VENEZUELA and T&T 2009

The past week has been very busy with lots of early starts. We have come in each morning with Mary to help out and then in after lunch have gone off exploring Port of Spain (and shopping some more). On Wednesday evening we went along to a book launch that Hannah's cousin Alicia had invited us to last weekend. The launch was for Trinidadian artist Che Lovelace's book, the first of a series. It was a fun evening and we enjoyed meeting Alicia's friends and admiring the paintings, which were all colourful, vibrant portrayals of Caribbean life. We also had a chance to speak to Che himself, who is very friendly and has literally done everything from surfing to filmmaking.

The next day we went again to an event we were invited to by Alicia, this time one that she helped organise - a rum and chocolate themed 'show and tell'. It was very interesting, with a short talk given on permaculture by Johnny Stollmeyer. Permaculture is the idea of creating a system of agriculture that mimics the relationships found in the natural environment and, as the name suggets, can be continuous. The talk was enlightening, and followed by Duane Dove, a Trinidadian who now lives in Sweden and the owner of a cocoa estate in Tobago and the first chocolate company made solely of Tobagonian cocoa. He even got on a Gary Rhodes program. After the talks we sampled his chocolate and chatted to various people for a while before heading home.

During this weekend the early mornings continued. On Saturday we travelled to what was described to me as the 'deep south' of the island, to Port Fortin and the Pitch Lake, which is quite literally a lake of pitch, the largest natural one in the world. From a distance it looks a bit like an overgrown carpark. Despite leaving fairly early, we didn't get there until past 1pm due to a horrific accident. Once we had arrived at the Pitch Lake we were taken down onto it by a tour guide, who rattled off facts whilst gazing into the distance, as if he was looking at an autocue. When Sir Walter Raleigh came across the lake in 1595, he got very excited and used it to baulk his ship. It is estimated that the lake is 75 metres deep and is thought to have formed at an intersection of two faults which forced a deep deposit of oil to the surface. It is a bizarre landscape, with ferns and grass growing in patches across it. During the rainy season, parts of the pitch sink to form crevices and the water gathers in pools. These pools have bubbles of frequently rising to the surface, made up of methane and nitrogen from below the surface. These same gas bubbles are responsible for forcing fossilised logs and branches, the occasional human skeleton, and even the remains of a mammoth. These human skeletons are believed to have come from a burial ritual that the AmerIndians performed in which the body of the deceased was place on top of the pitch and gradually sunk below the surface. Although much of the surface is solid and can be walked over, there are occasional softer patches where, if you stand for too long, you begin to feel yourself sinking slightly into it and leave a footprint.

The next morning we got up to go to a very early Mass before heading to the north-east of the island, to Toco. One of Mary and Peter's friends from Caribs RFC, Graham, had rented a house here for his family to stay in for a week or two and had invited loads of people for a bbq. The drive to Toco was very picturesque, along a windy road surrounded on either side by forest and, when we got closer to the house, beautiful, deserted beaches. Before we stopped at Graham's we continued along the road a little further to see the lighthouse on Galera Point. The lighthouse was built in 1897 and an inscription on the wall marks Queen Victoria's 50th year of reign. After we had spent a short time walking around the lighthouse and admiring the view of the Atlanic Ocean, we returned Graham's house where, within ten minutes, I received the comment: "Jesus, look how white you are!" as if after 20 years it would be a surprise to me. The house was place right by the edge of a hill that ran down to the beach, a beach that is shared only by two rented houses. The whole area was beyond idyllic. From the sea you could see the coast fringed with palm trees on either side, with no other sign of life other than the steps that led up to the house. The water in the sea was unbelievably warm, and because it was facing the Atlantic Ocean the waves were a lot rougher. We had a lot of fun being pushed around and diving into them. We also met a couple from Doncaster who moved to Trinidad almost a year ago, and whose voices we had heard at the rugby club last Saturday and got quite excited by the northern accent. I also got pink in spite of copious amounts of suncream.

We have already had a busy week, but will write a seperate blog at a later date.
Love to you all, Alice and Hannah.