Living in Barbados

I speak to people about their ideal version of retirement, and in most variations across a broad cross section of friends, their ideal retirement involves spending time in a tropical island.

Due to the nationality, hard work and sacrifice of my parents, the ability to live in a Caribbean island is a reality.

But what does it really mean to live on a small island which is 166sq miles, whose primary economy has moved from sugar to tourism, and whose political and economic future are no longer stable.

Due to a perfect storm of circumstances, I now find myself living in Barbados for four months in order to execute my father’s will, during a seasonal lull  and self imposed hiatus from employment in Australia.

These four months will provide me with an ideal opportunity to explore what it means to actually live in Barbados like all my family members, moving off the beach from a rented beach house, to live “up the hill” at my family home.

The ‘Living in Barbados’ blog posts are an attempt to analyse what it means to live in this small country.

What it means to be seen as an outsider in a place that you will call home again?

What it means to live in a bureaucratic society?

What it means to live like a local rather than spending as a traveller?

Follow me on this journey as I learn to live in my cultural home.

 

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