Emily goes to TnT: March 2009

Jazz Artists on the Greens

For Martina's last night we went to Jazz Artists on the Greens to see our friend Shirlin's wife, Vaughnette Bigford, perform and our friend Jabari's band, Blue Culture, perform.

JABARI! (he's the bassist)and his band, Blue Culture

Vaughnette

Martina and Mikyes on the green.

Soca Warriors vs Honduras Football match

For Martina's last Saturday, we went to this football match...a World Cup Qualifier. We didn't score until the last 2 minutes of the game, which put everyone on a high, until we realized we only tied. Trinidad is going to have to work especially hard against harder competitors in the coming weeks if they want to make it to South Africa!! Afterwards, we went to lime at sports bar in Movie Towne called Zanzibar.

Me and Martina bein gangsta

Me, Mikyes, and Martina!

Me being gangsta with Shirlin and Mikyes.

Me and Kevon

Martina and Mikyes at the game.

The huge Trini flag and the match.

Mikyes under the flag!

Me under the flag..kinda blurry

Me and my mini-trini flag

Fans

Me and the cake I made for the small pre-game lime.

Waterloo Temple In the Sea

On another day, we were looking for something else to do and we decided to go down to Central and try to see the Waterloo Temple in the Sea. Little did we know that a gas truck would tip on the highway, thus closing it and P cars would be protesting on the back roads (private cars who drive like Hired cars..the police are cracking down on them). It took waaaay too long to get there, but thankfully our maxi driver was nice and drove us all the way so we wouldn't have to change maxis anymore.
After the long drive, the temple itself was highly anticlimactic. It was tiny and didn't even have seating or an alter...just 5 gods statues to worship. The story behind the temple is that this guy Sewdass Sadhu worked relentlessly trying to build a temple but was kicked off the land b/c he tried to build on Caroni Swamp (a national park). So, he decided to build one on the sea b/c no one can claim the sea like land. He tried to build a temp by hauling one slab at a time by bike, but the waters kept washing his work away. In 1995, the gov't took over as an Unemployment Relief project...but all that and it really isn't that spectacular in my opinion.

Statue memorial for Sewdass Sadhu

Hindu flags

Some statues 'protecting' the temple. Obviously tide is quite low.

Inside the temple...the 5 god statues

More inside.

Place of cremation (a funeral just started as we were leaving).

Rain in the distance.

Another statue 'protecting' the temple

More Hindu flags.

Waterloo Temple in the Sea

Vishnu along the walk way to the temple

Prom pose by the temple...see how small it is.

Maxi ride there.

Some central, rural scenery.

Hike to Maracas Falls

The day after my birthday (on which I went Kayaking in Chaguaramas Bay again), Mikyes, Martina, and I were looking for something to do. We figured out how to get to Maracas Falls (which was really quite simple and we don't know why we didn't do it before)! This is the tallest waterfall in Trinidad and becomes a mist during the dry season. There isn't much of a pool and no place to jump, but it was fun climbing through the rocks and standing under the waterfall...which was breath taking.

Pretty on the trail.

Mikyes and Martina under the waterfall..with a rainbow

Me under the waterfall with a rainbow.

The falls.

Martina, me, and Mikyes during the hike.

The hike had a lot of Orisha remnants...the trail must be used to some sort of worship with candles and orisha flags (despite signs that candles are forbidden). Orisha is a reinvention of the Yoruba (indigenous African) religion in Trinidad.

Orisha flag.

Mikyes and Martina at a smaller waterfall along the trail.

Martina and I in the smaller waterfall

Me and Martina on the trail.

Me, Martina, and Mikyes at the start of the trail

My 23rd Birthday lime

Unfortunately, I didn't have too many pictures. But here are a few from my 23rd birthday lime.

Me and Rashida!

Sean, my Caroni friend, and me. He made some delicious Fish broth!!

Whitney, me, and Martina....and the tasty fish broth!

Danielle's 24th Birthday at 51 degress!

So, the day before my birthday lime was my friend, Danielle's, birthday lime. Me, Martina, and Martina's boyfriend, Mikyes, went to the lime :)

Some of the group: Mikyes, Mikey, Martina, Richard (Chynee), Shari, Gabey, Lynneil, and me

Mikey, Danielle (the birthday girl), and Nikita

Mikyes and Martina :)

Lynneil and me :)

Hike to Mermaid Pools

The next weekend after my friends left there was another hike to Mermaid Pools...so named because the pools are soo deep, mermaids must live there. The water was a pretty aqua color too. There was no waterfalls, but a nice rock to jump off.