The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Monday, October 30, 2017

Barbados steel pan drum band and new friends!

We had received an interesting email about a month ago. All it said was "Sundays..Southern Palms Hotel, St Lawrence Gap....noon till three.....Steel Pan Band.....rum punch our treat.   We hope to meet you.   Have been following you for quite awhile.  You will love Barbados."

No names mentioned! Who are these people? But, they did mention rum punch! Sounded like fun, and it was located only a 40 minute walk from the apartment.

So we took off walking just after 11:00am yesterday, and stopped to rest a couple of times along the way.

Relaxing and enjoying the view.

We arrived a little bit early, but took a seat in the lobby at the Southern Palms Beach Club. Sure enough, it wasn't long before a couple wandered up to us and said hello! This is one of these odd situations that has happened to us several times over the years. They knew a lot about us, but we knew nothing about them!

Ruth, Carl, Kevin, Gwynne.

Carl and Gwynne are from London, Ontario but now live in Elliot Lake, Ontario. But the interesting thing is, Carl is originally from Barbados! He was born here (along with nine brothers and sisters!), but moved to Canada in the 1960's. They were both living in Toronto, but met in Barbados and married six weeks later!

We had some lunch... all four of us had the flying fish, with a salad and fries.

And some rum punch! Pretty potent stuff... Carl says the dynamite is at the bottom end of the punch, and the stick that holds the cherry is the fuse!

Fish lunch.

The Barbados All Stars Steel Orchestra.

Carl and Gwynne doing some dancing!

Took a short video for you...turn your volume up....


Lots of fun sitting for a couple of hours, but the music was loud so we had a bit of a hard time communicating. Still, lots of laughs and we've invited them to the horse races with us next Saturday so hopefully we'll see them again then. Fun times... thanks again for lunch!



We parted ways, and Ruth and I started walking back. It was 3.5 kms or so each way, and we thought about hopping on a bus, but we're fine with the walk even though it was hot. Actually, we stopped in at another beach bar along the way (The Crystal Waters) that another patron of the Southern Palms had suggested, but it wasn't our style and we left after ten minutes without even having a drink. Too touristy for us.

We walked back home and went for a dip in the pool. Ruth made a nice chicken and rice dinner for us and our host Eric, and then we retired to our room to watch the World Series. What a game! Couldn't stay up too late though, so we shut it off when they were tied in the 7th inning. 

Today, we're headed out exploring to the eastern side of the island.

Oh, by the way... remember the old photos from my parent's visit to Barbados back in 1984 that we were going to try and match up? Well, I somehow screwed up! I had taken photos of their photos and inadvertently deleted them! All it takes is the press of a button... :-(

Oh well.  

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Hands free motion sensing faucets... these normally sell for over $200!


And in Canada, a nice little inverter generator is on sale...







25 comments:

  1. When you are up north we also really enjoyed the St. Nicolas Abbey. A little pricey to get in, but you get a rum punch, and rum tasting. The topography there is gorgeous. Animal Flower cave, and the views of where the Atlantic meet the Caribbean is a must! Glad you are going to the horse races! I would have won a couple thousand if the winning horse wasn't disqualified in my trifecta!

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    1. Thanks for the ideas Kent. Problem is that there is lots to see and almost everything costs money so we will have to pick and chose what we would like to do. I do have Animal Flower Cave on our list, we will see about the abbey, not sure it is high enough on our list though. Looking forward to the horse races though. :-)

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  2. I really enjoyed the steel band but noticed this one is called an orchestra!

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    1. I think that it was the type of music that they played it was more song melodies rather than Caribbean island music.

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  3. New friends - yummy food - steel band orchestra - rum punch = FUN DAY!

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  4. Gotta love meeting blog followers, and the steel drums are awesome.

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  5. Great fun! I love steel bands, in the summer they play in North Vancouver at the Quay. Enjoy the sunshine!

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    1. We enjoy the sounds of the steel drums too. It was a wonderful afternoon.

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  6. What fun to listen to local band, eat delish food, and make new friends.

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  7. Nice invite from your friends in Ontario! Steel drums are awesome! Sorry about the pictures maybe you will remember a few as you do your touring on the island and match up later! Enjoy your stay weather looks great!

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    1. It was a nice invite and we totally enjoyed the company and the food, drinks and music.

      Kevin might remember some of the pictures but we wouldn't be able to get the right angle without having the pictures or copy of the pictures with us. Oh, well it's not a real big deal, it just would have been something fun to do.

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  8. Ah, that Elliot Lake connection strikes again! Kudos and our best to Carl and Gwynne whom we have not yet had the pleasure of meeting. Say hi for us when you see them again!

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    1. As soon as they mentioned Elliot Lake came up, we mentioned your name. They have only been there 4 years. We will pass along your names and the name of your blog and perhaps they will contact you whenever you are back in town.

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  9. The pic is on your blog post of Oct 16. :-)
    Jennifer R.

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    1. Yep, we know we have that one and actually we tried to match it up yesterday. :-)

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  10. Oh shoot now I realize that there are multiple pics, not just that one. I'm guessing you checked the trash or deleted items folder.... :-(

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    1. Yes, there were multiple ones. As an afterthought we should have just physically brought those photos with us! :-(

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    2. Forgot to mention, they were accidentally deleted from the camera so there is no going back from that, not like with a computer where it stores them in the trash until you empty the trash.

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  11. What? No picture of Ruth's dinner? The couple you met look like fun. Nice day.

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    1. No need to Chris, I had exactly the same thing as Kevin.

      Carl and Gwynne are a fun couple. :-)

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  12. How thoughtful of Carl and Gwynne. So glad it all worked out great.

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    1. It was very thoughtful of them and we really enjoyed our afternoon with them. Looking forward to seeing them again on Saturday for the horse races.

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