Coral Cove Marina Hotel 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>

... special to me....but the jewelry was pretty sad-looking all the same. But by yesterday, the day we departed from Matura, the talent started to bust loose in a crazy amazing way. I popped into the makeshift art studio early, and the guys had several completed necklaces laid out on the table...they'd really come far, and now I felt I was looking at something real and impressive. One of the guys, Michael, had seen me looking at some glass bead creations a few days prior, and he asked ...

... an ancient rock. It was like Alcatraz had sprouted a broccoli head. Now the water was rough behind the island, and it was pulling our kayaks in crazy rocking, rolling directions. But I decided it was time to get some action shots of Ronald executing extraordinary paddle strokes and kayak control in the rough water. So for some time during Ronald's photo shoot, we completely lost track of the others. By the time we packed up my camera into the dry storage and looked ...

... warmth of the equatorial sun, in the calm of a sweltering day on the terrace. As I enjoyed my chillin', Askim arrived on the terrace with a strange look on her face. She said that she had something really weird to tell me. A few minutes ago in the kitchen, she'd overheard one of the staff report to Suzan that two people had been shot and killed on Matura Beach today. The weirdest part of it was not that it had happened, but that later, when we were all gathered together with ...

... if yuh nickname is "T'ick T'ing". Some of the Bands were nothing more than a huge moving party. The individual groups (some many thousand) were roped off and within those groups, several semi trucks rolled slowly along providing ear-splitting music, rolling porta-potties, bars and mist showers to cool a body off. We were glad once again for the ear plugs and shaded seats. When we visit new islands, I like to find out what the local cuisine features. In Trinidad we ...

... good and there's even a local home-grown Starbuck's-style coffee chain called 'Rituals' (yes!) with little Aunt Jemimas cranking out as good of a macchiato as I've ever had, for prices at least no higher than US standards. Anything's better than Nescafe (a menu in Guatemala once translated this as 'Nescoffee'). It sounds like paradise. So what's my problem? I'm afraid my trip my climax prematurely. I just started and there's no return to ...

... about 10:30am, hosed off in the backyard before taking showers, and we all passed straight out and slept until about 4pm. Then we all woke up, got ready real quick, and went back into town for the first part of Mas (short for masquerade). On Carnival Monday the parade of the mas ...

... numerous pedestrians. It didn`t take me that long to get the hang of this system (reminded me of my days driving the old Corolla!), but what did continue to confuse the hell out me was all the one-way streets! Barely knowing where I was, let alone where I was going, again with only a dodgy map to guide me, I did many extra miles thanks to these one-way streets! After finding my hotel, unscathed, I headed out on foot. What immediatley struck me was the numerous Chinese ...

On Saturday, the 20th of April, international cricket had come to Trinidad. The hometown West Indies were taking on India. I grew to like cricket while in Australia. To sum it up, it's a boring, boring sport. It's played on a relaxing, grassy round field. One team's defense dots the field, surrounding two wicket posts. A bowler at one wicket throws quickly a hard ball which bounces once before reaching the opposing team's batsman. Batsmen try to bat the ball away from ...

... up from the Trinidad airport. He took me for ice cream, then wanted the pleasure of pouring me my first rum drink in Trinidad. The next morning, Dexter picked me up to go "down the islands." Dexter wanted the pleasure of pouring me my second-thru-seventieth rum drinks while in Trinidad. I'd met Dexter through college, like Brendan and about twenty other Trinis. Like Brendan, Dexter was a big, Caribbean-skinned guy with a big heart and smile. They spoke as if they were too busy laying ...