The Beginning

       Sorry I haven't had the chance to post until now.  The first couple days have been very hectic. Thursday was a long day full of traveling. We flew from Philly to Miami, where we had a 3+ hour layover.  To kill some time, we went to a restaurant called Clubhouse One for a beer and some food. Naturally, I had to get a Miami Cuban sandwich, and it was pretty delicious.  After a 3 hour flight and an hour long ordeal with customs and immigration, we were finally on our way to the resort.  We arrived at our resort, Xanadu, around 1 AM (or 12AM at home), and my roommates, Abigail and Julie, and I got settled. Then, we headed to the pool area where were served buss up shut with curry chicken and potatoes by our host, Mr. Wayne. Buss up shut is a thin, crumpled and torn type of roti (a layered pastry), named for its resemblance to a "busted up shirt".  After dinner, we crashed for the night.

Doubles

      Friday we began the day around 10AM with a trip to Trincity Mall for food and groceries.  I got barbecue chicken thighs and sauteed veggies from a caribbean cafe, and it was pretty good. One thing I didn't realize about Trini food is that a lot of meat products, and especially chicken, are served bone-in.  I also attempted to order an iced coffee at the popular chain, Rituals Coffee.  Apparently the notion of iced coffee does not exist in T&T because I received a cup of watered down, hot coffee with the remnants of ice cubes still floating in it.  After grabbing some groceries and stocking up on the local beers, Carib and Stag, we headed back to the resort for a nap and our first history class.  After class, we sat poolside and basked in the last of the warm sunlight.  Later, we headed in to Port-of-Spain for dinner and Panorama, a Steel Band competition held before the beginning of Carnival.  I got doubles for dinner, which consisted of two small pieces of roti topped with curried chickpeas.  I was grateful for  a delicious food option that didn't involved bones, and it was also insanely cheap.  One order of doubles cost 4TT which calculates to about 70 cents.  I got two, one with the popular pepper sauce and one without, and both were very good.  At Panaroma, the bands were all really good, and all the players looked so happy when they were playing.  It really got me excited to start playing the steel drums again. I'm not sure who won the competition because we left before it ended, but it was an fun, awe-inspiring experience.  When we got back, a bunch of us sat by the pool with our hosts Mr. Wayne and Mr. Chris.  We all told stories and enjoyed some beers by the pool (because, as Mr. Wayne said, not having a drink by the pool at night is "against the food and alcohol ordinance of Trinidad") until the early hours of the morning.

One of the awesome bands at Panorama.
The girl on the double seconds in the front was amazing

     Yesterday, we headed to Maracas Beach.  The trip there involved traveling on long and windy roads through the mountains of Trinidad.  Near the top of one of these mountains was Maracas lookout.  The lookout provided a spectacular view of Trinidad and Maracas Bay.  When we finally got to the beach we enjoyed a nice swim in the warm water.  After our swim we headed to Richard's Bake and Shark (which was featured on the show Bizarre Foods) for lunch.  Of course, I had to try the bake and shark complete with all the toppings.  Besides the fact that I put way too much pepper sauce on it, it was delicious.  It rained on and off for the rest of the day, so we left the beach earlier than planned.  When we got back, we swam and sat by the pool.  Afterwards, we napped and had dinner while streaming the Eagles game.  Around 11, we headed to this club in Port-of-Spain called Club 51 Degrees.  We had a great night whining to soca music until 4AM, and they even played a few of our american favorites.  It was a lot of fun, and we will definitely be going back there again soon.

A view from Maracas Lookout

      After our late night, my roommates and I woke up around 1:30 for our first steel drums class.  It really felt great to get to play again.  I decided to learn a new drum instead of playing the bass again.  Instead, I chose double seconds, which is the a two drum, alto instrument of a steel band.  We learned chord progressions and a simple melody for a popular song called Matilda.  When we got back to the resort after practice, we went to dinner in Arima.  I got rice and pork ribs because I was not in the mood to pick through my food for small bones.  The ribs were delicious and I got a lot of food and a drink for about $6.  The food here really is great and cheap for the quality and the amount that you get.  Now, I am relaxing at the resort and waiting for the rain to stop so I can go sit out by the pool.  Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to update this more frequently so I can provided a more detailed account of things.  I hope you enjoy my blog, and I hope everyone at home is doing okay with the snow (I don't miss it at all.).

Maracas Beach

Bake and Shark