Tobago - "Right on the beach, Mon!"

During J-term, our group took a little trip over to Tobago. This island is very different from Trinidad in many ways... its landscape is much more similar to that of the Caribbean, its people are mostly African descendants, and the island is much smaller and isolated. After the 30 minute plane flight to the island, our eyes were bewildered to see all the beauty that Tobago has to offer. I am having a hard time deciding which pictures to put up, so I am going to put up a lot....

We stayed on the opposite side of the island from the airport, which meant a 2 hr. van ride along the windy coastal roads. Tobago had been experiencing immense amounts of rain, so there were many landslides and Man 'O War bay was very brown (but still beautiful!). The week included a trek to the Tobago rain forest reserve (the oldest rain forest in the western hemisphere!), a boat ride out to St. Giles island (during which I got extremely motion sick and almost puked all over the side of boat.... and I wasn't the only one....), and many fun nights dancing to a tamboo bamboo band at The Banana Boat.


This week was also a lot of fun because our group really got to bond and get to know each other a little bit. We stayed in cottages "right on the beach, Mon", and had a lot of fun! One afternoon we even came back to discover that we had a little visitor in our kitchen... a CHICKEN! We had a hard time getting this thing out since we were all too scared to touch it, but then this random guy with dreads down to his wait just came in and took care of it. I still have to figure out where he came from... hmmm....?

We also had some very interesting lectures while in Tobago. My favorite was one on identity. We got in groups with people that we thought we were the most similar to (which was largely decided upon by race), and talked about our advantages and disadvantaged within society. We even had a discussion about terminology, such as "black" vs. "african".

A great ending to a great trip started off when our driver arrived a bit late to bring us back to the airport, due to the landslides. Once we were all in the van, he rushed around the winding roads, but oh, one small stop was necessary! He slowed down and pulled to the side of the road, handed a guy some $, got a beer, opened it, and proceeded onwards, driving our group about 70 mph around steep hills and sea cliffs, while all the time guzzling down that beer. Well, we sure made it to the airport in time. Ladies & Gentlemen, I don't think I'm in America anymore!