It's been a while...

....and quite a bit has happened done here in Trinidad.

Hurricane Dean past well north of us without much impact other than a bit more rain and some rougher seas. It certainly was the major story that everyone was talking about that week. Trinidad is so close to South America, that it is south of the "normal" hurricane belt, and has never had a hurricane hit it, although Tobago was hit by Flora in 1963.

Two weekends ago we went to a party on Saturday night, which required Kate to go shopping for a new "Trini" outfit (of course!). The party was a lot of fun and lasted into the early morning hours - which is the usual for down here and something we're starting to get used to.

Then on Sunday we were invited to an area they call "Down D Islands" (serious about the 'D' - we got in trouble for using 'the'!!). It's a group of small islands off the north-western tip of Trinidad and it reminded me a lot of Muskoka. A lot of cottages which appear to probably belong to mostly wealthy Trinidadians. We were there with our friends Ryan and Tiff who we met through Martha and Diane Gartley (thanks, Marth!). It turned into quite a scene with a lot of their friends showing up, with a lot of kids in tow. It was a lot of fun and we were both very sunburnt when we got home.

This past week Kate had a bit of a "job" helping out the lady who runs the Yoga studio she goes to. Karen was away for the week and needed some help driving Yoga instructors to classes and manning her Yoga clothing store she runs out of her house. It wasn't the most stimulating work Kate's ever done, but the gig came with the use of Karen's car for the week.

This weekend just past was a busy one for us. We went on a beautiful hike on Saturday to a beach that a few people have said is the nicest beach in Trinidad. It is on the north coast where there is no road, therefore you have to rent a boat or hike the 7 kms into it.

Our plan was originally to hire a boat to take us to the beach, hang out for a while and then hike out. Unfortunately The Great Race was on Saturday and the people with the boats wanted to watch the race.

The Great Race is a powerboat race that goes from Trindad to Tobago, past the Islands we were talking about above. Seemed to be a pretty big deal with a lot of people talking about it, and as per Trini fashion, there's a huge party all night over on Tobago after the race. The newspaper story is below in case you're interested....

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_sports?id=161194758

So back to our hike..... We had to hike both ways in and out from the beach, which was about 2 hours each way with a couple of pretty big hills which made it somewhat tough. It was worth it though, as the beach was beautiful and very secluded. Apparantly there is a really nice waterfall, but it was 3/4 of the way down the beach and then a 30 minute walk up the mountain. We'll be back to see it another time.

We had to get back in reasonable time on Saturday so we'd have enough time to have a sleep and get ready for our Saturday night plans. We went to a Regae show which included some local bands and was headlined by Damian "Junior Gong" Marley with an appearance by his brother Stephen Marley - both sons of Bob (Mom's, you remember Bob Marley, right?).

The concert was great - very much all about the music, and although we couldn't hear/understand all the lyrics, there were a few Bob tunes that we could sing along with. It was very much all about the music and the Rasta/Regae "movement". It was really cool to be at a Regae show in Trinidad - and almost hard to believe. It's cool local events like that, that is what makes our experience here so cool!

Here's the article from the paper on Monday ....

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161195115

Our VIP tickets included secured parking, the first half of the floor area fenced off from the "general admission", free drinks and free food. And the tickets only cost us the equivalent of about $50! A great deal to go along with the great times.

This week is a short one for us as Friday is Independance Day and is a national holiday. We are off to Grenada tomorrow night and come back Sunday night. We've heard it's a beautiful island and we're looking forward to exploring it.

We hope you all enjoy your Labour Day holiday (for those in Toronto). For all of you elsewhere in the world, enjoy the weekend and we'll talk again soon.

Stu and Kate