Trinidad and Tobago Day 129

We are over half way through our big adventure and I can hardly believe it - time is going so fast we will be home before we know it. We definitely feel at home here now and the boys are well acclimatised to the pleasures of frozen fruit ice blocks for breakfast, roti for lunch, swimming daily after school and weekends at the beach amid sting rays, pelicans and turtles.

Here are some of our advantures over the past few weeks. We walked to Maracas falls - a 300ft waterfall in the rainforest. The walk into the forest takes about half an hour - a little longer for maxis' short leggs and the need to stop often to stalk lizards and hunt for huge spiders.

There were a few locals at the falls, bathing, liming and for one family doing some religious/blessing type thing invloving elderly women sitting right under the falls for long periods with bunches of flowers and herbs. Maxi was allocated his own pool to play in Zac and I went off under the waterfall.

It was great as we could get right behind the water and watch the endless rainbows that bounce around the rocks. Unfortunately I had counted on a steady volume of water coming off the mountain but no such luck - it seems to ebb and flow, oftten gentle then occasional heavy, weighty torrents fall without warning. Zac got stuck in one of these torrents as we left the fall and all he could do was cling to a rock like a little frog until it passed. I was scared he would be swept off but he lived to tell the tale.

Last week, we and two other families from school went on a trip to Caroni Swamp. This is a huge swamp on the west coast that is famous for its wildlife and in particular the scarlet ibis that come to roost there. We travelled on big green flat boats into the swamp, spotting four eyed fish, blue herons, white egrets, ospreys and most exciting a tree boa.

From time to time we would see a flash of scarlet as an ibis flew over head. After about 45 minutes we arrived in the middle of the swamp where we 'parked ' for a while and watched as hundreds of scarlet ibis and white ibis flew into roost in one particular island. The green island was covered in bushes and slowly transformed into a red, white and green shimmering bush as the birds shook the leaves and settled for the night.

We returned as night fell and the icing on the cake for the boys was a caiman lamp sweeping the water for caiman (which are like small alligators) whose eyes shine in the night. The boatman claimed to have seen one but when we backed up it was no longer there - but you never know it just might have been!


On more sedate matters one evening we walked around the savannah in the middle of town. Martin and I used to live next to the savannah so we were reminiscing like mad. It is about 5.5 km on the footpath around the edge and there is lots to see. The magnificent seven are large colonial monstrosity buildings in remarkable architectural styles such as a scottish castles. Many of them are quite run down but others are glorious. As we walked we munched on local delicacies such as fresh coconut water and jelly, snowcones - glorious ice creations made with tons of food colouring, sugar syrup and best of all, condensed milk - yum. We walked past the Prime Minister's house and President's house, the zoo and the botanical gardens. On our return to the car we went off to visit friends for a pizza tea - a perfect Trini lime.


We have had two trips to Macqueripe Bay, a beach not far out of town that has deep water perfect for snorkelling. Maxi spent ages bobbing in and out of the beach in his inflatable swim ring whilst Zac and Martin went off to look for fish. the visibility was not great but Zac returned having seen a huge sting ray, so was very happy indeed. I was content to float around and watch the pelicans swooping overhead and roosting in the trees overhanging the bay. Pelicans look quite comical with their tiny heads and huge beaks. In the air they look like I imagine pterodactyls would look like.

Last weekend we went to Toco to stay at Heather's house again with Heather, Wade and Devi and their family.

We cooked fantastic food, went to shark river and the kids played with Levi and Sarah all weekend.

Yesterday we went to Maracas Beach which is the most well known local beach. It is a beautiful drive along the north coast with rainforest on one side of the road and beautiful sea views the other. We stopped to chat with Matthew, an old friend who sells fruit and vegetables on the side of the road. He peeled and halved endless oranges for all of us to suck the juice. He says he has a pet agouti (a small rodent about the size of a large rabbit with smooth hair and longer legs that live in the wild) we will have to visit him to check it out! At the beach, there I was ensconced on a rented beach chair (Trinidad has become so sophisticated) beer in hand when the heavens opened and the rain came down. The boys all fled to the sea whilst I stowed our belonging in a beach shack then joined then in the water.

Heavy rain, thunder and lightening, and a warm sea is a great combination! After the beach we went to a Halloween expereience in Hugo's school St Andrews (I taught there for a while). They had turned the whole school into Halloween Town and the kids complete with costumes trick or treated, ate junk food, had haunted house terrors and storytimes galore. They are now sharing the loot from their lolly bags and are hassling me for a dip in the pool so I shall have to hurry.

Love to all. xxxx