Busy Day...

Wow!!! today was a much busier day than I thought it would be. I woke up at around 11:30 planning to take a nice stroll to get some food and take it easy today. Instead, Kirths friend Brandon came to the house and said “Hey, your comin on the boat with me.” I of course said, “Ok!” So I had one minute to get ready and go. He took me over to his house where he was taking many people on the boat. I still didn’t know exactly where we were going. Brandon has some guest houses and he takes the people staying there boat rides. At his house I met a man named Neills who was from the London, England. We had started talking and apparently he has known Brandon for quite some time. He works for the and airline and he and the rest of the crew are here for the next week or so. Anyways we get down to the pier and we start loading the boat with everything. Multiple coolers, life vests, etc. a whole family of Trini’s. Tons of kids and grandma came too. I was actually assigned to look after her (grandma) bottle of scotch for the ride over. Anyways we are finally in the boat and I find out we are going to a place called “No man’s land.” Sounds safe…. So we pull up on the shore and unload the boat. There really wasn’t much there. Good name for the place. Just sand, trees and a few other small parties of people. It was beautiful and seemed almost untouched. Then the father of the Trini family offered me some scotch. Mind you its about 1:30 in the afternoon. I figure, sure. As he’s pouring I notice that Brandon is leaving…. Ya know… with the boat. For a split second I thought, “So this is why the call in no mans land.” Then I got reassured he was going to pick more people up.
Anyway so I get to talking more to Neills and he was a funny guy. I couldn’t tell if he was gay or just British though. I haven’t met too many Brits. Anyways, we got talking about why I was here and he was intrigued by that because some might think its weird that some white kid would just come down her for 6 weeks to learn steel pan. Anyway, it was nice to talk to Neills because we were comparing the US and the UK and they are very similar compared to Trinidad and Tobago. Our worlds are very fast past, time oriented, and definitely money oriented. Its not here and its nice. But we just talked about how that gives you prospective on life…etc. Anyway, Brandon pulls back up with more people. Polish girl who no lives in Tobago named Maggie. At that time I got into a conversation with the Trini man who offered me the Scotch. He had lived in Trinidad all his life and we talked about why I was here and Carnival. Of course he also offered me some rum with coconut milk and I of course obliged. He then offers me Beef pilaf and I was starving by then so I again kindly said yes. It was great. He put a huge heap on my plate. I got to more talking with Neills more about different culture and politics, lots of stuff. Then, Brandon pulls up with two more people. A young couple from Finland but the man was born in South Africa and lived in Portugal. And it turns out that one of the Trini relatives was from Toronto. I know, it was like a mini UN. But I represented the US as best I could. So I had some more beer haha… because Brandon brought two huge cases with the last trip. Don’t worry I didn’t get drunk. Anyways, Then it was time for another boat ride. He took the children back to the shore and then came back and took the rest of the adults on a slow boat tour along the coast all the way to the airport. Heres, where the huge coolers came in. In them Brandon had fresh pineapples, (delicious), the best watermelon I have ever had and fresh papaya. And of course if you were half way done with a beer, he would offer you another one, persistently. Anyway, great conversations with all of these people learning about their back grounds. I talked to the Trini’s about Calypsonians and they were impressed with my knowledge. On the way back we stopped at a place called Nylon Pool , where it is very shallow all around (about 3-4 ft deep) and the water is really warm and the ground is a fine powder of coral. We all got out and took a dip, had some drinks, chips, and great conversation. Talking with Neills, we were still talking about culture and everything very interesting stuff, he also confirmed my notion that he was gay and I’m glad because he felt comfortable enough to tell me and he knew I wasn’t. But of course that sparked another conversation about people being ignorant, etc. He was a very funny man, very intelligent humor. Anyway, great conversation all around. We started heading back to the pier, we unloaded and got back to Brandon’s house. There the Trini family staying there, offered everyone Sausage Bake. I really didn’t know what it was going to be but I haven’t disliked anything I’ve eaten here yet. Plus, I like sausage and bake sounds good too. I found out the Bake is actually the name of the bread and they fill it with what ever meat they are cooking. It was great, I had seconds, of course because they offered. Anyway by that time Kirth had come to pick me up so then we walked back to get ready for rehearsal. It was pretty late so I had to hustle.