From Trinidad

02/18/10




Today, we started a string of seven ports in seven days with Trinidad. Trinidad and Tobago is a fairly new republic, having gained freedom from the UK in 1962, ending a history of changing rulers 31 times since Columbus first sighted the islands.

Cruise ships just recently began calling on Trinidad and the port area is in an industrial/shipping area. In other words, it is not really geared to the tourist industry. The ship warns us to stay in the tourist areas, but there aren’t any. There was a small area with local artisans on the pier, and we did find our Christmas ornament. We asked about Carnival beads, but finally came to the conclusion that they are a New Orleans Mardi Gras thing. The request seemed to confuse people, both here and on Curacao.

We took a tour to a monastery and saw a few city sights. The biggest thrill of the tour was simply the bus ride. The last ruler of Trinidad was the UK and so traffic is on the wrong side of the road. On skinny little, twisty, hairpin turned two lane highways, there were thrills aplenty. Our driver would turn across traffic in front of cars, trusting that they would slow and let him in. They did, and we let go of the armrests. We travelled some on a four lane highway, with a concrete barrier between. What was really odd is this; the far left lane went one way, the second lane the opposite way, the third lane the same way as the first and the fourth the same as the second. Not two side by side lanes going one way and the other two the opposite.

We walked to town after lunch to find a supermarket. Getting across the highway traffic was another exercise in life-risking. The first intersection we tried to cross had traffic coming from three directions, two opposing directions and another making a “Y”. There was a pedestrian walk/wait sign, but it did not work. Traffic would stop in one or two directions, but never all three. Even the locals seemed fearful of crossing there, but we did cross by going to the center of the opposing lanes of traffic and waiting until the last two lanes stopped. But then, the traffic was coming in from the “Y”. We found another way home.

Temperatures have been warm. Today it was in the mid-90s. Our tour guide told us that the low temps of the years are usually about 25 degrees Celsius. We have had some overcast days with breezes, so we are surviving!

Today there were lots of Rastifarians about, some sleeping off a bongfull on the sidewalks. They often seem zoned out, zombie-like with a far off glaze to the eyes. The Caribbean is where the religion started in the ‘30s and is probably the only place it carries on.

We went to a terrific show in the Princess Theater tonight. We usually like to see ventriloquists and jugglers, that sort of act and pass on the piano players. Tonight’s act in the theater was a fellow named Kyle Esplin, and he was marvelous. We missed his show earlier on the cruise, and we are sorry we did as the two shows were different. He is wild, plays very much like Jerry Lee Lewis, and expends a lot of energy.

Tomorrow we will be in Barbados, followed by St Vincent, St Kitts, St Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk. St Vincent and Grand Turk will be new to us, but we will post a blog after each of them, satellite reception permitting.

John & Colleen