Make your life art

Trinidad is good for my soul. Every day I have an experience that I feel like will change me in some way.
The other night we all headed over to the creative arts center at the University of the West Indies for an event called Women of Calypso. It is a project that is headed by Americans who came to Trinidad and recruited three powerful women as their leads. It featured Singing Sandra, one of the top Calypsonians in Trinidad, Kizzie Ruiz, and Shereen Caesar who all had amazing voices and great stage presence. They sang Orisa chants, sang about slavery and emancipation, identity, gender issues, and covered some popular older calypso songs. The whole performance gave me goosebumps because I could feel their energy and emotion and I was so happy to be there experiencing their music and talent. At the end of the show we all got up to dance and reciprocate the energy.
The other day I had another moment where I felt so happy to be exactly where I was in that moment and again I felt like that was exactly where I was meant to be. As a group we made the trek to a hilly suburb of Port-of-Spain to meet with LeRoy Clarke, the “master artist” of Trinidad. We knew a little bit about his work and stature in Trinidad before we got there and I had heard from a Trini friend who is close to him that meeting him would be unlike anyone else I have ever met and that he is a force of nature. It was quite the introduction and I had no idea what was going to happen but I knew it would be a crazy experience for sure. And a crazy experience it was. LeRoy Clarke really is like no one I have ever met and I don’t think I’ll ever meet anyone like him. He talked to us for hours about life, society, knowing yourself, and letting all the “shit” in your life go. He was not only wise but he was sassy and a little bit vulgar. I enjoyed his perspective on things and the way that he voiced it to us. We passed the afternoon in his Legacy house full of his artwork and books and with a surreal view and there was a positive energy in the house coming from all of us who were touched in some way by his words. It felt so good to be welcomed into the home of such a talented and well-respected person and for him to share his works and some of his wisdom with us. I know that I took away a lot from his talk and his energy and I hope to one day be able to have such a view on life. (Photo Credit: http://latino.si.edu/rainbow/pages/Clarke.html, http://artsocietytt.org/clarkeL.htm)

Enlightenment

Ever since arriving and even before we got here, I have felt like this whole experience was meant to happen to me. The past couple of days have made me feel this way even more. The group of people I am here with, including the professors, and the people we have met so far are really great and there is such a great energy going on between all of us. I don’t know how things will unravel in our time here but I believe that no matter what, across whatever misunderstandings or issues that might come up, we will work through them and become closer by the end. Being in an unfamiliar setting with new people makes me more introspective in general which is something I think I really needed at this point in my life. So much happens at college and when I’m caught up in the fast pace of college and city life and its nice to slow down, step back, and be alone in a new environment to see how I react. It helps me get back in touch with myself and what really matters to me, as I talked a little bit about in a previous post. Being out in the jungle furthered that feeling and being on the beach yesterday was a cleansing experience and today we all went through what felt like some sort of enlightening or at least a spiritual experience in which we looked in upon ourselves.
Sunity Best, who I introduced as our program manager, is more like a resource, mentor, and teacher. She welcomed us into her home that day to cook with her and to open up to us about her life. Today, in class, she helped us open up to ourselves. We had a session called Feeling Human in which she talked to us about looking in on ourselves and asking the question, “Who am I?” and to find out that answer before you end up in a midlife crisis wondering why you made decisions that didn’t lead to your own happiness. She talked about identifying others as fellow human beings and focusing on our similarities instead of superficial differences and from there to turn the spotlight on yourself and find out who you are and what makes you different. She then talked about owning your decisions and owning your life, not living for other people. We all have voices in our heads telling us what we should do and what is right and we need to either listen to those voices and make them our own or find our voice in the crowd and follow it. One thing she said which I loved was, “A problem won’t kill you, it’s what makes life interesting. Give me a problem, I’ve never seen one I didn’t like.” And her point was that in life its not about what happens to you and hoping that bad things don’t happen to you because good and bad things happen to everyone. Its all about how you choose to deal with it. She also talked about how you should give yourself permission to happiness and to invest in your passions because if you follow your passions and make an investment in them, you will be happy and they will pay off. I can’t possibly write everything that she brought up and made us think about because it was overwhelming in its scope and depth, but it was a powerful experience. I felt like even though she was talking to the whole group, she was talking directly to me because everything hit so close to how I have been feeling recently. After talking about it with the whole group, everyone felt the same way and hearing people talk about their reactions and experiences that led to those reactions brought all of us closer. After her talk I have such a positive outlook on this trip and other experiences that will help me start to figure out the answer to Sunity’s question. And now let me ask you: Who are you?

Bake N' Shark

So this food phenomenon deserves its own blog post. Also featured on Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre foods and recommended to me by every Trini I talk to, bake n’ shark was top of my list of foods to try. After today it is top of my list of foods ever. At Maracas Beach there is a place called Richard’s which is the best place to get the specialty apparently. Our driver, Ivan, drove Andrew Zimmern to the place for the tv show and we heard from others that it was the best place hands down. I’m one to trust the locals’ suggestions so we hit it up. I ordered one bake n’ shark and the man behind the counter sliced open a fresh roll, plopped two pieces of fried shark into the sandwich and handed it to me. To complete the sandwich, there was a whole table full of condiments and after observing those before me I realized it was typical to put a couple dollops of everything. Cilantro sauce, hot garlic sauce, ketchup, mustard, mayo, cucumber, lettuce, cabbage, tomato, hot sauce, mango sauce, and pineapple. Quite a combo, but let me tell you, it all comes together in a concoction of pure deliciousness. I now understand why this is always recommended and I plan on eating many more while I am here. YUM.
Here's the clip from Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Food to give you a better idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh9CWFcps1w

Bush Trekking and Beach Bumming

When we asked a past Trinity student about Christo Adonis and what he was like she just gave us a smirk and said, “I’ll let you guys find out for yourselves”. That was a slightly unsettling and intriguing way to go into a day of bush trekking in the jungle. We had no idea what to expect. In my mind I imagined a grueling hike into the mountains, being dehydrated and in pain all day and being led by an intense guy with no tolerance for weakness. But my expectations were pleasantly inaccurate.

The day started with a bus ride through the mountains lined with tall green trees and vines and flowers with stops along the way to pick a cocoa plant or a couple of mangos. Our guides were Christo Adonis, a great character, and his son Kevin. Christo is a mixed indigenous Trinidadian and has stayed connected to their traditional customs and culture. He is a shaman for the indigenous spirituality and mentors students in their spiritual healings and rituals. His connection to the indigenous movement and his status as a shaman have made him a well-known name in the region so it was really cool to spend the day with him. He entertained us with good humor and information on everything we wanted to know about the jungle and what we saw and did. His son Kevin is a Rastafarian and knew everything about the jungle and was so at home there. They were both so close to nature and interesting that it made the trip such a good experience. At the top of the mountain we started our hike along a river to the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen.
The sun shone through the tall canopy, the blue butterflies flew around, the birds chirped and the crystal clear water cascaded down. It was completely unreal. True paradise. I felt so happy the whole day, feeling my feet in the water and in the dirt, feeling the sun and the waterfall crashing down, hearing the birds, sweating and getting dirty, it felt so good to be out in nature and away from everything. I felt so at peace.
Today we headed to the beach for the first time. It was breathtakingly gorgeous. We drove through the mountains to get there and the views were amazing of the cliffs down to the Caribbean sea. The beach was chill, people limin’ on the beach and in the water, families playing ball in the waves, blasting music from their cars and grooving, and just sitting around having a good time. Once again I felt disbelief at the fact that I am here in reality. Listening to reggae playing from the cars and sitting on a beach I just feel like I have been here many times before in my day dreams but now I am actually here and it is amazing. The vibe of the culture is so warm and easy and intoxicating. I find myself longing to live in a place like this, just as I felt in Cuba, where the pace is slower, people are warmer, music permeates every part of you, and the country is beautiful. One day....

Today's Menu: Bust up Shut Roti

My new favorite thing: fresh mango. And roti. And fresh grapefruit juice. And Stag beer. Even though apparently that is the man’s beer, I like to break the confines of genderized drinking categories. I love how fresh everything is. It makes a huge difference eating fresh vegetables and fruit straight from the market for good prices and then cooking it up fresh. Today we did just that and learned how to cook proper roti up on the hill in Tunapuna with Sunity at her house. As the eggplant, chicken, and chickpeas cooked and the chutney was being mixed, we lounged on the hammock on the porch, climbed the mango trees out front and indulged in the juicy yellow flesh, and chatted about whatever came to mind. We made a feast of bust up shut roti and the other kind of roti and boiled tomatoes and chickpeas and curried chicken and potatoes and eggplant. It was delicious. I can’t even tell you. Although maybe I will learn and be able to show you sometime.
Moving slowly with our satisfied full stomachs, we embarked upon the journey home which although not far would prove to seem farther in the heat of the high afternoon. We stopped into a little book store owned by one of the scholars we will be working with, Rawle Gibbons. He apparently is an important guy around here and will be teaching us a lot about Afro-Caribbean music and the Orishas religion. As we were leaving, another man walked in who introduced himself as Desmond Waite (sp?) who is a well-known calypso composer in Trinidad.
The long morning had brought us to the market full of rich colors, smells and flavors, had led us up the hill to a welcoming home and happiness through a meal, good company, and sweet mangos, and had introduced us to new people who although new to us now could soon become our close mentors and the characters of our research.
After the long walk home, dripping with sweat and almost unable to stand, we all crashed for a full-afternoon nap after which we awoke to attend our nightly meeting. We reflected on our brief time here so far in which so much has happened already. All of us are enjoying ourselves so far and everyone seems excited about everything that we are doing and everything we have planned. We mostly have had similar reactions to what we have experienced so far. We all have to adjust to the new surroundings. It is difficult to be in a place where you stick out like a sore thumb no matter where you go or what you do. If you don’t say hi sometimes people will call you out on it, something that would never happen in Boston where people rarely even make eye contact. There is also a lot of attention and cat-calling from the men but at least for me and my experience with that in Cuba, it doesn’t really phase me much but can take getting used to. It is also really intimidating to hear from almost everyone how dangerous it is here for us. Because we are so clearly foreign and don’t know the area and don’t know the people, it is super easy to be taken advantage of or to get into trouble with the wrong people. I’m always on guard in Boston but I feel completely safe and here my sensors of what is safe and unsafe and who to trust and who not to trust are completely off because the circumstances and boundaries are totally different. But the difficulties that we have along the way will only teach us more and I’m looking forward to the challenge that I feel we are being given.

Tomorrow it’s off to the bush bright and early!

Trinidad: First Impressions

I am back in the Caribbean warmth and I am already in love with this new island. The sun is hot, the people are warm, the music flows through the streets; as soon as I stepped off the plane I felt at home. The pace is welcoming and completely welcomed by me. I feel like I can slow down, not worry and just enjoy everything as it comes.
Since we arrived, I have been speechless by the beauty of the country. The city is lazy but busy, the streets lined with small shops, cafes, and homes. The narrow streets are decorated with blooming tropical flowers and mango trees and behind all of it is a backdrop of the dark green mountains. I can’t believe this is my home for the next five weeks. The whole group is pumped about the area, the people we have met so far, the music, and our projects.
The energy of the town is also really strong right now because of next week’s general elections. Next week on Monday the new prime minister will be decided so the spirits are high and the competition fierce between the political parties. We are so lucky to be here to experience it. More on this topic later because I still have much to learn about the different parties and the details about what is really going on.
So far we have met the people who will be taking care of us here in Curepe. We are staying at a place that is usually occupied by Trinity College students who have been coming here for 10 years to study abroad at the University of the West Indies (UWI). Sunity is the woman who takes care of us. Tomorrow we are going to the market with her to buy food and then back to her house to have a cooking class, Rotis: 101. We also have two chauffeurs, Ivan and Tony who drive us wherever we want to go whenever we want to get there. It is a little intimidating because we have to be super careful about safety, not walking anywhere at night, even around our neighborhood. A little different than Havana where it is safe to walk almost anywhere, day or night, even alone. It doesn’t seem too bad but I think it will take awhile for us to get used to.
Our mini-excursions to get acquainted with the area have led us to the nearby Hi-Lo supermarket, the bank, a music stand where I loaded up on local music, our first doubles experience, and our first taste of rotis. So I’m going to give you my first impression/description of these two staples, but since I know they are going to be somewhat inaccurate I might give a better description later. Doubles is a snack you can pick up at any of the little doubles stands on the side of the road. You ask for Doubles slight, medium, or pepper. We were warned that ordering a doubles pepper might land us in the nearest E.R. So I went with slight. The woman behind the counter plopped two round slices of what is kind of like the dough used for fried dough, a little thick and a little sweet but soft like naan, onto a piece of wax paper. She then spooned a chick pea mixture onto the two pieces of bread followed by a dollop of a dark substance, a dollop of a yellow mixture, a dollop of something else and then rolled it up and handed the warm roll to me. We all dug in as if it were a burrito of some sort and in the process made a mess. It wasn’t until later a new friend Gerald taught us the proper way to eat the doubles, more like you would eat Indian food with naan. The flavor was completely different than anything I had expected or have tried. It was spicy, sweet, and curry all at once. Once it hit my tongue I couldn’t get enough. So then today we decided to take a stab at roti. I had no idea what to expect from this experience so I just ordered a goat roti and a Big Red Fanta and dug in. It was amazing. The roti consisted of a Styrofoam container with a scoop of a brown sweet mixture, a scoop of mashed chickpeas, and a sweetish orange mixture of something. Then curried goat and the roti which is a large piece of a thin naan type-bread with spices in the center. You use the bread to eat the different mixtures and you end up with a delicious blend of flavors and textures. I am excited to try the different versions of these dishes and to eat them everyday.
Since I’m tired but still want to get stuff posted here’s a sum up of the other things I have liked or noticed about Trinidad: Men are persistent, people are extremely friendly, it is hot, there is nothing like fresh mango or fresh fruit juice, Carib and Stag beers are the beers to drink while in Trinidad, watch out while walking on the streets that you don’t get run over or fall into the gaping drain ditches along the side of the road, music is necessary at all times.

Just a flight away from the Caribbean heat

My bags are packed; full to the brim of tank tops, flip-flops, sunscreen, and dancing shoes. I am ready. It has only been a few months since my last international adventure and while this semester has been a blast including a 21st birthday and plenty of adventures around Boston, I am ready for something new and exciting. The bug is pulling at my backpack straps and seducing me with its thoughts of new people, warm weather, a chance to immerse myself in a new music and culture, and a new challenge to learn about myself.
For those who don't know, I am doing a Dialogue of Civilizations (a faculty-led summer semester abroad) in Trinidad. The trip is an Afro-Caribbean Music Research Project in which we will learn about ethno-musicology, Trinidadian culture, African influences on Caribbean music, and how it all comes together. The end result is a research project in which we will put together findings from our own fieldwork, interviews, and research.
As the early morning flight to Port-of-Spain creeps closer, I am thinking back to past travels, mostly on Cuba as it feels so similar to the feeling I had over a year ago when I was about to embark on that journey with a different group of people. After spending a weekend with the majority of those amazing people, I am excited to experience this group and how our dynamics will be and what our interactions will be like. I have hope that it will be great and that we all become really close. So far, I feel like everyone is really cool and that we will have a lot of fun in the next 5 weeks.
I also look back upon how much my Cuban experience changed my life in so many ways. It changed who I am, how I see myself, how I see others, and the world. I know this trip will also have an effect on me and I am curious to see how.
But since I can't see into the future I guess I will just step aboard that flight at 5:30 am Wednesday morning, step off into the 95 degree/ 95% humidity sauna, and let it all happen.