Pigeon Point and Bucco Reef

Our Buccoo Reef tour guide getting the conk out of the conk shell so we could eat it! It was chewy, but tasty. After the reef we went to a place to harvest the conks...we found two and got to keep the shells!

The money shot: Pigeon Point at sunset :)

Pigeon Point

We went on a glass bottom boat tour to Buccoo Reef and got to snorkel as well...here is some of the reef through the glass!

Pigeon Point

This is my favorite beach. I hope this entices you to come visit me so I have more excuses to go back! The bottom picture is just me on the ferry ride over to Tobago at sunrise. (Its about 2-2.5 hour ride over and if you take Gravel, you can just sleep right through it and not get seasick!).

A Hindu Wedding

Just before thanksgiving, my friend Giorgio invited me to his distant cousin's Hindu wedding (he thought it would be something a tourist might like to see haha). Leading up to it though, he kept complaining how long and boring it was going to be and did i just want to go to the reception. I went by his family's house before the wedding and they were all saying the same thing, but I wanted to see it. So the service was really only 2 hours (maybe 2.5), so I don't know what everyone was complaining about (they were making it seem like hours and hours). It was really a shame because throughout the service people were chatting and walking in and out...no one seemed really interested in what was going on. Lucky for me, they had an MC explaining everything that was going on, but he also kept emphasizing (to the point where it was like a demand) that the family has provided refreshments and that we should leave the service and eat them because the service is going to be awhile (again, it was only 2 hours long!). Between the service and the reception we picked up his aunt (who hadn't gone to the service). The reception was honestly just how I would imagine an Indian wedding reception...except they never pulled the chairs away to dance (Giorgio kept complaining about that and about how it was the worst reception he's ever been to...people can be harsh!). I still had a good time and ate some good food.

Giorgio and his cutest little first cousin when we left the ceremony to eat the refreshments.

the traditional dancer.

The tranny traditional dancer (i.e. and man dressed up as a woman)

I forget what they call these drummers but they only played to introduce the bride and groom when the left the temple and when they arrived at the reception and for this lil performance. The rest of the reception was just music on the loud speakers.

The bride and groom and their parents! (Yes they changed into more modern wedding attire for the reception)

Some gooooood Indian food at the reception...no meat...no plates...no utensils...but sooooo goood. Its Buss up shut roti (the crumbly bread) that you use to pick up the cassava and potatoes, mangos, and other concoctions.

After the bride moves to his left side, the family comes up and throws rice at the newlyweds (sound familiar?). This is the ceremony to pray that they are prosperous.

Inside the temple...at the end of the aisle

The bride walking down the aisle with the mother! This is after she did a little preperation ceremony without the groom. Then she left and the groom did his preperation ceremony. Then she came down the aisle and stood on the groom's left side and then a ceremony to move to his left side.

Lynneil's Birthday Lime

My rell good friend Lynneil turned 21 on Nov. 18 and this was her lime. We had planned on going to Ruby Tuesdays (yes they have those here), but the lime was so big and Trini's are so late, Ruby Tuesdays couldn't sit us together and then closed the kitchen on us. So we migrated to JMalone's and had a fabulous photo shoot in front of the Christmas Tree. The bottom picture is from left: Lynneil, Rashida, Me, and Martina. The next picture up is a guy feeding Lynneil her cake. The Trini birthday tradition is like at a wedding where a member of the opposite sex cuts the cake with you and then feeds you your cake. The next pic is just some of the gals and the top is most of the birthday table.

Calypso concert celebrating UWI's 60th Anniversary

Here are some pictures from the Calypso concert. The second performer up is Caesar and he was actually my tour guide during the two Orientations I went to which both went to Port of Spain. He was relll good. Above him, check out that guys hair!! The top one and the last performer, Black Stalin (who I didn't get a picture of b/c my battery died) I gathered were really popular Calypsonians as people were singin along and dancin!

Las Cuevas

Here are the two 'caves' that Las Cuevas is named for. In front of these caves is what I like to call Trinidad's 'Lone Cypress' even though it is not a Cypress tree, but it just looks so much like that image of the Lone Cypress on the 17-mile drive in NoCal that I saw this summer. I also found this sign to be quite hilarious and random 'Stay Clear of Portuguese Man-O-War! The top picture is of the crowd. Martina (my apartmentmate), Tara (another Fulbrighter), and I hitched a ride on the Dartmouth van...what can I say? I am still in college! ;)

Hilary's Birthday Lime!

So I went to my friend, Hilary's, birthday lime. We played mafia (hence the circle). I do not recommend playin mafia w/ Trinis because they can't stop talkin! So when the 'murderer' is doing the killing and the 'doctor' is doing the saving with all of our eyes shut, everyone kept talking, which you could then tell weren't the murderer..sheesh. it was madness! The next one up is the birthday girl and then a picture of the girls and then the girls in blue!

Our Halloween Costume Lime!

Here is just a taste of Martina, Chad, and my Halloween costume lime. The bottom 2 are just me and the roomies (Reena lives downstairs)! Our lime had a limbo (which my friend Giorgio is failing at), a congo line, and of course lots of dancing (come on people, its me we're talking about here). I was obviously a cowgirl, Marina was an 80s workout instructor, there were some hippies, and a lot of school girls, but winner of the night was Giorgio's costume of an elf (he builds his own costumes!).