Well here it is...my last night in Trinidad. It has come up so fast, yet has been a long time coming. I've very excited to be moving on to the next phase of my life (which will be working for ConAgra Foods in Council Bluffs, IA) and to be getting back to my family/friends/Brenton, but I will definitely miss Trinidad. Having to start a full time job, I think I will miss making my own schedule most! Unfortunately on this lovely last night I have a cold and I'm planning on going to bed in t-minus 10 minutes, so I'll try to say all I have to say quickly!
A couple lists for you...
Top 5 Things I WON'T miss
5. Guys making the kiss noise at me. The whistling and hey baby's aren't that bad, but there is something about the kiss noise coming from passing car or across the street that I find very derogatory. There has to be a less ick way for them to show their appreciation for my dang good looks!
4. Trini customer service leaves much to be desired and most of the time as a customer you feel like you are asking the employees to go out of their way to do you a favor.
3. Public urination...men think it is ok to unzip and pee anywhere they can turn around, it is disgusting and I don't understand the appeal. (side note: I saw a stray dog peeing on a car today, I thought that was actually pretty funny)
2. The ants!! Ants infest everything, they are everywhere, I hate them.
and the #1 thing that drives me nuts about Trinidad is...
1. Waiting for a maxi to fill up, especially when you are in a hurry. Finding the last 3 people to get into a maxi always seems to take an eternity, and then the driver always takes his sweet time walking around the vehicle to get in and pull out. I've worked very hard on being patient during these times, but I often want to kick someone.
Top 5 things I WILL miss
5. Getting into taxis/maxis everyone says good morning, or good evening, it just snaps you out of your own little world of all the to dos and reminds you to enjoy life a bit.
4. "Pallllance, Pallllance" I'll miss all the music. Most of the songs that come on make you want to sing or bob your head or do a little dance. I stocked up on cds to avoid the withdrawal. Plus I will miss people singing in public, that always makes me smile.
3. Listening to the Trini dialect, I could sit and listen to Trinis banter back and forth or gossip for hours. The sing-song rhythm of it, the phrasing and the new words are so great!
2. The food! Just about everything is delicious, I can't think really of anything I ate that wasn't good. The flavors too...coconut, mango, tamarind yummmm.
1. The scenery...I will miss getting to see the mountains every morning, the beautiful flowers and the ocean just a short drive away. Everything is so beautiful and getting home at the beginning of winter will be a tough transition-green to blah! I'll miss all those morning and evening walks, enjoying the view.
Alright, sorry that is all I got right now, but my head feels like it might explode...I hope this goes away before I get on that plane or tomorrow might be miserable! Trinidad, I will miss you!!
I'll give a home front update soon and add some last pictures.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Rockin New Shades
BARBADOS BABY!! So last weekend I hopped on a little plane and flew right on over to Barbados. I went with Ty and her cousin, Lisa, to celebrate Ty's friend's graduation and well, just to hang out in Barbados! We were all Barbados virgins and ready to live it up, starting with a big night out right off the plane.
Local house, they had different architecture, many with big grand staircases
Barbados time works just like Trini time, so we were picked up from our guesthouse after getting ready an hour later than planned. We got to a cute bar that would've been a great limin' spot if we knew anyone or wanted to just lime...I mentioned we wanted to get the most out of our short weekend vacation, which meant a getting a little on the tipsy side and dancing the night away. We were told we would just be there for a drink and then were going to a club...couple hours later we headed to "The Gap" and immediately realized that our night would be better spent getting food and sleeping. So back in the car we hit Chefette, the local fast food craze, and had the best chicken sandwich of all time, although we might have been a little biased since we were essentially starving.
Saturday was then one of my favorite days since coming to the Caribbean...we went on a catamarang tour and got to actually swim with turtles! I kid you not, we were in the middle of the ocean, swimming around and able to touch turtles. Then we got to snorkel around a few shipwrecks surrounded by beautiful fish. Being on the boat was a first class experience, we sat out on the deck and were served Jammin' Juice (yes that would be alcoholic) and wonderful food. One problem...my lips got so sun burnt and still hurt like crazy! Poor Lisa wasn't feeling good and didn't get in the water at all, but Ty and I didn't miss a chance to take a dip!
Ty and me with our Jammin' Juice and then ready to see those turtles!
Saturday night we were supposed to go to a big graduation party...but that didn't start until midnight and after our day in the sun we were asleep by 10! We did venture out of the house for dinner, heading to Oistins for a fish fry. Bajans don't lie, they really own the flying fish! Dinner was heavenly. Well no matter how tired I was on Saturday, my body refuses to sleep past 7:30 anymore, so I was up and ready to go quite early. I took a walk down to a nearby beach and got to play paddle ball with the locals. Once everyone else was awake, we went to Harrison Caves in the center of the island. Really cool cave system that we totally got lost trying to find, but worth the effort. A last dip in the white-sand, aqua-clear water and we were back on that little plan, destination Trinidad. It was a short trip but lots of fun...glad I was able to see a bit more of the Caribbean before heading home! (Barbados is super clean compared to Trinidad...no trash, stray dogs or vagrants, but that all comes at the higher tourist prices!!)
The above pictures are from Harrison Caves
So sad day...my sunglasses broke while I was there! They've been with me since I arrived here and seen lots of things, so I was a little sad they were gone. I tried to hang on to them by taping the side back on, but it really didn't work out too well! In fact, I'm pretty sure I looked kinda like a crazy person. So I bought some cute new shades, and as corny as it is, I think it represents my new view on life. I view Trinidad differently as I am about to leave and I definitely see myself and my future in a new light.
I'm definitely starting on the "oh this is the last time I'll do X on a Friday here." Which might start getting a little ridiculous! But it has really made me appreciate all of the wonderful things about life here...the beautiful mornings and scenery, the people, even the unconditioned maxi rides are starting to get nostalgic! I have learned to appreciate every part of life here and to go enjoy things, even when they go completely wrong. I hope I can keep the attitude, and the confidence that comes along with being on my own here...in fact I give you full permission to pinch me if I begin to lose it! More to come on the last 12 days, as I rock out my new shades...
Local house, they had different architecture, many with big grand staircases
Barbados time works just like Trini time, so we were picked up from our guesthouse after getting ready an hour later than planned. We got to a cute bar that would've been a great limin' spot if we knew anyone or wanted to just lime...I mentioned we wanted to get the most out of our short weekend vacation, which meant a getting a little on the tipsy side and dancing the night away. We were told we would just be there for a drink and then were going to a club...couple hours later we headed to "The Gap" and immediately realized that our night would be better spent getting food and sleeping. So back in the car we hit Chefette, the local fast food craze, and had the best chicken sandwich of all time, although we might have been a little biased since we were essentially starving.
Saturday was then one of my favorite days since coming to the Caribbean...we went on a catamarang tour and got to actually swim with turtles! I kid you not, we were in the middle of the ocean, swimming around and able to touch turtles. Then we got to snorkel around a few shipwrecks surrounded by beautiful fish. Being on the boat was a first class experience, we sat out on the deck and were served Jammin' Juice (yes that would be alcoholic) and wonderful food. One problem...my lips got so sun burnt and still hurt like crazy! Poor Lisa wasn't feeling good and didn't get in the water at all, but Ty and I didn't miss a chance to take a dip!
Ty and me with our Jammin' Juice and then ready to see those turtles!
Saturday night we were supposed to go to a big graduation party...but that didn't start until midnight and after our day in the sun we were asleep by 10! We did venture out of the house for dinner, heading to Oistins for a fish fry. Bajans don't lie, they really own the flying fish! Dinner was heavenly. Well no matter how tired I was on Saturday, my body refuses to sleep past 7:30 anymore, so I was up and ready to go quite early. I took a walk down to a nearby beach and got to play paddle ball with the locals. Once everyone else was awake, we went to Harrison Caves in the center of the island. Really cool cave system that we totally got lost trying to find, but worth the effort. A last dip in the white-sand, aqua-clear water and we were back on that little plan, destination Trinidad. It was a short trip but lots of fun...glad I was able to see a bit more of the Caribbean before heading home! (Barbados is super clean compared to Trinidad...no trash, stray dogs or vagrants, but that all comes at the higher tourist prices!!)
The above pictures are from Harrison Caves
So sad day...my sunglasses broke while I was there! They've been with me since I arrived here and seen lots of things, so I was a little sad they were gone. I tried to hang on to them by taping the side back on, but it really didn't work out too well! In fact, I'm pretty sure I looked kinda like a crazy person. So I bought some cute new shades, and as corny as it is, I think it represents my new view on life. I view Trinidad differently as I am about to leave and I definitely see myself and my future in a new light.
I'm definitely starting on the "oh this is the last time I'll do X on a Friday here." Which might start getting a little ridiculous! But it has really made me appreciate all of the wonderful things about life here...the beautiful mornings and scenery, the people, even the unconditioned maxi rides are starting to get nostalgic! I have learned to appreciate every part of life here and to go enjoy things, even when they go completely wrong. I hope I can keep the attitude, and the confidence that comes along with being on my own here...in fact I give you full permission to pinch me if I begin to lose it! More to come on the last 12 days, as I rock out my new shades...
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Learning about the other side of the road
I'm starting with a side note: I went to a Caribbean Folk Dance class tonight! Yes, I was of course the only white girl and clearly the most awkward one, with my non-dance skills but it was lots of fun! Everyone else was wearing black leotards and black leggings with ballet-esc shoes, I had one a t-shirt (yes, it was luckily black) and purple soccer shorts with pink striped socks, so clearly I was looking good. I was given this big skirt thing to tie around my waist to use in our folky moves. The teacher, who was maybe 17, would show us a move and then we'd do it in pairs in front of everyone. At the end we incorporated each move into a dance...luckily I was in the back! Ok side note over.
The true purpose of this wonderful blog is to tell you all about Annie coming to visit! Annie Ingersoll and I grew up together, we've known each other since I was 3 and her mom babysat me so we spent many a early days playing with barbies, making music videos and creating our very own tree climbing show, which ABC was seriously considering. Well Annie and I went to different high schools and then college, so over the years we've really only kept in touch through our parent's "hey did you hear that Annie is going to France?" and stuff like that. So this was our reunion, right here in good ol' Trinidad. Annie spent a year in France and Italy during college studying Architecture, so she gets the being far from home, in another country, trying to figure out where you fit in. She quickly realized that Trinidad is nothing at all like France and living here is just a bit different, go figure! We talked a lot about how there is no blending in here, you are picked out as being foreign from a mile away. Being here also really challenges your perceptions of class, race and what it means to be American. Ok so that is the boring part, I'll get to the good stuff...
Day 1: Asa Wright Nature Center...super beautiful place, we ate termites. I kid you not, everyone on the tour tried them, they really do taste like carrots, I feel like the two of us could really survive in the wilderness now!
Day 2: Walked around Port of Spain, landing at a wine tasting, yum! We head home ready to make a gourmet meal and 10 minutes into cooking the power went out...that's right it is now dark dark dark, our stove doesn't work and we're hungry! We picked through my cupboards to have a make shift dinner and took our food outside to a little table that was illuminated by a street lamp, which was mysteriously still on. The lights came back on maybe two and half hours later and, surprise, we found a gecko in the apartment! Brave Annie grabbed a broom, stood on the counter and shooed it out the door!
Annie's first doubles!! Another successful convert!
Annie's brave gecko extraction
Day 3: TOBAGO BABY! We flew to Tobago to begin our big road trip. Map in hand, we set off, Annie keeping careful eye on which side of the road we were on. We meandered our way up the west side of Tobago, stopping for Crab and Dumplings, to see an old sugar plantation and visit a number of forts. We had quite a run in at what would be our last fort ever when a homeless, hungry, possibly handicap man chased us as we drove away trying to get money from us. As Annie said, "He had the crazy in his eyes" and from here on out our doors were always locked and "crazy eyes" was our code for get the heck away from that person! Turns out there are a few "crazy eyes" in Tobago who saw us as banks or in need of a "rastatute." You see there are a good few American/European women who come to the islands looking for a little lovin from a good rastatute (how great is that term!)and since neither of us were in the market for such attention, we had to side step a couple not well-intentioned gentlemen.
How cool is this tree? Annie actually got out of car to display how big it was!
Other side of the road!!
Day 4: This day could also be called beautiful beach day! We spent the morning at Bloody Bay (named for a brutal battle between the British and Natives) and afternoon at Pirate's Bay. We stayed in Charlotesville with in a guest house run by the sweetest couple who also owned a delicious ice cream stand. It just so happened to be Fire Safety week and the fire station put on a musical event that ended with a calypso song entitled "Fire Safety" that was brilliant!
Day 5: Our last day in Tobago was highlighted with Argyll Falls, which was directly followed by our low point when we were insanely hungry and couldn't find ANY open restaurants during a 25 min drive into Scarborough. There were many angry words, but eventually we did get food, then ferried on back to Trinidad.
Day 6: Originally we wanted to drive all around the southern part of Trinidad but we couldn't find any reasonably priced rentals the day of...so we just relaxed. Great lunch in town and then went to Cyril Ross to tutor with the kids. Annie took home half a suitcase filled with my stuff (bless her!) and we sat outside enjoying the beautiful night!
We had just a good trip...thanks for coming Annie! Now I have just 3 1/2 weeks left and am trying to make the most of it!
The true purpose of this wonderful blog is to tell you all about Annie coming to visit! Annie Ingersoll and I grew up together, we've known each other since I was 3 and her mom babysat me so we spent many a early days playing with barbies, making music videos and creating our very own tree climbing show, which ABC was seriously considering. Well Annie and I went to different high schools and then college, so over the years we've really only kept in touch through our parent's "hey did you hear that Annie is going to France?" and stuff like that. So this was our reunion, right here in good ol' Trinidad. Annie spent a year in France and Italy during college studying Architecture, so she gets the being far from home, in another country, trying to figure out where you fit in. She quickly realized that Trinidad is nothing at all like France and living here is just a bit different, go figure! We talked a lot about how there is no blending in here, you are picked out as being foreign from a mile away. Being here also really challenges your perceptions of class, race and what it means to be American. Ok so that is the boring part, I'll get to the good stuff...
Day 1: Asa Wright Nature Center...super beautiful place, we ate termites. I kid you not, everyone on the tour tried them, they really do taste like carrots, I feel like the two of us could really survive in the wilderness now!
Day 2: Walked around Port of Spain, landing at a wine tasting, yum! We head home ready to make a gourmet meal and 10 minutes into cooking the power went out...that's right it is now dark dark dark, our stove doesn't work and we're hungry! We picked through my cupboards to have a make shift dinner and took our food outside to a little table that was illuminated by a street lamp, which was mysteriously still on. The lights came back on maybe two and half hours later and, surprise, we found a gecko in the apartment! Brave Annie grabbed a broom, stood on the counter and shooed it out the door!
Annie's first doubles!! Another successful convert!
Annie's brave gecko extraction
Day 3: TOBAGO BABY! We flew to Tobago to begin our big road trip. Map in hand, we set off, Annie keeping careful eye on which side of the road we were on. We meandered our way up the west side of Tobago, stopping for Crab and Dumplings, to see an old sugar plantation and visit a number of forts. We had quite a run in at what would be our last fort ever when a homeless, hungry, possibly handicap man chased us as we drove away trying to get money from us. As Annie said, "He had the crazy in his eyes" and from here on out our doors were always locked and "crazy eyes" was our code for get the heck away from that person! Turns out there are a few "crazy eyes" in Tobago who saw us as banks or in need of a "rastatute." You see there are a good few American/European women who come to the islands looking for a little lovin from a good rastatute (how great is that term!)and since neither of us were in the market for such attention, we had to side step a couple not well-intentioned gentlemen.
How cool is this tree? Annie actually got out of car to display how big it was!
Other side of the road!!
Day 4: This day could also be called beautiful beach day! We spent the morning at Bloody Bay (named for a brutal battle between the British and Natives) and afternoon at Pirate's Bay. We stayed in Charlotesville with in a guest house run by the sweetest couple who also owned a delicious ice cream stand. It just so happened to be Fire Safety week and the fire station put on a musical event that ended with a calypso song entitled "Fire Safety" that was brilliant!
Day 5: Our last day in Tobago was highlighted with Argyll Falls, which was directly followed by our low point when we were insanely hungry and couldn't find ANY open restaurants during a 25 min drive into Scarborough. There were many angry words, but eventually we did get food, then ferried on back to Trinidad.
Day 6: Originally we wanted to drive all around the southern part of Trinidad but we couldn't find any reasonably priced rentals the day of...so we just relaxed. Great lunch in town and then went to Cyril Ross to tutor with the kids. Annie took home half a suitcase filled with my stuff (bless her!) and we sat outside enjoying the beautiful night!
We had just a good trip...thanks for coming Annie! Now I have just 3 1/2 weeks left and am trying to make the most of it!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Clap she up
What a week...good, bad, busy, exhausting, relaxing. I've been in San Fernando working this week, which is in South and is just under an hour commute. The hour, however, doesn't start until you get into a car, and if you don't get down to the taxi stand early enough (before 6:30am)there is a whole mob of people anxiously waiting for more cars to arrive. When Trinis wait for public transportation, all general human generosity and thoughtfulness pretty much goes out the window. There is no order, no line, no "he's been here longest." The rule is, whoever gets to the car first and is able to box out the hovering crowd gets a seat. So I have been getting up quite early to make my way to the taxi stand and avoid the rush (I was late one day and decided that participating in the mob was not going to work out for me and I decided to take a maxi instead. This was a 2 hour commute instead of 1, was hotter, less comfortable and more expensive, so this week I'll be setting the alarm a little earlier!) I have 3 more days planned in San Fernando and then my data collection is all finished!!
So the early mornings weren't the only part that were made sleep hard to come by this week, I also had a lot of evening activities. I've started tutoring again at Cyril Ross (house for HIV positive children), helped out a friend at an HIV awareness event at the university and went to the semi finals for the U-17 Women's World Cup. The game was awesome, Japan must do endless 1v1 drills because those girls had some sick moves and weren't afraid to use them! I loved the crowd, anytime someone got schooled everyone erupted and would praise the schooler/mock the schoolee for the next 10 minutes.
Tennille, Simmy, me and Danielle at the game
But the best part of the week was heading to Toco for a girl's weekend getaway. I went with Tennille, a friend from playing soccer with the university, and her two friends Adaeze and Tyrish. It was about a 2 hour road trip up to Toco, with a stop off at a famous chicken and fries place, before getting to Adaeze's aunt's house. Toco is wonderfully simple and country, we actually went crab catching on Saturday night! Crab catching includes walking around in the dark with a flashlight and a bag looking for crabs. Once you find one you strategically step on it and carefully scoop it into the bag. Later you season em up and make some stewed crab and dumplings or calalloo. I didn't have the guts to step on any, but I was a good crab spotter. We also played a few games of Scrabble, often getting on the competitive side, and a game of Monopoly that Tyrish dominated in. We cooked good food, hung out at the beach and did lots and lots of talking!
Like any girl's weekend, the talking was centered around boys, relationships, and of course a little friendly gossip. I didn't know anyone they were talking about, but I learned a few new Trini phrases that are some new favorites...
1. "I clap she up"(this is also a gesture that includes, obviously, clapping and a look with a lot of attitude). You'd clap someone up to emphasis your point, usually done a tad aggressively and to show your complete and utter disapproval and annoyance with someone.
2. "She gettin horned" Horned=cheated on and from the sound of it half of Trinidad is cheating on their significant other!
3. "He cuff she up bad" This would describe a real "stink" guy (awful guy) who beat up his girlfriend, heck he probably was hornin her too!
4. "That girl is slack slack" or "slack talk" slack is like loose, so describing someone as slack means they probably get around a bit, someone you might refer to as the village bicycle in the States. Slack talk would be like rude/loose talk
5. "She make a baby for he" This one is obvious, but it sounds way more interesting than she's pregnant.
There were plenty more, but so many aren't affective without the facial expression that goes with them. The moral of the story was that it was a really great weekend and I've now got a lot of dirt on a lot of people...too bad I can't remember any of their names or which thing was about them!
We caught a crab!!
The four of us on the crab hunt...me, Tyrish, Tennille and Adaeze
The sunset while hunting
Auntie Gracie, who we stayed with, Adaeze, Tyrish, Tennille and Happiness (yes, they call him Happiness. He helps out Grace with the house and was an interesting character!!)
So the early mornings weren't the only part that were made sleep hard to come by this week, I also had a lot of evening activities. I've started tutoring again at Cyril Ross (house for HIV positive children), helped out a friend at an HIV awareness event at the university and went to the semi finals for the U-17 Women's World Cup. The game was awesome, Japan must do endless 1v1 drills because those girls had some sick moves and weren't afraid to use them! I loved the crowd, anytime someone got schooled everyone erupted and would praise the schooler/mock the schoolee for the next 10 minutes.
Tennille, Simmy, me and Danielle at the game
But the best part of the week was heading to Toco for a girl's weekend getaway. I went with Tennille, a friend from playing soccer with the university, and her two friends Adaeze and Tyrish. It was about a 2 hour road trip up to Toco, with a stop off at a famous chicken and fries place, before getting to Adaeze's aunt's house. Toco is wonderfully simple and country, we actually went crab catching on Saturday night! Crab catching includes walking around in the dark with a flashlight and a bag looking for crabs. Once you find one you strategically step on it and carefully scoop it into the bag. Later you season em up and make some stewed crab and dumplings or calalloo. I didn't have the guts to step on any, but I was a good crab spotter. We also played a few games of Scrabble, often getting on the competitive side, and a game of Monopoly that Tyrish dominated in. We cooked good food, hung out at the beach and did lots and lots of talking!
Like any girl's weekend, the talking was centered around boys, relationships, and of course a little friendly gossip. I didn't know anyone they were talking about, but I learned a few new Trini phrases that are some new favorites...
1. "I clap she up"(this is also a gesture that includes, obviously, clapping and a look with a lot of attitude). You'd clap someone up to emphasis your point, usually done a tad aggressively and to show your complete and utter disapproval and annoyance with someone.
2. "She gettin horned" Horned=cheated on and from the sound of it half of Trinidad is cheating on their significant other!
3. "He cuff she up bad" This would describe a real "stink" guy (awful guy) who beat up his girlfriend, heck he probably was hornin her too!
4. "That girl is slack slack" or "slack talk" slack is like loose, so describing someone as slack means they probably get around a bit, someone you might refer to as the village bicycle in the States. Slack talk would be like rude/loose talk
5. "She make a baby for he" This one is obvious, but it sounds way more interesting than she's pregnant.
There were plenty more, but so many aren't affective without the facial expression that goes with them. The moral of the story was that it was a really great weekend and I've now got a lot of dirt on a lot of people...too bad I can't remember any of their names or which thing was about them!
We caught a crab!!
The four of us on the crab hunt...me, Tyrish, Tennille and Adaeze
The sunset while hunting
Auntie Gracie, who we stayed with, Adaeze, Tyrish, Tennille and Happiness (yes, they call him Happiness. He helps out Grace with the house and was an interesting character!!)
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Great week where nothing went according to plan!
Throughout life, you only get a handful of people that really get you, that you really enjoy and can fully be yourself with. Luckily for me, my mom is one of these people for me, she is just one of my favorite people and a real inspiration to me. (Don't worry dad, you are right up there too, but mom has the girl thing on you, sorry!) And, again luckily for me, she just came to visit me in Trinidad!! So I went home for a week to go to a friend's wedding (woo Bowden!), do some interviews (I just accepted a position with ConAgra in Council Bluffs, IA) and visit Brenton and the family. Then mom came back to Trinidad with me to spend a week gallivanting around the island. It was so wonderful to have her here and here's an account of some of our adventures...
The Hike
So one thing mom really wanted to do was go on a hike, so I called up some friends to plan a nice, simple hike for us to some beautiful waterfall. A friend posed Rincon, telling me it was a 45 minute walk with a couple challenging hills but a great end destination...mom was up for the mini-challenges so we set it up. Have I ever mentioned that Trinis have a way of distorting time? The 45 min was really and hour and 45 minutes and the little challenging hills were actually one of the following: straight uphill, gradually uphill for a really long time or plummeting downhill. I'm not sure there were more than 15 feet of straight ground the whole time! This face explains everything...
But, a couple falls, scrapes and bruises later we did reach the waterfall and it was incredibly beautiful. I've never seen a taller waterfall and the pool was clear and cool, just right after the hot hike!
The whole thing was quite a challenge, but we did it! It was quite a sense of accomplishment getting back to the car (and mom was quite proud she wasn't last!). Everyone was impressed with mom's tenacity and a few of the girls told me how brave they thought she was, sounds about right to me!
Hotel Flip Flop
So after the hike, the plan was to stay a couple nights in Blanchisseuse and relax by the beach, b..u..t, that isn't quite how it all worked out. Neither the hotel nor the taxi driver who was going to take us there ever answered or returned any of my phone calls (still, to this day have not called me back even though I had a room reserved!) so we needed a new plan. On the way back from the hike we stopped at Maracas Bay to feast on the famous Bake n' Shark (mom thought we were saying bacon something and was very confused by the fried piece of meat inside the fried piece of dough we gave her!). The meal was delicious and happened to be right next to the Maracas Bay Hotel...light bulb! So we stayed the night there, did the next day at the beach and rested our tired legs! The whole thing worked out better than we could have planned and gave us an extra day to gallivant some more. This one is proof that we were on a beach, you can kinda see sand and water in the background.
The Rain Game
So right now it is the rainy season here in lovely Trinidad which means you just never know what you are going to get. One morning we had planned to go to the botanical gardens and the zoo...it poured and flooded a bit (ended up having a delicious lunch and shopped around a little strip mall). Went to yoga in Port of Spain...it poured and flooded a bit (still made it out alive and in time to go see our chick flick). Wanted to spend our last afternoon hanging out, reading and relaxing...it poured and flooded up the valley to my house and we got stuck in a maxi trying to get home for 2 hours (still enjoyed the rest of our afternoon though). So the rain won sometimes, but we always seemed to make a come back!
Gasperee Caves
Since we had an extra day, we went on a tour of Gasperee Caves on a "3 Hour Tour" (the name made us a little worried, we don't have too much experience making coconut radios, but no Gilligan's Island repeats on this particular day). We ended up being the only two people on the tour that day, so we could go at our own pace and decide what all we wanted to do. The tour guide even let us swim in the lake inside the cave, which you are totally not allowed to do! The caves were really cool, I had never seen anything like it before, but sorry, pictures just don't really do it justice, so I am just putting a couple up.
So we did some other stuff too...went on a fabric shopping extravaganza, ate some good Trini food, went to the movies, did some yoga, went for walks, read, went to a game for the U-17 women's world cup that is hosted by Trinidad this year and ate some more. It was a really great week! Here are just a couple more pics...
The Hike
So one thing mom really wanted to do was go on a hike, so I called up some friends to plan a nice, simple hike for us to some beautiful waterfall. A friend posed Rincon, telling me it was a 45 minute walk with a couple challenging hills but a great end destination...mom was up for the mini-challenges so we set it up. Have I ever mentioned that Trinis have a way of distorting time? The 45 min was really and hour and 45 minutes and the little challenging hills were actually one of the following: straight uphill, gradually uphill for a really long time or plummeting downhill. I'm not sure there were more than 15 feet of straight ground the whole time! This face explains everything...
But, a couple falls, scrapes and bruises later we did reach the waterfall and it was incredibly beautiful. I've never seen a taller waterfall and the pool was clear and cool, just right after the hot hike!
The whole thing was quite a challenge, but we did it! It was quite a sense of accomplishment getting back to the car (and mom was quite proud she wasn't last!). Everyone was impressed with mom's tenacity and a few of the girls told me how brave they thought she was, sounds about right to me!
Hotel Flip Flop
So after the hike, the plan was to stay a couple nights in Blanchisseuse and relax by the beach, b..u..t, that isn't quite how it all worked out. Neither the hotel nor the taxi driver who was going to take us there ever answered or returned any of my phone calls (still, to this day have not called me back even though I had a room reserved!) so we needed a new plan. On the way back from the hike we stopped at Maracas Bay to feast on the famous Bake n' Shark (mom thought we were saying bacon something and was very confused by the fried piece of meat inside the fried piece of dough we gave her!). The meal was delicious and happened to be right next to the Maracas Bay Hotel...light bulb! So we stayed the night there, did the next day at the beach and rested our tired legs! The whole thing worked out better than we could have planned and gave us an extra day to gallivant some more. This one is proof that we were on a beach, you can kinda see sand and water in the background.
The Rain Game
So right now it is the rainy season here in lovely Trinidad which means you just never know what you are going to get. One morning we had planned to go to the botanical gardens and the zoo...it poured and flooded a bit (ended up having a delicious lunch and shopped around a little strip mall). Went to yoga in Port of Spain...it poured and flooded a bit (still made it out alive and in time to go see our chick flick). Wanted to spend our last afternoon hanging out, reading and relaxing...it poured and flooded up the valley to my house and we got stuck in a maxi trying to get home for 2 hours (still enjoyed the rest of our afternoon though). So the rain won sometimes, but we always seemed to make a come back!
Gasperee Caves
Since we had an extra day, we went on a tour of Gasperee Caves on a "3 Hour Tour" (the name made us a little worried, we don't have too much experience making coconut radios, but no Gilligan's Island repeats on this particular day). We ended up being the only two people on the tour that day, so we could go at our own pace and decide what all we wanted to do. The tour guide even let us swim in the lake inside the cave, which you are totally not allowed to do! The caves were really cool, I had never seen anything like it before, but sorry, pictures just don't really do it justice, so I am just putting a couple up.
So we did some other stuff too...went on a fabric shopping extravaganza, ate some good Trini food, went to the movies, did some yoga, went for walks, read, went to a game for the U-17 women's world cup that is hosted by Trinidad this year and ate some more. It was a really great week! Here are just a couple more pics...
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Felt the Earth, Move, Under my Feet
I sleepily rolled over, trying to readjust and get comfortable again to fall back asleep. I peeked at the clock and saw that it was 4:40am, go back to sleep. Then I felt a strange jerking, there was a rumbling sound and everything started to shake. All the sudden I was wide awake, threw off the covers and hopped over to the door. This was my first earthquake! I know, from my years of training in elementary school that the safest place to be during an earthquake was in a door frame and that was the only thing going through my mind. From the time it took for me to get out of bed and over to the door (probably about 4 feet in distance) the shaking was over, everything was back to normal. Nothing had fallen off my desk or counter, there was no dramatic rattling of dishes, it might have been the most boring earthquake in history, but as my first one, I thought it was quite exciting. I stayed awake for awhile wondering if there was more to come, but the only thing that happened was another intense rain storm (the last couple weeks we have had SO much rain!) The newspaper said that it was a 5.1 quake on the Paria Peninsula (in Venezuela) that did not cause any damage here in Trinidad. So what else has been going on, you may ask...well lots of work, lots of soccer and not a ton of anything else. I've visited 3 blood donation centers as a part of my project in different areas of the country, so it has been fun to see how things work in different regions. Politics have shaken some things up with my project as well, since the new government is in power, they may be replacing the Ministry of Health team that had been working with the HIV Surveillance Project that I'm researching. Hopefully the change will be for the better and they will take my findings seriously. I am heading home in just a week, YAY!! I can't wait to see everyone and spend some time with Brenton and the family. I also get to go to a college friend's wedding while home and have some interviews with companies for when I get back (wish me luck!). I'll be back at the beginning of September and mom is coming with to spend a week with me here...then I'll have just 2 months left. Wow. Hopefully I'll be able to get everything done and still get to see all of Trinidad and spend time with some new friends! Here are a couple pics...soccer team I've been playing for, curry duck cook off, and a picture from a concert (sorry I wanted to put up a video of it, but it isn't working!).
Drumming at the Curry Duck Cook-Off, people were dancing like crazy to the drummers, I think alcohol had something to do with it!
Me, Sharon and Christian enjoying our Curry Duck!
A butterfly at the house, I just thought it was pretty...
Me, Oceane and Karyn at the Pan Concert
The soccer team!! Guess what, during our last game (Sunday) I scored a goal!!! I have maybe scored like 5 times in my whole soccer career, so this was very exciting and a perfect way to end my season with them!
Drumming at the Curry Duck Cook-Off, people were dancing like crazy to the drummers, I think alcohol had something to do with it!
Me, Sharon and Christian enjoying our Curry Duck!
A butterfly at the house, I just thought it was pretty...
Me, Oceane and Karyn at the Pan Concert
The soccer team!! Guess what, during our last game (Sunday) I scored a goal!!! I have maybe scored like 5 times in my whole soccer career, so this was very exciting and a perfect way to end my season with them!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Last One Standing
Dave is leaving tomorrow which means I'm the last Fulbrighter left in Trinidad. I think a new crop of them should be coming about a month before I leave, so I'll be the expert I guess. That's kinda weird! Although I think I really do know my way around pretty well now and have some people now, so maybe I won't be the expert but I can certainly help! I'm sad Dave is leaving, but luckily we had a good farewell for him up in La Laja...that's really what the rest of this is about.
So La Laja is up in the mountains on the Northern Coast, up literally where cars can barely reach. We had a regular car, not a 4-wheel drive jeep or van, so we had to walk about 15 minutes to get from the road to the house. The walk was almost completely done in a light misting rain, which was actually really nice because it kept us cool on the practically straight uphill climbs. We each had our overnight bags and then 2 or 3 grocery sacks with food for the weekend weighing us down. Oleo, Dave and I started the trek happily, excited but Alister and Olivia were more serious, knowing the torture to come. The hills were numerous and relentless, slippery and muddy. We had to stop 3 times to breath and poor Oleo, with his recent asthma attacks, was close to going into cardiac arrest. But when we turned the corner, seeing the house and the view, every step was worth it. The house's water supply is supplied by a nearby natural spring and there were trees with oranges, grapefruits, plums, breadfruit and much more, flowers of all colors and types dotted the landscape.
Our weekend pretty much consisted of three things: cooking, eating and relaxing. We'd prepare a meal all together, eat and clean it up and then sit around and talk, read, walk around the grounds taking in the sights. The house had a tin roof and the rain tinged on it throughout the weekend. You could hear the rain coming in the distance, a low roar that would creep closer and closer. Finally the rain would reach us and the crash it made on the roof almost drowned out all other sound. It was a cozy feeling, listening to the rain, book in hand, smells wafting in from the kitchen.
So that's La Laja...it was really great! Since then I just have one day left with the Blood Transfusion Service. I spent a week at the center in Port of Spain and then a day in the Point Fortin and San Fernando centers (both in the southern part of the country). Tomorrow it is off to Sangre Grande (east side) and then a weekend to relax! Actually I probably better do some work since my time here is quickly dwindling! Dave leaving made me realize how little time I have left to finish the project and how much work I have left to do! Guess I better stop writing and start doing something huh...
So La Laja is up in the mountains on the Northern Coast, up literally where cars can barely reach. We had a regular car, not a 4-wheel drive jeep or van, so we had to walk about 15 minutes to get from the road to the house. The walk was almost completely done in a light misting rain, which was actually really nice because it kept us cool on the practically straight uphill climbs. We each had our overnight bags and then 2 or 3 grocery sacks with food for the weekend weighing us down. Oleo, Dave and I started the trek happily, excited but Alister and Olivia were more serious, knowing the torture to come. The hills were numerous and relentless, slippery and muddy. We had to stop 3 times to breath and poor Oleo, with his recent asthma attacks, was close to going into cardiac arrest. But when we turned the corner, seeing the house and the view, every step was worth it. The house's water supply is supplied by a nearby natural spring and there were trees with oranges, grapefruits, plums, breadfruit and much more, flowers of all colors and types dotted the landscape.
Our weekend pretty much consisted of three things: cooking, eating and relaxing. We'd prepare a meal all together, eat and clean it up and then sit around and talk, read, walk around the grounds taking in the sights. The house had a tin roof and the rain tinged on it throughout the weekend. You could hear the rain coming in the distance, a low roar that would creep closer and closer. Finally the rain would reach us and the crash it made on the roof almost drowned out all other sound. It was a cozy feeling, listening to the rain, book in hand, smells wafting in from the kitchen.
So that's La Laja...it was really great! Since then I just have one day left with the Blood Transfusion Service. I spent a week at the center in Port of Spain and then a day in the Point Fortin and San Fernando centers (both in the southern part of the country). Tomorrow it is off to Sangre Grande (east side) and then a weekend to relax! Actually I probably better do some work since my time here is quickly dwindling! Dave leaving made me realize how little time I have left to finish the project and how much work I have left to do! Guess I better stop writing and start doing something huh...
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