Barbados | Planet Barbados

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Environment on 02 24th, 2010 | 5 Comments

Where’s the Love? Erosion in Barbados on Valentine’s Weekend Instead of kanoodling, some Barbadians spent Valentine’s Day weekend battling ten-foot waves crashing against the shoreline of our small island. The normally calm Caribbean Sea bashed the shoreline of the usually idyllic Mullins...

Barbados: Six Things I Wish I’d Kn...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in My Life in Barbados on 01 6th, 2010 | 10 Comments

Are you cold, wet, miserable? Do you feel as though winter will never end? Please don't despair, my chilly friends. What you see here – my Barbados holiday rental apartment – is just a flight away! (I took this photo yesterday … January 5, one of the coldest winters our friends up...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Beaches/Boardwalks, My Life in Barbados on 01 3rd, 2010 | 8 Comments

The sweet folks who exchanged homes with Greg and me over Christmas. While they wore swimsuits, we wore woolens in New York (it was wonderful for both...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Cultural Quirks on 08 27th, 2009 | No Comments

Don’t you love English translations of signs in non-English-speaking countries? These, from the Sydney Morning Herald, make me laugh: Mmm, mmm, love that tourist food! Thx for the choice; I think I'll visit the Tourist Center. I'm sure when you've just gotta go, you understand … Even...

Ten Fun Things to Know About Bajans...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Bajans, Cultural Quirks, Travel to the island on 08 19th, 2009 | 9 Comments

Like all groups of people, Barbadians have a personality and traditions unique to their culture. It’s only 8 a.m. but already I’ve encountered a couple of them. So while I sit here in the Barbados airport awaiting flight to Jamaica with Greg, I’ll share a few with you. 1. Barbadians call...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Bajans, Cultural Quirks on 08 16th, 2009 | 3 Comments

Gosh, Barbados is wonderful place to be. Such good-natured souls, a low crime rate, a fabulous climate, beauty all around, and, if not everything, then most of what a city girl like me needs to be comfortable. What Barbados may lack in department and upscale grocery stores it makes up for in creative...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Cultural Quirks, My Life in Barbados on 08 13th, 2009 | 2 Comments

The Caribbean islands are as different from one another as siblings in a family are. I’m in St Lucia with my husband Greg who’s here on business and I’m loving the jungly landscape, mountainous terrain, and beautiful inlets along the island’s west coast. The people are good-natured...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Travel to the island on 08 11th, 2009 | No Comments

A friend e-mailed me this article yesterday from CNN. It’s worth reading, in case you missed it. Lots of fun and good suggestions. The author was Marnie Hunter. (CNN) — Stretching out on a crescent of powdery sand in Barbados doesn’t come cheap, but there are ways to trim costs and put the...

First-Timers to Barbados: “I Didn&...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in St Lawrence Beach, Travel to the island on 08 1st, 2009 | 5 Comments

You know life is good when you're able to take a morning swim in the Caribbean Sea. Guests who first arrive at St Lawrence Beach Condominiums for their Barbados holiday all do the same thing: they rush to the large picture windows overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Their mouths drop. And they say,...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Royal Westmoreland, Things to Do on 07 25th, 2009 | No Comments

History (and a bit of mischief): Tristan & Ethan having fun at Arlington House. Greg and I took a double dose of vitamins on Wednesday morning so we could keep up with his grandsons Ethan and Tristan for the day while we explored a bit of our island home of Barbados. We picked the boys up, swapped lots...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Bajans, My Life in Barbados on 06 17th, 2009 | 13 Comments

It’s far easier – and strangely more satisfying – to stomp our feet and decry surly service in Barbados than it is to praise. That means Barbados Free Press won’t likely pick up this post (although I thank those good folks for the attention they’ve given my various and sundry...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in My Life in Barbados, Places to Stay, St Lawrence Beach on 04 26th, 2009 | 6 Comments

I promise I’ll stop tooting my horn about the completion of my holiday rental at St Lawrence Beach Condos, #8, after this post. Really, I will. I just wanted to share with you a photo of the inaugural guests, mother and daughter Jane & Francesca. They arrived at 11 a.m. this morning and seem...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Arts, Things to Do on 04 6th, 2009 | 3 Comments

Yesterday morning 9 a.m., my husband Greg and I, cameras in hand (ahem, well, I had my camera; Greg came along for fun) met photographer Ronnie Carrington at Pelican Village for a day-long and most pleasurable photographic excursion through the lesser-known parts of Barbados. Fifteen of us were on the van...

My Big Barbados Butt — Comments Al...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Bajans, My Life in Barbados on 04 2nd, 2009 | 17 Comments

In the United States, the extreme of political correctness is bestowed upon those “putting on weight” (i.e., getting fat). And in the US, who isn’t? Have you been to a shopping mall there recently? Oy vey. We Americans talk about diets and weight-loss endlessly – but when a...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in My Life in Barbados on 03 23rd, 2009 | 2 Comments

It Could Always Be Worse is a children’s story based on a Yiddish folk tale. Today it’s my life. The story is about a man who complains to his rabbi that his home is too small for the family. Too crowded. Chaotic. Lord, could I relate. Before my husband Greg and I gave up our apartment for...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Arts, Featured Articles on 03 16th, 2009 | 1 Comment

Thank you, Mr Marley Listen to Bob Marley’s “One Love” 2-09-shame-and-scandal Jamaican Bob Marley is the defacto ambassador of the Caribbean islands. His image is ubiquitous on every island I’ve visited (t-shirts mostly, but other things as well), his music is played with joy and...

St Lawrence Gap Street Art: Seth...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Arts, Bajans, St Lawrence Gap on 03 14th, 2009 | 7 Comments

Many of the vendors on St Lawrence Gap have made street-selling their career. Some have been selling their goods for a good decade or more. I occasionally find an original and charmingly rough-hewn bauble I just can’t resist. Like Seth’s. Seth is not only a street vendor. He’s also a...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Culture & Holidays, My Life in Barbados on 02 22nd, 2009 | 2 Comments

I’m at my first Trinidad Carnival and from what I’ve seen so far — the children’s carnival and a steel pan competition — it’s a whirl of color, music, dance, competitions, and fun all occurring at typically inefficient Caribbean speed. Did I say...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in My Life in Barbados on 02 20th, 2009 | 2 Comments

Miami Beach Delano Hotel Pool If Miami Beach were a cat, it would be a sleek black panther wearing rings on 3 fingers and getting out of its red Ferrari … slowly, so that as many people as possible could see. If Barbados were a cat, it would be a pretty little tabby stretched out in the warm sun with a...

The Language of Horns in Barbados...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Cultural Quirks on 02 11th, 2009 | 4 Comments

What’s with Barbados drivers and their horns? My first morning ever in Barbados, a car passed I while I was out walking with a friend and sounded a trill from the car horn. Instinctively I glanced at the car sounding his horn. My Bajan friend didn’t even look up. He knew the beep was not for...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Accommodations, Cultural Quirks on 02 8th, 2009 | 2 Comments

Holiday rental in Barbados So Easy Anyone Can Do It! Simply Choose One Word from Each of the Four Columns Below Barbados Sandy Scape ...

Would YOU Want to Get Cozy Here?...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Accommodations on 01 28th, 2009 | 3 Comments

Call me a sex-snob, I don’t care. I love to travel, have been many-many-many places around the world, have stayed in five-star and no-star places and will freely admit the truth: there are some hotel rooms in which I will not get cozy with my guy. It’s not about the number of stars. ...

Barbados’ St Lawrence Gap: What...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in St Lawrence Gap on 01 26th, 2009 | 7 Comments

When I was 29 I moved from Washington, DC, to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I lived in Albuquerque for 13 years. The best thing I can say about Albuquerque is that it’s easy to find a parking spot there. As a city, I didn’t love Albuquerque. But I learned something really important there: You...

Happy New Year ‘09: The Day After ...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in Culture & Holidays, My Life in Barbados on 01 3rd, 2009 | No Comments

Cheers! Happy New...

Being Cold in Barbados...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in My Life in Barbados on 12 22nd, 2008 | 4 Comments

I grew up in Colorado. I started skiing when I was 13. So I know snow. I know winter. I know cold. I survived it pretty well in my childhood — loved skiing, loved the quiet of the snow. My dad, who was impervious to cold, used to get up on the roof of our house in Vail in his skivvies to shovel the...

Posted by Jane Shattuck Hoyos in My Life in Barbados on 11 30th, 2008 | No Comments

I’ve been living in Barbados full-time since January 08. I admit that living down the street from Whole Foods in San Francisco spoiled me a bit. Being from the Land of Plenty made the come-down all the harder when I first encountered Big B. I expected grocery stores here might not stock such...