Saturday, November 18, 1995 - Trinidad

This was the morning for our trip to the Central Market. Got up at five, ate breakfast, and reached the bus at exactly 6:30. Eleven of us went. The Central Market was huge. It covered at least one entire city block, maybe two. There were some buildings with stalls for the meat, fish, and poultry vendors, but the produce vendors were outside. They had their fruits and vegetables in big piles. There were hundreds of vendors and thousands of customers. The place was so crowded, we had a hard time pushing our way through the throng, but eventually we reached the far end, turned around, and started back. Then the sun was behind us instead of shining directly into our eyes, so we could see and were able to start buying. Nearly everything was farm fresh and looked the way fruits and vegetables should look. We bought potatoes, onions, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, string beans, corn, apples, papayas, and what Roy thought were large oranges, which turned out to be grapefruit. The vendors weighed everything in old, old scales, the kind that use lead weights of specific sizes. You couldn't buy just any old quantity; you had to buy the quantity that matched one or a combination of weights. There were mountains of eggs. Never saw so many eggs at one time in my entire life, but I hadn't brought my plastic egg holder, because I hadn't known there'd be eggs at the market. They weren't in cartons; they were on flats, so I didn't buy any. On the way back to Peake's, we stopped at HiLo, so I bought a dozen eggs there as well as chicken and candy. Finally found gum drops for the first time since we've been in Trinidad. Also found those yummy coconut drops that I loved as a kid and rarely see any more. Took everything back to the boat and put it away. Then I went back downtown to try to get a replacement for our hand-held vacuum cleaner that had finally given up the ghost. Waited in front of the chandlery for the 10:30 free bus, but it didn't show up, so I began thinking maybe it didn't run on Saturday. Another woman had her hand- held VHF with her, so she called the office. Sure enough, no free buses on Saturday, so we began walking towards the bus stop on the highway. We were about a hundred yards from it when the blue bus pulled up. I started running, not really thinking I'd be able to catch it. Running has never been my forte. Even as a kid, I never liked to run. I haven't run so far or so fast in years. Luckily, someone else was also running for the bus. By the time he got there and got on it, I was to the highway. There was no traffic, so I sprinted across. The driver was nice enough to wait, so I hopped on and sat down. The bus went right to the new City Gate bus terminal, which just opened today, so I spent some time walking around, looking it over. It's the best bus terminal I've ever seen anywhere. It's spacious, airy, and well-planned. Buses are easy to find. The waiting room has benches for a thousand people or more, and even has television to watch while you wait. There's an ATM, a ticket counter, and an infor- mation booth. The employees are very courteous and nice. It's certainly a lot more convenient having all the buses at one central location instead of having to walk all over downtown looking for the one you want. I found out there's a bus that goes directly to the airport, so I'll check it out next week. Walked down Independence Square, which isn't a square at all but a boulevard. The woman at Ace had told me Scott's is just past the cathedral. That made it easy to find, but I was surprised to see that it was in a poor part of town. Hopeless derelicts were sleeping on the sidewalk or congregated in a small park. The building Scott's was in looked nice, though, and wasn't far, so I zoomed over to it. I've never seen a hardware store quite like it. There were three floors, and they had just about anything you could possibly want in the hardware line. They had all the well-known brands, such as Makita, Eureka, and Coleman. You couldn't wander around browsing, however; nearly everything was behind the counter. They were very security conscious. To even get into the place, you had to check in at the front desk, flanked by security guards. I told the man at the desk that I wanted a hand-held vacuum cleaner. He told me to go to the second floor, so I started up the stairs, forgetting that the second floor is the third floor. Life is confusing in this country. The clerk on what I thought was the second floor sent me up to the next floor. They didn't have Dirt Devil, but they had what appeared to be a super nice Eureka hand-held vacuum cleaner. It was expensive, but I bought it anyway. Unfortunately, I forgot to buy a hose for it. Ate lunch at a combination Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Had a cute little pizza that was about five inches in diameter, but it wasn't very good. It was mostly biscuit, with a thin coating of cheese, pineapple, and green pepper. Couldn't even begin to compare with the pizza we'd had at Pizza Boys. The place was packed, though. I had asked for a chocolate shake. The clerk said they didn't have chocolate, but they had strawberry. I said, "OK, strawberry." She brought me vanilla. That was all they had. Got 1600 TT's from an ATM and went back to the boat. The first thing Roy said when I proudly showed him the new vacuum was, "Where's the hose?" Terrific. I phoned Scott's to see if they carried hoses, but apparently they close at noon on Saturday, so it will have to wait until Monday. Phoned Kathy and told her I was coming to California for a visit in December and January. She was glad to hear it and said she'd pick me up at the airport. She also said I could sleep on her living-room floor for a couple of nights until I find a place. Roy hadn't had lunch. When I said, "Pizza," his eyes lit up. He wanted to go to Pizza Boys, and he wanted me to go with him, so we took a maxi down there. He ended up eating a fish sandwich, because he was too hungry to wait for a pizza. He also had two scoops of cherry ice cream, and I had one scoop. When we left Pizza Boys, large splats of soft rain began hitting us. Luckily, a route taxi came along just then, so we hopped into it. Had an interesting ride up a side-street. Got back to the boat just in time to close the hatches and portholes before the deluge hit. Filled the water tank and all the plastic jugs and had plenty of rain left over.