Keep Left, Keep Left.

Today Hether and I took the island by auto. Her on scooter and me in what is the equivalent to a smart car. Barbadians, since they are a British nation and all, drive on the left side of the road. Being a passenger and sitting in the “driver’s seat” sufficiently freaked me out for the first week of being here, but today we wanted to get out and see the East coast of the island that borders the Atlantic. I had no choice.

Anderson, our cab driver, gave me the best advice: “Just keep repeating ‘Keep Left, Keep Left’ to yourself and you’ll be fine.”

I cannot count the number of times I said this to myself today.

It did help that the Bajans are by far the nicest drivers I’ve ever witnessed in the entire world. Or at least the “world” I’ve traveled in. When a driver has the right-of-way, they will actually STOP and let drivers from side roads into the flow of traffic on the regular. Mind blowing.

They also use their horns as an actual communication device; mostly to say hi to their passing friends and to let you into traffic if you are waiting on a side road. Unlike us Americans who usually use it when a douchebag cuts us off in traffic and sometimes we even accompany said horn with a visual emblem of one of our ten-digits to really illustrate our affection. Not the Barbadians. I actually cut someone off today (by accident) and they waved me on. No blast of the horn or inappropriate finger waving.

What the what? I can’t possibly get used to this or I’ll never get anywhere when I get home. And I’m also sure I’ll be telling myself “Keep Right, Keep Right.”

It was all worth it when we got to see this:

And this: