For the next hour or so, we run through a series of fruit and vegetable farms growing papaya, pepper and tomato, the roadside lined with colorful houses. The difference between affluent and poor communities is hard to spot because even the smallest shack has perfectly maintained paintwork, a spotless white roof, and not a spot of garbage in sight. Salaries are high on the island, with roles like social workers earning USD$100,000. But a significant pay gap still exists between men and women, and foreigners and local Bermudians.
The landscape changes and soon it’s all green trees and pink flowers. In Devonshire Parish, on the island’s Atlantic Ocean south side, Mark points out Ariel Sands, a former hotel complex, now empty, owned by the family of actor Michael Douglas. Fun fact: His mother was Bermudian, with family roots dating back to the 1600s.
In the midday sun, it is getting unbearably hot, but we slog on to John Smith’s Bay. We pass Spittal Pond Nature Reserve, a popular dog walking spot, and at the bay, we marvel at a bunch of climbers bouldering a cave roof. Bermuda has an underground culture of rock climbing, but is best known for cliff jumping, watersports and scuba diving.
