This picture was taken at the Asa Wright Nature Center, one of about two bird pictures I took that were in focus. It's an Oropendula bird and is commonly found in Trinidad

After returning from 10 weeks in the states, we spent a month in Trinidad finishing projects on the boat and doing some sightseeing. I'll skip most of the project details because they involved delays and generally weren't fun or interesting. The end result is that the boat has a new coat of bottom paint; the fiberglass has been compounded, waxed and polished; the teak has been varnished; we have a new DC refrigerator (which means we will need to run the generator only every three days instead of 5 hours every day); a bow eye was made and installed which means we won't be listening to the anchor chain bang against the bow all night (hooray!); and we have a wonderful sun shade over the upper deck, some very convenient new shelves in the galley and salon, and built in shades/screen combination for the hatches over our berth replacing the fabric and velcrow version I fixed up in desperation. The desperation was caused by the light streaming in at dawn, or about 5:30 am, much earlier than retired people want to be getting up.

Trinidad has a unique culture which blends historical influences from the indigenous people, various European colonists, African slaves, Chinese imigrants and a large number of people descended from East Indian indentured servants who came to Trinidad after the slaves were freed. In fact the East Indians make up almost 50% of the population and their influence is seen in all parts of Trinidad life. During our visit we attended both Dragon Boat races (celebrating the arrival of the Chinese people on Trinidad 200 years ago) and Duvali (the Hindu Festival of Lights). As a result of so many cultural influences, Trinidad has a lot of holidays. There were probably five official holidays during the month we spent there.

Weather -- VERY HOT We were in Trinidad during the rainy season with an average of 2 or 3 showers each day. The showers were welcome because they cool things off, at least for a short time. Also, the frequent showers slowed down some of the work on the boat. One worker was trying to finish a gelcoat repair before it started raining. Looking at the clouds, he predicted it would be raining in 20 minutes. Guess what? He was right. We had a few cloudy days with a nice breeze, and I always looked forward to them. Since we were tied up to a marina, we had to use the boat air conditioning. During our stay in Trinidad I spent more time inside the boat than at any other time during our cruise. Usually we are outside most of the time, but in Trinidad being outside meant getting wet, either sweating profusely or getting rained on! It didn't help that the marina had a ridiculously small swimming pool, about 10 ft by 10 ft, too small to actually swimm and too deep for me to stand up. About all you could do was hop in, get wet, and sit in the shaded gazebo. While we were there the pool ladder broke, so getting out was something of a project. If Paul wasn't around to help me, I would ask someone to put one of the plastic chairs in the water so I could use it to climb out.

Food -- VERY GOOD Local Trinidad food is a delicious blend of all the various cultural influences and is readily available from street vendors several of whom will often be congregated together at a wide spot in the road. Our cruising guide stated that food service is regulated and inspected by the government and is, therefore, safe to eat. I only had one bad experience, which might have been the result of too much spice. On one of our tours, the driver stopped at one such place and we sampled several local treats. Everyone especially liked the doubles, potato pie, and rotis. Shark and Bake (or sometimes Bake and Shark) is another popular item. It is a giant sandwich with breaded and fried shark served on a fried bun with a choice of several condiments. No one claimed the food is low calorie. Meals are usually a choice of a main course and several sides which are all carbohydrates (e.g., rice, beans and lentils), sort of like a plate lunch. The easiest way to describe them is "fish and carbs", "chicken and carbs", etc. Stewed goat is frequently served, and Paul really liked it, but I found it too spicy. I considered most food to be very spicy even before adding any of the condiments or curry sauce, which were usually lethal, with the exception of the salad dressing. A lot of the eateries close to the marinas had non-spicy versions available for our sensitive palates.

Debbie, the swim suit lady came to one of the marinas every Thursday. You purchased your own fabric and she would make swim suits, wraps, and sun dresses. She could copy a suit you especially liked or have you pick a pattern. Bernice and her daughter come with Debbie, and they can do almost any kind of sewing. Their creations were really cute. As a result I have three custom swim suits (are you jealous?), one with a matching wrap and a cute sun dress. In addition to being a highly skilled seamstress, Debbie is a truly nice person. While she was working on my things her youngest child came down with chicken pox and then Debbie caught it. After they recovered, she put forth an extra effort to get my clothes finished.

Maxi Taxi trips Maxi Taxis are vans holding about 12 people which run on regular routes. You wait at a stop, and one will usually pick you up within 5 minutes. The fare is very reasonable, and they are a good way to travel around, especially to the places directly on a route. In fact, most of the islands we have visited have some version of these.

An enterprising businessman, Jesse James, operates a tour service using Maxi-taxis. He has weekly trips to various groceries and other stores. These were very useful because he has a second van come in order to take all the groceries back to the marina. We took several of his tours and really enjoyed them. Jesse is an enthusiastic tour guide and a terribly nice person.

Overnight to Asa Wright Nature Center This was fantastic. The Asa Wright Center is housed in a former estate in the mountains with amazing views. There are about 25 rooms in several buildings scattered through the woods. Meals are included (very delicious) and are served cafeteria style in the large dining room. In addition to meals, early morning coffee and tea are offered to the bird watchers who get up at dawn; afternoon tea is available; and rum punch is served before dinner. All in all a very pleasant environment. Trinidad has a huge number of different bird species and many of them can be seen at Asa Wright. We met a couple from England who were spending a whole week bird watching at Asa Wright. They have knowledgable guides who are very informative and helpful. We hiked some trails and took a dip in a fresh water pool. Asa Wright is located at about 2500 ft elevation in very steep rain forest. It is hard to imagine making a living from agriculture in such a rough environment, maybe that's why it's now a nature center. But it was much cooler and very comfortable up in the hills. Next time we will stay longer.

Visit to village of Felicity for Duvali Duvali is the Hindu Festival of Lights, and the entire village was decorated with both electric lights and small clay bowls with wicks in burning oil. Our visit included a terrific tradational Indian dance performance, a tasso drum band performance (LOUD), and a tradational meal served on palm leaves (no plates). We also strolled around the town after dark to view the lights which were everywhere. People would offer you sweets and we had nice conversations with several. It was interesting that some of the electric lights definitely had a Christmas theme (e.g., Christmas trees and Santa Claus). Maybe this isn't too surprising is such a multi-cultural society.

The Steel Drum Band/Jazz Festival Steel drums were invented in Trinidad. During World War II the U.S. had a major base in Chaguaramas Bay and left over 55 gal drums were used to make musical instruments. They and tuned by heating the metal and dropping a rock on it creating a small indention. This process is repeated until the "tune" is correct. We saw four groups; all were great. Two smaller groups were led by ex-pat Trinidadians who returned for the festival. One of the bands had fifty pieces, about thirty-five of them steel drums accompanied by some percussion and horns. Although a little loud for my taste, it was an impressive performance. The steel drum sound is truly unique, and the musicians really get into the grove, sort of dancing in place.

Really wierd toilets -- While the toilets all worked, they had the most complicated flushing mechanism Paul and I have ever seen!!

In summary, Trinidad surprised me by being such a unique place. Since we intend to comtinue boating and will probably end up here again, I am glad there are still things I want to see and do, including visits to the bird sanctuaries we missed and the pitch lake, where asphalt literally oozes out of the ground. Instead of grass the houses have asphalt patches.