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HAMILTON

 

We spent the day in St George and I wanted to visit the Hamilton area. I was really in search for a camera store that I could find a battery charger for my camera (which I had left at home).

We took the bus over.

We walked down the street to the area that she said and spotted the pink pole. There were only 2 benches along the sidewalk and they were both in the hot blazing sun. We sat and waited and waited and waited. I checked my schedule for all 4 of the buses that run from that area and head toward Hamilton and all the times that were noted there hadn't been one bus that came by.

 

One by one the family members started moving across the street to the shade. I decided to stay put because I was afraid that the bus would come, everyone would be over there and it would keep on going or if it did stop, I didn't want to have to try to battle getting across the road in traffic and missing it. So we waited, and waited some more.

 

We did see a lot of buses, as a matter of fact I counted 7 buses, going the opposite direction. At one point another couple came to wait at the bus stop and you could tell they were turned around and not use to driving on the opposite side of the road and the man had her convinced they were on the wrong side after seeing about 3 of the buses go by. They finally went over when the next bus came and talked to the driver, who told them all of the buses going in that direction would eventually turn around and head back to Hamilton. WHERE WERE THEY GOING? I mean it had been over a hour that several had went by and they sure haven't turned around and came back.

 

We had seen the Hop on-Hop off bus pass us at least 10 times and the last time he shouted out of his window "They will be here at 6:15pm...just 2 more minutes"...but yet it was now 6:20pm. LOL

 

They finally came at 6:25pm and right off the bat they were giving us a hassle and attitude. "This is a public bus, you must have clothes on". They insisted that we all put shirts and shorts on. Sigh. Ok, I get it, but I was tired, hot and getting cranky from sitting in the sun forever.

 

We got on, there wasn't hardly anyone on the bus, the a/c was blasting and we spread out and relaxed....until the very next bus stop, which was in the opposite direction of the grocery store...and EVERYONE in the city of St George got on. Like seriously! We bunched together and people were standing. YIKES! I'm so glad we didn't go that way to the bus stop. We would have ended up standing for the ride.

 

Pictures along the way:

The walls along the side of the road. I seriously don't know how the bus drivers, shuttles, and cars don't hit them. They are so close!!!

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Poor Sakari was so tired and she fell asleep with the bobble head thing going on. I had to take out the towels and do a make-shift support system for her up against the window to keep from breaking her neck. Poor thing.

The hubs was sitting on the other side of me and then a local next to him and then Brayden after that. See, we always find a way to split Brayden up...even if we have to use a local to do it. hehe

 

I got to talking to her and started asking her about a camera shop. She was naming off the ones that she thought might be able to help me. Most were stores with tvs and cell phones but she knew of one that did carry cameras...just not sure what kind. Then she broke my heart by telling me that all the stores in Hamilton (and pretty much all over the island) close at 5pm. I had did all this for NOTHING! Now I was not only tired, cranky, hot but ticked. Why do they close so early????

 

We chit chatted all the way back to the terminal and she was super nice. She was born and raised here. She talked about how bad the crime had gotten...contrary to what you hear everyone else talking about what a great island it is with hardly any crime. Hmmm. She talked about how most people hold down 3 jobs in order to pay their rent. She gave us pay ranges, children working and what their base pay is and told us that unless you are a doctor or a nurse, you won't be able to afford a place to rent alone without working several jobs. She told me that nurses start out at about $60/hr. She said one of her jobs was a nurses assistant. She talked about her life growing up. It was really nice to ride the rest of the way to Hamilton with her and hear her stories. I love stuff like this and getting to know a local.

 

Once we got to the terminal I ask her which direction to the ferry and she offered to walk with us. She also wanted to show us where the camera stores were she had been talking about just in case we had time to come back tomorrow to look for one.

I guess this was their shopping mall for Bermuda. Too bad it wasn't open.

The Post Office:

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She pointed in the direction we needed to go and head across the street to get to the ferry and we parted ways.

There was a policeman directing traffic in the "bird cage" in the middle of the street.

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I thought the street walk signs were neat. They looked almost like the auto traffic signs but were a little smaller and had a person on it.

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We crossed the street and Kendra points at a statue for me to take a picture of. At this point I'm almost tired of taking pictures and disappointed, but I did it anyhow.

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We left the guys standing in front of the ferry terminal at 7:15pm and headed to the restrooms one last time which happen to be on the other side of the building. We took the LONG way around and when we came out discovered it was just right around the corner in the opposite direction of the ferry.

 

When we got back around, the guys were gone and the ferry was there! YIKES! They had went looking for us. Geesh. We went ahead and got on the ferry and before long waved them down. They thought we were magic genies at this point for already being on the ferry and they never even seen us pass by. hehe

 

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Here's the map of where the bus terminal is compared to the ferry terminal. It's a very short walk and the way the local took us was even shorter.

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The ferry was pretty empty and there were a few mopeds on it.

On our way back to the dockyard (about a 15 minute ride)

I was never so happy to get back to the dockyard and see her smiling at us. It was a very long day and much longer than it should have been considering the last few hours was nothing but a waste.

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