From: Elsa
Category: Other stuff
Date: 23 November 2002
Had an amazing couple of weeks under the Caribbean sun........well, not quite: tropical rain here at the same time most afternoons which makes the place even more humid. It's always hot though, so thank goodness my bedroom will be getting air conditioning soon.
My first 24 hours were a total whirlwind: whizzed around the dub/reggae-filled city just in time to see the Prime Minister drive by, visited the zillion fabric shops and spotted (so to speak) the best white trash leopard fabric, checked out the pool at the beautiful colonial-style country club, sampled the ubiquitous rum and coconut water at Trotters (THE Friday hangout in Port-of-Spain), gyrated (as they say) at an outdoor club playing reggae and carnival-style music, "limed" in Smokey and Bunty's (the oldest rum shop in town) and ended up at 3am eating roti (vegetable or meat curry wrapped in thin naan-type bread) made by a little 70 year-old woman at her street stall.
So that's for the baptism of fire. Since then, I've been crab-hunting on the beach at night using torches to spot the beasts which will end up in a curry tomorrow night. I've been told they curry iguana and alligator here, so guess what I want to have next. Also went to a gorgeous little palm-lined bay called Maracas. Not as quiet as it appeared, though as I got sucked in and tossed about by the waves for a few seconds. Slightly frightening. Well, it was a red-flagged beach, my only excuse being that the locals seemed to be having fun frolicking in the sea. So that's as far as "Elsa braves the elements" will go.
And the work, you will say (yes, yes, I swear we don't just laze around on the beach). I've spent most of my time in court working on a rape case. Pretty grim stuff, though the theatrical side of the lawyers and judge does lighten things up. I'm getting the paperwork done to have access to death row but it might take some time as there's a new person at National Security who's not exactly in favour of people (especially foreigners) seeing what the conditions on death row are like. More on that next time.
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