Catch-Up on the last 2 weeks

I have to say a lot has been going on the last 2 weeks. I feel like I haven't had a chance to sit down and catch everyone up on what has been going on. I have been busy with homework, and getting ready for the cocoa convention that will be going on next week already!!!!

The best place to start I suppose would be where I left off, Tobago. It was a blast, and as I predicted I got really sunburned. In fact, I'm still peeling...2 weeks later. We left on the 5:30pm fairy, Friday Feb. 27th. Seeing how nothing ever happens on time in Trinidad (we actually have a joke. When something is supposed to start at 3, we say "that means earliest 3:30 trini time"), I was actually impressed that we left around 6pm.

We rode on the newest fairy, T&T Spirit. It was actually really nice. The inside was very clean and bright. There was a bar, and a cafeteria style serving area (that was out of food by 6pm). There many different seating styles. There were airplane type seating (rows of bucket seats), 4 bucket seats around a square table, and 4 arm chairs around a small circular table. The ride to Tobago was extremely choppy. As most of you know, I have been boating for most of my life, so I am used to the waves and rough seas. I almost got sea-sick, which is really weird. It was extremely windy, and we were going into it. I felt sooooooo nauseated.

We got into port around 10-ish. Abbie was waiting with her friends to take us to our villas. We were staying down on the south east side of the island, called Bon Accord. It is right down the road from the touristy beaches, Crown Point and Pigeon Point. There were about 14 of us, and we rented 2 villas. The villas were a lot like cabins you would see up north in wisconsin. There was an upstairs loft with a king size bed and a half bathroom, the downstairs had a small kitchen, dining room with a couch, bathroom and shower, and a bedroom with a full size bed and a single. There are a series of 4 villas available from the same owner. Each has it's own small pool (about the same size as a large hot tub), and all the villas over look a large open yard.

We were about a 15 min walk off the main road. On Saturday, a few of us (including myself), got up early and walked to Crown Point Beach. It was a looooong walk. It was the only time we walked all the way there, the rest of the time we took taxis. There were 5 of us that jsut stayed at Crown Point for the whole day. The water was soooo clear and blue. The sun was out all day, which my skin did not like a whole lot. There were shops around in a grass hut style, which made me laugh. The beach was totally playing to the whole "tourist vision of the Caribbean". There was even a Rituals (Trinidad's version of Starbucks) on the beach, in a grass hut thing. I broke down and got a smoothie, which are amazing and sooo addicting.

We headed back into town around 4-ish. Brittney, Whitney, Evan and I were in the mood for a nice sit-down dinner. There were 2 places that were exactly what we were looking for, seafood and had great embiance. Unfortuately they didn't open until 7pm. So we walked down to Store Bay, a beach in Pigeon Point (10 min from where we were....get an idea how small Tobago was?) and hung out there for a while. This beach had even more really cool shops in the grass huts. Brittney ran into someone she met on the fairy. Fortunately for us, the guy supplies jewerly to run of the shop owners, who also owns a glass bottom boat tour company. Because of the connection, and the large group we had, the shop owner gave us a great deal on a glass bottom boat/snorkel tour for the next day.

So Sunday we went on the glass bottom boat tour. The boat was wood, old, and was totally awesome. It was only a 2.5 hour tour, but for $50TT that was a good deal. We went snorkeling for a bit in Sea gardens. It was amazing. There were sooooo many differnt types of coral. I really wish I had a water proof camera to take pictures. And the Wildlife that was in the coral....it was really diverse. It was breathtaking. The area we snorkeled in was sort of deep, but I didn't feel that far away from the bottom. Probably because there was so much coral. After the tour, we hung out at Store Bay. We headed back to the villas in the late afternoon.

Sunday nights in Tobago there is a party called Sunday School. It takes place in Buccoo, a world famous reef area. Most of us went, but Evan, Abbie and I didn't. Evan and I were taking the 6:30am fairy home, which meant we had to be there by 5-ish, and to do that we had to leave the villa by 4:30. This wouldn't have been a huge deal if it weren't for the fact he and I also needed to write a paper due that night...and we hadn't really started it yet. So instead of partying all night and not being able to focus monday morning, the 3 of us went into Crown Point and went out for ice cream and a few drinks.

We went to a holistic hotel and yoga retreat for ice cream...home made and organic=AMAZING!!!!! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!!!! The hotel restuarnt was so pretty. Everything was dark wood, candle lit, open windows with walk ways out to a garden, and flowers everywhere. It was a really nice place. I got a brouchere about staying at the hotel, so when I come back later in life and can afford to stay there, I will remember what it was called. The bar we went to was up the road. I can't remember the name of it, but it was pretty fantastic too. It was a bar and resturant. It was a bright yellow color, with bright paintings all over the walls. The bar had really cool nautical wood carvings by the stools. I got what was called "Rum Punch". All the juices here are ridiulously sweet, because all the fruits are much sweeter. I naively thought the drink would be a combination of friut juices with rum. boy was I wrong. It was rum, with more rum, and a slight bit of some juice (that I couldn't taste over the rum) for color. Evan got teh most amazing Daquari I have ever tasted, Passion Fruit. I could have drinken a dozen of them...you couldn't even taste the alcohol. Abbie got a non-alcoholic fruit drink...what I thought my drink was going to be actually.

The fairy trip back to Trinidad was sooo much smoother. We left about 90 min late, but we got to see the end of the sun rise on the boat over the water. It was goregous!!!!!

The last two weeks have been me catching up on school work that I haven't been able to do since I've been here because of Carnival and adjusting to my new environment.

I did have my first trinidad exam on Wednesday. I have never been so confused on how well or bad I did. Some of the questions were super easy, and I knew the answers right away. Other questions....well, let's just say I didn't even remember hearing the topic in lecture let alone reading about it.

I have been doing a lot of my cocoa reading/research also. I am going to start writing some articles today, and will hopefully have a collection to e-mail to my advisor by Wednesday. I still can't believe the convention is 9 days away!!!!! Time is just flying by soooooo quickly, I honestly can't believe it. I should have more time this week to post some of my observations of life here.

I hope everyone is enjoying spring break!!!!!! I will see you all in about 2 months!!!!!