From July 22nd – August 1st I was on vacation. I took a plane and landed in Trinidad.
Honestly, I was a little scared. It’d been 12 years since I was last in Trinidad. I can say this with certainty because the last time I was in Trinidad, Joe’s Apartment came out. I wanted to see it. But by the time I got back, it wasn’t in theatres anymore. A similar thing happened this time as well with The X-Files 2. But luckily I caught that before it disappeared. So yea, 12 years. It’s a long time.
But you know, it was a pretty good trip.
On Wednesday, I went with my uncle to sell gas (LPG). I used to like going with him when I was tiny (<5yrs). Everyone in Trinidad uses gas for cooking. I didn’t see one electrical stove while I was there.
The next day I went to the Caura River for a dip. The water was cold. But that’s what you get when you go up in the mountains. Then in the evening, some relatives had a BBQ.
On Friday, I saw Hancock at MovieTown. MovieTown is an outdoor mall with the center piece being a movie theatre. It was sort of like Southlake, but not so big, and instead of the Apple Store, you get Ruby Tuesday, Long John Silvers, T.G.I.F, Burger King, and some local stores.
Saturday was slow. On Saturday Evening, I went to a prayers.
Sunday afternoon, we headed to the beach at Manzanilla. I really enjoyed Manzanilla. It was raining when we arrived, and the water was perfect. Also, I had a shark and bake (pronounced shark and bake). Long wouldn’t shut up about it since he was that Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern that focused on Trinidad. So I had to try it. It was pretty good.
Monday was spent visiting family.
Tuesday and Wednesday, we were back at the beach. This time it was Mayaro. If I were comparing beach to beach, I would pick Manzanilla. The current was too strong at Mayaro, and the ocean floor wasn’t nice. We stayed at a beach house that had A/C, which was refreshing. Not a lot of houses in Trindad have A/C. This is because the climate is tropical and mild. And usually you have a breeze. So, fans are big. Also at the beach house, I found out I’m pretty decent at the Trinidad variant of rummy.
On Thursday we went to Trincity Mall. This was to stock up on fudge and sugar cake. Friday was the flight back, and I had many orders to fulfill.
Looking back at it, taking it all in, I really enjoyed myself. It was just the right length. Not so long where I got bored of Trinidad/missed Texas, and not so short where I didn’t feel like I got to do anything. The doing nothing/doing stuff ratio was prefect. Plus, I didn’t use a computer at all. I didn’t drive either. But that was more a survival thing. I couldn’t drive in Trindad. They’re too aggressive, and the streets are too narrow.
