The Royal Hotel Trinidad

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.

... did have a few to document on our last night, including a batch of hatchlings that burst through their sandy chamber on the beach in front of us. We watched them scrambling on top of each other, bubbling out into the humid night air, and we lit them up with dim red lights to be sure that no one accidentally trampled them. Nature Seeker Don (who incidentally has a pet squirrel that he keeps in his left pants pocket--and yes, I actually mean a squirrel) came over to me with two of ...

... incident. Good God, what were they doing? Peter, in front, was holding his paddle as though he was mowing the lawn, the blades barely grazing the water. And Lee, what in the world was she doing? She had her paddle pushed out in front of her as though she was walking the tight rope. Ronald, Richard, and I all shouted out tips and encouragement, but it was no use. And the look on Peter's face...what was that look? At that moment, Peter and Lee appeared to be the ...

... kayaking due to the whole caiman/anaconda scenario at the last river we visited. But I figured that I'd be fine in the safety of my plastic kayak.

Our guide for the day was a fantastic young Trini guy named Ronald who was also part of the Nature Seekers staff. Askim, Peter, Lee and I, along with our kayak guide Dave, who seemed to be transitioning from dredlocks to traditional hair and was tatted with wings spreading across his shoulder blades ...

This was our first time to participate in a Carnival Parade in Port of Spain Trinidad. Trinidad has one of the largest Carnival celebrations after Mardi Gras. We joined the group called Pulse 8 and danced through the streets of Port of Spain for two days. Our group had about 1000 people. When you join a group - you pay a lot of money and get a costume, all you can drink for two days, food, trucks with large ...

... into. First of all FREE tennis lessons are offered on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and Cale is going to try it out with me this week! I'm so stoked - so what its not uniquely Trinidadian, its something I know I'll love doing! :) I've started going to a Monday/Wed/Friday dance aerobics class at the Malik Folk Performing Company. No air conditioning, but dancing to an ...

... right here: Going to the pan yards is one of my favorite things to do in Trinidad. Each pan yard holds a band of steel pans and their players. That makes me wonder what you call someone who plays the steel pan... a panner? Anyway, its a sound, especially a live-music sound that I've never heard before. Obviously there's a family of pans, from the main melody ones (I'm pretty sure those are tenor) to the bass ones, which have one large trash-can shaped deal for each ...

So, after 5 days of waiting, our gear showed up. We've been sitting around the office for so long trying to look busy that when we actually were doing things, the days flew by pretty quickly. Working with these guys is just like working with anyone else from a different culture. The islanders talk about "Trini-Time" and I think that I've figured it out. It's not exactly like "island-time" for those of you who've been to the bahamas. One Example, we were to be picked ...

... No response. So when we asked to see the supervisor about 10 times a not-so friendly staff member went to check if the 10 other staff should be made to work. No no no .. too much effort. We were not allowed to speak to the supervisor. It was easier not to let us on and then charge us US$60 to change the date. Another short argument in Spanish that the fee only applies to a change of mind not to a missed departure because of traffic, and 1 hour later we rescheduled for the ...

... and purple flowers, and just behind the houses loomed hills so overwhelmed with green that the plants resembled islanders packed into a reggae show. And it was hot, the merciless sun forcing sweat from my pores and into my eyes. A friend of Dexter's, smily Jason Kendall, came by and laughed, "You got your first job in Trinidad?" On only my fifth day! Dexter's uncle came by to drop off his bratty kids. "If they break anything, take it out of his salary ...