TRINIDAD!

I am in Trinidad! We got in late last night, and the trip was pretty uneventful, other than a few problems getting through Immigration at the airport. Somehow they didn’t have the list from the University of the West Indies formally admitting us so we could get through. But we finally got through, and then arrived at the Caribbean Lodge in Tunapuna where I am going to be staying until May. Ironically, my first meal here was KFC, eaten late last night because it is one of the only restaurants open late (we didn’t get out of the airport in Port of Spain until around 11).

Our whole group is staying in the Caribbean Lodge, which is a sort of guest house only a couple of minutes away from UWI. Nina and I are roommates, we have adjoining rooms and are sharing a bathroom. The Lodge is pretty cool, pretty much everything is outside, and it’s breezy which helps cool us down, cause it’s so hot! We can see the mountains from the Lodge, and they are so pretty and green, and a lot of us are hoping to get to go hiking later.

Then this morning we got up, had a short orientation led by Candice, our site director, before we got to go out and explore Tunapuna. I got some Trinidadian money and some other toiletries, and then we ate roti for lunch. I had potato channa roti, which is chunks of potato and chickpeas in curry all wrapped up in something similar to a cornmeal tortilla. We then went to the open market, which is massive! Nina and I got a pineapple, and it was AMAZING! It was probably the sweetest pineapple I have ever eaten, and it was so messy with juice dripping down my face and hands. But it was totally worth it. For dinner we walked over to UWI to eat at the Subway and see part of the campus.

The group that’s here is a great group, even though it’s so small. There are 12 PLU students, 2 students from St. Lawrence University and a girl from Ithaca College. 13 girls and 2 boys, which is an interesting mixture, but they’re all a lot of fun. We leave on Friday for our homestays, but we don’t really know anything about those yet, and then on Monday we leave for Tobago. In Tobago we work a lot on our short story class and also get to go to the rainforest and bird watching and see the Caribbean (cause I haven’t actually seen the water yet, except for a black expanse late at night when we flew in). I’m excited to get to see more of the country. That’s all for tonight, but I’m here and enjoying it!