Tropical Trinidad

Not much has been going on this month with work. Most of the trips have been short two day trips with quick layovers, not really a chance to go out and do anything. I have enjoyed working with my two co-workers, Moa and Irune, though. We had been planning however for our big 30 hour layover in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in the British West Indies. I had never been there before. A 30 hour layover is a long time in terms of an airline layover, but not really long enough to get out and do something. I emailed my old friend from high school. Marina, and got some advice from her about things to do, but given our time constraints, it would have been a challenge.

The trip also consists of long flying days on the first and third day, so it means a late arrival the first night and very early departure the third morning. We left home base in the late morning and flew to Cancun, Mexico and from there made our way to Miami. An interesting side story: we had about 35 Cubans who were immigrating to the United States via the I.O.M (International Organization for Migration) an organization that helps people legally enter the United States. Ironically, we flew over the island of Cuba on our way to Miami so I snapped a picture since it was a clear day. When we landed in Miami, I remember telling one of the refugees in Spanish, "welcome to the United States and your new home" and she burst into tears. It certainly makes me grateful for being born in America.

After exiting customs in Miami, we stopped at La Carreta, for some world famous Cuban food. Any crew member who travels thru Miami is a fan.

Our flight to Port of Spain was scheduled to be full, but there was a plane at our gate with a major mechanical, so we just waited nearby to figure out what was going to happen. We finally got a plane and a gate and made our way onboard. I went out and helped pull tickets in the departure lounge (which I think is easier on the nerves that trying to help people find a spot for all their bulky luggage on the plane).

We were all set to go, but were still missing a passenger, but his bags were loaded, so they had to start a bag pull, which means going thru all the checked bags to get his off. Just as they located his luggage, he showed up (of course) so then they had to reload the bags and we were finally on a our way, but about a half hour late.

One of the things that I was not expecting was so many ethnic Indians on the plane. As it turns out, Trinidad, along with Guyana and Suriname, has large ethnic Indian populations. These folks are the ancestors of people who came over from India in the 1800's to work for the British and French.

By now, were were getting tired. Three flight legs a day is more the norm, but with customs and the delays, it was starting to show

Moa on the other hand was full of energy, perhaps because of his love of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

We landed close to midnight in Port of Spain and took the van to our layover hotel. Last week, the Summit of the Americas was held here, so the traffic was insane and there were so many people visiting the island, that they had bring cruise ships in to offer extra rooms for people to sleep. All of that had moved out by now, so things had settled down back to normal.

We kind of caught a second wind, perhaps from the warm tropical air. I had bought a bottle of Little Penguin Shiraz, my favorite red wine, so we went down by the pool and had some wine and enjoyed the evening.

It was decided we would all sleep in, so we made plans to meet in the lobby at 12:30 and go find a place for local cuisine. Given the large Indian influence here, a lot of local foods had traditional Indian elements. We were on a hunt for something called Roti. It is like a big burrito or wrap, filled with curried meat, veggies, and sauces. The hotel suggested we go to Ariapita Avenue, a main street in town, near the hotel, to a place called the Curry Corner. It was suggested we take a cab since getting there was complicated and we were new to the island. $15 dollars later and a less than 5 minute cab ride and we were there (we quickly discerned that we would walk back to the hotel).

Irune and I had the chicken Roti with string beans, spinach, and chic peas. Moa had the lamb Roti. I don't know if it was the fact that we were so hungry or the wonderful smells coming out of the kitchen, but it tasted soooo good.

I am always on the look out for local sodas (i.e. Inca Kola in Peru, Guarana in Brazil, Irn-Bru in Scotland). I think the Trinidadians (is that even a word) were big fans of orange soda because they kept asking for it on the plane the night before. So I tried a Solo Orange soda with my Roti and it was very good. The even serve it in a glass bottle like the old days.

After telling the ladies at the Curry Corner how stuffed and satisfied we were, we made our way back out to Ariapita Avenue and decided we would walk off our meal and try to walk back to the hotel. We knew we needed to get around a soccer stadium and a four lane highway, but how hard can that be?

The architecture of the buildings was a mix of all different styles. I snapped a couple of shots as we were walking down the street.

The sun was up in full swing, so we were getting a little warm on our walk and decided to stop for some beers and listen to a little music. We ended up a place called The Crobar. It had a nice covered patio and with the breeze, it was very enjoyable. We were just going to have one round of Carib beer, but the barmaid said if we paid in U.S. dollars, the minimum purchase was 20, so we ended up having three rounds. The Carib beer was good. Very light.

Apparently there was a contest, where if you looked under the "crown" (bottle cap) you could win cash and prizes, but our barmaid brought the bottles out minus the crown so she is probably driving around in my new car or spending my winnings.

I guess there must have been some protesting going on about the banking issue. It is even a big deal here too.

The forecast that day did call for rain, and we saw the sky getting a little dark, so we decided it was time to figure out how to get back to the hotel. We knew the general direction we needed to be heading. We cut down a real nice little residential street. The houses were very nice, although like a lot of places here, we noticed bars on the windows. A sign of the times perhaps?

After running across four lanes of traffic (they drive on the other side of the road here) we made it back to the hotel. We had bought a bottle of rum in Duty Free the day before, so we spent the early evening enjoying cocktails before retiring for the night. Our pick up was a 5:15am (EST) which is hard when you live in the Central Time Zone. (The week before, the pick up was 3:30am because of all the traffic and road blocks associated with the Summit of the America, so we should consider ourselves lucky).

I had wanted to hear some live music, which we never did manage to find, but Moa and I got to have our picture taken in front of some Steel Pan statues on our way to the departure gate, so that counts for something.

The flight home was the reverse routing of the way there, so we went first to Miami (again to La Carreta, this time for Pollo Imperial) then Cancun and finally home. A long day, but a great trip!