sweet tnt magazine issue 2
DESCRIPTION
Trinidad & Tobago Culture MagazineTRANSCRIPT
Curry duck,
yummy!
Issue #2 November 1, 2012
The Pierrot Grenade
and his country
Language war
Lady G’s
food stall
Liming in
Gasparee
Caves
Lady G’s
food stall
Liming in
Gasparee
Caves
The Pierrot Grenade
and his country
Language war
Pierrot Grenade and his country 6
East Indian fashion 8
A day at Shark River 10
Language war 11
Maracas Beach Excursion 12
On wildness 5
Baker’s home kitchen 13
Lady G’s food stall 14
Gasparee Caves 16
Tobago Family Trip 19
Nature Park in Valencia 20
Creole CornerCreole Corner
Contents
Editor’s noteSweet TnT Magazine is ready for the world! Issue 2 is packed
with the culture of Trinidad and Tobago just like Issue 1. We
are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Issuu, and so far the
response from the public is sweet! Our Facebook page is
alive with tasteful images, quotes and comments. We thank
all the people who clicked “like” on the page for their sup-
port. Also, special thanks to all the citizens, foreigners and
advertisers who have contributed in every way to the mag-
azine. The abundance of support is a true expression of how
passionate people are about Trinidad and Tobago and are
willing to assist in the promotion of our beautiful twin
islands.
Special congratulations to the team members of Sweet
TnT Magazine for working extremely hard in putting togeth-
er our magnificent publication, website, promotional cam-
paign, and social networking sites. Our talented team is
another representation of how sweet T&T can be.
In this issue, we feature stories on lifestyle, Creole lan-
guage, food, and places. Some highlights are T&T’s Pierrot
Grenade (Felix Edinborough) talking about his country, food
business owner Gail David sharing her story about working in
Trinidad, and culture seeker Chantelle Wilson’s experience
of her trip to Gasparee Caves Down the Islands and her pho-
tos of a family’s visit to Fort King George in Tobago. All this
and more in this issue of Sweet TnT Magazine!
As we prepare for upcoming issues in 2013, we continue
to invite the public to share the culture of Trinidad and
Tobago with the world in this magazine. Citizens and for-
eigners may share stories, poems, photos, comics, favourite
quotes from books, videos, and comments. All contributions
that reflect the positive aspects of Trinidad and Tobago will
be published. Our aim is to show the abundance of sweet-
ness that exists in our country despite the negative happen-
ings around us. You may email your contributions to:
[email protected] for large files.
Remember to “like” the Facebook page on
www.facebook.com/sweettntmagazine for
updates.
Enjoy!
Joyanne James
Editor
Sweet TnT Magazine is an
online and printed publication
Editor
Joyanne James
Marketing representative
Jevan Soyer
Layout/comic artist
Andrina James
Logo/banner artist
Jason Banfield
Web designer/developer
Andre Harrington
Contributors
Rachael CedenoKielon HilaireChantelle Wilson
Media consultant
Andrew Pitman
Printer
TechXpress, 579 FirstStreet, Edinburgh 500,Chaguanas, Trinidad
Credits
Publisher
Culturama Publishing Company31 Maitagual Road, San Juan, TrinidadPhone: 747-8560, 782-4808, 340-4085Email: [email protected]
3
Heat!Dockers Crew chef
cooks up a storm at
Iron Pot Curry Duck
Cookout in south,
Trinidad on March 29,
2012. The front cover
shows a young lady at
the event enjoying the
delicious curry duck
that Trinbagonians
can’t resist.
Some may call it “clowning around”,
“playing the fool”, or just “having fun”,
many Trinbagonians say “we on wildness!”
These young fellas who were liming in
Maitagual Road, San Juan, had fun with
Sweet TnT Magazine’s camera while they
demonstrated the modern way to lime on
the block with their cell phones.
During this photo taking event the
guys laughed, teased each other, and
consistently repeated the phrase, “All
yuh real wild!”
On wildness!On wildness!
5
Describe the character Pierrot
Grenade.
The Pierrot Grenade is a verycolourful character that carries a cos-tume that is a reflection of his lan-guage. What do I mean by that? ThePG spells words by breaking a wordinto syllables and weaving a “colour-ful” story with these syllables tocome up with a new and humorousexpression, just as the costume ismade up of colourful strips (syllables)that are sewn together to make a cos-tume.
Why did you choose the character
Pierrot Grenade to promote T&T’s
culture?
I did not choose the PG, it choseme. What do I mean? I had written aBest Village carnival script and need-ed a carnival character as narrator. Ithought first of the Midnight Robberbut then thought that his kind ofspeech was too serious so I opted forthe Pierrot Grenade and found that Icould not get anyone from the groupto perform it as I thought it should be
‘Sweet TnT’ talks to Felix Edinborough
Lifestyle
6
performed, so I decided to do it. It was very successful and I was asked
to do it again and again and audiencesbegan to like the portrayal more andmore. So I just had to continue. I say thatit chose me for I never intended to contin-ue with this character but I had to, for themore people saw it the more it was indemand and there was no one else doing itso that was my fortunate fate.
What do you have in common with the
Pierrot Grenade?
I think that the PG is a natural Trinicharacter for we are a people who like touse puns and metaphors when describingpeople and things. Do you realise howmany people in T&T have nicknames? Anickname is usually a pun or a metaphor.When you call a friend “Ocean” or“Chimney” we know that this is a figura-tive description of the person. Often whentalking with my friends I use puns. Itmakes the conversation more interestingand makes people think and heightenstheir sense of humour.
What is your attitude towards your
country Trinidad and Tobago?
I love my country very much and thatis why I grieve for the way I see it going.Having travelled a lot I know what a devel-oped country is like and I do not see thatkind of maturity in T&T. We can make thisplace a “paradise” but our leaders lackeither the vision or the will to stick toprinciples.
The best of us need guidance and dis-cipline but for the majority of us, unlesswe have someone constantly calling us upwhen we are tempted to go the wrongway, we fall into bad habits. So our atti-tude has deteriorated because we havebeen left on our own for too long. Fortyseven years is very young for a country.
What norms, beliefs and unique things
representing the culture of Trinidad and
Tobago do you appreciate the most?
I am not sure about what I appreciatethe most but I know we have much in ourculture that I cherish. I am very muchinvolved in culture because of our dancesthat have so many influences that we cancome up with a “rainbow” that othersadmire. Our steelband and calypso are
unique. Though many countries can boastof their hospitality we tend to make oth-ers very comfortable because of our gen-uine friendliness.
In what ways do you think other
entertainers promote T&T’s culture
successfully?
T&T culture is promoted especiallythrough pan and cultural groups whichpresent our music (calypso) and dance. Ihave several times been part of culturalcontingents that go abroad to preset pro-grammes and I see how people appreciatewhat we have to offer especially with thepan.
What advice would you give to young
people who are passionate about T&T’s
culture and would like to promote it
using story, song, poetry, etc?
You need to have confidence that whatyou are doing will be appreciated and onceyou work at it seriously you can be success-ful. The material is not the most importantthing but how you present it. To present itfor audiences to appreciate it you have towork at it night and day. The words ofShakespeare are no more true than in thispopular saying:
The heights of great men reached
and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight
But they, while their companions
slept,
Kept toiling endless through the
night.
Felix Edinborough as
the Pierrot Grenade
Photos: Raymond Syms
The Pierrot Grenade and his country
“I have seen T&T
culture move
people in various
parts of the world
and it can continue
doing this as long
as our cultural
ambassadors take
their role seriously.”
Lifestyle
What is your vision for T&T’s culture in
the future throughout the world (lan-
guage, music, etc)?
I have seen T&T culture move peoplein various parts of the world and it cancontinue doing this as long as our culturalambassadors take their role seriously. Ithink that all of us who present the cul-ture have a great responsibility in ourcountry.
– J James
7
AAs natives of Trinidad andTobago, if we’re asked totalk about the culturalcontribution of EastIndians, the iconic images
that come to mind often relate to fes-tivals, music and food.
There’s Divali, the celebration ofthe triumph of light over darkness, thevibrant rhythm of chutney, a mixture ofHindi and soca music, and exotic cui-sine like roti consisting of kneadedflour cooked on the stovetop almostlooking like a pancake, except largerand less fluffy, and best enjoyed withcurry.
An area which is often not given itsfull due, however, is fashion. Like inIndia, the Indian wear in T&T comes invarious styles and patterns. It is madeof silk or synthetic textiles which comein many vibrant colours, exquisitelyembroidered, sometimes with real goldthread and draped in an array of aes-thetically creative designs.
On an ordinary day you’re verylikely to encounter the sari. This gar-ment is a rectangular piece of clothabout five to six yards long. In ancientIndia most of the clothes contained no
stitching and were ready to be worn assoon as they came off of the loom. Thesari is an example of this; it is worn bywomen and must be wrapped aroundthe waist, making pleats at the front.The remaining length is draped aroundthe shoulder.
If you are concerned about thelevel of exposure of the woman’s torso,well the sari is intended to expose thewoman’s midriff and belly button only,so you’ll be relieved to learn that it isworn with a choli, or tight fitted shortblouse, the sleeves of which are usual-ly up to the elbows or to the middle ofthe upper arm. It is a stitched blousethat has buttons either in the front orthe back.
Instead of the sari the choli is alsosometimes worn with a ghagra. As longas the ankles, this is a skirt with sewn-in pleats that is secured at the waist.
An outfit with an entirely differentlook is the salwar-kameez. It is verysimilar to the contemporary pants suitbut with a pyjama-like finish as the legis wide at the top but usually narrowedat the ankles with a string. The pantspart of the outfit is called the salwar.The kameez is the top that is worn over
it, a shapely piece that resembleseither a long shirt or short fitted dress.
Both the salwar-kameez and theghagra-choli are worn with the dupat-
ta, a rectangular piece of cloth used tocover the head and the chest area.Accessories such as bangles, earringsand the like usually also adorn the finaloutfit.
On the men’s side a very fashion-able choice is the kurta or panjabi
which is basically a loose shirt that fallseither just above or somewhere belowthe knees. This simple yet trendy outfitcan be worn with jeans, which illus-trates the adaptability of the kurta asboth casual and formal wear.
There are many more beautifuland creative designs that people usual-ly wear for occasions like Indian ArrivalDay and Divali. These are the momentsfor you if you desire to observe thecolours and variety of Indian wear infull force. Of course they are also wornto weddings and other formal occasionsas well, and are by no means limited toa particular race. Anyone who has anappreciation for trendy, sophisticateddress can wear Indian fashion.
– R Cedeno
Local Indian fashion Local Indian fashion
8
Lifestyle
There are scores of people in thewater, and that famous “Jaws”music starts playing in the back-ground. You already know that a
vile beast is about to rise from beneath,and someone’s leg will soon be gnawedupon by teeth.
But, imagine, what if that creatureturns out to be a boy, grinning at you withmischievous intent. Or a girl, wearing justa two-piece bathing suit, her hair all wetand sketched against her sopping face.Frowning does little in casting them backwhence they came, as even the knowledgethat this river had long ago been infestedwith sharks never prevents them fromhaving a fun time at this place.
Positioned between the “turtle” vil-lages of Toco and Matelot in Trinidad,Shark River has always been a favourite
among the neighbouring residents. Peopleusually spend a full day there obtaining anexperience that is relatively differentfrom the one you typically get at the sea.The people in the pictures convey thisquite nicely.
One group in particular was busy lay-ing out a net in the middle of the pond tocatch some fish, while one or two of themhad chosen to sit at the riverbank andstare in wonderment as they were notready to bathe as yet. Some played gamesin the water – splash! And others just tookit easy as they traversed the shallowerparts of the river, creating a concord ofharmonious rings that engulfed themwherever they went.
The greatest thing is that most of thepeople were so friendly that a womaneven cheered one of the snapshots (while
she and two others were comfortably sit-ting in the middle of the river) with a bigsmile and a mild tribute to a beer she wasdrinking.
Oddly, on this occasion there was nomusic or food present at the scene – orperhaps some invisible sharks had justgobbled the goods up when the swimmers’backs were turned – yet the happy ambi-ence resonating from the people’s mouthswere enough to invigorate their innerbeats.
In many cases where there is a massbody of water there is always some way tohave fun. Combine that with the coolnessof the river, the crudeness of good people,and the collectiveness of nature, andbathing in just about any river will defi-nitely ensure a most entertaining time.
– K Hilaire
A day at
Shark River
10
Lifestyle
Boy, is years ah hearing people arguing
’bout our creole language or dialect
versus Standard English… De linguists
and de intellectuals from de universi-
ty… De officials in de Ministry… Toute
bagai. And yuh know wid all de argue
dey argue and all de debate dey
debate, nothing ain’t really solve up to
dis day... But while dey arguing on and
on, we slowly losing de creole lan-
guage…
– Excerpt taken from Miguel
Browne’s De Creole Tongue, 1999
Agroup of Americans once
asked me to tell them
about my country, so I
cleared my throat and gave
the most impressive cultur-
al presentation I have ever given in my
life. To my surprise, they were very dis-
appointed because they were hoping to
hear what a Trini sounded like and what
I gave them was “ordinary English with
a slight Jamaican accent”. Imagine that,
the only thing they identified as
“Caribbean” in my speech was my
accent and they had the nerve to call it
“Jamaican”.
So, I said, “All yuh want to hear
real Trini, well ah go give all yuh dat.”
Those few words probably sounded like
“uga muga” because they looked at
each other in awe and waited for the
Amazing Creole clown to say something
else.
While I did manage to tell them
about our comedy concerts, Promenade
doubles, and the hurricane-free luck we
had, I found myself struggling to do this
in my own language knowing that they
were carefully analysing every word
that came out of my mouth. It is
strange how I master the Creole when I
am speaking with Trinidadians, but sud-
denly I was thinking hard about what I
was saying. I felt like I was coining
Spanish sentences together and I had to
think carefully about each word before I
said it out loud.
I understand that this problem
stems from the notion that Standard
English is superior in comparison with
our language, and I know that some
people may even say that we do not
even own a language, but a broken form
of English.
A few years ago, Miguel Browne
addressed this issue in “De Creole
Tongue”, a monologue from his book
Talk Dat Talk. He listed a number of
institutions in society that have
attempted to do something about this
language war between Standard English
and our Creole language. His contribu-
tion was also an attempt to do some-
thing.
Years later, his words, “we slowly
losing de creole language”, still stand.
If young people compare their Creole
speech with that of their grandparents
they will learn that many words, sen-
tence structures and sayings have been
drastically altered and now resemble
the English language.
When we say, “Ah doh want it,” we
believe that we are speaking real hard-
core Trini language because we say “ah”
instead of “I” and “doh” for “don’t”,
but the truth is that the statement has
been modified from hardcore Trini, “Me
eh wa it,” to Standard English, “I don’t
want it.”
Some folks may wonder why they
should even care about all of this when
speaking English makes you sound more
intelligent than speaking Creole.
The funny thing is it seems to me
that we are the only ones who have a
problem with how we sound when
speaking with foreigners. I carefully
observed the way many people from
Jamaica, Barbados, St Vincent, Grenada
and Guyana spoke to Americans, and I
realised they did not give a rat’s… uh…
tail… who understood them or not.
I do admire the Jamaicans for rep-
resenting the Caribbean with their lan-
guage in movies like Predator 2, Marked
for Death and First Sunday. Even the
Americans try to sound like Jamaicans in
the movie Cool Runnings. What a day it
will be when Americans try to sound like
Trinidadians!
While all those soca artistes and
comedians must be commended for
travelling the world and spreading the
language through their concerts, the
people of Trinidad and Tobago also have
a great role to play.
We must make it our duty to do like
Miguel Browne, Paul Keens-Douglas,
Rachel Price, Machel Montano and many
more Creole soldiers and try to save
what is left of our language by sharing it
with the world.
– J James
Language warLanguage war
11
Creole Corner
They say the maxi reaching CaneFarm 7 0’clock on the dot forpeople in the area, so I makesure and wake up 5 in the morn-
ing to reach on time. Imagine 6.56, Isweating down the place rushing, thinkingI real late, and when I reach 7.05, not asoul in sight. Is only after 10 to 15 minuteslater people start to come. “Trini peopleagain,” somebody bawl out.
People sitting down by the roadside,standing up by the bus stop and othersgone to buy drinks, all just waiting for themaxi to reach. This is the second time wecrew was going on a beach lime and wewas expecting it to be bigger than before.
Soon the maxi come and was on itsway to the other pick-up spots where itget pack up like sardine with people inevery corner.
While going to Maracas Beach, thedriver start to play dancehall and socamusic, which turn the maxi into a party. Itwas unbelievable how people find spaceto dance. Everybody had a cup with adrink like Hennessy, Stag or Smirnoff.
In order to reach safely the drivertook his time with all the curves andbends on the road, but with all the excite-
ment happening in the maxi, within ablink of an eye we reach the beach in notime.
Without hesitation people fly outsideto take in the salty sea breeze. The airwas smelling strong with the mouth-watering bake and shark that most peopledesired and rushed for. Nonetheless, foodwas prepared so we had choices.
The boys immediately geared up toplay football, divided into two teams, andwent to an open space where they couldplay their game. After the girls assuredthe boys that they would come and watchthem play, they wandered off by theoceanside to take pictures. They soonjoined the boys and acted as cheerlead-ers, singing and dancing hysterically untilthey find the game was getting lame.
They ran in the middle of the game andlured the boys to the beachside where allthe wildness start.
People who didn’t intend to bathewere thrown into the water and after theboys threw in some of the girls’ hair it wasmayhem... girls against boys. It was aninnocent play fight.
Then they played water games butbecame tired fast because of the hugestrong waves that trampled people, whichis typical of Maracas. Then they calmly liedown on the beachside, covered by thetowering coconut tree, and waited untilfood was served. After eating, everybodywas looking like “macajuel” so theyspread out on the sand and give oneanother talks for the rest of the evening.
When the long fun-filled day came toan end, everyone was tired, stuffed withfood, slightly intoxicated and ready to gohome. Unlike the journey to go to thebeach, the drive home started quiet andserene until the cake fight began alongwith a dancing session. Because is we, thenight had to end with dancing. The maxidriver then dropped everyone home andthe lime turned out to be better than thefirst one after all. – C Wilson
12
Creole Corner
This one tells of an energeticwoman, living in Carenage, towhom many people refer as“Aunty Sharon”. Each day,before the rise of the sun,
Sharon would have at least one thing onher mind: how can I satisfy all my cus-tomers today?
Sharon professionally conducts a busi-ness from her cosy abode – she’s a free-lance baker by day and night. From asearly as the brink of dawn, to the timeswhen owls refuse to sleep, aromas such asbeef, potato, veggie stew, and other suc-culent flavours would seep through everynook and cranny of this baker’s home.
Have you ever eaten a currants roll?In case you don’t know, it is an oven bakedpastry that’s internally emblazoned withjuicy black currants (prunes that are simi-lar to raisins). Sharon’s rolls are socrunchy that the moment your teeth sinkinto them, the flakes graciously dissolve inyour mouth. Then your taste buds areblissfully bombarded by the sugary cur-rants.
What about a sweetbread? This is abaked sweetened flour delicacy that con-tains grated coconut, a moist, heavenlycrust, and often looks like its insides areraided with rainbow coloured fruit.
These are just two of the productsSharon bakes that are indigenous to theCaribbean. On a regular basis, her kitchenis filled with a plethora of pies, breads,
lunches, and dinners… which brings thislittle food outing to the next chapter.
Sharon also bakes a mean potato pie.She uses standard ingredients, just likeanyone else – salt, flour, potato – but herreal secret lies in the extra ingredientslike shadon beni (one of the more popularCaribbean spices), onions and hints of gar-lic. When these flavorous components arecombined they allow Sharon to produce aversion of potato pie that is quite unfor-gettable – just be sure you have enough“belly” to endure the taste of her mean-est ingredient – pepper. The thing is HOT!
But oven goods aside, occasionallySharon would go the extra mile to pleaseher pickiest customers. “Oil-down” any-one? Most locals are aware of what“oil-down” is; just hearing the wordcould evoke random images of peo-ple rubbing their tummies in delight-ful anticipation.
Oil-down is a popular lunch,often cooked on Sundays, that’smade with chunks of fresh breadfruit,an array of scrumptious seasonings,and can optionally be spiced up withnearly any type of meat. When thisfood is hot, the breadfruit tasteslike warm butter melting in yourmouth, and as slithers down yourthroat it tempts you to saycheesy things like, “Wow, what amouthful!”
Sharon’s cooking has become
so popular that some customers even takeit upon themselves to blindly attack herwith food cravings. No longer would someof them give her a call, telling her whatthey’d like ahead of time; they usuallystop by, shamelessly uninvited. When thishappens, Sharon quickly promises themthat she would see what she could do, andthen she rushes into her kitchen and whipssomething up as promptly as she can.
Her tag line says it all: “If your tastebuds are seeking food of true Trini flavour,you can’t go wrong by giving Aunty Sharona moment of your time.”
– K Hilaire
True Trini f lavour for real!
13
Food
14
Food
Gail David passionately shares her experience
as a small business owner in the food industry
in Trinidad. She owns Lady G’s food stall in Port
of Spain.
My name is Gail David, I’m 36 years of ageand my kids are the main reason I startedmy food business. I had my first child, a
son, when I was 14 years old and my second child,a daughter, when I was 17. I went into this busi-ness to make sure that my children don’t gothrough what I had to go through. I realised therewas no turning back. I had to set a good examplefor them so they would not make the same mis-takes that I made.
I always loved doing food because I grew upwith a Tobago heritage. I got into the businessand it carried me far. I love the food industry andeverything in it, which even made me bring in myson who is now 17. In fact, he is the cook rightnow in the kitchen. His name is Shane David andI taught him the trade. He also wants to open afood business right here in Trinidad.
I love my country. I am staying in Trinidad andwill not leave my country because here we stillhave neighbours. It isn’t just people. You can stillgo to your neighbour and ask for something andsay, “I will bring it back later for you,” and trust
Serving breakfast, lunchand a bright smile!and a bright smile!
me, it is not so outside in the States.Everyone is for themselves. I have experi-ence with that when I went abroad onceand I prefer my country any day.
I choose my country because it ismagnificent. We could walk home whenthe sun is shining and when the rain isfalling. The citizens are a happy people.We have our problems, but we are gener-ally a happy people. We have a little crimesituation now but I believe we could getthrough it with the communities comingtogether. It is a lovely country to come tobecause of the happy spirit. Don’t talkabout we Carnival! Everything going goodfor us.
Business in Trinidad is sometimes fastand other times slow and that is why weneed the tourism industry to improve. Weneed the tourists to come to get lovelygood food. I specialise in any creole food.I can do Chinese, Indian curry, Creole,anything. I can also do outside dishes likeMexican chicken and Arabic dishes likeMusaca pie. I can do anything and I do ithere.
At month end when a lot of peoplecome, I do the side dishes. I also do dish-es like crab and dumpling, Tobago dishes,barbeque lamb and others at lunch time.For breakfast we do the local dishes likesalt fish and buljol, smoke herring, fry fishfillet and all these little different things.
We have natural bake that is hand knead-ed and we also have our local bakerybreads that we also sell.
I believe I have a good relationshipwith my customers. Trinidadians like“mamaguy”. They like names like“Darling”, “Lover”, “Baby” and others.They really like you to call them thesenames. You have to have a good relation-ship with your customers because without
them you don’t have a business. So youmust show your customers that side of youand that always keeps them coming. Mybiggest crowd is at lunch time when allkinds of people come from differentoffices. My weekends are a lot slowerbecause I don’t have my usual businesscrowd. I also have other locals but theyare in the minority as compared with thebusiness community.
At one time a customer told me that Icarried her back home. She was an oldlady about 87 years old. She said I carriedher back to when she was a child when hermother got up and made a hot cup of teafor her with a nice coconut bread straightfrom the oven and her salt fish buljol. Shewas a child again.
This gift is definitely going on to mygenerations. My advice to young peopleworking in Trinidad is to stay in your coun-try. Build your country. At least anywhereyou go in the world you’ll know you havesomewhere to come back to. The countryis a welcoming country. So stay, build anddon’t give up! Even though you make mis-takes at times don’t give up because atthe age of 17 I had two kids and I did notgive up. Right now I have six children butI can take care of each and every one ofthem and send them to school. So don’tgive up, never give up cause you canmake it.
FoodServing breakfast, lunch and a bright smile
Ihave always heard about thefamous Gasparee Caves Downthe Islands and for a long time I
really wanted to go. Earlier thisyear, I went by my hairdresser andone of her clients was talking abouthow she and her church grouprecently had a lime down Gasparee.While I was eavesdropping on their
conversation I finally found out howto organise a trip of my own.
The very next day in work atT&TEC I asked a bunch of people ifthey ever heard about or went toGasparee Caves. I also asked a cou-ple of my other friends the samething. I really was just thinking of asmall group, possibly ten people,
Places
Liming in
Gasparee CavesLiming in
Gasparee CavesDown the Islands
16
but that number turned into 23because everyone either brought a sis-ter, brother, cousin, husband or bestfriend. And even though the processof making sure people were going -the collection of money to make downpayments and organising the trip - wastiring, it was definitely worth it. Thegirls organised the food and the boysthe drinks. We had vodka, scotch,orange juice, and soda. We madefried wings, sandwiches and other fin-ger foods. All of this was for a suppos-edly four-hour trip.
On the way to the island everyonewas really anticipating how the placewould be. We were also trying to
imagine what life would be like livingon one the islands we passed. Whenwe arrived we met the tour guide whotook us up to a house where we putdown our bags, coolers and otherstuff. The walk to the house felt neverending. It felt like we were exercisingwhile walking up the hill but thescenery was really nice.
At the house everyone immedi-ately started to eat, drink, talk, laughand really enjoy themselves. AyannaBest thanked everyone for coming,then she presented Shervon Bushellwith a birthday cheese cake, a gift onbehalf of the T&TEC team, and every-one sang the Happy Birthday song. It
Places Liming in Gasparee Caves Down the Islands
was a little surprise we preparedfor him as his birthday was the daybefore.
The tour guide then told us itwas time to go down to the caves.When we heard “caves” we werereally thinking of something smallwith two little bats flying aroundand a shallow pool of water to justput in our feet. Little did we knowthat the cave was going to be thishuge underground amazing place.
Walking down into the cavewas scary at first but when wewere deep inside everyone was like“wow.” The structure really gavethat “horror movie” finish but itwas fascinating to see that our lit-tle country had such an awesomesite. The water inside the cave wascrystal clear where even though itwas about seven to 14 feet deepwe could actually see right down tothe bottom. When the light froman opening on top hit the waters,the reflection on the walls seemedas if there were tiny mirrors justsparkling in different colours.
To show how deep the water
was the tour guide jumped infirst, then Ayanna followed. Like adomino effect everyone joinedthem. The buoyancy of the watereven allowed people who couldn’tswim to come in because theywould always stay afloat. It thenbecame a photo fiesta. Therewere group shots, single shots,shots with husbands and wives,and with best friends. The tourguide gave us some stories of theplace and of other groups thatcame. He was really friendly andin turn we offered him drinks andfood.
After a good while in the caveit was time for us to leave. So weall came out the water, walkedaround to see the rest of the caveand of course took some more pic-tures. We went to the house,changed our clothes and preparedto leave. This trip was definitelyworth it. I would recommendevery Trinbagonian or visitor tomake a visit, especially with good,mad, fun friends like I did.
– C Wilson
PlacesLiming in Gasparee Caves Down the Islands
Places
Tobago family tripTobago family trip
Scenes at Fort King George. Photos by Chantelle Wilson
The Cruickshank family having fun at Fort King George, Tobago
19
Places
When was the last timeyou saw a single placethat caters for possiblyeverything that is fun?
An unplanned visit to the ValenciaNature Centre and Heritage Parkalongside the Valencia Old Road real-ly caught me off guard as I had neverheard of or seen this place before.
When I first stepped onto thepark’s compound everything seemedaverage, but just five minutes afterbeing toured around, boy, did Iencounter some breathtaking sur-prises! I am never one to fall forexaggerated claims, but TrevorAnthony is a person who never makessuch claims, when in fact he hasevery right to do so.
Attractions include horse-backriding, swimming, hiking, waterfalls,river lime, petting farm, equestriancentre, outdoor kitchens, barbecuehuts, basketball, cricket, hopscotch,marbles, cookouts, parties, sports
The ultimate
nAture pArkin Valencia
nAture pArk
20
days, field trips, family reunions, sightsee-ing, and exotic trees and plants. In thedevelopment stage are a pool set, miniatureisland, streamlined watercourse, condo-miniums, hotel, guest rooms, camping andfishing facilities, mini market, plant nurseryand wildlife park, just to name a few. At thebeginning it all sounded pretty extreme, butthe more I walked around and listened toTrevor and his wife Merle talk about theplace, the more I understood just how mucha man on a seemingly impossible mission iscapable of.
Trevor has done mostly everything all byhimself, at least when it comes to seeing hisoutstanding park grow wings of its own. Forover a decade, he has been knocking oncountless doors, public and private institu-tions, yet no one seemed to want to aid himin creating the ultimate nature park. Trevoris no Martin Luther King but he does have adream – though a more typical dream thatinvolves thousands of people putting downtheir electronic devices and enjoying thefresh air and the tropical sun. But this is farfrom the only thing he dreams about.
Being “ultimate” in anything requiresthe sort of zest that world-class profession-als possess – motivation. Trevor plans toutilise all his resources to eventually create
Trinidad and Tobago’s grandest entertain-ment park. He is determined that if no onewants to help him fulfil his dream, then he’lldo it all by himself, and if I must say so, thepictures that I took conveyed a very well-rounded vision.
Imagine, what if you could learn to ridea horse for under US $2 or take a mountainhike for only thrice the price? Or what aboutrenting a well-equipped kitchen near ariverbank with a bunch of friends for aroundUS $80 per day? Not bad, huh? Especiallywhen you consider the park is fully equippedto allow you to do all of this right now.
Kudos to Trevor and Merle Anthony forgiving T&T’s citizens and visitors this luxuri-ous place in Valencia to experience the ulti-mate time of their life. – K Hilaire
The ultimate nature park in ValenciaPlaces
22
