Travel Journal
barbados day six:
a team in limbo

The sixth installment in a journal of the Muhlenberg field hockey team’s trip to Barbados by senior Jess Kasza and (sometimes) junior Cait Teegarden:

Day six started out, quite rudely, at six a.m. We left for the field at 6:30 and practice was underway by 7. It was a lighter practice since we had a game the night before and a game this afternoon at 3:30.

After practice we came back to our standard breakfast (3.5 out of 5) and then had time to relax in the pool and ocean before leaving for our game at 2:30.

Our game today was the last one here in Barbados and it was pretty memorable; mostly because it was in the extreme heat of the day but also because we started playing how we know how a little bit more today. The game ended in a tie and was a little shorter than usual because it was so hot out.

See, you think I'm complaining about the heat, but really I'm just trying to make it clear that hot in Pennsylvania and hot in Barbados are completely different things. Even the Bajans were putting on sunscreen which they claim to not do too often. I guess the whole "being near the equator" thing is making a blazing difference. After the game we got a picture with the other team as well as with our new young Bajan friends before heading off to shower for dinner.

Dinner tonight was a bit of a special occasion as we attended a "dinner and a show" type thing. The show was a production of "Bajan Roots & Rhythms" at a place called The Plantation. It involved a steel drum band while dinner was being eaten (buffet style) and then many different dances in celebration of Barbados and its history. The food was all Bajan and was all delicious. It involved: salad, fried plantains, fried flying fish, chicken, beef stew, rice, maccaroni and pies. I gave it a 4.25 out of 5.

For the show there were interpretive dance scenes of old Barbados in the late 1800s/early 1900s all the way through fantastic dances to songs by Rihanna and Sean Paul. The Plantation was this big theater set up with long tables so everyone could see the show. There were so many people there from America, U.K., Barbados and a few other places that it was getting a little hot in there.

It was a lot of fun to watch and even better when they needed four contestants on stage for the limbo contest. We sent Renee Norton and Kiara Santana on stage to stack the odds in our favor because we had half of the contestants on stage. The other two female contestants were from Virginia and Texas and they were definitely fierce competition. Renee and Kiara battled through two tough rounds; one of mimicking the Plantation's limbo/dance champ and then a solo danceoff/limbo. The girl from Virginia ended up winning but we did have our girls in a close run for second place with Kiara taking home the prize.

I personally think Renee would have won if she didn't have a full length sun dress on but hey, what are you going to do? The four male contestants were hysterical and really fun to watch as well. I think that two of them were from the U.K., one from Canada and one from America (who won!!).

After the limbo contest there was a great singer, whose name I believe was Philip, who took the mic to sing for the giant conga line that was formed. Naturally nearly our entire team - with the exception of a few who ran ... scratch that, sprinted ... to the bathroom - joined in on the conga line. It went around the inside of the theater and up across the stage eventually landing in front of the stage on the dance floor.

Apparently what happened next has never happened in the history of Philip's performances, according to our tour guide Melissa. During his performance half of our team made their way back up on the stage, surrounding Philip, and started dancing. We were on stage for the next two songs and no one seemed to mind. It really was a ton of fun and everyone had a great time!!

Tomorrow morning is our last official training session so, yet again, it is time to sleep in my twin-sized floral hotel bed. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend if you won't be around to read about ours!