Carlton Savannah Port of Spain

I decided to take advantage of my paid vacation and spend two weeks in Trinidad and Tobago. My good friend Kevin Fortune, who I met in college, is from Trinidad and was a phenomenal tour guide. I stayed away from computers, cell phones and any reading materials related to the economy and/or the environment.

... that hosts the heaviest tourist traffic. We found her in the dark, at the end of the obvious path where she'd dragged herself from the sea, across the sand, to where she now had begun to dig a hole with her rear flippers. The flippers are the craziest things, and something about them was....I'm at a loss for descriptors....something about them was dear. Like the way a dog twitches his leg when you rub his stomach. Something about the flippers reminded me of dear little dog legs ...

... my kayak up into the air, and then bursting over the top of me and past me. It was fantastic, and I'm fairly certain that Ronald and I shouted "whoop!" and "yeehaw!" at deafening volumes, over and over. Rodger and our guide were in a double kayak up ahead, with Ronald and I both gunning for second place, followed by Peter and Lee who were in another double, and Richard bringing up the tail in a single. The chasm widened and between the great swells of the sea ...

... 14 years and who's nicknamed "Trinidad Jesus." I asked Francis how much of a problem poaching still was on Matura Beach. Francis responded, "There is no poaching."

That's the strange thing about this place. Francis wasn't lying to me, because he really believed these words he said. But the evidence spoke different words to me. Every night while recording turtles, we came across the carcasses of dead turtles. All of these animals displayed injuries that, in my limited ...

... another girl's egg chamber. Other turtles were digging so deep that their egg chambers were filling up with water and rendered useless. One turtle scared the hell out of me. In a scene right out of Lord of the Flies, we were busy recording another turtle's activities, when I heard suspicious rustling under a cluster of palm fronds that were dripping down into the sand beyond me. I felt like I was being watched; was it a poacher hiding out? Was I Piggy and ...

... ll be flying in circles, which wouldn't be so bad, especially time-wise, if the lodging were more affordable. This is not an unreasonable expectation, given the wage differentials between the Third World and the Western World. Real estate prices are another story. If there's a phenomenon of 'island dwarfism' in relation to body size of islanders, there seems to be an economic 'island inflation' operating in inverse proportion. The ...

... swim at Buccoo Bay, and had the whole beach to ourselves. It was like paradise. They had trees by the beach there that has sap with acidic like properties (Mancheel trees), and there are warnings posted up everywhere about them, it's mad! Our search for an internet cafe began yesterday (and as you can guess only reach its conclusion today) without much luck. We also managed to get sunburnt during our search (me on my shoulders and James on his calves! lol ...

... Trinidad. It is lovely and looks like a treehouse throughout! The girls have been mighty impressed. We have a balcony and the number of birds is tremendous! They have had lots of fun watching the birds. We also went swimming this morning. We decided to take a taxi to the grocery this afternoon. It was sort of a generic western grocery. I suppose they want to make sure you find what you are looking for but I didn't ...

"Lai-la-luh-lai-lai-luh-luh-lai ...!" sounded David strongly, his voice perfect for serenading unsuspecting latina women. Sitting on the beach and playing his cuatro was practically my roommate's favorite thing to do. A Carib (local Trinidadian beer) fisherman's hat and dark glasses kept him cool. He went on to sing, "Me Quieres o Me Olvidas!" (Want Me or Forget Me) and a song about having two mujeres (women). The other Venezuelans and I sank in the sand to the ...

... short stay home. We refreshingly changed addresses from the witch-house to a place down the street with shiny white tile, comfortable couches and living rooms, and cable television. Sometimes, David and I would be relaxing in front of an American baseball game featuring a Venezuelan star such as Edgardo Alfonzo. He'd remind me of the witch's shriek voice, "Would you put your foot up on the chair in your mother's house?" We laughed a ...