Barbados I thought I knew ye

I did so much research on Barbados before I arrived that I thought I knew everything. Turns out, I couldn't even find my hotel and I got lost trying to get to the embassy as well.

The country is surprisingly underdeveloped and much of the population poor. One reason I picked Barbados as my post was because, compared to surrounding islands, it's relatively wealthy with a GDP per capita around $25,000. The wealth is apparently very unevenly distributed, since much of the landscape remind me of Haiti. Another shocking thing is the dearth of tourists. I'm staying in the St. Lawrence Gap, a mile-long stretch of resorts and beaches that is one of the most popular tourist destinations. Every hotel, restaurant, and bar is nearly empty these days, during the off-peak summer season.

Yesterday - my first day - I went to a cocktail party at the embassy hosted by the marines, whose job it is to protect the embassy. I had the chance to meet many of the FSOs (Foreign Service Officers) who I'll be working with, as well as my fellow intern. The US mission in Barbados is quite big, as it covers some eight countries. I've been assigned to work with the GSO (for those of you who don't know how the foriegn service is split up, it's the least prestigious department), while the other intern gets to work in the Political section...GRRR. However, we both might get to go to the island country of Grenada in two weeks as election observers!

Today, after waking up at 5am cuz of bug bites, I jogged to the next town over (Oistins), came back to St. Lawrence and chilled at the beach, went to the capital Bridgetown for the first time, and then celebrated my birthday at happy hour with the Australian and French couples that I'm sharing my cottage with.

My first assignment with the State Department - wake up tomorrow at 5am and help the FSOs beat the Marines in their weekly football game.