Friday, November 17, 1995 - Trinidad

Finally a day without rain, so I was able to varnish the toerail. Sure glad to get that done. The stuff I put on the chigger bites hasn't helped much so far. Maybe they're not chigger bites. If I still have them when I get to California, I'll go to Kaiser and find out what they are. Went to the travel agency to see if she'd gotten the information I wanted. She just doesn't seem to comprehend that I'd like to have as much information as possible, so I can make an informed choice. Instead, she gives me one fare, and then when I ask for another, she's surprised. "Oh, you want..." I've tried to explain over and over that I want them all, but she just doesn't get it. Here's a sample of Trinidadian "English": "Oh gor Mr. Humphrey, how yuh could rags up people so? All yuh now take de platform yuh done white a'ready, people watchin yuh an is a set a stupidness yuh go talk? Fus ah shame." No wonder we can't understand what people are saying -- we can't even understand what they write! Our Dirt-Devil vacuum cleaner has quit, so I went down to Ace Hardware to see if I could get another, but they didn't have what we wanted. They said I could probably get one at William Scott on Independence Square, so I'll try there tomorrow. Paddled over to Malu to return the ticket, but no one was home. Continued another two or three miles along the coast. Passed a boat storage yard, a beach, a bunch of old buildings, and the Coast Guard. A guy in uniform was standing on the end of the dock, holding a rifle. I waved and he waved back, but I stayed well clear anyway. When I got to the point, three guys were fishing on an old dock. Two of them looked like soldiers. They were wearing camouflage pants and had guns. One of them called to me and asked where I had come from. I said, "Peake's," and he said, "All right." I don't know what difference it made where I was from, but I'm glad it was all right.