Trini Trivia

Every place we visit has some unique superlative to tout and surprisingly, Trinidad has more than most. I enjoy discovering these unique aspects, as well as the obscure trivia. They're always eye-openers. First of all, this two-island country is formally named the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). In a nutshell, Christoper Columbus was the first European to discover the island in 1498 and named it "La Isla de la Trinidad" ("The Island of the Trinity"). It was ruled by the Spanish till the Brits took over in 1797. Tobago, Trinidad's laid-back sister island, was ceded to the Brits in 1802. T & T became independent in 1962 and a republic in 1976.

An interesting tidbit … T&T is the third richest country by GDP per capita in all the Americas, second only to the USA and Canada. Its wealth is primarily attributed to their petroleum/petrochemical industry and their large reserves of oil and natural gas.

Now for some trivia and uniquities. Both the calypso and the limbo are dances native to Trinidad. Calypso “traces its rhythms to West African Kaiso and the arrival of French planters and their slaves from the the French Antilles in the 18th century.” Limbo, on the other hand, originated as an event that took place at wakes in T & T, signifying a soul passing into the spirit world. Though it's been around since the 1800's, it only gained popularity in the 1950s. “The world record for lowest limbo dance is held by Shemika Charles, an 18-year-old Trinidadian woman who lived in New York. On 16 September 2010 she successfully danced under a bar only 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) above the ground.

The current dance trend in T&T is soca, considered “the heart of calypso”, but still a different dance/music genre and originating right here.

Steel pan drums, the only new acoustic instrument to be invented and accepted worldwide in the 20th century, originated in Trinidad and Tobago. Want to listen to a little pan music?

Janelle "Penny" Commissiong, Miss Trinidad in 1977, was the first black Miss Universe.

The Pitch Lake in South Trinidad is the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world.

Queen's Park Savannah, a park in Trinidad's capital city, Port of Spain, is the city's largest open space and also the world's largest traffic rotary/roundabout and we've driven around it. There is some competition, however, by the folks of Putrajaya, Malaysia who claim the same superlative.

Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is internationally ranked as one of the top ten Carnival celebrations in the world.

According to a CNN report, Trinidadians are among the happiest people in the world AND have one of the sexiest accents. You've gotta be here to appreciate how true this is.

Trinidad's beaches are considered the world's densest nesting area for the biggest of all living sea turtles, the leatherback.

The Guinness Book of Records ranked Moruga ‘Scorpion’ Pepper as the world's hottest pepper in 2012. A single scorpion pepper packs the heat of 400 jalapeños. The Scorpion was dethroned in 2013, however, by the Carolina Reaper. Hot stuff!

Folks from T&T sometimes refer to themselves as Trinbagonians!

Working on Island Time

The Urban Dictionary defines island time as “the time vacuum created by the ocean's presence. Similar to stoner's time, everything moves nice and slow. This carefree aura even has the ability to travel with islanders and can engulf you in their presence.” Perhaps it's being surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and seeing palm trees sway lazily in the breeze or perhaps it's the hot, humid, sultry weather that sucks the energy out of you that accounts for the laid-back attitude and slow way of life here. Things don't happen quickly in Trinidad. We're definitely working on island time here.

People never rush. When they walk, they saunter or amble. There's no swift pace involved … no running. Even the traffic moves slowly … many times at a crawl for no apparent reason … but you rarely see road rage or angry faces on the drivers. So what … traffic is moving slowly … oh, well … we'll get there eventually. The cause of the traffic jam could be a huge pothole in the road or a broken-down bus or just as likely two cars heading in opposite directions stopped on the two lane road for a quick chat. Schedules and appointments are more of a suggestion than they are an actual timetable to which folks adhere.

In a country that has 17 national holidays (that's more than three business weeks of holidays – and that's not counting Carnaval), it's easy to understand the slow pace and delays, but it's especially difficult to deal with if you're relying on people to get projects completed “on time”, because “on time” has little meaning here. Things get done when they get done.

For cruisers, this is a frustrating issue. There seems to be no urgency about anything and, of course, for us everything is urgent. We want to get done and get back in the water. Case in point is David has been waiting for tradesmen to show up for estimates and project work. “I'll be there in an hour or so”, they tell him. The critical words “or so” mean perhaps sometime in the future. It's kind of like “just now” in South Africa. When they haven't shown up after a couple of hours and David calls, they promise “anytime now” which means sometime later in the day. We haven't figured out the American English equivalent for “now” which actually means “NOW!” We're not sure that word exists.

As a result, it's impossible to schedule more than one task a day and sometimes even the one doesn't get accomplished. Work on Nine of Cups is progressing more slowly than we'd hoped. Several projects, like pulling the prop shaft and removing the old sea cock from the engine through-hull, require more specialized tools than we have aboard. (I have trouble imagining a tool that David does not have). Since one task or project relies on another to be finished before starting a new one, we find ourselves getting “behinder and behinder”. The calendar days are quickly being eaten up and May 1st, our anticipated departure day, will be here before we know it.

Perhaps it's time to consider putting Plan B down on paper?

A New Way of Looking at Things

I think if I had to find a quote describing what it's like living and traveling on a sailboat, Henry Miller's quote would certainly apply. I remember visiting Key West for the first time by car and not enjoying it very much. We'd flown into Miami, rented a car, got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours along Route 1 South and then had to deal with shoulder-to-shoulder tourists in the Conch Republic aka Key West. It was neither fun nor enjoyable and I had no intentions of returning. My mind was made up. Then we sailed into Key West aboard Nine of Cups and I saw the port and the town and the getting there in a whole new light. I absolutely adored it.

And so it is with many things in life. You hear about places. You read about things. You watch videos. You form an opinion … and then you go there yourself. As with my first visit to Key West, it seems the way you arrive and the process of getting there, colors your first impressions. If you're only there for a short time, it's hard to get a true feel for what you're looking at. You can't get rid of your preconceived notions and first impressions. You have no time to poke into the alleys and corners to discover what's really there.

The sailing/cruising experience does more than get you from one place to another. It allows you to immerse yourself in a new town … or a new country or a new culture. It allows you to appreciate the sameness in people and celebrate the differences. It allows you to look at people and places and things in a whole new light. It's not just the destination that becomes important … it's what you experience along the way and while you're there. It's how you grow.

What's more, when you return to a place you've seen a thousand times before, it lets you look at it differently because of what you've experienced. That's what travel does for you. It opens up your mind. It lets you soak up experiences and feelings you'd never truly considered. It teaches you tolerance and understanding and patience and self-reliance. It lets you expand and learn till you think you've seen it all and then you look … and it's all changed and you're looking at it for the first time again.

There's so much world out there and so little time. And you sometimes ask why we live this lifestyle? That's why.