Trinidad and Tobago - Day 2

 Today we woke up, had coffee and "doubles" from a street stall for breakfast. Doubles are this delicious messy hand food that is a bit of a spin on Indian food in on-the-go style. It is chickpeas, chutney, shredded cucumbers, and delicious sauces folded up in a puri, delicious deep-fried dough. That itself is folded up in thin paper with the ends twisted up tight.

After breakfast I took a dip in our guest house's small pool.

It's about neck deep and the perfect little thing for how hot and humid it is.

Around 11 am we went to the Queen's Park Oval and met up with former West Indies cricket star Colin Croft. We met up with him last night too. At 6' 5" he cuts an imposing figure, but is always smiling. He uses the Trini way of calling you "boy" or "girl" when he speaks, like saying "what do you think, girl?" Or "you don't even know, boy." Normally if someone called me a girl I'd say, "I'm a woman, dammit!" and go on a diatribe about the patriarchy and women making 70 cents an hour or something, but in Trinidad it is said with such friendliness I can't help but like it.

We went out onto the cricket ground where a man was working on the pitch for an upcoming tournament. He was almost 70, and spoke of the pitch with a deep love only a man who knows its every dip and dusty spec could feel. I listened as Subash, Colin (called "Crofty" by most), and this man talked cricket pitches, recent games, and glory games of yesterday. Every now and then the older man would bob and weave, drop down low, and swing his arms to demonstrate what some player had done well or poorly. He was agile and full of energy, and I stood back and took it in--this almost foreign language to me that all 3 spoke with such love and fervor.

We stayed at the field for a while, and then wandered back home. I had only thrown on the smallest bit of sunscreen (WHY?!?) and I knew I was fried. We came back to the room and after a nap I awoke to assess the full extent of the damage. You would think after 28 years of living in this body I would know that a full noon Caribbean sun would not mix well with my pale Irish heritage. Ah well! Now I remember why I packed all those long-sleeved shirts.