees, whose long hanging aerial roots resembled beards. Between Campos' sighting in 1536 and 1550, Spanish conquistadors seized many Caribs on Barbados and used them as slave labor on plantations. The others fled the island, moving elsewhere.

Barbados was formally settled by the British in 1627. After several failed crops of cotton, sugarcane was introduced, and the colony established itself as a profitable plantation economy. Enslaved Africans were the primary source of labour on these plantations until 1834, when they won their freedom through several years of rebellion, supported by increasing pressure from anti-slavery movements in Britain.

The economy remained heavily dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the 20th century. Though the shackles were removed, much of the repressive labour conditions of slavery remained on the island, until the 1930s, when the educated black middle class fought for universal adult suffrage and took the control of the country's local governance away from the British-descended local aristocracy. The country began a process of social and political reforms in the 1940s and 1950s which led to complete independence from the UK in 1966. In the 1980s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the sugar industry in economic importance. Barbados has developed into a stable democracy with one of the highest rates of literacy in the Western Hemisphere.

Locals refer to themselves as Bajans and things Barbadian as Bajan.

Get in

By plane

For its size, Barbados boasts a large international airport with dozens of flights arriving in the high season from the UK and Canada as well as the United States.

Buses run from a stop across the road from the airport up the coast to Bridgetown, but a taxi is the most convenient way to get to your hotel on arrival.

By boat

Many cruise ships dock in Bridgetown, and in fact the Bridgetown deep water harbour has just been expanded to accommodate even more vessels. Private moorings are available around the island. Note- stiff penalties prohibit the dropping of anchors on coral reefs. Example: Yacht drops anchor off Weston - February 12th, 2006

Get around

The bus system is extensive, cheap, and fast -- if you're headed to somewhere on the main route, but a car (or mini-moke) is the only way to see many of the out-of-the-way sights. Many of the drivers will hold a bus for you if they see you're from out of town reflecting the typical welcoming spirit.

There are also more than enough taxis to take you wherever you need to go on the island for reasonable prices.

Mopeds and bikes can also be rented, on the island, to explore sites that aren't easily reached by cars.

Another fun way to get around is to rent a moke available from any number of local car rental agencies.

If you are driving, roads on the island are generally quite narrow, with the exception of the ABC highway. It is advisable to be extra cautious as many roads on the island have sharp turns, steep inclines, and are generally quite bumpy, although most are paved. Many of these proclaimed highways do not have sidewalks, so there can be pedestrians on the street sharing the road. Many bus stops are also on the side of roads where there are no sidewalks.

Talk

The official language in Barbados is English. Locals also speak an English dialect reminiscent of the Scottish highland dialect.....which is refered to as Bajan. There are a few African words interspersed with the dialect. Communication will not be a problem for any English speaker as Barbados has one of the highest literacy rates in the Western Hemisphere of around 99.9 percent.

Buy

The local currency is the Bajan dollar, but US dollars are accepted just about everywhere in shops and restaurants. The exchange rate is fixed at 2 Bajan dollars to the US Dollar. Keep in mind that exchangers in hotels may insist on taking an additional percentage of the exchange (typically 5%). Lots of duty free shops in Bridgetown catering to the cruise liner trade, where you can buy jewellery, etc.

Eat

Do flying fish fly? Yes and no. Flying fish can break through the surface of the water and fly distances of up to 100 yards at about 30 miles per hour, but they do not actually fly the same way as birds, because birds vibrate their wings during flight. Instead, the flying fish gets its power and speed from its tail fin, which it moves from side to side with powerful strokes.

• Flying fish -- the icon of the islands is found on coins, bills, and menus. Flying fish is usually served lightly breaded and fried, with a yellow sauce. Be warned: this yellow sauce consists of VERY hot Scotch Bonnet peppers with onions in a mustard sauce.
• Pepperpot -- a dish of long tradition and great pride among the Bajans, it is a pork stew in a spicy dark brown sauce. Don't miss this.
• Try "fish cutters," a local sandwich.
• Visitors seeking fast food will probably be disappointed; the titanic burger chains of the US failed miserably upon introduction to Barbados (Bajans eat nearly no beef). However, chicken and fish sandwiches are wildly popular, so KFC and Chefette are ubiquitous.
• Bajan cuisine is a strange mix of spicy, flavorful treats along with bland traditional English fayre. So be prepared for meals where firey stews sit side-by-side with beans on toast.
• Every Friday night the place to be is the town of Oistins (on the south coast) for the "fish fry". This is a market where you can buy fresh fish cooked according to local recipes. Locals stay there late and dance until the early hours of the morning. This is now the second most popular tourist attraction on the island, after Harrison's Cave.
• There are many fine restaurants on the island with the top two being The Cliff (on the west coast) and The Restaurant at South Sea (on the south coast). Both are quite expensive, but serve beautiful food and a wonderful dining experience, overlooking the sea. Still, you can find many hidden gems if you look hard enough.

Drink

Barbados has some of the purest water in the world. Cruise ship employees are often seen stocking up on their water supplies while docked at the island.

Rum and rum drinks are featured at every bar. Perhaps the most famous domestic brand offered is Mount Gay Rum, which is very delicious.

Beer and wine is easy to find as well. Banks beer is Barbados' own beer and very good.

Sleep

Barbados offers everything from inexpensive guest houses with bed and breakfast from under $40.00 U.S daily for a single in the summer to luxury accommodations at some of the world's best hotels at $1,600 in the prime season.

Barbados apartments and apartment hotels offer the comfort of a hotel room combined with the convenience of your own cooking facilities. Most are located on/near the beach and are especially suitable for families. There is a wide selection of luxury villas and cottages available for rent throughout Barbados. Many of these villas and cottages are located on or near the beach.

Privately owned vacation rentals are often rented at much lower costs than hotel or resort rooms. There is a wide selection of these holiday properties available throughout Barbados and many are located on or near the beach. Vacation properties range from beach houses to condos and apartments.

• Bajan Breeze Guest House [2] - Beautiful guesthouse rooms US $49 with private bath in a newly renovated home. 2-minute walk to beaches. Convenient to dining, shops, nightlife, transport, and attractions.

• Sunset Blue Villa [3] - A luxury villa and apartment located near Holetown in the parish of St. James. Ten minute walking distance to beaches, restaurants, and shops. Features wireless broadband internet access.

• Barbados Villa Holidays from Villa Retreats [4] - Selection of luxury villa and apartments available around the island, many with private pool.

Learn

• Bellairs Research Institute is a teaching and research facility operated by Montreal's McGill University [5]] focusing on marine biology and environmental studies.

• Barbados Hospitality Institute Operates the The Hotel PomMarine

• Barbados Community College

• The University of the West Indies - Cave Hill Campus

Stay safe

Although a very safe place to travel, it is generally suggested to avoid certain high risk activities. Such activities include walking on secluded beaches late at night, or walking in unfamiliar residential neighborhoods away from main roads.

The most common kinds of crimes against tourists include taxi fraud, robbery, and shortchanging; however, even these are rare and usually confined to high-traffic places like Bridgetown. Bajans are by nature exceptionally friendly, and will go out of their way to be kind to tourists, especially in the earlier part of the tourist season (November and December).

A special area of concern for visitors to Barbados is drugs. The country's strict anti-drug policy is made apparent to visitors coming through Customs. In practice, however, Europeans and Americans in Barbados can be offered marijuana or even cocaine frequently. Sellers will often roam the beaches selling aloe vera or other such innocuous goods as a pretense to begin a conversation about "ganja," "smoke" or "bad habits." As a result, many hotels and resorts now ban the use of aloe vera under the pretense that it "stains the towels." Regardless of one's inclination to using these drugs, it is not advisable to accept these offers. While Bajan police are not frequently encountered, they prosecute drug crimes with great prejudice.

Stay healthy

Beware of the sun, Barbados is only 13 degrees off of the equator and you can burn very easily. It is very important to keep your water intake high. Drink plenty of water or bring an umbrella to shade yourself against the sun, which is commonly done in the country.

During nightfall, it is advisable to put on bug spray, as mosquitos are often a nuisance to anyone staying outdoors for prolonged periods. This is most prevelant while eating at outdoor restaurants.

Respect

Despite, or maybe because of the tropical climate, Bajans tend to dress conservatively when not on the beach. A bikini probably won't be appreciated in town and certainly not in church.

Contact

There are several small internet cafes located around the island as well as connections offered by the larger resort hotels.

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