Day 218 - Arriving in Barbados

Barbados beach

When I learned I was being assigned to Barbados, I contacted one of the diplomats I knew at the British embassy in Doha who had previously served in Barbados to get tips. I was surprised that the reaction of the diplomat and his wife was more apologetic than enthusiastic. They said they had enjoyed their time in Barbados, although it wasn't the most beautiful of the Caribbean islands. I had expected congratulations and best wishes. Everyone else asked how I managed to get so lucky. But from the first people I talked with who had been there, I got lukewarm apologies.

I should have paid more attention to that lack of enthusiasm.

My flight landed at Grantley Adams International Airport in the early evening, but since Barbados is so far south, the sun had already set, an introduction to what I had to get accustomed to - 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night every day of the year. The husband of my sponsor picked me up, delivered me to the hotel that would be my home until I found a place to live, and told me his wife, my sponsor, would pick me up in the morning to bring me to the office. The hotel was a typical tourist destination with the reception desk outside in the entrance drive where all newcomers were welcomed with a tropical cocktail. My room was a suite with a large bedroom, rattan furniture in the living area, and a kitchenette against the interior wall of the living area. A pair of glass patio doors leading to the balcony overlooking the pool was on the opposite wall from the kitchenette. Who would have thought I would have reason to complain about this set up? But I did. And I wasn't the only one.

Barbados was a living quarters allowance post, not a post that provided leased, furnished housing. That meant that we were authorized a full shipment of 18,000 pounds to post. A post offering leased, furnished housing, in contrast, authorized the shipment of only 7,200 pounds, assuming the difference between 7,200 and 18,000 would be placed into storage. But the furniture most people in the United States have in their homes is not always suitable for use in Barbados. Heavy, upholstered sofas and chairs were uncomfortable indoors and unsuitable to use in the outdoor living spaces that often adjoined Bridgetown homes. That made finding a home suitable for the furniture we had shipped difficult. In addition, there were two hurdles that everyone had to get over before a lease could be signed - the size limits and the security requirements.

one of the rattan chairs we purchased

The size limit had been in place for many years, but recent inspections at overseas posts had pointed out the general lack of adherence to the limits and that had raised the attention of Congress to what was often described as the lavish lifestyle of diplomats. There were three sets of limits - one comparable to the average size of homes that government employees in the United States would live in, based on the size of family and income level, one smaller than that standard, and one larger than that standard. Which set of limits applied depending on what was available in the country. In the middle east, for example, where houses are often much larger than in the U.S., the larger standard applied. In Europe, where residences are typically much smaller, the smaller standard applied. In Barbados, the U.S. standard applied. In my case, the size limit was further complicated because I was single, but Alex and Simon were joining me. The embassy couldn't consider my family size to be three until Alex and I were able to get married. So I had to find a place small enough to fit the size limits of a house for one but that was big enough for three.

The security requirements were more challenging. Homes in Barbados do not have air conditioning in their living spaces. Instead, Bajans open their windows to allow the breezes to flow through. But open windows cause heartburn for security officials. Their solution was to require that the windows have bars placed on them to prevent someone from climbing in through a window. Landlords were expected to put those bars in at their own cost. Most Bajan landlords thought putting bars on their windows detracted from the value of their homes so they wouldn't agree to put them in. And since the embassy wasn't leasing the homes, employees were, there was no guarantee that the next tenant the landlord offered the house to would agree to keep the bars in.

Our house in Barbados, view from the front

In addition, many homes in Barbados have open air living spaces that cannot be closed off. One couple lived in a house that was completely open in the center - the bedrooms, kitchen, and bathrooms were enclosed rooms that surrounded the open living and dining area. They overcame the security requirements by pointing out that unless someone got through the front door or through one of the windows, they wouldn't be able to get into the open central area unless they pulled up with a 12-foot ladder in order to scale the walls and climb over the roof. Or if they were airlifted in by helicopter.

Those hurdles meant that most of us stayed in hotels for much longer than expected. The walls in that hotel suite got close very quickly. We got up just as the sun was getting up, but then we went to work. Most days, I headed home while the sun was still up, but by the time I got to the hotel, it had set. Twelve hours of darkness in a tropical island paradise where others were cavorting around the bars down by the pool wasn't my idea of paradise.

Those hotel rooms also had no air conditioning. They had ceiling fans, but still the patio doors and windows had to be open, allowing all the noise from the cavorting into the room along with the cool breezes. There was a TV in the room, but the only stations were ones from the U.S. There was nothing in the hotel to help us get to know the island we were now living in. The hotels were like all-inclusive resorts where those staying never left. But instead of dressing in tank tops and shorts or swim suits with a beach towel as a coverup in order to head for the pool in the morning, I had to dress in a suit or a dress with nylons and shoes and carry a briefcase to head for the drive beyond the reception desk to catch a taxi to go downtown.

Our house, view from the back

We were lucky in one regard. After having three different houses measured and inspected by the security officer, we were able to move into our house, the first to pass both hurdles, only six weeks after I arrived in Barbados - on New Year's Eve of 1987. But the only furniture we had that evening was plastic outdoor lounge chairs with cushions, a rattan sofa and two rattan chairs and the dining room table we had bought two days before. My shipment wouldn't be delivered for at least a week. Until then, we slept on the outdoor lounge chair cushions. We were only able to unpack the clothes that we hung in the closets.

Our tropical paradise adventure had begun.