It’s the birthplace of rum. It’s also where the grapefruit was invented. I’s believed to be a hybrid of Jamaican ugli fruit and Indonesian pomelo. And another bit of trivia, it’s the only foreign country that George Washington ever set foot on. That country is the island nation of Barbados. I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with its ambassador to the U.S., Victor Fernandes. Unfortunately for me, we met here in L.A., rather than over rum cocktails under an umbrella on Sandy Beach.

Due to its location as the easternmost island in the Caribbean, Barbados attracts a lot of tourists on the Eastern Seaboard but doesn’t enter the radar of many West Coast travelers. The ambassador wants to change that but knows that Californians have a lot of options when it comes to sand and sun. Fernandes is familiar with L.A., and he knows that Angelenos like to jet away. Although it’s about an eight-hour direct flight, there’s a strong case to be made that Barbados is unlike any of the tropical destinations in our part of the world.

An important item for American travelers is that there is no language barrier. Being a former English colony, we’re essentially cousins. In fact, Barbados has strong ties to the Carolinas, which were developed by Barbadian sugar farmers. The first governors of South Carolina were Barbadian. And just like many of our countrymen, they like to vacation in Florida. There receive daily flights from Miami, as well Charlotte, New York and Washington, D.C. (also Dublin, Amsterdam, Germany, and five daily flights from the UK).  

Its parliament, which predates our own government, is one of the earliest established in the Western Hemisphere. They’re a progressive country, offering citizens free healthcare for life and free education through graduate school. They have become a leader in the fight against climate change, with their Prime Minister Mia Mottley having become a voice for island nations everywhere. When they speak of Mottley, they speak with a reverence and awe that when it comes to political figures, Americans seem to recall only vaguely and distantly.

If there’s anyone that can rival Mottley’s enthusiasm among Barbadians, it’s their other female superstar: Rihanna. Enough said.

What the Barbadians believe separates themselves from other paradisical destinations is a hospitality unlike any other place on earth. The Caribbean is renowned for friendliness, but Barbados takes it to another level. One way in which they do so is with a sense of egalitarianism that is unheard of here in the states. They get their share of vacationing A-list celebs, so they’re not star-struck. They treat everyone with the respect of a welcomed house guest.

The question isn’t if you should go, it’s when you should go. And the calendar is rife with festivals, celebrations and sporting events (they love their cricket and their horse racing).

There are 11 parishes that divide the island. And over the course of the year, each parish welcomes home its diaspora community in something known as the We Gatherin’. It’s a chance for expats to reconnect with their “Bajan” roots (pronounced BAY-jun, and it’s their homespun adjective for “Barbadian.”)

The largest national celebration is the Crop Over. During the atrocious days of slavery, plantation owners would host a party at the end of the sugar cane harvest. The Crop Over is a way of recalling the history of that festival, with its monthlong carnival-like atmosphere featuring costumes, parade and dancing for hours from town to beach. The Holtown Festival celebrates the landing of the first settlers. The Oistins Fish Festival is one of the world’s largest fish fry events.

And they do love their fish. Here, you can taste lionfish, which the ambassador tells me he orders it whenever it’s on the menu. The official national dish is cou-cou, made from corn meal and okra, which is served alongside flying fish. Barbados is sometimes known as the “land of the flying fish. Cou-cou has its culinary roots in Ghana, where much of the enslaved population originated. The unofficial dish, however, and it’s the cause of some debate, is what they call macaroni pie. (https://barbados.org/barbados-recipes-macaroni-pie.htm#google_vignette). I had it described to me as mac ‘n’ cheese on steroids.

And let’s cap it off with a drink. And it Barbados, that means rum. It was conceived there and quickly became the most important part of a British sailor’s wages. The daily rum ration was known as the “tot.” Mount Gay began producing rum in 1703. Today, it’s owned by France’s Rémy Cointreau, and sold in more than 100 countries around the world. But whether you’re drinking it neat or mixing it into a daiquiri, give a little toast to our cousins off the coast.