Dan & Duffy's Blog

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

This is not news but the pace of life here is slow.

We admit we haven’t been writing much.

I think when we arrived in Jordan everything seemed very exotic – camels! Arabic! The call to prayer! And life in Trinidad seems much more normal and certainly easier. The grocery stores carry American foods. The movie theater shows American and Bollywood films. Driving on the left and the ocean views are the biggest changes.

We are getting impatient waiting for our car but in the interim – we’ve been swimming in the pool every other day; we’ve made it to our tennis court; headed to the beach; been to the terrific multiplex; and headed out to dinner.

The best decision we made was hiring a local cook. Our kitchen now always smells deliciously of curry. For Thanksgiving, the Americans at the Embassy host a lunch for our Trinidadian colleagues. I made my favorite pumpkin cake but heard that the buffet table was light on food. Our cook Fatima has just made us a large pot of callalloo the national dish (an okra-pumpkin-greens stew) so I brought that in too. After the lunch I had a lot of confused Trini co-workers asking me how I had already learned how to make callalloo and complimenting the good seasoning. I quickly admitted that I was not the cook.

Life here is slow. I have been reading a lot and have a lot of book recommendations. Highest on the list is “Selected Works of TS Spivet” followed by “Superfreakanomics” and the “The Worst Hard Time.”

We spend a lot of time on our balcony watching the sunset over the ocean and watching the boats. Recently we've been watching the progress on the second oil rig in our view. We'll send pictures when it is done.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Asa Wright Nature Center

While Duffy went off with the ladies to see Fame, a coworker took me to the Asa Wright Nature Center, about an hour drive northeast from Port of Spain.

With the heliconia "sexy pink" flower

Dried fruit and bread is laid out for the birds to snack on. The food is secured under chicken wire so the birds have to come out where we can see them.

This hummingbird came up much closer to us.

This very large tiger lizard was ambling along the nature path. Self-guided hikes are not permitted in the park, unless you've booked a room for the night. We asked why we couldn't walk unescorted.

"Is that because of the great big lizards?"

"No, the lizards are harmless," the guide replied. "We need you to stay in groups because otherwise there's wayyy too much bacchanal takin' place up in 'ere!"