It's hard to believe that Cintra and I have accomplished so much in the roughly five weeks we spent in our native Trinidad and Tobago.
We had expected to spend much of our time vacationing, caregiving and visiting with family and friends. We certainly did those and much more. By coincidence, we were in Trinidad and Tobago during its biggest and most colorful festival of Carnival. We did not attend any events but had a glimpse of some of the street celebration.
Other highlights of our visit included a weekend in the resort twin island of Tobago, including Store Bay and Pigeon Point Beaches, and visits to Trinidad attractions such as Maracas Beach, Chaguaramas boardwalk, Macqueripe Bay, San Fernando Hill, Point a Pierre Waterfowl Trust, water taxi between San Fernando and Port of Spain, and Moruga Beach (where Columbus landed when he "discovered" Trinidad).
Added to the fun and excitement were an outdoor luncheon at my cousin Vera Hajarysingh's acreage, a 20th anniversary pooja for Cintra's nephew Ian Ramnarine and his wife Rachael, and various family lunches and dinners including with my brother Crusoe and family, friends Neera and Michael Rambhagan, my nephew Marcus and his family, Cintra's sister Molly and husband Dan, my cousin Joe and wife Deeann, Cintra's sister Mamin's in-laws in Moruga, Godfrey and Christine Lee-Sing and Nigel and Diana Lee-Sing, and friends Rudy and Diana Rattan.
When we arrived in Trinidad in January, we were aware that one of our priorities was to support Cintra's sister Mintee as she was dealing with a new but demanding health issue. Mintee's daughter Sasha arrived from North Caolina to help with this crisis, only to be a victim herself of a household accident, in which she suffered a broken ankle.
We found ourselves helping two patients around the clock. Much of the support I gave was to be the driver for errands, appointments and visits.
Being a foreign driver in Trinidad is highly risky to say the least. The traffic phenomenon in this relatively small island (no longer than the distance from Moose Jaw to Regina) is that much of the 1.25 million population own several vehicles. So there are too many cars and SUVs of all makes and sizes as well as heavy equipment on few roadways. And drivers drive with insane recklessness. But I was up for the challenge and lived to talk about it.
Being at home in Trinidad presented even bigger issues than traffic chaos. The most complex and emotional aspect of our visit was to identify a suitable care home for my sister-in-law. After scouting the whole country, we found a new, modern and ideal site very close to her San Fernando home. We are pleased to report that she is settled in and is growing comfortable in her new environment.
Our niece is also healing well and providing as much support to her Mom from her base in North Carolina and from visiting in Trinidad.
A huge part of our Trinidad experience has been the opportunity to meet with family, friends, former classmates and colleagues. We had memorable visits with cousins and nephews and nieces we hadn't seen for many years.
The most heartwarming of these was a reunion with a long lost cousin Louis Gonzales in the remote village of Los Iros.
We were very fortunate to see my Trinidad siblings Joshua (Crusoe) and Vangie and their children and grandchildren, and Cintra's Trinidad siblings Molly, Joe and Mintee. It was an added pleasure to see relatives who were visiting at the same time such as two of my Sudbury siblings Nahum and Cecilia from Sudbury and a cousin Mona Mohammed and sister-in-law Arose Ramkissoon from London, England.
Perhaps the most traumatic and potentially life-threatening experience for me was an attempted mugging in San Fernando. While standing on the street near a downtown mall, I was approached by a man who demanded money or else, in his words, he would count to three. I shudder to imagine what would have happened after three.
But I attempted to engage him in conversation to convince him I had no money. After a verbal exchange with him (more like negotiation), he seemed convinced I was not robbery material. Cintra believes I bored him and he escaped.
On a happier note, we were treated to a delightful evening of humor and story telling at the annual Tent Talk in the famous Queen's Hall, Port of Spain. My cousin Joe Seepersad and his wife Deeann introduced us to this popular after-carnival "tent" in which humorists, calypso singers and story tellers displayed Trinidad and Tobago culture in verse rather than in song. The tent is produced and directed by well-known humorist and author Paul Keens-Douglas.
One of my highlights was to spend an evening with some of my high school classmates Lincoln Bhola, Balroop Seecharan, Deoraj Ramgoolam and Errol Diptee.
There is so much more we can report about our stay in Trinidad and Tobago. But we hope this overview and pictures capture a bit of the events, activities and attractions. Thanks for being part of our journey.
