Our New Home

After months and months of waiting to be called, we've finally arrived in our new home -- Trinidad. The anticipation and anxiety of leaving for Trinidad seemed to fade after the many months of waiting because it seemed as if we weren't going to be leaving any time soon. Or so it seemed...

Once we arrived in Trinidad it seemed to be as if we were just on another vacation (maybe because of all the traveling we had done last year). We arrived Wednesday night at the Port-of-Spain airport and made ourselves at home temporarily in a guesthouse apartment called "Simple Escapes" in the city of Woodbrook.

Although the guesthouse facility is clean and well-maintained, just outside the facility looks ramshackled as does most of the Trinidad, some places worse than others.

Thursday morning we were introduced to the hospital staff by Vicky, the hospital administrative director. Most of the 40-bed hospital does not have air-conditioning, excepting for the offices and a few private wards catering to the upper class. The dental clinic is located in the corner of the first floor.

The clinic currently has 3 dental chairs but is looking forward to the hospital expanding hopefully in the near future.

That's Marilyn, the dental receptionist, in the window. I wanted to get some more shots of the dental staff but they are all so camera-shy except for Dr. Ovid, the local dentist who will be working with us in the clinic. She invited us to go to Frederick Street where Trinidadians go for their shopping.

Down the street from Frederick Street is Woodford Square where people go to sit and talk about politics and other matters. In the center of the Square is the fountain that was erected in the late 1800s.

Just across the street from Woodford Square sits The Red House -- the seat of Parliament. In 1990, it was attacked in a coup by a fundamentalist revolutionary group.

The food here has a strong Indian influence mixed with Creole cuisine. We've been eating at the hospital cafeteria half the time and out in the city the other half.

Breakfast at the hospital served a porridge with quick oats, milk, and what tasted like butter. Fred wasn't very fond of it.

Lunch at the hospital served pelau -- seasoned rice with beans, veggie beef, and plantains. Not bad...

For dinner, we tried Trinidad's famous roti -- salted wheat flour (kind of like a thick tortilla) wrapped around either potatoes, channa -- curried chickpeas (yum!), pumpkin, green beans, chicken, beef, lamb, goat... you name it! I tried it with potatoes, channa, and pumpkin. Yum yum! Sorry no picture! Next time.

But the best meal we had was on Sunday afternoon... That morning we went to La Fillette -- a small, quiet village over the Northern Range -- to do some outreach medical and dental exams.

Outreach is organized every two months in this Catholic elementary school building to provide medical attention to this village. Clarence and Andrea Wilcox, retirees, have given their hearts to this village to help them become more physical and spiritual sound the past 12 years. Such a lovely couple!

29 patients showed up to the clinic. Not as many as usual. But we got a taste of what outreach in Trinidad country is like.

After outreach, we went "seabathing" = swimming in the ocean at Tyrico Bay. The water was the warmest ocean water I had ever swam in. Very nice. For all who are thinking about visiting, maybe that will be an incentive. So come visit!

After our seabathing, we stopped by a stand just south of Tyrico at Maracas Bay for the most delicious meal in Trinidad so far... bake. Shark 'n bake (more properly called) is fried flour made into a loaf filled with shark but can also be filled with chicken, beef, lamb, or veggies. We ate it with the veggies. Oh so goooood!! This is the only picture that I got of it in front of the Richard's Shark and Bake stand. Mmm! I'm craving it riight now as I type. Mmm! =)

So do I feel like I'm on just another vacation? The past week has allowed me to swallow the reality of finding my place in my new home... our new home. Stay tuned for pictures of our new home... er apartment! To be continued...