On My Trinidad & Tobago Trip

Before I begin with divulging any details from my trip let me start by stating this:

“Time has no mercy on the ambitious for there is never enough of it and favors for the lazy who never does enough with it.” Adrienne C. Wilson

I’m sitting here and it is a little after midnight now on March 14. “Sacrifice” by the Roots is playing, a floral smelling candle burns on top of the television and the Mary in lights is glowing as radiant as ever. I’ve just taken down my second cup of Theraflu since I’ve been back home and I wonder why no one else seems to enjoy the taste as much as I do. Could something be wrong with my taste-buds? My eyes are red and I am still experiencing an incredible amount of post-carnival sun burn skin shedding. I feel like a reptile to say the least, but I’d do it ten times over for all the fun I had.

So Trinidad? It’s going to be hard summarizing three works of bacchanal and relaxation into one blog so I won’t even try. I should have done a better job blogging here on my personal site, but between gadling and time out and around town I’m sure you can forgive me. If you’re dying to know anything and everything I’ve written on the country, please pay a visit to Gadling. I promise updates galore including pictures. Now with my breathy apology out the way – where was I?

So Trinidad this second time around was absolutely phenomenal. Nothing short from stellar. (Did I say that right? Oh, who cares.) I eased into my first week adjusting to the climate, humidity, heat, and busy streets of Port-of-Spain. Dotun gave Merlana the impression that I was this foaming party animal waiting to peel the floorboards off with non-stop dancing, but such is not the case. I like to party and when I do I really get down, but I’m not the type to fete every night. With that being said my trip was an amazing mixture of several things Trinidad has to offer. This is going to be a very cruddy run down on how things went, but I hope you’ll understand.

Who could it be?

February 14 – Valentine’s Day. Met Dotun at the airport and headed to Mt. Hope Hospital to see Alicia and her grandmother. Departed and went to Valsyn for some food. Had my first Apple J and my heart skipped a beat. Later Dotun dropped me off at his house in D’abidie and left for lectures. I fell out for the rest of the evening.

February 15 – Quiet day for the most part, wild night at Zen. First day of dancing and Soca music. Destra graced the stage and the crowd went berserk. Out of all the countries I’ve ever been the energy in Trinidad during Carnival is unrivaled. Benesia, Dotun, Nnamdi and myself have a great time.

February 16 – Another quiet day. Woke up late due to the late night and worked on some writing. Later hung out with Lily and walked around the Savannah for exercise.

February 17 – First day meeting Merlana and her mother. We took off to the Little Carib Theatre where we saw 3 Canal’s Vibes It Up show. Nice introduction to Rapso for myself though I enjoy and prefer Calypso much more.

February 18 – Darryl and I meet for the first time off Independence Square. After he tells me I stick out like a sore thumb we take off to Long Circular Mall for some lunch. We are accompanied by his rather pleasant brother, Denzel and later proceed to Crobar. (Apparently Crobar is pretty popular.) Since it was very early there were only a few people hanging out at Crobar. We shared stories and conversation over a few drinks and departed so I could prepare for my first taste of Machal Montano at the Alternative Concepts 4 concert. For some reason I was pretty sleepy, but lasted through the entire LONG concert featuring, Minmi, Wyclef, Allison Hinds, Patrice Roberts, Surge, Mr. Vegas, and so many others it’s hard to remember. I had a great time, but was happy to make it home to bed. (Am I too old for such madness – of course not.)

Darryl, Me and Denzel pose in front of a J’oyvert poster ar Crobar.

Myself and Denzel.

Darryl and Myself.

Alternative Concepts 4 Concert.

February 19 – Took off for the Vie la Coupe festival down the road from Lily’s place and hung out there by myself and enjoying the production. The annual Vie la Coupe is a showcase of traditional Carnival costumes and performers. I missed a few of the earlier sets but found much pleasure in the Minstrels, Midnight Robber, and Blue Devils or Jab Jab’s who found it quite delightful in tormenting the crowd for a few TT dollars. After they spewed their fake blood onto my pants and top and after soaking in a little traditional stick fighting or Calinda I took off to prepare for the Calypso musical later that evening.

Speakers. Enough said.

The Minstrels make their way down the grassy field.

The Midnight Robber with his creepy coffin.

Stick fighting.

Once again Merlana and her mother picked me up for the Brand New Lucky Diamond Horseshoe Club Calypso musical. The music in the show was great, but the story threw me off a little and Merlana was very disappointed with David Rudder’s work. I admit, it certainly wasn’t what I expected, but fun all the same. The show was held at Queen’s Hall which is also located down the hill from Lily and a nice venue to see shows and such.

February 20 & 21 – I believe both of these days were spent lounging around the house. Tuesday I found out I got the job and wanted to go out and celebrate, but decided against it. I wasn’t feeling all that hot and decided relaxing wasn’t a bad alternative to running around the streets in a short mini wining on some strange chap. Oh wait I also got my costume for Poison and was very happy and excited about the approach Carnival days.

My costume in the box.

February 22 – Wednesday was spent playing tourist with Dotun around POS. I really wanted to nab some street shots and city shots since I failed to do so last time. Dotun was quite a sport and walked from City Gate to Cascade with me and people shot odd glances our way from me and my intrusive camera. Quite satisfied with the photos we wrapped things up and stayed in for the evening.

Fruit Stand.

Yellow car rolling down the POS streets.

Stands to grab a bite to eat line the Savannah during Carnival.

Piling on the pepper. Yummy Goat Roti!

Then there was nothing.

February 23 – Partying picks up again that night. Merlana takes me a to an awesome pan lime. We bounced from the pan yards of the Desperadoes, All Stars, Renegades, and the last band I do not remember because they had finished up by the time we arrived. While there was nothing more than a bunch of folks gobbling down cups of hot corn soup at the last venue the previous three were busy practicing for Panorama finals. It was probably one of the most rewarding parts of the trip seeing the Pan players in action as I have been attached to this instrument over the last few years.

Renegades Pan Yard.

Desperados Pan Yard.

After the pan lime we headed to UWI Splash fete in Chaguramas. Splash is exactly what we got. It rained or drizzled let me say and I still danced quite a bit. Merlana was low-key since her phone got stolen that night and I felt horrible, but things worked out later on in terms of getting anew one even if all the numbers in the old one were lost. UWI Splash overall was a rough fete, but a fun one at the same time.

February 24 - Carnival Friday!!!! Met with Darryl and ended up hanging out at the National Library where he shared stories of TnT’s folklore which he believes is true, but sounds crazy to me. I mean we’re talking about demonic balls of fire folks. It was interesting to know though. After we hung around inside waiting for the rain to pass we stuck around outside the library to watch the kids do their thing in the kiddie Carnival taking place. If I’m not mistaken they were secondary kids competing for best band for their schools. We moved on and departed ways to prepare for our fetes that evening.

Exhibit in library.

Bright yellows walking and dancing their way through the street.

Black Indians make way!

Beautiful girls in Red.

Oh Sailors!

Island People’s Girl Power was the name of the game for the evening and it was one of the nicer fetes I had been to since arriving. The highlights for this evening – Denise Saucy Belfon though she wasn’t on stage long and Shurwayne Winchester. I really love his stage presence in addition to his music. This was the first fete I had been to where he performed so I was tickled pink. Met cool folks from Bermuda and spent the evening dancing away with one nice guy in particular.

February 25 – Carnival Saturday. Would you believe it if I told you I worked on Carnival Saturday? Yes, folks I tell you no lie. I was getting behind and felt horrible. No fetes that night, but I was productive else wise. I’m a workaholic I know.

My office away from home.

February 26 – Carnival Sunday. Met with the girls and headed to Moka somewhere in Maraval. This was a great all-inclusive where I met Karen, the blogger over at Blogging Baby and her party. I stuck close to Merlana, Alicia, and Carla and the mosquitoes clung tight to me. Aside form the new bites I had another great time at this fete.

February 27 – Early Carnival Monday. My morning started early and when I say early I mean 2:45AM. Rum and coke in hand (not my idea) by 3:30 AM and body paint smeared all over. The occasion J’ouvert (pronounced joo-vay). An event which means “opening of the day” where revelers use paint, mud or oil to dress themselves and jump up with a band from 3 AM until dawn. Karen told us ahead of time if you didn’t have enough paint on you people would see to it by making sure you did by the time you got back home. This girl splashed blue paint all across my face, in my hair and some even made it into my mouth and I already had a considerable amount on at the time. Needless to say when we were trying to get back to the car so I could wash up for Monday morning Mas going through the different convoys was pretty scary. You didn’t know if they were going to have mud or some outrageous puke green color. Not that the color of the paint really matter. The best part of J’ouvert is anything goes and it’s less about a fashion statement. With that being said…

Face paint.

Last shot before I wash up!

Monday morning Mas kicked off with me waiting at the Savannah for Merlana and Aaliyah to show up. (Darn Trini’s never on time – tehe). Once they arrived we hustled to catch up with the band who had already hit the road. The time was about 11 AM at this point. Once we reached the band we got our all-inclusive wrist bands, some drinks, and feel in line with the music. Considering I had been up quite early I felt great and lasted all day in the blistering heat. There’s something about that music that just fuels me to keep on pushing and moving. In the back of my mind I knew I would be a hot mess by the same time Tuesday afternoon, but I figured I’d worry about that later.

This year was the last year for the stage in the Savannah which seems to have been causing quite a stir from past revelers, but it being my first Carnival I just went with things as they were, living only in the present. Now I think I failed to mention this earlier, but I played with a section in Poison called Ricco Soldato. Poison is a band with about 3,000 people and one of the largest. So when it’s time to cross the stage the judges will do just about anything to keep us moving and herd us off. For Monday it was a little odd that when we crossed the stage I could barely hear the music, but at the same time this is where we are supposed to give it our all. (There are judging point throughout the city and the stage is the final one. Bands compete to win Band of the Year, but most revelers typically could care less as they have been drinking all day long.)

When we finally made way across the stage our next task was figuring out how to get me back home since we didn’t plan accordingly beforehand. Merlana being the sneaky and clever thing she is spotted a cop car and ran up to them tellin’ a sweet story to get me a ride home. She ran back to me and told me she told them I wasn’t feeling too swell and they would take me home. Once I was in the cops were very friendly. Could it have been my accent? By the time I was out I knew first middle and last names, birth dates and astrological signs. I wonder if the local gyals get the same treatment?

I got home around 8:30 PM. Fell out in bed.

February 28 – Carnival Tuesday. Woke up thinking the day was starting much too early. I felt sore. I woke at 4:45 AM to prepare and get dolled up for the full day of Carnival. Tuesday is the day everyone wears all their attire, including their headpiece. Monday was the day to have all-out fun and Tuesday becomes the big show day. Getting back down to the Queen’s Park Oval was another little task. Merlana arranged another shady ride with an older gent who was quite unattractive in comparison to the police who basically took advantage of my not having change and took my $100 TT. The ride was only supposed to cost me $60 TT and he didn’t even drop me off exactly where I needed to be, but I was okay hoping out the car earlier than planned. No more Merlana suggested rides.

On my walk down I noticed Karen her husband and the others I had played J’ouvert with in their lovely Carnival attire from Tribe. They were red fiery coral and had large amounts of feathers shooting from their backs. The red was a rich color and popped out tremendously. (Overall – Tribe had great costumes.) I quickly took some pictures of them in their gear and kept it moving to get to the Oval.

I got their a little early (7:15 AM) as usual and waited sometime for Merlana and Aaliyah to show. The band ended up hitting the road before they showed up and I followed along. When they finally arrived and caught up Merlana informed me that the President of the country was playing in our section because his daughter was part of the committee. She asked if we could get some pictures with the President and surely we did. Pretty awesome considering I haven’t even met my own President – and do I really want to? LOL.

Taking advantage of the mornings cooler temperatures I danced quite a bit and paced myself better when things started heating up. Merlana noted Tuesday Mas was going smoother than any she had seen before, but she spoke far too soon time would later reveal. Alicia and her brother Carlos found me and walked with me for a little bit until I decided to catch up with the rest of my section. Good thing she found me there too because our band ended up going through St. James which wasn’t apart of the route we were supposed to take and made a few folks very unhappy. I didn’t really know what was going on, but I did know the heat showed no mercy and neither did the $14 Spaldings I had purchased from Payless before coming. My feet were burning, but I knew the shoes would get tossed as soon as all was said done.

When we finally made it close to the Savannah (around 6 PM) I felt alive again. We were almost done and ready to cross the stage for the last time, until they announced Island Event’s would be passing us up because they got in the middle of our band somehow during the last legs of road march! What! No!!!! LOL. I was so ready and think all the others were too, but we had to wait. Security must have been taking a lime around this time because a few non-Masqueraders started finding their way in and trying to take wines from the sweet lookin’ gyals in costume. I took pictures with tourist and posed for shots that would probably become apart of someone’s scrapbook in God knows where. Germany maybe?

I started to come irritable the darker it got, but did my best to keep my spirits up. Some young boys made their way in and I gave one a wine and then the whole group started lookin’ for one. Well I didn’t have that much energy so I had to refuse – sorry boys. Then the section behind us was crazy and wouldn’t remain in their own section. They were rowdy and things just got crazier and crazier it seemed. The stage was so close, yet so far. I even debating just heading back to the house instead of crossing. I knew what the experience was like I thought. Did I really need to cross? Yes, of course. To save a long story filled with bacchanalia I’ll say this – we crossed the stage somewhere around 8:30 PM and I made it home around 10:30 PM. Carnival was officially over for me.

It’s show time!

Me in my full costume gear.

Another shot!

One from the side.

Hi Mom!!!

I crashed so hard that evening from the incredible amount of sun I soaked in, the food and the physical activity. I was worn out. I was dying to take my extensions out my hair, but common and practical sense made me wait till the next morning. It was time to sleep.

March 1 – Ash Wednesday a.k.a Day of Recovery. I did nothing outside of spending hours tending to my hair and picking up an item down at the Savannah. I was beat and while the rest were planning on Zen that night I was planning on peaceful dreams in my bed. There was just no way. Plus I had work to do.

March 2 – Dotun’s Birthday. After my state of full exhaustion the previous day I decided to do a little work online. Gadling actually did some pretty cool features for AOL which everyone should check out if planning vacation to Hawaii or the Caribbean. I say this not because I wrote the beautiful pieces, but because you should honestly check them out. Duh! Darryl swung by that afternoon to drop off some items on Tobago for my weekend trip over. Soon after he showed up Uche, Dotun, Tayo, and Ade showed up as well. Dotun said he wasn’t going to make it over earlier, but I guess things had changed and he came with his posse. It was his birthday so Lily and Ade ran to get some Middle Eastern food, ice cream and snacks. We threw down on gyros, salad, rice and chips. Later we debated on whether the salad was peppery or spicy. So silly I won’t splurge or waste time here stating all the details, but let’s just say it was PEPPERY for the record. I win. hehehehe.

March 3 – Time for Tobago. Finally all this talk about Tobago and the day arrived. Dotun and Ade picked me up at Lily’s to head down to the Port for the ferry where we would meet Merlana, Jackie and Monifa to join us. I opted not to take my laptop on the trip because I didn’t want to even think about doing work. Good thing too. The ferry ride was about 2 1/2 hours long and gave me a headache so I was happy to see landfall again. We grabbed our rental car and made way to Merlana’s uncles place in Bacolet. The house was huge and had an incredible view of the water. For the first time I felt like I were on vacation.

That day we ended up taking trips to Speyside and Charlotteville beaches. Both were pleasant, quiet and relaxing places to be. The water wasn’t the crystal clear blue kind I had imagined, but I was promised I’d see such in Buccoo the next day for sure. That evening everyone when out to a fete and I decided to stay in and sleep. As you can probably gather I am one all for my bed rest.

Me, Jackie, Merlana, and Monifa at Speyside.

Merlana, Monifa, Dotun and Jackie at Speyside.

Jackie, Merlana, Me and Monifa at Charlotteville Beach.

My solo shot on the beach, but where is my butt? LOL.

March 4 – Everyone woke up late from being out so late and I was bright-eyed and busy-tailed. I wanted to see some water!!! Once everyone brushed their teeth and woke up we headed down to Buccco were we would take the glass-bottom boat tour to snorkel and exfoliate in the Nylon pool. Merlana stayed behind this time working at the house for an exam she had coming up, but the rest of us were on board of our tour boat for the day – Miss Ayanna!

On the first stop everyone got out the boat except me and a few other people. I’m not into skin diving much seeing I’m not a strong swimmer, but promised to get out at the next stop. When the boat cruised the waters we saw all kinds of coral and vibrant fish swimming in their underwater worlds. The sea-grass creeps keep out for some reason and to my luck I would have to walk in some at the next stop in the Nylon Pool. Ick! Nylon Pool was great. The water was as clear as that found in swimming pools and the sand was so soft the tour guides scrubbed our backs and gave facials. I enjoyed the pampering tremendously. Everyone on the tour was having such a great time we stayed a while longer in the pool while some folks on the boat decided to become tribute bands for all the popular Soca artists. They were having the time of times and making all of us laugh and sing along.

The ultra clear Nylon Pool.

Once our tour ended we rounded up some food and had lunch. Monifa needed to get back to the Port to catch her ferry back over so she washed up quickly and we took her straight from Buccoo to the Port. The rest of the day Dotun opted to stay in and Merlana, Jackie and myself went to Fort King George and to see Jackie’s God Father in Mt. Pleasant.

The view at Fort King George.

March 5 – Last day in Tobago and I was so sad to go. It was so different from Trinidad in so many aspects. Quiet, cozy and much cleaner. Dotun and his poor planning had him back on board the ferry first thing that morning leaving us to later lug his things around until we made it back. In the meantime the three of us left went hunting for breakfast (quite the challenge) and made one last beach stop before getting back onto the ferry to Trinidad. So long Tobago!

Sunrise in Tobago.

March 6 – Spent the day picking up souvenirs for family and friends and meeting new folks. Everyone in the shops I had met were very friendly so I paid visits and purchased goodies like earrings, postcards, key chains, etc. The majority of my shopping was done in POS when I waited for my pictures to be processed. That was basically it for that day.

March 7 – Lici told me she would have to carry me south to La Brea so her father could meet me and her mum could feed me so we had planned on Tuesday as being a good day. When we made it down her mom had all kinds of food awaiting me. Curried goat, beef, chicken, paratha roti, pepper mango, mango chutney, peppered plums, curried potatoes and channa. Breakfast large too with delicious bake and salt fish, poulori, and mango chutney as well. Needless to say she sent me packing with lots of yummy items to bring back to the states. Lici certainly wasn’t kidding – that’s for sure. My encounter with her father was brief, but he was very nice and asked about my time in the country and how I enjoyed Mas. Her brother, Carlos surely a cutie and the playful type hung around poking at me. The three blind dogs picked up on my accent and one (Cookie Monster) wouldn’t stop barking to save my life. LOL. I thought I’d better keep my chatter to a minimum or develop an accent quick! Overall I had a blast South and came back knowing how to cook poulori. How about that?

March 8 – Limed with Alicia all day and went to St. Augustine where she works and stays. First we swung by her sister Alana’s place and then I napped while she did some much needed work after playing hooky with me for so long. Kyron, the nice young man and close friend of Alicia’s I had met the previous day in La Brea came up so we could all hang out for a little while. We grabbed Alana and Abby and took off for the beach. Traffic made things so bad though that we didn’t get their till dark and due to the last minute planning we turned and went to Movietown right after. After having some soft serve ice cream and desserts we decided it was time to part and for me to get back home. They dropped me off in Cascade and we said out goodbye and until next times.

March 9 – My last day in Trinidad. Darryl and I had been planning on going to the Zoo for sometime, but it rained every day we wanted to so we made it happen on my last day. (It ended up raining that day too.) We kicked it all day long and after the zoo ran a few errands in POS, picked up the groceries so I could cook and went back to Cascade. I promised to cook taco’s and my usual fare for Lily and Dotun before I left the country and waited until the last day to do it in case they didn’t like the food or got sick afterwards…haahahaha. Kidding about the sick part. Honestly it was the only time I had or felt like being in the kitchen. It was hard though making the meal perfect because Trinidad doesn’t carry a lot of the items I would need to make my dishes right. The safron rice came out a little bland, but the chicken tacos were highly delicious. Compliments to me the chef!!

After Darryl had left and Dotun and Uche ate some of what was left I continued with my packing. Slowly, but surely. I really didn’t want to go, but my days were numbered, my three weeks to an end and it was time to face reality. Boo-hoo. Dotun carried me back to D’abidie where I would sleep my last night since it was closer to the airport. My flight was early so it was the bets decision in the case of beating traffic. I slept on and off that night.

March 10 – A day full of travel with a stop in San Juan, P.R. I stayed in for my four plus hour layover and finished reading the book my mother had gotten me for Christmas. I figured I’d need the motivation. The book is called the Traveler’s Gift and I recommend everyone read it during their travels be it near or far from home.

March 11 – Back on the grind.

So I lied. I did summarize for the entire trip. It may not have been the best, but you have an idea of how all went down. Or most – hehehehe. Obviously I did this in two sittings, but for those who are near and in town come see me. Let us snack on some khurma and perhaps some pineapple chow and share stories. Yours and mine.

Hasta,
Adrienne