Today I did at trip called the North Coast Hop and Beach Stop. We got on the busses first thing this morning. In my bus we had Bas the bus driver and Derik who was our tour guide. We pretty much had the best tour guide ever! He was awesome. On our way to Maracas Bay we stopped at many different places most places we didn’t get out of the bus, but a few places we did. He showed us all of the historical places in Port of Spain. When we got up to the Queen’s Savannah we drove all the way around it. On the part we didn’t get to yesterday we saw the Botanical Gardens and the zoo. We then went up this big hill called the Lady Young Road, and then we got out at the Lady Young’s Lookout from there we got a panoramic view of the city. On our way up to there we saw this Hilton Hotel that was built into a hill right near the Queen’s Park Savannah. The lobby to this hotel was at the top of the hotel and then the rooms were below. Our tour guide was saying how during Carnivale when people aren’t necessarily clear headed and then they get in the elevator and press 6 and it goes down it can really confuse them!
We then continued on our journey through the mountains and the rainforest. We came to a place called turtle point. The mass of land looks like a giant turtle from this spot but one is a hill and one is an island behind it. We then continued on and we went to a cocoa plantation. Our tour guide pointed out all of the trees and the cocoa pods, and then he found one on the ground that was already broken in half so he opened it up and showed it to us. It was really cool to see how they were grown. After that we finally made it to Maracus Bay. I heard that it is one of the best beaches in the world, and people go there from all over the world. It was gorgeous and the water was really warm. It wasn’t too warm though because it was still very refreshing.
After we went swimming for a little while we walked for a little ways to the fishing village that was right near the beach. We assumed that there would be people selling crafts there, but there weren’t. We walked a little ways but then turned around because we didn’t want to go into this sketchy looking neighborhood. We then went back and decided that we would go back and get lunch. For lunch we had bake and shark, another Trinidadian Delicacy. It was basically a doughy pastry type thing with fried shark in the middle. Shark tastes kind of like a combination of chicken and fish. It is more the consistency of chicken, but tastes a little bit like fish, but shark is a very mild fish and doesn’t really taste like fish at all. I am aware that this description makes absolutely no sense, but the bottom line is that it was delicious. I put a little bit of ketchup and some pineapple slices on the shark too. I had tomatoes and lettuce on my sandwich but then realized that I probably shouldn’t be eating those because we were told if you can’t peel it don’t eat it. I also had put some pickled mangoes on my sandwich but those were pretty gross. I also tried this soda stuff that tasted kind of like really sweet ginger ale.
While we were eating lunch it started pouring rain. We were lucky because we were under a tent, but then soon after it started I got soaked because the rain was running off the top of the tent onto me because I was right at the edge of the tent. I then had to relocate in order to stay dry. We then just sat around for a little while before getting back on the bus because none of us felt like getting wet again in the water because by that point we were mostly dry.
When we got back to the bus I saw that my bus driver and my tour guide had gone out and picked fresh mangoes off of the tree for us while we were at the beach. We couldn’t eat them until we got back to the dock because they were too messy, but they were delicious. I don’t think I have ever had a better mango! Once we got back it was time for on ship time, which meant that we weren’t allowed to leave the ship again. After dinner we had small group discussion about what we saw and experienced while we were in port. I thought the discussion was mandatory so I went, but it turned out that there really weren’t that many people there because it wasn’t mandatory. It was still fun though getting to listen to other people’s experiences in the ports.
After this I worked with my group on my Engineering a New Tomorrow project and the goal of the project is to identify an opportunity which if addressed successfully will lead to improved quality of life. For our project we are proposing the idea of ecotourism. We haven’t made too much progress on our project yet, but we at least have a starting point.
No comments:
Post a Comment