Cascadia Hotel And Conference Cen 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. <br><br> <br>

... Several days ago, a new couple arrived...Frank and JoBean, American ex-pats who live on the island of Saba. Frank is a retired optical surgeon, but JoBean still works and has a glass jewelry design studio on Saba. JoBean came to Trinidad as part of a joint project with Nature Seekers to design and manufacture local handmade jewelry, using materials recovered from Matura Beach. Specifically, discarded glass bottles....blue, green, amber, and clear...trash that's all melted ...

... the seven of us that set out to sea that day, only two of us had ever actually kayaked in the ocean...I was one of the two. So we set sail from the safety of the Salybia River, paddling calmly as the river met the sea. Things looked good. Things looked great, in fact, and Ronald and I, being in single kayaks, shot ahead of the group and up and over the swells. And there were great big swells, several of which I hit just as they were breaking. Foam and white water ...

... a block from the guesthouse, I planned to peruse the aisles in search of some pretzels. To my surprise, (and horror--there were no pretzels to be found), the Dis-and-Dat Shoppe was fortified like a SuperMax. A massive white cage enclosed the entire contents of the shop, including the cashier. The identity of the assorted candy bars and cookies and cakes could only be ascertained by sticking my eyeball up to the cage and peeking through one of the holes. Afterwards, I ...

... we did, but still suffered. During the break, I wandered around to see if we couldn't get away from the speakers a bit. We enjoyed the rest of the concert at the hotel's outdoor restaurant with cool beers and hopefully lost only a bit of hearing. The most anticipated event for me was the National Panorama Finals. This was 16 of Trinidad and Tobago's finest Steel Bands competing for the prize. The bands were limited to 100 players and were enough to rock your socks ...

... That may seem surprising, considering its less-than-absolute majority. Maybe that explains it. I've seen people wear true African dress here, but nowhere else in the Caribbean; rasta colors yes, but not real African. I've seen shops selling African goods here that would rival those of the US, not just cheap tourist schlock. I can watch the 'Africa Channel' on TV here. I've never seen it elsewhere, except maybe LinkTV in LA. The 'Cowheel ...

... In J'ourvert everyone dresses in old clothes and covers themselves in mud, oil paint and body paint. So basically there are about 10 bands that march around Port-of-Spain from about 4am until 10am. Each band has its own theme, and consists of huge trucks either blasting Soca music ...

... So we settled for a drink in a local bar of diet coke and Caroline and I topped it up from our secret stash of Rum so we could try to save some money backpacker style. After Los Roques and Trinidad we are offically broke and back to real backpacker travelling! Tonight we are getting the all night bus to Santa Marta, Colombia. We are so looking forward to Colombia from what everyone has told us. Takeaways from Trinidad - Up to 27 September 2005 there were 276 violent ...

... up such a thing. He acted out the gay guy's suprise and delight. "Ahh, un pipi!" He ran effeminently and pretended to scoop it up. He hugged it as lovingly as a little girl hugging a pony she'd just received. "Es mio!" he said. (It's mine!) Gerardo's smile, meanwhile, reminds me of a small girl being carried away by a balloon. His eyes flutter, and he flicks his tongue across his lips like he's trying to get the last taste off ...

... s sleeping right now, that miserable rat, Pansyckas! Sleep is a luxury not all our brothers can afford. Brotherhood equals togetherness, togetherness equals strength, strength equals communism, and communism equals NOT SLEEPING like that weakling, Pansyckas!" Our strong roadtrip (we spent only $30 each) took us to Key West, South Beach, and finally the Miami Airport, where I flew to the Caribbean on Easter Day. It's as a changed man that I've embarked on my latest travels. Firstly ...