Welcome
to San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, a city in the southern part of the island
of Trinidad. Every morning of the
school/work week, I drop my children off to school. I have discovered that the traffic is
heaviest along Broadway, so I have opted for an alternate route that takes me
along the waterfront. This morning I
decided to stop down by the wharf, however, not knowing how long I would take,
I dropped my children off first and then back tracked to the wharf. My mother wanted to take the express bus into
Port of Spain so she was in the car with me and the bus terminal is in the
vicinity of my wharf destination.
As
I drove into the area and parked, a gentleman approached me asking if I was
going to take the boat. I told him “No,
I am going to walk along the shoreline and take pictures”. He gave me two thumbs up and walked away. I believe his question was initially to deter me from parking there and taking off for the day. I was happy that I was allowed to park.
It
seems that in previous times they had a boardwalk here, but now the concrete
walkway or sidewalk is cracked up and it has faced the brunt of the
elements. I stood there and captured
many seagulls, pelicans and egrets, some snacking on fish that they had either
caught or the fishermen threw out. Then I viewed the shoreline and captured the
fishermen, mounting their boats. I
looked further out to sea and caught the coast at Pointe-a-Pierre and
beyond. I then looked up into the sky
and saw remnants of the moon not yet gone.
I heard the purr of an engine and looked up in time to catch the water
taxi coming in from Port of Spain.
There
were two corbeaux butchering some fish on the shore. They had one fish each. They were attacking their meals
ferociously. Then the one with the
bigger of the two fish, leaves it there and walks over to the other with the
smaller fish to help eat it. As if to
say, “give me some of that nah”. There
are life lessons all around even in nature that lend to the characteristics of
all earth’s animals, humans included.
Here we see the one with more, wanting even what the other has,
even if the other’s share is lesser. The root of greed and corruption in our own race.
As
I walked back towards my car, I saw movement in the corner of my eye, as I began my stooping descent into my car, I looked
up at a smiling man, mouthing to me “picture”. I took off my 55-250mm lens,
mounted my 50mm and walked towards him.
He was standing by a van that was serving food out the back. I thought it was a doubles vendor. I said to him “What are you selling”? He smiled and said, “I am not selling, I am buying coffee”. To which I responded “OH, so is
he selling doubles?”, gesticulating with my head towards the van. Another man turned around promptly,
apparently he was the proprietor of this business that I was asking of and he
said “I have breakfast, all kinds, dasheen bush baghie, bodie with tomatoes,
saltfish, fried fish, stew chicken, green salad, fried bake, coconut bake,
milo, tea, coffee”, and his list went on and on. He noticed the camera and said, “You
should’ve taken the food I just prepared”. I said “I didn’t want to impose with
my camera without asking, I only came over because this gentleman signaled me
for a picture”, as I hinted towards the smiling gentleman with a tilt of my head. He asked “What are you
having?” But wait, didn’t this man just
hear that I only came across to snap the other man, now he wants to feed me. I chuckled;
he just bullied me into purchasing, he is a good sales man. “I’ll have a bodi and baghie”, “With coconut
bake or fried bake?” he asked. I said “Neither, just like that in a container”.
He smiled and added “I’ll put some green salad with it for you then”. He then offered me tea, and pulled out a grated
concoction which he said was his own make up of orange peel, he described it as
the new millennium way of making orange peel.
He put his mixture into a cup and gave it to me as I told him that I
would prefer to have it at home.
As
I traveled home I captured a young man hustling on the sidewalk off to school,
work or play. Determination marked his
brow as he walked busily along, oblivious to me and my camera.
At home, I wolfed down the tasty breakfast, barely surfacing for air. I had not realized that I was that hungry. Well greedy might be a better way of describing my behavior. I
must add that the orange peel mix was indeed delightful, hints of cinnamon and
nutmeg was in the mix as well as small traces of clove. I separated his mix into two, so I will have
another cup later on today. He also
informed me that when my stomach felt upset or ulcerated the best thing to
restore 'ph' balance is grated cabbage or carrot drawn in hot water and drunk as
a cooling. I absolutely love hearing of
natural remedies. I can recall many old remedies as well and will keep this knowledge in my growing arsenal.
Here are some of my mornings captured images.
©
2013, Odette M. Lawrence and NorDean Canvas. All rights reserved. The use
and/or duplication of this material without the express and written permission
of this blog’s author and/or owner are unauthorized and strictly
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