To Tourist ? Or Not To Tourist?

So before I could even get to Oistins on Friday night for the Fantastic Fish Fry Friday Tour that was about to go down, I had to take some kind of Transportation there!

So there I was standing at the bus stop hoping that ANYTHING...would pass and pick me up, and I should have really known better due to the fact that it was 7:00 on a Friday night...going in the direction towards Oistins. But I was hopeful!

After 2 Transport Board Blue busses and about 5 small Zr Vans (also known as Reggae busses to most tourists) passed me by, finally i had a winner. But as the van pulled up...I was a bit skeptical about if I would be able to get in.

But as it is known ...space is never an issue in the "Sardine Cans on Wheels" (Zr Vans). The van conductors manage to find space from ...somewhere to always fit just one more....and then one more....

When the Van rolled to a stop at the bus stop, I could see people, tourists and locals, piled up on top of each other in all of the seats. In the back seat alone there were 7 people (it normally sits 3 or 4 if the people are smaller and squeeze together). However at this point in time I wasn't partial as the traffic only seemed to steadily increase, worsening by the minute.

So I held my breath and hopped in. Dub Music (Native to Jamaica and most Caribbean Islands) was blaring through the speakers and the entire van vibrated as the bass shook and rattled the frame. There were 3 friends it appeared, in the front of the van who were yammering on in some undetected language. They looked scared out of their mind, whilst one man in the backseat waved his hand out through the window, clutching on to his beer, mind you, in time to the music.

At this point in time I was sitting on some strangers knees in the most uncomfortable of positions, trying to hang on for dear life. But I won't lie...the experience was exhilarating to say the least. But I was even more surprised when all of a sudden the music went off and the driver shouts out, "Anybody getting out on Maxwell Coast Road?"

Apparently no-one was.

And then came the next surprise. The conductor turned off the ceiling light in the van, and everything went dark and they decided to duck out of the long winding traffic trail leading up the coast road and beat the system with the many small curving backroads.

After that momentary lapse of silence... The pounding music was back on and the normal bus route was ditched as we twisted and zoomed through the back roads of Christ Church.

It seriously was a great experience. I felt as if I was a tourist experiencing the crazy driving of the Reggae Vans.

By the time I arrived in Oistins, my heart was racing and I had a huge smile on my face...
Needless to say it was an interesting beginning to an interesting night!