One of the highlights of our two week rum excursion was a visit to several of the famous Bajan Rum Shops along the western and southern sides of the island. Our taxi driver was gracious enough to put up with the four of us Caribbean crazy people as we imbibed ourselves in the local culture. First of all let’s talk about what a rum shop is. These are similar to our bars, in that they sell spirits by the drink, but what is different is that you can come in with a group of like minded friends, buy a bottle of rum, get glasses with ice and a mix, take them to your table and enjoy them. The “Party of Five”, June, Marta, Mike, Carl, and myself, bounced from rum shop to rum shop all afternoon learning about this Bajan wonder.
It seems these rum shops are everywhere on the island, from neighborhoods, to beach side along the coast. These places seem to be where friends gather to play cards, dominoes, share a bottle of fine rum and just plain talk. For us it was a chance to have another rum crawl, only this time it wasn’t me at the helm and I could participate in the fun. I believe that we visited 9 or so of these rum shops during our afternoon crawl and a couple of very beautiful beaches as well. 
This impromptu crawl was one of the highlights of this visit to Barbados. It never ceases to amaze me what new things you can find when you hire a taxi for the day and just have them guide you around their island. Hugh was the perfect cabbie; he listened to what we were looking for and made it happen. I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to Hugh for his effort and putting up with the “Party of Five” all afternoon. By the way, we did make it back to the ship on time. ;o)
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| Thank You to Hugh!! |
One of the highlights of our two week rum excursion was a visit to several of the famous Bajan Rum Shops along the western and southern sides of the island. Our taxi driver was gracious enough to put up with the four of us Caribbean crazy people as we imbibed ourselves in the local culture. First of all let’s talk about what a rum shop is. These are similar to our bars, in that they sell spirits by the drink, but what is different is that you can come in with a group of like minded friends, buy a bottle of rum, get glasses with ice and a mix, take them to your table and enjoy them. The “Party of Five”, June, Marta, Mike, Carl, and myself, bounced from rum shop to rum shop all afternoon learning about this Bajan wonder.
It seems these rum shops are everywhere on the island, from neighborhoods, to beach side along the coast. These places seem to be where friends gather to play cards, dominoes, share a bottle of fine rum and just plain talk. For us it was a chance to have another rum crawl, only this time it wasn’t me at the helm and I could participate in the fun. I believe that we visited 9 or so of these rum shops during our afternoon crawl and a couple of very beautiful beaches as well. 
This impromptu crawl was one of the highlights of this visit to Barbados. It never ceases to amaze me what new things you can find when you hire a taxi for the day and just have them guide you around their island. Hugh was the perfect cabbie; he listened to what we were looking for and made it happen. I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to Hugh for his effort and putting up with the “Party of Five” all afternoon. By the way, we did make it back to the ship on time. ;o)
