We woke up to the cutest breakfast that was provided to us by Anna, and set off to Asa Wright Nature Center to do a bird watching tour. By now, we were experts in travelling in Trinidad. We walked over to Independence Square, got on a Maxi to Arima and got off at the “dial”, just like Anna told us. It was raining pretty bad, so we ran from one awning to another until we found the right street corner from which taxis were supposed go in the right direction. A random guy stopped for us and agreed to take us all the way to Asa Wright. He was not a taxi driver, but throughout the drive he waved at almost everybody we passed. He said he had a large family and it’s spread all over the area.
We arrived just in time for lunch. It wasn’t bad. Then we sat on the porch and watched the birds. So many birds! Most of them were hummingbirds, and some would come to eat at the feeding stations that are placed right in front of the porch. We also saw some Tegu lizards, which are big, iguana-like black and yellow lizards, and some agouti, which look like rats, but are as big as a small dog.
We got a tour from a young woman with no charisma, along with another couple who turned out to also live in San Francisco. They were young, both from Indian descent, and they were on their honeymoon trip.
The tour was nice. We saw very few birds, but did get to see some interesting plants. The other couple offered us to hang out with them for the new year’s eve celebrations. They told us where they were planning to get drinks, and we said we’re going to try to make it.
Before leaving, I saw a bird on the road that seemed to be dead, and my reaction, as expected, was to start screaming. “It’s not dead,” said a staff member and picked the bird up. It was alive. The man put it my hands. “It’s so cute! Can I keep it?”
- “No sir, I’m afraid you can’t.”
- “Oh, o.k, can eat it then?” I pushed their lack of sense of humor even further.
The front desk arranged for someone from the staff to take us back to Arima. This time we made sure we knew how much we’re going to pay. The driver was extremely nice. He was saving money to go on a trip the US for birdwatching. He also lived in that area his entire life, and obviously knew the guy who picked us up earlier.
From Arima we took a bus back to Port of Spain. This was actually the only time we took a bus in Trinidad. It’s basically a bigger van. The bus dropped us off near Independence Square in Port of Spain, and from there we walked through the market back to our guest house. We saw some people eating some sort of a fried thing, and we tried to locate the origin of it, but failed. Instead, we bought Julia some pretty funky shoes.
After resting for a while, we set off to Ariapita street to get some food. We looked for doubles, which is another street food that we missed. We got them at a small cart, and they are amazing: they’re mostly curried chick-peas, topped with a bunch of stuff like tamarind sauce. The whole thing rests between two pieces of small flat bread called bara and served in a paper bag. It’s messy and delicious. We were still hungry, but because it was new year’s eve, most restaurants were closed.
Except for that Chinese restaurant that we ate in on our first night in Trinidad. The staff remembered us, and before we left the manager, the same lady who talked to us last time, engaged in conversation. This time Julia was more willing to participate, which was good, because I didn’t understand a thing. When the lady finally addressed me in Chinese, I responded with “wo de zhong wen bu hao” which means “my Chinese is not good”. Funny enough, it turns out she actually asked if I was learning just Mandarin or Cantonese as well, so it inadvertently seemed to her that I was answering her question. “If you can have a conversation in this level, then your Mandarin is pretty good!” she responded, as Julia translated for me later.
We went on to meet the honeymoon couple at the bar. We had a pretty good time, although I registered some awkward moments. Specifically, when we told them about our experiences in Paris, we mentioned how I got pickpocketed the day Julia left to go back to the states. “So I jumped out of the subway car, and I thought to myself that I would never find the guy. Everybody in the subway station was a black man with a beard and black leather jacket, just like the guy who robbed me!” I could see the guy slightly tightening his grip on his wife’s knee. I suppose that might have come off as somewhat racist, and them being an Indian couple, it might have rubbed them the wrong way. Also, this was Trinidad, where people are black, so maybe they were embarrassed. To my defense I will say that I am a Jew, my fiancée is Asian and everybody in that subway stop was, in fact, black. By the way, if you’ve never heard that Paris story before, I was about to give up and join Julia back at the subway car, when I spotted the robber hiding in the car behind us. I ran to him, he threw the wallet on the floor, I pick it up, and ran back to Julia, who already unloaded her luggage from the car. We quickly picked up the luggage and returned to the car where all the other passengers applauded us. Indeed, we’ll always have Paris.
We went back to the guest house relatively early, since we had to get up in the middle of the night to catch our plane. A taxi driver that Anna arranged for us came to pick us up. He was extremely nice. He told us we should come back for Carnival, but expressed some reservations, as Carnival, according to him, can be challenging for a relationship. We left the keys and the phone with him, as Anna asked us to do, and got dropped off at the airport, where we started the journey home.
In retrospect, I should have blogged this trip in real time, when the events were fresh in my mind and the trains of thought more relevant. I’m sure it would have been better if I did, and I promise to try to do it the next time I’m a
Person
On
The
Roaaaaad!!
(tun, tun, tuuuuuuun!)
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