Trinidad and Tobago Day 106
Trinidad and Tobago Day 106
Well, we have been here for almost three weeks and it is definitely starting to feel like home. Last time I wrote it was my birthday and I had plans - a trip to the beach with Heather and a visit to some old friends, however my day didn't really turn out as expected… Heather's son Dari had a car accident first thing in the morning (about 4am) so he, his pal (whose head had smashed the car windscreen - but he only had a bump to show for it) and Heather spend most of the morning in A & E. Fortunately they were all alright but the car was a write off. At about 1pm it rained and Maxi, whilst dancing naked outside, slipped on the courtyard and hit his head then promptly went to sleep. (Alarm bells of concussion began ringing). At 2.30 we piled into the car to follow Heather to the beach - on our way at last. But the road up St Josephs valley was flooded so we had to turn back, with a brief lime at the WASA station on the way i.e. a stop for a rum and coke to keep us going. There Maxi threw up everywhere and I am beginning to get very worried about him. So we head back to Heathers to regroup and rethink. We finally cut our losses and have a home cooked meal at Heather's and tuck Maxi up in bed with the TV and air conditioning and after some food he is fine. So a typical Trini mix up day where nothing goes as planned but all turns out OK in the end.
Most other things are working out well. The boys have settled in at school and are doing really well. Zac's reading is way beyond the level here so I am really proud of him. He is busy learning how to copy from the board as ALL the work has to be copied - in fact they do little else other than copying, rote learning and the occasional math. He has made some friends though which I am pleased about - he has also learned the odd prayer or two and the national anthem - which I am not as certain about. His main friend is Seth, a little boy who lives opposite us in our compound and is in the same class. They are in and out of each others houses, swim in the pool together and hunt endlessly for bugs in the garden and are becoming good mates. He has other friends at school but told me today that it is really hard to tell who they are because they all look the same - brown skinned with school uniform on! I am sure he will figure it out soon... His other good friend is Hugo the son of Hillary and David who are good friends of ours who we see every week or so. They also have a four year old girl called Daisy who Maxi adores so we always enjoy visiting them.
Maxi has taken a wee while longer to settle at school - not surprising as he is really much too young for the whole school thing. He has however latched on to the principal and says he really likes him and seems to spend most of his time either in Zac's class or in the principals office doing I don't know what. School seems quite happy to let him wander around getting to know everyone and not putting any pressure on him to be anywhere or do anything too structured. He does seem to be learning though and came home proudly yesterday and said "Me show you something - here is one" and held up one finger - very sweet and funny - he will probably do 2 today... They both have homework everyday which they do well - Maxi is very keen to do his which is usually colouring!
I have just walked them both to school (our car has broken again) and walked home - about a half hour round trip. My T shirt was so drenched in sweat that I could wring it out on my return - it is so hot and humid here that any little thing takes an enormous amount of effort - other than drinking cold beers that is which takes no effort at all and is only really detrimental to my waistline - eek... We have a bit of a car history here, we rented a wreck for the first week while Martin decided whether we were going to buy or not, we finally decided not to and so had to find a better rental. Through Martin's old mechanic we found Clint who rented us his car reasonably cheaply. Since then it has landed me at school with a flat battery, required new bushings, alignment and suspension shocks. And last night as we were on our way to friends for dinner I drove to the top of a huge hill only to find that the brakes weren’t working to come down the other side. Martin diagnosed a broken alternator belt so we limped downwards then onwards, parked at the bottom of our friends hill (Mt Hololo) and walked to the very top - hard work after a long, hot day at school. We did manage to get home and now Clint has taken our car to be fixed yet again. Martin really likes our car - I only wish it would work!
Martin is working really hard on something with Christian (his former Professor and head of Department) and so he spends most of his time in the air conditioned splendour of our house. From time to time we go on little mini adventures in pursuit of roti, doubles, callalloo and other local delicacies for lunch or to shop for groceries for dinner. Everything takes time here, the traffic is shocking and even short trips can turn quickly into grid lock while everyone gets out of their cars, shouts and gives helpful advice rather than simply backing up and letting a few cars through.
Last weekend we went to Toco on the north eastern most corner of the island. We used to hang out here a lot in the past as the surf is good. Our friend Heather has built the most beautiful house (a wooden import from South Africa) overlooking the sea so we beached, swan, ate drank and generally chilled. The boys played with Heather’s dogs (they are both much happier around dogs now and play with them endlessly - throwing sticks, feeding them ice, or just poking around them as boys will) We visited Miss Patsy and Rudolph Bravo who run a Seasands beach camp in Toco itself - we used to stay there a lot and were fed nutritious local food and wholesome advice in equal quantities. They are there and still the same as ever, we had lovely food and local juices - no additives or preservatives here and were brought up to speed with all the local news, politics, wheelings and dealings that we have missed over the past 8 years.
On the way home from Toco we stopped at the lighthouse on a piece of land pointing out to sea. The sea has made holes through the rock and the waves force air through the holes so it sounds like a dragon breathing. I managed to terrify the boys completely feeding them this storyline to the point that maxi would not walk on the rock and Zac had to hold tightly onto my hand. They settled down after a few explanations and enjoyed the puff and suck of the air through the rocks. Simple pleasures - this life seems far removed from a few weeks ago in Europe or cosmoplitan Montreal with their tourist attractions and structured activities suitable for children of all ages. We have to stop, reflect and remind ourselves of all the different things we have seen and done on our big trip otherwise it all becomes a bit dream like and unreal and all too easy to forget to make all important comparisons.
We are off to another beach tonight after school then out to dinner I think. The boys are swimming well and just loving the lifestyle. I certainly could get used to it but I know that Martin will not let us stay - which is probably a good thing...
Click here to see a short movie of us at Toco (needs divx player)
