Trinidad

Catch-Up on the last 2 weeks

2009-03-15T16:36:00.002-04:00

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!!!!!

IT'S CARNIVAL!!!!! (well...it was)

2009-02-25T16:56:00.002-05:00

The last week has been all about carnival. It has been an exciting and exhausting time. I am uploading some pictures on facebook so you can look at them later tonight.

The weekend started last Thursday for UWI Splash. It was a pre-carnival fete, the only one we went to because all the other ones were really expensive and sold out already. It was a little north west of Port of Spain in the city of Chaguaramas. It used to be a military zone, and the party was at The Hanger. I'm pretty sure that it used to be a lot where they kept planes. It was a huge party, with a great stage with a lot of performers. We got in about 10:30, and the performances started around midnight. One of my favorite songs, "Bacchanal" by Destra, was performed lived. It was super awesome!!! We got back to hall around 8am...it was a good night, it didn't feel as long as it should have. We danced the whole night!!!!

Friday night was Soca monarch...the annual soca competition to see who would be the nation's best soca artist for the year. We didn't go to the show because the tickets were pretty expensive, and some people on hall said we might find it boring since it would be a lot like soca star. We watched it on TV, and the artists are amazing performers!!! They are so energetic and get the crowd into the song....it is pretty amazing to watch, even on TV.

Saturday we went to the Panorama finals--which is the annual steel drum competition. We didn't buy tickets to get into the stands. Instead we walked around the Savannah to watch all the bands practice and hear them before they went on stage. Apparently this is the popular thing to do....there were sooooo many people around the bands. The band that won did an arrangement of the popular soca song this year "I'm nt drunk" by KMC...it sounded sooooooooooo amazing on the drums!!! The way the Treble drums (that play the melody) and the alto drums (that play a harmony), and the bass drums worked together to play the song, and how the composer added his own changes and variations, sounded fantastic....I loved it!!!

Sunday was Dimanche Gras!!! It is the combination of the Queen and King of carnival and Calypso Monarch competition. The Queen and King competition is where you can see all the huge, extragvegant, sparkly, and amazing costumes...some of them had to be on wheels so the competitors could walk on stage with them!!!! Calypso is a type of music here that talks about social and political problems. It was really interesting to listen to...especially since 2 different artists had songs dedicated to Obama...and both of the performances started with clips of MLK Jr. "I have a Dream Speech". Some of the songs were more difficult to understand because you needed to know a lot about the politicians in parliament...and besides a few key names, I didn't know most of them....and most of the people I was with had no idea who they were talking about.

Dimanche Gras ended around 1am. We went from the Savannah to where our pre-party was for J'ouvert. We joined a band for J'ouvert, which meant we had a definitive group to follow and had drinks and breakfest. J'ouvert is a celebration to bring in Carnival. You walk around the streets with your band, getting into mud and paint fights until you're completely covered. This is in remembrance of a civil disturbance in Port of Spain, when the people smeared themselves with oil or paint to avoid being recognized. It was another long day....the pre-party started around 2am, and we walked around for about 6 hours through the city. It was a lot of fun...but crazy at the same time.

Tuesday was Mas. Thousands of people join bands for the Mas parades, people are in sparkly costumes (with very little clothing), and they walk around Port of Spain dancing to Soca music. There are just as many people that line the streets watching...and "storm" a band to dance with the particpants. It was sooooo cool to see all the differnt bands themes, colors, and costumes. It was really exciting and there were so many different people that join Mas!!!!!! There are some pretty cool pictures you can look at.

Now it's just getting back to reality, and catching up on the mountains of work I have to do. It's a little daunting to think about how much I haven't been done, and need to....

This weekend we're heading to Tobago. We'll be leaving Friday evening, and coming back late Monday morning. We rented 3 villas, since there are about 20 of us going. It'll be nice to just relax all weekend on the beach!!! Pretty sure i'm going to come back as red as a lobster!!!!

I hope everyone is doing well...and enjoying the end of winter/almost the beginning of spring!!!!

Time Flies when you're having fun

2009-02-20T16:56:00.002-05:00

I apologize for the massive delay in my posts. I feel like I've been going non-stop for almost 2 weeks, with no down time. A lot has happened....

Last Monday (the 9th), I had my first really trini roti. It was fantastic!!! I'm addicted and I love it. I get the "Buss up Shot", which you eat with your hands. The roti bread would remind you of the texture of the inside of a biscuit, and it has a sweet taste to it....i'm in love!!!! I get the veggie buss up shot...it comes with a type of curried potatoes, the best tasting pumpkin, and a mango sauce....AMAZING!!!! I have also fallen in love with the pepper sauce here...it's really hot but sweet at the same time...I have a whole new appreciation for spicy foods.

I had my first religion class up at the monestary on Wednesday. It seems like it'll be an interesting taste of world religion and the underlying principles in religions. I love the fact that I get to go up to the monestary every Wednesday. It's so pretty up there and the classroom is really open so you get a great breeze and view.

I'm starting to get semi-decent at the steep drum...I'm really considering buying ine and shipping it home. We learned how to play the chromatic scale. It's weird starting from scratch on a new instrument. I've been playing the same one for so long I've forgotten how it can be difficult to start from the beginning.

My research project is starting to really get under way. I attended a planning meeting on Wednesday (18th), where stakeholders in Trinidad cocoa were trying to create a plan of were they stand on sustainable cocoa to present to the international community. This Thursday I'll be going up to the Ministry of Agriculture library to do some research on Trinidad and cocoa. The plan is I will be writing 4 articles before the convention and then some follow up pieces. I have started my research, and honestly I find it fascinating. There are so many facets to a cocoa industry. If Trinidad can find a way to have a sustainable cocoa economy, mixed with the revenue they get from the oil and tourism here, their GDP could sky rocket!!! But there are so many problems they have to overcome first, both here and world wide.

Friday was campus carnival...it was a crazy night of dancing and parading in the streets following large flat bed trucks with DJ equipment on it. It was insane!!! but it was a lot of fun.

Saturday morning I went into Port of Spain with a girl from canada, steph. We went to the national museum. That was an experience. Nothing was dated, and the informational blurbs were photocopied from other books. It was still neat to see some of the native artifacts. Saturday night Whitney and I had a movie night...we watched Twilight (a copy I bought on a street corner) and Cat Ballou!!!!!

This week has been really busy and stressful with getting plans together for Carnival. We went into Pot of Spain to buy tickets for Dimanche Gras. It is Sunday night, and we'll see teh huge extravagante carnival costumes, and watch the king and queen of carnival get crowned. That was an adventure trying to find where we were supposed to go. We went to 3 different locations until we finally found the correct ticket stand. I was coordinating us to join a band for Jouvert. It is Monday morning (pre party starting a midnight sunday leading until 6 am ish, and we'll be going to this directly from Dimanche Gras). It's another huge parade of dancing similiar to campus carnival, except we'll get mud and paint thrown on us. It's one of the best activites of carnival...or so we are told.

Last night was UWI Splash. It was a huge fete (party) in Chaguaramas. It our kick off to the next 4 days of carnival craziness. It was in a large pavement area called the hanger. We got there around 10 pm (we lef around 9), and Danced until 5:30-ish am!!!! We got back on hall around 7:30. We got to see a lot of live performances..and it was really awesome. Soca music (the carnival type music) is so intensely energetic. Check out http://www.socafreak.com/2009-soca-music-trinidad-and-tobago.html to listen to the top songs here now. My favorite is "I'm not drunk" by KMC, and "Rum and Roti"...but I like them all.

Tomorrow we are going to the panaroma finals, Sunday is Dimnche Gras, Minday is Jouvert, and Tuesday is the large carnival parade.

Pictures and stories of carnival will be coming soooooooon!!!!

Its name is....

2009-02-05T23:33:00.003-05:00

So much has happened over the last week...wow!!!!

We'll start with the grub concert last Friday. We were fantastic!!! We were a huge hit, especially when we had the 3 exchange guy dance the SNL "Single Ladies" skit. We did a lot of dancing and singing...and Katie, Brittany, Alisha (an exchange student from NY), and I did a rap about our first week on Milner to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song. On Saturday, all the grubs had to run up the mountain to the monastery. We started about 5:30am, and got back on hall around 8:30. It was a loooonnnng morning, but it was amazing up there. It kinda sucked going up because it was raining pretty hard core. But when we got to the top, we saw the sunrise and overlooked the entire area...you could see the coast line past Port of Spain!!! I have a hall name, and it is....Dollar Wine!!! I got one of the better ones, and more creative.

Classes are starting to get more intense...but in a nice way. It is nice to have a schedule...even though the schedules are not final yet. I have to drop my ecotourism class because they changed all the lecture times, and now it conflicts with the only class that I need for my major...but I found a Religious Studies class to replace it. It is on Wednesday mornings up at the monestary. I know a girl in the class, someone I met from south block, her name is Abbie. It's an introduction to major religions all over the world. It seems pretty awesome.

I am REALLY getting into my literature class...We're reading a book now by a white west Indian who moved to Britain...most of her books are based off of her personal experiences or observations. Her books have a lot of interesting themes, especially involving women's place in society...Our professor claimed that she could be considered the first feminist writer in the Caribbean, even before the feminist movement started.

I went back up the mountain on Monday with Evan, Brittany, and Isaiha and had tea at the PAX guest house. It was GOREGOUS!!!! We drank with the owner, who is good friends with one of the advisors at the UW. He was a very interesting character. The guest house is the oldest house in Trinidad, from colonial times. It was amazing....and we drank on the veranda, which overlooks a ravine in the mountains. The owner is a birdwatcher, and it was amazing all the different birds that came up on the veranda while we were drinking. It was breathtaking.

Tonight we went to Port of Spain for the "Soca Star" finals. It is Trinidad's version of American Idol. It was pretty fantastic. The showmanship was incrediable...with the dancing, singing, crowd involvement, and costumes. There was a band that has some Milnerites in it, and they took third out of six. The winner, Chynnie, was amazing. He had a oriental theme...and had a lot of chinese culture in it, and the crowd loved him...obviously since he won.

We were going to go to Tobago this weekend, but the plans fell through. I think we are going to go to the beach on Saturday. I'm hoping that actually happens...we'll have to wait and see.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!!!!!!

Rent a Rasta

2009-01-30T11:08:00.002-05:00

In my ecotourism class last night, we were talking about the socio-cultural impacts of being a tourist economy. One of the problems was the sex industry, and how different hot spots are promoting prostitutes, sex, etc... Someone in the class recently wrote a paper on a similiar topic and informed us that in Jamaica the have a service called "Rent a Rasta"....I thought i could have died laughing!!!!!

Anyways...things are going good here. Grubbing (hall initiation) is almost over. Are activites were interupted last night by a block war. See, Milner Hall (my dorm) has for bulidings that make up the entire area...each building is a block. I live in I-Block. Last night North Block made an advance and started a war....pretty much means, they took a bucket full of water and dumped it on someone so we retaliated. Block wars are sooooo intense...we're talking people getting "kid napped" (carried off the field into the other block), full out tackeling, and water fights like you wouldn't believe. It was pretty amazing.

Tonight we have a concert that us Grubs have to put together....right now it's pretty disorganized since there are so many of us. It'll either be amazing or down right horrible. Details to come once it's happened.

I have had all my classes, and am really looking forward to them all. I ended up dropping the film class because it conflicted with the pan theory/steel drum class....the pan class won hands down. But that's ok, because I still have 4 classes, and my research project on top of that. I have heard back from my contact about my project. Apparently Trinidad is hosting the 2009 "Rountable for Sustainble Cocoa Economy". I will be covering parts of the conference and writing and promoting it for the local papers here.

My food management course seems like it will be really interesting. The lab professor likes to call on me a lot because i'm from the states...never wear a wisconsin t-shirt to the first day of class, you draw a lot of attention to yourself. We're going to be learning about food safety, preperation, and some ther stuff that we don't know yet since the syllabus isn't finished yet.

A little depressing news is that I wasn't able to register for the hike this Sunday...so I won't be able to go. But there are still 4-5 other ones this semester, so i plan on going to all of those.

I hope everyone is doing well back home!!!!!!

What a Crazy Night

2009-01-27T17:01:00.002-05:00

Last Night was my first class. I'm taking a literature course called West Indies Prose. I think i'm reallllllly going to like it. The professor is from Jamaica, and has these dreds that almost go down to her hips!!!! She is really emphasizing thinking about West Indies culture beyond just colonization. We are reading 5 books over the semester, and have a project, essay, group presentation and a final.

I haven't had any of my other classes yet. The other one is tonight at 7pm (5pm in Wisconsin). I'm am sooooo excited for that class. It's called "Introduction to Ecotourism". It seems like a great class because we take field trips all over the island. Hopefully I will be able to see a lot. I don't have my third class until tomorrow morning and it'll be an intriductory to film course. I still have no idea when my steel drum class is...but that seems pretty normal down here to not care or stress over things like that.

Last night started the grubbing process for all the new people living on Milner Hall. It's pretty much a little hazing process to get to know people in the dorm and become part of the Milner family. It was pretty fun....just really long and exhausting!!!!! I think it will go on for most of the week, but i'm not sure....we don't get a lot of information on it.

There's talk of going back to the beach on Saturday, and i really hope we do!!!!! OOOHHHH....i'm joining the hiking club on campus, and the first hike is sunday!!!! We're going to Rincon Falls...don't know much about the area, but i'm going to start looking into it.

I should probably get ready for class. More Updates soon!!!

WOW!!!!

2009-01-25T15:53:00.003-05:00

Finding time to keep a blog is harder than I thought it would be. I have been here for a week and I have been so busy that I feel like I didn't really have anytime to myself. But, I'm going to start now and make time to sit down and inform everyone what's been going on here.

We arrived at the airport on time last Monday the 19th, around 1o:30pm here (8:30 back in Wisconsin). It took forever to exchange money and get through customs. Once we got through it was almost midnight! The University of West Indies had a van waiting for us when we got there. 2 of the trini students that were in Madison last semester came to welcome us! The Faculty of Science and Agriculture staff that met us (Dexter and Georgie) insisted on feeding us before we left the airport. We ate a restaurant called Royal Chicken. It was actually fantastic. It would remind you of KFC (which they have here too), but the breeding on the chicken was much more flavorful. We got back to teh dorms on campus around 1:30am. Of course we had to unpack a little, so I didn't get to bed until around 2:30. It was such a long day! I fell a sleep so soundly, it didn't even register with me that I was in a foreign country.

The next morning we got up real early and meet with the dean and talk about campus a little bit. No new information, but it was nice to put a face to the name we had heard so much about. After, we spent the day at the beach. The closest beach to campus is Maracas Bay, and that's even a 45 minute drive through the mountains. The roads were horrible!!! and everyone drives like maniacs here.

Anyways, Maracas Bay is known for the famous Richard's Shark and Bake. Its fried shark and bread. It is FANTASTIC!!!!!! There is also a huge condiment bar with every sauce that is popular in Trinidad--and there are a ton!!!

The next day we registered for classes, which was a pain in the ass. None of our information was entered into their computer system. So, we had to run around campus for about 7 hours getting override forms signed so we could register. It was a nightmare!! Then we went to Tunapuna, which is known for their huge outdoor market of fresh food. It's about a 15 minute walk from campus. A very annoying walk since all the Trini males hoot, honk, and whistle at you since you're a white female. There were so many veggies and fruits there!!! I have to admit that it was a little over whleming. I got 5 lbs of tomatoes for 10 TT, which is about $1.75 in the US.

Thursday was a free day. We just did logistical things like get our cell phones and drop off a few last papers. Even after having a free day, I felt like there was no time to just sit back and take stuff in. We were constantly moving and doing things. We went to a movie Thursday night too. A bunch of us, including 3 Trini guys we met, saw "Yes, Man". We have to go to Trincity to see a movie, which is half way between campus and Port of Spain (where my plane landed). It was crazy getting there. We took a Maxi (public van) to a taxi station in the middle of 2 cities, then got into registered (not private!!!) cabs to get to teh mall/theatre.

Friday we went back to Maracas. Apparently we've been there just about the same numver of times as a normal student would in a whole semester or year!!!! The current and waves were wicked!!!! Made for great body surfing. Friday night we were just "liming" (hanging out) in my room with some people we met, when a bunch of guys we met from the other block of my dorm invited us to a dance party on their block--north block. We learned how to wine, which is the popular form of dance down here for carnival. It was pretty crazy trying to get your hips to move a way they aren't used to.

Saturday we took a van tour of most of the Island. we stopped at the Pointe de Pierre, a waterfowl trust. It was sooo pretty!!!! amazing flowers and birds. It was set up to stop the extinction of many birds in trinidad due to deforestation, pollution, and pouching. We had a very knowledgable tour guide, and she was able to teach us a lot about the stuff we were looking at. We continued south until San Fernando. We got out and ate lunch, but then we continued driving. We went all the way east and drove back north. We saw the beach that holds the cool down party after carnival ends. It was miles long, and apparently it is completely crowed when carnival is over. It was crazy windy, so the waves coming off the Atlantic were HUGE!!!! We didn't stop at all, but we saw a lot. About 5 hours later we got back to campus. We went out to a bar on campus, and got to know some of the people that just back to the dorms a little better.

Yesterday I went to Tunapuna with an exchange student accross the hall and my roomate. It was soooooooooo hot in the sun, I got back to my room and felt like i could make a pool from my sweat. We jsut limed for the rest of the night and met some more people that got back. My dorm, Milner Hall, was pretty quiet until yesterday. Now everyone is back and it's crazy loud and fun.

Classes started today. I haven't had a class yet, but i do in 30 minutes. More to come tomorrow!!!!