Hello Blog! As of writing this, our trip in Trinidad and Tobago has come to an end and I’m back in Pittsburgh finishing up the rest of the semester!
To start, I’d like to delve deep into exactly what our experience abroad was like. Our journey first began on a Saturday for our travel day. Everything for the Trinidad group went smoothly and luckily we ran into no roadblocks-unlike some of the other groups. Upon arriving in Trinidad, it was already 10p.m. and the group was pretty exhausted from a full day of travel, so when we arrived at Samise Villa, one of the two places we stayed during the trip, we just ate dinner and went to bed.
Sunday was an early morning. Waking up, eating breakfast, and then hitting the road to Nature Seekers in Matura. The drive was about an hour and a half and along the way I took the time to admire the many impressive mountains Trinidad had to offer in the daylight. During this bus ride we also had the chance to stop at an ATM and pick up some Trinidad and Tobago (TT) dollars. Their dollar is a lot different than ours as it’s made from plastic rather than a cotton material like the US dollar. The money there is also super vibrant and looks really different from any other currency I’ve had the opportunity to see in the past. Upon arriving at Nature Seekers, they showed us around their guest house which was made to be welcoming and homey, and showed us to our rooms. We then had a presentation from Suzan about the history of Nature Seekers. This presentation also allowed for us to gain greater insight into how their operations are conducted. Something in particular that stuck out to me was the fact that one of the reasons they tag the turtles is to see how often they return to the beaches in Matura. This allows for them to then calculate the revenue each turtle brings to Trinidad and Nature Seekers. We then had a great lunch prepared for us in their industrial kitchen that was absolutely delicious. I personally really enjoyed all of the food that was made for us. After lunch, we then walked next door to the Nature Seekers offices to get a demonstration of how turtle tagging is actually done with their large dummy turtle named Myrtle. Surprisingly enough, the reason they did the demonstration for us was because that night we were actually going to the beach to do it for ourselves. During the demonstration, they also shared with us that during turtle nesting season which is from March to August, Nature Seekers has people patrolling the beach and tagging turtles every night from 7 p.m. to about 3 a.m. Hearing that really showed me the passion these people at Nature Seekers have for the turtles and it was quite inspiring. Finally, that night from about 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. we ventured to Matura Beach and got lucky enough to see two turtles nesting. The Leatherbacks are enormous! Prior to the trip I really had no idea that turtles got to the size they do, which is up to around ten feet wide and six feet long. The turtles’ way of nesting was also super interesting to see as well. They use their back flippers as shovels to dig four feet into the sand where they end up laying their eggs. Another interesting fact includes that when the turtles aren’t laying their eggs, they are not able to see red light. So up until their laying we had to use red headlamps to make sure to not disturb their mating habits. On another note, the beach at night was beautiful. I’ve never seen so many stars in the sky with the sounds of the ocean accompanying the beauty.
Monday started off with us heading to a local natural pool. However, to get there, we had to kayak up a river that runs into the beach for about a mile. Then when you can’t kayak any more, we continued onto a hike by foot up the river until we got to the natural pool. The whole experience was amazing and unforgettable! The water was a bluish-green color that I have never seen before, and the surrounding canopy of trees was spectacular. The sounds of birds we heard was unlike anything I’ve experienced in the US. In addition, one of our favorite people at Nature Seekers, Anderson, led the hike. After swimming in the natural pool for about an hour we began our hike back to Nature Seekers- the start of our adventure. After eating lunch, we had a demonstration from a man named Don who introduced us to another revenue stream that Nature Seekers uses- where the main idea is turning trash into cash. Nature Seekers collects washed up bottles from the beach, and turns them into beads for bracelets which they make and sell. I actually had the chance to melt down a bottle and turn it into a glass rod in which they’ll then take and repurpose into beads. We also got to make our own bracelets which was such a unique experience.
Tuesday was a fairly similar start to the day as Monday in which we had another hike to the Mermaid Pool which was also a natural pool. Each of these tours are offered to tourists and anyone else interested as another way to make profits. This hike was a lot different from the first as it was through a forest. The hike also had some remarkable steep stretches as well as making me feel like Indiana Jones trying to traverse through the jungle. The Mermaid Pool was also an amazing experience and Ryan-my roommate- and I took the liberty in using the many rope swings available to us to entertain ourselves. After returning to Nature Seekers, we had the chance to show Chelsea, the person who we’ve been working with our deliverables, our project. Overall, she loved the content we had so far and gave us valuable feedback as to what to include in the final product. After this we went to a local ice cream parlor where the owner makes her own ice cream. The flavors were super unique and included Cherry Coconut and Ginger Coconut. I tried the Cherry Coconut and it was delicious.
Wednesday concluded our time in Nature Seekers. Before leaving, we had the chance to help out with another activity that Nature Seekers facilitated. We were tasked with giving food to the poor. We helped divide and pack bags of rice, mackerel, and lentils into support boxes for families in need. We then actually went to parts of Matura to distribute these as well. While intentions were good, this ended up being one of our points of discomfort. We felt kind of rushed and were a little bit uncomfortable as sometimes we didn’t know what to say when approaching people to give them the food. We then returned to Samise Villa and relaxed for the rest of the day as we had a busy week up until that point.
Thursday was probably one of my favorite days in Trinidad. We began the day with a tour of Port-of-Spain, the capital city in Trinidad and Tobago, and the city where Samise Villa is located. We got a lot of the history on Port-of-Spain which was super interesting to learn about as I wasn’t educated on Port-of-Spain prior to the trip. During the tour we had the chance to go and check out the botanical gardens there which were gorgeous. We got to see one of the national flowers of Trinidad which has a red color and is actually shaped like th letter “T”. While exploring the botanical gardens, it led us to the President’s house. This is a huge manor that we got plenty of pictures in front of. After this exploration, we then went to the farming village of Paramin which was quite literally the most interesting and beautiful place I’ve ever been. The village is built on the third highest peak in Trinidad. While driving up to the top, it felt as if our van was almost completely vertical at some points. While at the peak, we enjoyed a nice Trini lunch. The scenery there was absolutely breathtaking. Views of other mountains and the ocean were panoramic and I couldn’t get enough of it. After leaving the peak, we drove to the trail to go to a bat cave. This trail was like no other. We were practically on the side of the mountain walking through the chive farm. The bat cave was very compelling as well as when we saw the nooks and crannies where bats set themselves up. After this, we finished off our tour of Paramin by going to one of their churches. The church itself was super impressive with a look-out over the valley and included compelling stained glass windows.
Friday was unfortunately our last full day in Trinidad. During this day, we went to another NGO called Fondes Amondes, which is an NGO that focuses on reforestation. As we came to Trinidad during the dry season, during our bus rides, we saw plenty of natural bush fires. During our time at Fondes Amondes, they shared with us that they really don’t fight these natural fires unless they are a threat to people or property which I found interesting. They also showed us how they take precautions to prevent fires from spreading within the forest. We also got to hear some traditional folklore. This folklore contributes to the people of Trinidad’s fear of the forest, which Fondes Amondes tries to combat. As this could potentially scare younger people away from caring about the forest. After our time with Fondes Amondes, we were back at Samise Villa packing up and getting ready for dinner. Samise Villa had another group visiting from Rollins College. We ended up having a karaoke night with them to finish off our time in Trinidad.
Overall, our time in Trinidad was an eye opening experience. We gained great insight as to how Nature Seeker function by hearing about and engaging in all of their tours and other activities. Besides this, we gained insight of Trinidad’s culture by completing various tours and fully immersing ourselves in the country and culture. After spending spring break there, I feel so motivated to give them the best deliverables possible to help their NGO thrive.
When it comes to the cultural norms I previously mentioned in a prior blog some of them came to light where others didn’t. “Trini Time” was definitely apparent. On some days when we had tours, we really were unsure of when we’d be leaving Nature Seekers and when we’d be getting back, however while it was apparent, it wasn’t a bad thing. This didn’t hinder us at all and honestly gave us a little more time to decompress before exerting a ton of energy doing hikes. The business culture aspect didn’t really differ too much from ours from my knowledge. I know I previously was worried about how our marketing deliverables would hold up when we actually presented them, but in all honesty, Nature Seekers really enjoyed them all and gave us minor suggestions as to changes we should make. The last thing I was worried about was understanding people’s dialect due to their accents. This definitely was present during our time there. While it was a challenge at some points in time, the people we met completely understood if we asked them to repeat themselves or talk a little bit more slowly. In conclusion, these parts of being abroad were valuable learning experiences and added to the overall immersion of Trinidad culture. It also allowed me to be more culturally aware as I hadn’t run into similar challenges abroad before.
Finally, I can easily think of one class discussion that was relevant to our experience in the country. Like I mentioned before, on the day that we handed out food we felt that this was a point of discomfort in the trip. This situation reminds of the first point of discomfort mentioned in the article as it was run by the organization, but for the participants, felt awkward as they caused more damage than help done overall.