Just another commute to work

This morning there was another fender bender.

Here is the first car.... Here is the first truck..... There three more cars involved.

Just another Thursday commute to Marabella.

B.

Justice on Time

Here in Trinidad, there is a shuttle service that is very efficient. It has a police escort, runs all traffic lights and those that sit in the back get to where they are going on schedule. Nope, it's not for the local politicians. It would for be the prisoners on their way to and from court.

B.

Ants

Mimi is concerned that we could have an ant infestation in the apartment. I am not allowed to drop crumbs when I eat (so I dont eat). It is a fact, I have hole in my mouth and I do seem to leave a trail (or pile) of crumbs around but I dont think that's the reason we have ants. Its because it is easy to buy or rent them here in Trinidad.

B.

Back to Tobago

Boys weekend (Ok, free pass for 18 hours).

Booked a tee time, booked a flight (it is only a 15 minute flight) and booked a rental car.

Flew over on the 10:30 flight. Had a 11:30 tee time. Pretty much had the course to ourselves. It was a classy course - a silver ice bucket for the beer.The Tobago Plantations course has a sugar mill in the logo. They really were windmills that they used to crush the sugar cane. Those days are long gone but there are a couple of remnants of the sugar mills on the course.Nice rental properties on the course too.

Brought a couple of Flat Stanleys (here on business from Canada).....There were still remnants of what Tropical Storm Tomas pushed up on the beach on the Atlantic coast.

Tobago has a bit of a goat story to it - they recently built a brand new goat racing track. But to get there, the goats have to take the bus.

And this would be the last photo I took that day because I dropped my camera in the ocean two minutes later.

I was able to salvage the card but the camera is a bit iffy at the moment. it might dry out, it might not.

Great day trip away from Trinidad

B.

Sunday afternoon at Maracas Bay

Note: the beer bottle is only there to provide perspective to the size of the beach.

I am permitted a couple of 'small bottle' beers and one Bake & Shrimp from Vilma's on the Sundays we go to the beach. I am getting a bit too sedentary (ie chunkier) for more than that these days. The famous local fare is Bake & Shark from Richard's but I enjoy the shrimp from Vilma's - its good, its closer and the line up is shorter!

B.

Tomas touches Tobago

Ten days ago Tropical Storm Tomas was heading towards Trinidad and Tobago. The day before it was to hit, I sent the staff home early to prepare for some significant flooding and damage. Within hours of being forecasted to hit here, it veered north and made a big mess in St Lucia and other Caribbean islands.
Before it headed north it just 'touched' the island of Tobago. We had scheduled a couple of days in Tobago this past weekend. We called and they said there wasn't really any problem so we flew over.
The island is not that big so we rented a car with the intention of driving around the whole island. The car rental folks didn't say a word. The first 40 km were very nice. Beautiful vistas looking down on great beaches....including Bloody Bay. We then saw signs that Tomas was not so kind to Tobago. It has been a particularly wet season so a Tropical Storm can smack an already saturated island quite easily.. As we drove further north, the signs of Tomas' touch got nastier.

A slump here, a collapse there, a downed tree.

Then there was a 'bit' of a wash out of a road. We figured if we got past that we would be ok....nope. Just 300 meters past this tricky bit of four wheeling, we came upon a landslide that had completely wiped out the road. No signs, no barriers - nothing. The only evidence of a problem was the complete lack of traffic coming the other way....and the slumps, the collapses, the downed trees and the washed out road we had already driven by.

I am not very observant, am I?

We turned around and retraced our steps and stopped at the Glasgow Bar overlooking the Parlatuvier Bay and as Mimi said 'enjoyed an ice cold one'.

We cut across the middle of the island and caught a part of the Atlantic Coast, Scarborough and a great little spot called the Shore Things Cafe near Lambeau - we highly recommend it.

B.

A reflection on the passengers in your vehicle...

or the quality of the roads? Or both?

I am sure you have seen the 'Baby on Board' stickers on vehicles. Here I found a unique sticker that lets everyone know there may be a 'Barfer on Board'. The roads here can be quite circuitous and oncoming traffic does come into your lane when going around stopped cars, potholes and landslides. The sticker is appropriate.

We saw this one on a car in Tobago on the weekend.

B.

No twist offs here

Another solution to not having a bottle opener for the beers that arent twist offs here (that would be all of them)....Just rent a car.

B.

Natural security

At the office, we have a sea container full of equipment. It is locked up with a conventional lock and key but it also has a unique security system.
A vine grew over the wall from the neighbour's yard and nicely intertwined itself in the latch mechanism. It works perfect. All I have to do is look out the window and see if we have a problem.

B.

Tropic Hauling

Ever be driving down the highway and wonder what was inside a large truck? Down here, many of the trucks arent enclosed. It might take the mystery out what's being hauled but hey, even wheelbarrows need to be shipped around too. Lots of them.

B.

Small island...small world

Licence plates in Trinidad are quite basic. Large white lettering on a black background. No reference to the country...no reason to. They have three different series - those plates that start with a P (Personal), those with an H (for Hire ie taxis etc) and T (for Truck). We were out for dinner last night and Mimi notice a Lexus in the parkade. Not a big deal, there are Lexussesses here in Trinidad but not with plates from elsewhere.

Small world.

B.

Tipos...I mean, typos......

Wednesday was always a tricky word to spell - when you were 7 years old. Not when you produce a national newspaper like The Guardian.

I noticed this job ad in the paper as well (a different national paper - The Express). Under 'Other Skills' it requires a proficiency in Excel and a Microsoft product I hadnt heard of before. Check out the last line of the ad...in Trinidad, we also have a unique communication system here - known as 'amail'.

B.

Bottle openers

Local Trini beers, Carib and Stag come in bottles that are not twist offs.

So I bought a couple of bottle openers.Seriously.

Just avoid stepping in something inappropriate.

It gives the beer a poopy taste.

B.

Millenium Golf

Golf really is 'a nice walk spoiled'.
The local Millenium course is quite beautiful.
On the course there are large areas of lotus flowers. There are also lots of lily pads. Lily pads mean lots of water....not good for my game.The two signs say 'Next Tee This Way' - they really do want to spoil your walk! My game sucked and I lost 6 golf balls but it was a lovely walk in Trindad.

B.

Canine Update

This pooch is named Danger. He belongs to friends of ours who have a place in Collins Bay. He watches over those that go for a swim.

These dogs are our security team at the office.
They remind us to close the gate to the parking lot otherwise they come in and crap all over the place.

B.

Chicken on De Way

If this truck full of chickens drove down the road in Canada, it would be frozen chicken pretty quickly. Here its half-cooked after a couple of hours on the road.

B.

Firemen on Parade

I was in Port of Spain when I saw bunch of firemen in full gear just walking down the street. I grabbed my camera out of the bag in the backseat and I dropped it. I took the picture anyways. I looked at the image and wondered why it was a little blurry......... This would explain why. When I dropped the camera, it landed right on the lens.

Luckily it was just the lens filter that broke.

B.

Lantern Festival

We went to a local celebration. Given the size of the island - when any kind of event comes up, you check it out.

It was the Lantern Festival and Chinese Que - what's a Que, you ask? It's short for Bar-B-Que (now you know).

Lots of lanterns hanging from the ceiling but then there were the ornate designed lanterns...

Farmers planting rice...

Dragons............

Monkeys......

Budha....

B.