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  Port of spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Thursday, December 21, 2006

Yesterday i arrived into town by taxi, my first choice guesthouse was

trinbago which is listed in the lonely planet and the rough guide, i

called froom the airport but the number wasn't recognised.. so the cabbie got me

there but the ownerships changed along with the name and number, now called

'Inn a citi place'. the guesthouse was full apart from one that was

being left available to get inspected by someone so i couldn't get the

room, my cabbie got me into some nice non-listed guesthouse around the

corner

run by a trini woman who looked dissapointed when i told her i'd be

only staying one night and would be leaving for a cheaper place

tommorow. she charged me 279tt for the 1 night, but i'd caught her by

surprise and the room wasn't ready yet, so she told me to dumped my

bags and head off for a beer. As i'd been here before i knew my way

round and confidently navigated to a couple of bars, incl. hooters..

before i came back to wash and get ready for the night.. whilst i was

out i asked a local at the bar about my plans for zen nightclub and

meeting up with the uni girls that i'd met in maracus bay.. i was told

that i wouldn't get in because of my trainers, and being a packing

light backpacker they would be too much too carry, so i phoned the

girls to say i wouldn't make it and i found out they weren't going

anyway.. and i had missed them at the place i was in by about an

hour aswell...

i'm planning on buying a mobile here so that i can store numbers easier

as i've lost a couple of good contacts here in trinidad also i can text

back home because my crappy 3g mobile isn't working over here.. i asked

around today in a phone shop and the cheapest was 300tt (30quid).. i

know it's cheap but if i wait a couple of days after christmas i'm

hoping the price will go down just like it does in europe..

yesterday i was in the intenet cafe taking time out from the hustle and

bustle of POS.. and got talking to a woman, i think her name was

Omeleye, who's just relocated from london to trinidad and her friend

Ron who is trini through and through.. i wasted an hours worth of

internet credit time because we were blabbering away.. talking about

trini culture, food and the sights.. so afterwards as i was saying i'd

heard off doubles but never seen them available Ron took me down to

independance square i got me to order them for us, they cost 2tt and

are delicous, when you order you get an option of 'peeper or no

pepper'.. i wasn't feeling too brave so opted for no pepper and then

munched messily away on it. from what i can make out it is a traditonal

trini street snack made out of a thin bit of pastry with chick peas and

some chutney sauce in it.. the area that they sell them in was packed

full of trinis gobbling these cheap street treats up.. Ron then showed

us over to the coconut truck were i found out that i've been looking

like a sissy all this time as i've been grabbing a straw to drink the

water, apparently the macho way is 'sans straw'.. Omeleye convinced me

to try the jelly for the first time, i'd always shyed away from it as

i've never been too keen on the bounty chocolate bars back home, but i

think my tastes are changing because i scrapped off all the jelly

inside.. i still can't watch the guys cutting the coconut with his

machete without hairs standing up on my neck..

now is was getting late and afterdark, i'm now confident to walk

through downtown afterdark, is's loud, busy and vibrant along fredrick

street, which seems like the main shopping street, and seems quite just

as safe as in daylight. So to get back to woodbrook from independance

square i was planning on walking through the streets, but as Ron gave

me a little insight into trini life i thought i'd try the nightmare

network that is public transport in port of spain.. there are buses,

maxi taxis, route taxis and private taxis with ranks scattered all over

the town, some even changing places afterdark.. which i think the only

way

to understand it is too be brought up on it for as a child through to

adulthood.. anyway he lead me to the right corner to stand on and flag

the next 'h' plated car down (h means for Hire) then he tells me not

only are there multiple taxi ranks dotted around the city you also have

to know the hand signals that the driver gives out before coming to a

stop.. the first one that came along was pointing his finger to the

ground, which apparently i didn't want.. i was looking out for a finger

pointing to the ground but going in a circular motion indicating he'll

be going on the ring road... i then departed downtown and was deposited

right outside my guesthouse for 3 dollars.. back in my room i was

itching to go out so walked literally across the road to a 'parang'

night at the mas camp pub.. parang is a latin flavored music that's

popular in trinidad on the run up to christmas, there was about 10

members in the band, 3 singers, others on steel pan, guitar, spanish

guitar, drums and one guy banging away on some wooden block which

reminded me of the cowbell sketch from saturday night live with will

ferrell and christopher walken.. i resisted the urge to shout out "More

Cowbell!" but i just sat there smirking everytime he would be the one

to start the song of..

Today i tried to hire a car to see the southern half of the island, i

tried about 10 companies and to the 5 that answered there phones all of

them had no cars available, if i can't get one tomorrow i think i'll

try and get a walking tour around the notorious 'Laventille' area which

was the birthplace of the steel pan and also my favourite soca artist

Destra Garcia..

Well tonight i'm off too the mas camp pub for another night of

entertainment of some sort but before that i'm going hunt down some

more doubles.. i'm hungry so i'm gonna get about 5 of the little

bundles of joy....

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Trinidad national museum

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