On March 9th, we set off for Trinidad. We had a quick layover in Miami and then took off for Trinidad. When we arrived at the airport, we of course were the last to get into the line for customs, so we waited a while to go through customs and get our bags afterwards. After the usual airport drama was sorted, we were picked up by a driver who drove us to Samise Villa. Samise Villa was like a bed and breakfast where the owner was very kind and lived upstairs. She had pizza ready for us to eat as we were all very tired and hungry from a long day of travel. The pizza was amazing, better than back home. It was meat lovers and definitely hit the spot. We all sat outside on the outdoor patio, already feeling the heat and humidity that we would be facing every day. It was a lovely outdoor patio with plants galore and a tent overhead to block the sunlight during the day. She made us breakfast in the morning before we set off for Nature Seekers.
We drove to Nature Seekers on the 10th, stopping to get some TT’s in exchange for American dollars on the way. This would be essential as Nature Seekers was located in a rural area of Matura, where physical money was essential for purchases. When we arrived at Nature Seekers, I quickly realized how immersed we would be in their organization. We spoke with the Managing Director, Suzan Lakhan, and learned the history of Nature Seekers and what they do as an organization. I learned so much about turtles in this presentation and we ended up having a nice conversation with lots of questions. We were all hungry from the long drive, so they served us lunch after we finished our discussion. We quickly learned the amazing flavors of Trinidad, where we would have home cooked meals for all of our meals at Nature Seekers. Food was served buffet style at every meal with at least five different components. There was always a juice which changed every meal. The food alone was such an amazing part of our trip as we knew we would never be able to taste every unique flavor back in the states. After I wasn’t hangry anymore and very full, we headed over to Nature Seekers office next-door. When we walked in the door there was a life size leatherback turtle on the floor. We started learning the ins and outs of turtle tagging which we would be doing later that evening. There was a lot of information to be learned and now we all know how to tag a turtle. We learned when and how to approach the turtles, how to measure them, how to know what stage of the nesting they were at, and how to tag the flippers or shoulder. I was amazed during this whole time as I had no idea we would actually be tagging the turtles, I assumed before we were in country we would just be watching. We all got very excited for the night ahead of us. We had another amazing meal for dinner and got ready for turtle tagging at Nature Seeker’s private beach. We got to the beach and started walking along with a red light as this is a turtle friendly color. Only once the turtle had stopped digging where she would lay her eggs is when she would go into a trance, and we could turn white lights on. We encountered two leatherback turtles that night. I got to tag the left flipper of the first turtle we encountered. We would see the tracks near the water and follow them to find her in the sand. They are over 2000 pounds, so they are easy to spot. This whole process was so fascinating to learn about and experience. We worked as a team to record all the necessary information about the turtles, and it was so much fun doing it. This was one of the most awesome opportunities I have ever had and will never forget this night of turtle tagging in Trinidad! We headed back at 12:30AM and fell asleep as the Nature Seekers people would stay out until 3AM. 7PM-3AM every night from March to September. Crazy! But they love what they do and helping converse the turtle population.
We woke up the next day to explore the beautiful and hot nature of Trinidad. We were dropped off at a kayak spot where we kayaked on a local river. We eventually had to go on foot to the rest of the way to make it to our final destination of the pool. Going on foot meant walking in the river, over rocks, under logs, and holding our bags up high out of the water. This was so fun for all of us to venture our way together to the pool. We reached the pool, and it was so beautiful. There was rocks and greenery surrounding us. We swam and chatted with our guide who took of there. He had a great sense of humor, and we learned a lot of niche fun facts about Trinidad. We hiked our way back, and then kayaked back to the shore. By the time we came back to shore we were exhausted and ready for lunch. After lunch we made jewelry. This was so much fun. We learned that Nature Seekers collects trash from their beach and melts down the glass and makes them into beads. I melted some glass down and so did Ben. We used the beads of numerous colors in our bracelets. We learned the special style of “shambala” and used this around the beads to make the bracelet. My threading was purple with green beads that probably came from Heineken bottles. Trash to cash was their motto. I love this idea of repurposing trash into beautiful pieces of art. Another wonderful meal and we relaxed for the night as it was a long day outside in the heat.
The next morning, we woke up ventured out and did it again because Trinidad’s nature is so beautiful. We hiked to the notorious Mermaid pool and saw large termite nests in the trees on the way. Who knew? We learned about the different species of trees, some that were not native to the land which are not doing well. But we finally reached the Mermaid pool which was huge and deep enough to swim down into. There were rocks to sit on while your feet were still in the water. It was really relaxing and fun for the group. I tried to take a bunch of pictures for people. We got back, washed off, and enjoyed another nice meal. We got to work on our project deliverables with our point of contact at Nature Seekers. We were able to show her the inventory system and our marketing posts. She was really impressed, and we were able to get constructive feedback to fully accommodate the needs of Nature Seekers. This was a valuable time for us as a group to talk with her and understand what we needed to do moving forward. I felt very confident in our abilities as a group and was excited to hear her feedback to improve our deliverables to meet their business’s wants and needs. We tried “Donut Boys” that had the same look as Dunkin Donuts, but better. We then went on a tangent talking about food in both countries and she said she really wanted to try Krispy Cream donuts which I thought was funny. After we were done showing our deliverables in progress and receiving feedback, we had the chance to input the data we collected tagging turtles from the other night which was nice to see that full circle. After learning more about their business, we tried a local homemade ice cream shop. The best ice cream I’ve ever tasted. And if you know me, which you do because you’re reading this right now, you know I love ice cream! Ginger coconut, it was amazing, I thought about my Mom and knew she would be jealous. We paid with TT’s which are way more beautiful than American dollars. Lots of food today because then we had dinner after relaxing. I think I took a nap every day because of the heat and activities we do. I appreciated the time in our schedule to do this because the heat took a lot out of me. We sat down together and reflected on our experience so far which was nice to hear what others had to say. We talked with one of our guides at night too because he was sitting outside, as do others constantly.
We woke up to pink pancakes, among other foods, with grapefruit juice which was awesome. I continued working on this blog post before we headed over to the Nature Seekers office again for making packages of food that we distributed later into the community. It was rice, mackerel, and lentils. I had no idea what mackerel was but now I do. We gave them to local families who would benefit from them. This was a vital time to see the communities of Matura as we had not seen them before. Nature seekers was located on a local road, but there is no “heart of town,” just homes and places off the main roads. We came back for lunch and relaxed until heading back to Port of Spain where we arrived at Samise Villa once again. We saw an MSC, Mediterranean Shipping Company, shipping container on the way back which Ben and I toured when we went to Cyprus together for Plus3 2023. We walked to the local supermarket and got some snacks. Just about everyone will say something to you as we walk by. We quickly learned this as a local woman had said “It is nice to say good evening to people.” We had no idea it would be offensive to not say good evening, so we immediately started saying it. On the way back we said good evening to the woman. This was a bit awkward, but we learned something and did better. On the way back we got some ice cream, yummy, but Matura’s was better! Then we settled in for the night and enjoyed a fun game of Uno Flip.
We awoke the next morning for what would be a big day ahead of us. We got in the “MaxiTaxi” and took a long tour of the Port of Spain, seeing numerous attractions along the way. We stopped at a local flower show where people can go to get flowers. Then we headed to the zoo and saw the botanical gardens in front of the president’s house. Then we toured an old colonial building called Mille Fleurs. The woodwork was beautiful. There was so much character in the house and overlooked the savannah area where people can go and play games or whatever they want to do. This style of house is not everywhere in Trinidad, so it was nice to tour it as it is one of many large, beautiful houses on the island. We learned a lot of history about the house. After the tour of the house, we travelled up 21000 feet to the third largest point in Trinidad to the top of a mountain. The road was very steep and had an insane drop off. The views were breathtaking and gave such a nice view of the city and landscapes. We ate lunch up on the mountain. It was the most amazing site I have ever seen. We took lots of pictures, it is the picture I have as my featured photo of this post. So beautiful. Then we went to a local church and a bat cave on the literal side of the mountain. The hike down to the bat cave was so steep and we were surrounded by chives. Paramin produces 70% of spices for grocery stores. It is an agricultural village and at one photo spot we got the opportunity to see their house. They had a roof over one structure that could slide on track off of the structure to let the sun in. This was so fascinating as I had never seen this before. The airflow could flow through the top. Along with the awesome roof structure, they also had an area for cooking where they had embers and coconuts mixed together for fires to cook as it served as a stove. They also had a wood burning oven for baking. Keep in mind it was handmade. They were very welcoming to us which is something we learned about Trinis. We ventured back to Samise Villa still full from the amazing lunch where we rested until dinner.
We awoke the next morning and didn’t have any idea what would in store for us at Fondes Amandes. We thought we would be doing manual labor so we were mentally prepared for it to be a long day. Turns out, we didn’t have to do this but instead we arrived to lots of music and lots of local school field trips and people from other Caribbean islands. There was a lot going on for a while and we waited to see what we would be doing. In the midst of waiting, a parter of Fondes Amandes was performing music, but they were just having fun and this wasn’t planned. This just shows the joy of music that they wanted to play and sing for themselves. Everyone was enjoying the music. We then hiked through Fondes Amandes’ forest. Fondes Amandes is a nonprofit focused on reforestation and protecting the land. It was dry season when we travelled to Trinidad, and we witnessed numerous bush fires. We learned at Fondes Amandes that Trinidad’s fire control only responds to calls if they are near homes or people. Natural bush fires are destroying the land and when they occur in the forest the Trinidad’s fire control wont respond. Fondes Amandes is the one responding to these fires. We learned their general fire procedure. They spray outside of the fire to prevent it from spreading, stomp the outer perimeter, and rake away debris. We then hiked up the mountain and learned about local folklore of Trinidad, which was both interesting and funny. Then we hiked all the way to the top to their fire tower. This is a lookout for them. This nonprofit has a lot of responsibility, but not enough help as volunteers are constantly moving on to better opportunities. I learned this problem with non profits, I didn’t realize this. We hiked back down the mountain and had a vegan lunch. It was delicious! A pumpkin/carrot/raisin muffin, vegetable spring roll, and more. Then we hiked to a local pool where I stuck my feet in for some fish to eat the dead skin. The locals said it was safe and cleans your feet, and even heals damage faster. It was so ticklish and felt like little pecks from the fish. We all did it, some of us took a lot of convincing but we did it. Haha! After the pool, we went into the city, Port of Spain, where we got the chance to shop for any souvenirs at a local shop with numerous handmade products. I got some jewelry which I wore for our last dinner. We all dressed up and sang karaoke with another group of students from Rollins College. We only had one night of overlap together, as we would leave at 4:30 AM the next morning. We had an amazing dinner, with a Chinese influence, and then coconut ice cream. SO GOOD. Ice cream was so good this whole trip. After dinner, karaoke was so much fun. There were lots of laughs. We headed to bed early that night as we had an early flight home in the morning.
Now that you know what I did in Trinidad, I am going to reflect on my experience. My cultural and personal expectations were met with the generosity we received from Nature Seekers as everyone was nice to us. This went a long way with all of the people we interacted with. There were probably 15 or more people that we met while staying at Nature Seekers. Each of them had their own stories to tell us and I really valued the relationships I made while staying with there. I expected the food to be good and different from food I had eaten prior, and this was definitely true. We never ate the same meal twice which was amazing to get a taste of a lot of foods. I didn’t expect to have air conditioning, but we had air conditioning in our bedrooms which was so refreshing. I didn’t even have air conditioning in the dorms last year and this year. I anticipated language being a barrier for communication which was true. They spoke to us slower than they talked to each other which was helpful, but they had a lot of Trini words that I was unfamiliar with. They were always kind and explained what things meant when I asked questions to clarify. That was really the only challenge we faced, other than the heat. I expected more loud music, and I didn’t really hear too much.
There was one reading from class that mostly applied to my experience in Trinidad. The reading was about points of discomfort when traveling into other cultures. The language was a slight discomfort, but I would say it was very different for us to have home cooked meals made for us as someone’s job and then we just ate with our group. So that was a little uncomfortable for me as I felt bad and wanted meals to be more cohesive with all of the people we were meeting. However, everyone has their own schedules and own eating habits, especially with the turtle tagging schedule, they were eating at different times of the day, so I understood. The reading made me conscious of our presence as Americans and I wanted to set a good example. So I worried about points of discomfort that came up for us, and if they were feeling the same way.