Fort Charles from the Beach

Fort Charles

In the grounds of the hotel were the remains of an old fort together with the cannons. Where it was built you could see for miles out to sea. I doubt that any ships tried to invade the island they would have been seen well before they reached shore.

Colonial Building

This was another lovely old colonial building in Bridgetown.

Bridge town the capital of Barbados

I took the taxi with Doug one morning, dropped him of at the bank and set of to explore Bridgetown the capital of Barbados. You can see the very British influence in the city. The buildings are very grand and colonial, although you know you are in the Caribbean.

The people of Barbados are always happy and smiling and very welcoming, I spent the morning people watching, checking out some of the shops and did a little shopping. I bought a Christmas gift while I was there, and also something special for Colleen.

I met Doug for lunch and then got a taxi back to our hotel, I was exhausted, as well as the heat I had done a lot of walking. I just had to relax by the pool with a book and a drink.

Caribbean Sea

Another view from our balcony

View from Hotel Room

I spent so much time enjoying myself in Barbados, that I have only just got around to downloading some photos. We had a wonderful view from our balcony overlooking the pools and the beach and of course the Caribbean Sea. The sand was white and warm on our last morning there Doug and I were in the sea about 7am we were the only people there except for the occasional crab on the beach.

I am on the beach in Barbados

Doug had to come to Barbados for some meettings so I tagged along. What I have seen so far is beautiful. We are staying at the Hilton right on the beach in St Michaels.

I am spending the day around the pool and on the beach I have a good book to read and am going to peple watch and soak up the atmosphere. The sand is white the sky is blue and the Caribbean sea is turquoise.

Absolutely beautiful will post some pictures later.

Went to the market

Everyone has been telling us about the fruit and vegetable market which you have to experience. We were advised to get there early. The area is full of everybody and anybody selling Fruit & Veg from ther vehicles, from a small table or even on the ground. We are not sure if you have to be licensed to sell at the market or you just turn up and hope for the best.

It was very interesting we saw lots of vegetables that we did not know and were not brave enough to buy to sample, although we did buy tomatoes and some very interesting beans which were very tasty we had a good time taking in the atmosphere.

As well as Fruit and Vegetable there are other stalls selling meat products and salted fish. We took this photograph of this very happy vendor selling his Pig Snouts, Pig Tails and other Pig parts that we couldn't decide what they were.

I now have a Trinidad drivers license

But what an experience to obtain it. I had to get up early and go to work with Doug to get a driver to take us to the Licensing Department, we arrived at the department by 7.30 am. Already there was a long line up at the door that does not open until 8:00 am. This should have been a good indicator that the process was not going to be easy.

Firstly we had to go have some photographs taken so after taking our lives into our hands by crossing a very very busy 4 lane highway (this is the main road in and out of Port of Spain and of course it was rush hour) we arrived at a very dismal looking building and climbed the stairs to have our photos taken. $80 TT dollars later we were both the proud owners of 4 questionable photos each (we only need 2 for the license). We risked life and limb to cross the road again.

We followed our driver's instructions and went to the appropriate line up, when it was our turn we were told that we should have made an appointment to take the test. All is not lost as our driver Anthony made a quick phone call on his cell phone and like magic we were processed - apparently he knows the person in charge. We were eventually ushered into a room, not unlike a school room with small desks, and were told to take a pencil.

The written test began, the first part was multiple choice - no problem I know I got 100%. On to part two where it told you you were only allowed 1 incorrect answer - these were all questions regarding hand signals with true or false answers. HAND SIGNALS.........no one told us about these, in Canada we do not use or are tested on hand signals. I was desperately thinking back to the UK driving test and trying to rack my brain for the answers, I know I failed this part miserably. Third part was road signs and you were allowed two incorrect answers. Pretty easy, and I was quite confident with my answers. We finishd and then had to wait for the test to be processed. Meanwhile our Canadian colleagues who were taking the test asked what the heck are hand signals? They had no idea, and everyone of us agreed we had failed. Our driver asked how it went and we explained, he said "weren't you given a list of the hand signals beforehand"? There were quite a few open mouths at this stage. Once again the trusty Anthony called his friend and told us everything was Ok and don't ask.

So we waited probably 1 1/2 hours or more before obtaining a pass, we then had to go to another building and line up to pay our fee at the cashiers office - there were probably 30 people ahead of us and one cashier open. Another hour later we had paid out $535 TT each and then had to go to another building to have a photo taken for the license (the two spare ones couldn't be used. It was now approximately 11:00 am and we had to wait until our names are called. The waiting room had standing room only, and as you can imagine, we waited a long time before we were called. We then had to go through a very strange process, plus photographs, and at approximately 12: 30 pm and $1150 TT lighter we were the proud owners of a Trinidad Drivers License.

Missing Stefanie

Stefanie went home yesterday, I have really enjoyed her company this last 10 days. We have eaten too much and drunk too much wine but I think she also enjoyed her visit.

We managed to get to the Trinidad Zoo which is very small compared to the North American Zoos especially Toronto. However one advantage is that you can get a lot closer to the animals, the day we were there a group of children were visiting so we tagged onto the end of their tour with the Zoo Keeper.

We did get back to Maracas beach on Saturday, there was hardly anyone on the beach as most people in Trinidad work on Saturdays and head to the beach on Sundays. The Carribean Sea was warm when you went in, very beautiful. We spent all morning there, I can't wait until we go to Tobago which is the more picturesque of the two islands.

Doug is in St Lucia for a couple of days it is a bit lonely being on my own as I am not used to it so I can't wait for him to get back. I think he has another trip planned at the end of August to Grenad I think so I may tag along with him.

Today I am catching up with laundry and ironing.....yes you still have to do it in the tropics.

I bought a local cookery book and am hoping to work my way through it, I don't think Doug will like the Pig Tals and the Cow Foot Soup.

Needed one of these

Carib is the local beer and we sure needed one of these after our experience clearing our items through T&T customs. Not a computer in sight, but they do have a lot of carbon paper, the customs officer spent more time making sure the carbon paper was straight in the four part document we had to sign. We arrived at the bonded wharehouse at 8:15 am and left arround 12:30pm - frustrating, but welcome to island life.

On a more positive note, all the boxes are unpacked and the appartment is begining to look a little more like a home.

We have arrived!!

We have arrived in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Although it is the rainy season, it is very hot. Doug has started his new job with RBTT which has already taken him to St. Maarten for a week, and next week he is off to St. Lucia.

Stefanie arrived last Thursday for a 10 day visit, and brought me some things I was missing from home! We did get good news today, our Air Freight has arrived and after I have cleared it at customs tomorrow, will be delivered to our new home...it will feel like Christmas unpacking all the boxes, and I can't wait to have familiar things around.

Although being so close to the Equator the sun sets much earlier than Canada, the sunsets are breathtaking, as seen in this picture taken from our balcony overlooking the Gulf of Paria.