before coming to trinidad, i was looking forward to going to class because i’m just a nerd like that. but, after dr. turley informed jessica and i that class would run from 9am to 5pm, with a lunch break in the middle, i was dreading it. that’s too damn long. so, when i woke up yesterday morning for class, i wasn’t in the best of moods. i went to go wash my face and what do you know? the door knob i had expressed concern about on the very first night we were here was broken and i was trapped in my room. “OH.. GUESS I’M NOT GOING TO CLASS!” lol! so much for trying to be on time too. after 15-20 minutes of the other students trying to rescue me, jermaine was finally able to get me out. i had decided to wash my face with a wet wipe and put my clothes on while they were trying to get me out so as soon as the door was opened, i was ready to go.
we made the short walk to the creative arts building and figured out which room our class would take place in. in past years, other visiting students would be in class with us. but this year, it’s just our group. our professor, dr. regis, was of course a little late (trinidad time never fails). his lesson was over “the peopling of trinidad and the festive calendar.” and, as much as i didn’t want to be there at first, i actually enjoyed the lecture! it helped me understand the population. remember before i said that everyone was some kinda shade of brown… to be more descriptive, i’ve been seeing some people who look like indians… some look hispanic.. some look african… i saw some chinese people… and everyone’s features look mixed up … like, this place is the real melting pot! i even saw some white people at the beach and they weren’t tourists. they all have the trinidadian accent. the lecture basically explained how all these different people came to call themselves trinis.
trinidad history lesson (i'll make this brief):
he began the lesson with 1498, when christopher columbus, on his 3rd voyage, “discovered” trinidad. of course there was a small population of natives here already. but, because there was no gold or silver here, the settlement the spanish had here was lethargic and not really important.
“they must tell it like it really was. christopher columbus was a pirate, a hustler.” - dr. regis
(but can you spot columbus's ships--the pinta, nina, and santa maria-- on trinidadian money?.. it's above the phrase “together we aspire. together we achieve.” that's kind of problematic.)
at first there was tobacco grown here, but the people of virgina complained that it was undercutting their business … (first time the USA played a part in the politics of the islands). when the Dutch brought sugar cane to the islands though, the sugar revolution would start. i could spend a whole day learning about the sugar revolution. sugar back then was like oil is today. a “hot commodity” doesn’t even remotely get close to how important it was and what nations would do to get it. to keep this brief, eventually you get a handful of spanish… a few native americans…. a few white and black french planters… masses of black slaves (some from other islands already)… white british planters and black english slaves… in 1806 the chinese started coming.. after the british ended the slave trade, they would capture other nation’s slave ships and send the africans to trinidad. after the war of 1812, african-americans who had fought on the side of the british came to trinidad and started “company towns...” in 1813 slavery ended in the british islands.... and to get needed labor in 1845 the indian migration started. in the late 19th/early 20th century syrian and lebanese people began to migrate here. venezuela is closer to trinidad than tobago is .. and migrants have come from venzuela to live here as well. after world war 2, spatial segregation began to disappear and people began mixing (sexually and culturally [culturally through events and food]). and this is why i see a whole different mixture of people here. and they all call themselves trinis. i think that’s beautiful. tobago has a really different history though. many european countries owned the island over the years… many more than owned trinidad. however, the population is still 95% african. i can’t wait to go there on thursday!
after class, i took a short, sweet nap and then we took a long drive to the asa wright nature center in the rain-forest of trinidad. we took a guided hike. and just like with the beach, i can show you better than i can tell you.
crazy tall bamboo... bright plants.... beautiful birds... i felt totally in my element! some people didn't enjoy it though... the outdoors isn't for everyone i suppose. but i loved it. what i didn't like was there was a group of kids in our tour group. i just wanted to spank all of them. they were so rude. and their guardian was rude too! he was talking on the phone while the tour guide was trying to give us information about certain plants and birds. how triflin!
the highlight was that i got to eat a termite!!! check out the video!
after the tour was done, we all kind of ran back to the center on our own. about midway through, it started to pour down raining! this couple passed us... and then the guy slipped and fell on some rocks. LOL! like momma always says, "slippery when wet." lol. i was almost to the center when i saw a big long lizard (i think a tiger lizard) on the ground walking around. i got up those stairs and into the center so fast!! lol. the picture really doesn't do him justice. he was at least 3 feet long.
after our rain forest adventure, we headed back to town to get something to eat. i had a double (remember? spicy and filled with chick peas) and a really delicious local soda called "solo." i thought i was getting orange, because it was colored orange... but the flavor was actually banana and it was quite good. i still haven't had anything disgusting here yet. everything is just really delicious!
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