San Francisco Day 200

A beautiful day today, blue skies and only a touch of fog, but absolutely freezing cold - again... A lovely day for taking a bike ride - along the water front and up and over the Golden Gate Bridge. A fabulous experience if I hadn't been so concerned that Maxi parked up behind Martin on a child's seat was slowly turning to a block of ice, albeit that he was wearing four layers of clothing plus a fleece plus a jacket. We came back the quick way - on the ferry - faster, more relaxing but equally cold.

San Francisco - land of cable cars, seals and clam chowder. We had some reservations about visiting the good old US of A but have been pleasantly surprised - lovely old houses, friendly people and a satisfying number of "Bush is a loser" bumper stickers. The journey to here from Trinidad could have been harrowing: 6am breakfast at Piarco, Trinidad, lunch in Puerto Rico, dinner in Charlotte, North Carolina and bed at 2am in San Francisco - we all arrived in good shape considering. The fact that the airline had specially selected us (they make it sound as if we should be pleased - like we had won something...) for an indepth search was a minor glitch but Maxi soon saw them off with a loud and glorious screaming fit as he didn't want a strange man swishing a metal detector all over him and voiced his opinion loudly.

Five nights here have passed remarkably quickly, I am amazed how we have fitted into motel life so easily, the evenings are usually spent with Zac glued to the TV and Martin to his computer, Maxi making zoos with his now enormous collection of small plastic animals and me pottering around doing very little quite successfully. Tomorrow we zoom off the Mexico City, so I had better brush up on my Spanish.


We are reeling a little from leaving Trinidad which was quite a wrench for all of us, however in many ways we were ready to leave and we all know that we will return again at some time in the future. Conversations about New Zealand are frequent with the children as we all turn our thoughts to home whilst still trying to live in the present and enjoy each experience to the full (interspersed with Maxi asking on a daily basis whether it is his birthday today or not!).

Trinidad Day 195

Christmas was a blast, bulging stockings for the kids opened early in the morning with Grannie (my Mum visiting from England), Xmas swim in the pool with the neighbours then brunch with Heather and Rodney. true trini Xmas food, turkey and ham for those that wish, potato salad, mixed veges, pigeon peas, salad, sorrel sauce and lashings of rum and coke - bliss. Then off to Toco for beaches, surf, walks and of course lots more rum. Perfect! It was probably the best Xmas I have ever spent in Trinidad - even the weather held out and didn't rain.

Between Xmas and New Year Mum and I visited Asa Wright, this is a bird watching/wildlife centre up in the hills. Martin and the boys took us and Zac, who was so enamoured with everything and charmed everyone with his reptile and amphibian book from Santa, begged to stay overnight with us - Grannie of course could not refuse so his wish was granted. Later the three of us went for a night walk in search of bats, tatantualas, lizards, pygmy owls and giant spiders. The following day we jumped on a tour to visit the oil birds, so after a beautiful walk through the rainforest going deep into a valley we arrived in a gorge from where we could see these incredible night birds, that eat fruit, echo-locate like bats and scream like banshees. it was amazing to see all the real, serious, hardened twitchers going mad over these birds, whilst Zac, cool as ever, chose to look in the river forever in the pursuit of frogs, lizards and other slimy, scaly creatures.

New Year - or Old Year's Night as it is known as here - was spent with Wade and Devi at their parents house which was a lovely local experience complete with Auld Lang Syne at midnight and fireworks to see in the New Year. I, as usual have made a load of New Year's resolutions some of which Martin says will only last a fortnight - what little faith he has hmmm.

And so we spent our final days in this beautiful island, saying goodbye to our favourite beaches, friends and of course the odd lizard or two. Just before we left I went to a club with a friend and saw this huge burmese python on the arm of a supermodel. I could not pass up the opportunity to find out more on Zac's behalf and the next day found us at the Reptile Conservation Centre of Trinidad and Tobago, which was a tiny room hidden behind a video store that was packed literally from floor to ceiling with snakes of all shapes and sizes.

The very friendly and informative lady managed to convince zac (for all of about five minutes) that a lizard would make a better pet than a snake, however these words of wisdom seem to have been translated into a desire for both - I just keep saying "well we'll see..."

It is hard to put in writing all that we feel about Trinidad. Obviously we love it but there are down sides, the traffic is dreadful - but by the end of our time we were able to judge it a little better and know fast routes around trouble spots. Crime is also heavily on the agenda and is a common topic of conversation so if you are not careful you end up feeling scared all the time and reluctant to do or go anywhere. I have always felt a little blase about this approach and have doggedly pursued whatever it is that I wanted to do regardless, it is hard however to ignore as some of the stories are horrific and everyone knows someone who has been affected if they have not been touched by some horror themselves. Trinis always wanted to be like the US and now they are finally getting there, complete with horrible fast food, crime and a population that is too scared to go out. The bureaucracy is as painful as ever and is best avoided at all costs, paying bills or organising plumbers etc for example can still take a morning with no useful outcome. But these are small grumbles against a backdrop of stunning scenery, rich culture and a warmth and friendliness that is heartwarming.

We leave knowing that we will return someday.