I was poking around the posts and I noticed that I'd left quite a few in draft state - so I've published them. Of course, if you read the blog chronologically, they are buried. So, here's a link to the Trindad posts!
Finally back from Trindad... it was a helluva return trip, let me tell you. The plane was delayed two hours due to an oil leak in the right engine's thruster reverser (a common technical term - I'll let you guess what that part does). Luckily, we were able to file ourselves back into the gate while waiting for the repairs to be completed. Side note: Caribbean Airlines announced that a flight - scheduled to depart at 9:30am - would be delayed until 8pm. Needless to say it was interesting watching the crowd's reaction to that news, and the ensuing throng that addled the service counters. After the repair, I mean, preventive maintenance was completed, we were loaded onto the plane and proceeded to take off. Breakfast (fast - yes, break - no). Blades of Glory (Glory - no, Blades - on wrist). Laptop time. Snoozing. Lamenting having left iPod at home. Laptop time. Trays up. Landing. Deplaning (what?).
I found myself standing in line at Immigration in ATL, with a "computer malfunction" that caused a 30 minute delay. Keep in mind that in ATL, when arriving from an international flight, one must retrieve one's baggage and recheck it to your final destination (which includes baggage claim at the main terminal), and one must go through security again. After making it through Immigration, I retrieved my bags (luckily no wait), checked them again, and then went through security again. Oops, I purchased a bottle of pepper sauce from the Duty Free in Port of Spain, and must check it to baggage claim. What? Yeah, that's what I thought. It didn't really matter anyway because once I checked that bag, and made it to baggage claim there was an hour wait for the bags. Yep, an hour. Steph, her mom and the kids circled the lot for 30 minutes waiting for me. I finally gave up and had a friend who was travelling with me take my bags to the office when (if) they arrived.
But I made it back home, safe and sound. Well, safe anyway. Worst part of the trip? Popping into the van and having Maya look at me like she forgot who I was. Best part of the trip? Popping into the van and having Maya and Devin remember who I was after 5 minutes.
My original plan in this two-week foray into Trinidad was to get some diving in Tobago. Unforunately, force have conspired against me to prevent a trip to Tobago. The flights are all sold out, as is the ferry - until August. [Ed. note - turns out there was a pilot strike this weekend, so it's probably best that I did not go.] I even tried to work a deal with one of my clients down here to get a Cessna charter to fly over to Tobago - but even those guys were all full as well.
So, I spent the weekend cruising the hotel and Port of Spain.
Driving about in Trinidad is an interesting experience. Sure, there's the whole driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road bit, which by itself is enough cause for wary driving. One must always be aware that the driver should be sitting in the center lane lest you be on the wrong side of the wrong side of the road. As we picked up the rental car from Piarco International Airport, a beleaguered husband double parked on us to retrieve his wife.
A policeman stopped by and said, "you see here, this car is double parked now."
I replied, "sir, I'm waiting for 5 minutes for that car to move so I can leave; we just picked up this rental."
He nodded and told the duo to move it. As they go themselves situated, the obviously inebriated passenger (his wife) cooed, "beeee careful! You're in Trinidaaad!"
"Yooooouuuu're drunk," I replied, somewhat under my breath.
In any event, the driving has been interesting. We've done long twisty roads, tight neighborhood alleys and highway driving. What's most interesting is that the Trinis seem to make up there own rules about driving. For example, the highway exit ramp to the office has two lanes: one turns right to cross back over the highway, and one goes straight to go...somewhere else. And naturally, there's a light just to the left of this intersection with opposing roads turn left/right to get across the highway. And of course, there's another intersection on the other side of the overpass. The picture I'm painting here is that during rush hour, there's a lot of congestion on this road as everybody tries to get across the overpass. What invariably happens is that the two lanes on the exit ramp (one straight, one right) both end up going right - into a single lane. So people are just everywhere on the road. But luckily, everything seems to work itself out without any fender-benders or hurt feelings.
On the return trip, there's usually the same sort of backup as people wait to get across the 3 lights on the overpass. Today, I decided to be very Trini and "make my own lane" since most people were crossing the overpass or going south, whereas we were going north. I carved a lane out of the shoulder and got up to the entrance ramp in no time and felt quite at home doing so.
Of course, if the left-side driving doesn't get your attention, one thing that surely will is the colorful monikers that the Trinis have put on their vehicles. Usually these are done by stickers on the windshield or perhaps on the rear-end of the vehicle, or sometimes actually painted on the body. The list, sans pictures, of what I've found is below. Keep in mind that most of these statements are emblazoned on sh!tbox cars.
- Playmaker
- Soca Warrior (I think that's the local sports team)
- Seedless (driver had a vasectomy?)
- City Limits (seen on a taxi)
- Master [Peace Symbol]
- Maestro
- Chronic
- Legalize
- Tuff*Gong (Record Label of Marley fame)
There are more, but I can't remember them all...
A "Tropical Wave" - or plainly put, a thunderstorm. In Trini, a tropical wave is one level below a tropical storm. The wave sends everyone scurrying for cover since a lot of the roads and areas in the southlands are prone to flash floods. On a side note, for lunch today we had Roti. More specifically, bosupsha, which is slang for "burst apart shit". Normally a roti is a flat bread wound around a wad of protein or vegetable matter. A bosupsha is a side of flat bread, with the wad of protein or vegetable matter on a plate. Hence, burst apart shit.
A view of hillside homes from Lady Young Road, en route from Chagaunas to Port of Spain.
Overlooking Port of Spain from Lady Young Road. The green patch down center is Queen Ann Park.
A grove of trees in the hotel. Can you spot the yellow bellied sap sucker? Or it's equivalent?
The view from my hotel room, overlooking Queen Ann Park. Off in the distance is Port of Spain bayside, and the Dragon's Teeth.
The north side of Trinidad - just over the finger of land is Maracas Bay.
The second-highest peak in Trinidad, the name of which escapes me...
Just off the coast, far in the haze, you can almost not see Tobago.
Dad asked where I was here in Trinidad, so I thought I'd put up a few KMZ files - download these and open in Google Earth, and you can peruse the area:
- Richard's Bake & Shark - a nice little beachside food stand that has cold beer, water and the local foodstuff called "bake & shark". I'm not really sure where the bake comes into play. It's basically breaded, fried shark on a bun. Perhaps the bun is baked. Slather that up with pepper sauce and lettuce, and maybe some local slaw (basically julienned cukes and whatnot) and you have an interesting beach treat.
- Hilton Port of Spain - it's a bit of an older establishment, probably constructed in the 1960s and is being renovated. It's situated up on a hill across from Queen Ann Park. My particular room was renovated - my travel partners weren't so lucky. But hey, at least it's clean and (mostly) comfortable.
- Maracas Bay Beach - this is apparently where Trinis go on the weekend, if they aren't hopping over to Tobago. It's a nice little patch of soft white sand, and it's frequented by a gamut of people: families, teens, oldsters, and a few tourists. This day the surf was a bit rough, but it was fun. For me the most fun was driving the two lane twisting mountain roads, on the left side of the road, in my "large" SUV (a Honda CRV). Personally I would've opted for a sedan on this trip, but it was not my choice. The rental joint was out of cars so we got stuck with this one. Incidentally, the CRV has a neat in-dash feature called a "chill box", which is basically a small glove box that might hold a can of soda or perhaps a sandwich, and it's vented by the A/C which as you might guess, chills the contents. I'm wishing we had one for the van :/
For a bit of a closer look, extract the KMZ file from this ZIP file, and open in Google Earth!
This evening marked my first foray into the land of left-side driving. It's only slightly nerve wracking. What's most painful is the orientation of the driver's controls: the signal level is on the right side of the steering wheel, and the wiper control arm is on the left.
Other than that, getting lost for an hour in the backwaters of Port of Spain was completely exciting! Imagine it: dodging stray(?) dogs, people, cars, potholes, 6 inch shoulder drop-offs, people, "zebra crossings*", cars on the wrong side of the road (not me), dealing with absurdly complex roundabouts and veering into neighborhoods where I felt none too comfortable... let's just say I cancelled my BASE jump for tomorrow.
At any rate, the Hilton here is quite nice.
*zebra crossing is what they post on the signage before a crosswalk. I imagine it has something to do with the zigzag lines and asphalt black / paint white stripes.
Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I've actually been out of the country, in Trinidad again. I must say this trip was actually much more productive than last time, and I got to see a little more nightlife than usual, both from a rural and urban perspective.
I'm actually about ready to retire, since I have to rise at 5am to catch a flight home. I'm planning to write a post or two about the week's events, including a boat ride into Caroni Swamp and venturing out to The Wave and various other hang-outs and around Port of Spain. Stay tuned!
