TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 3rd June - Port of Spain, Trinidad

Exploring the Port of Trinidad - 3rd June 2009 - Bryan Castle

This morning we arrived in Trinidad at the Port of Spain. First impressions are always important, and by the looks of things we were in store for another Walvis Bay type of area, but we were so wrong. The city itself was extremely clean and very well built up. There was a lot of new, big buildings that generally dominated wherever you would look, but they were not the ugly ones, they looked modern and attractive.

Once we were allowed to go ashore, we split into our groups and except for those unlucky enough to have port suspension, the first thing we did (most of us anyway) was to go find food! My group went to Subway after finding ATM's so that we could get a bit of money. Subway was phenomenal, foot long subs with so much great toppings on...chicken, peppers, sauces, salad, ham, veggies and so much more! And there was a lady who was really friendly and was talking to us, telling us about Trinidad and all that. Then we went for ice cream, it was so good! After that we went exploring the city and found internet and phones. It was great being able to speak to our parents again, even if it was 10 pm in S.A.

Other than that, souvenirs were bought, more food was eaten (we couldn't get enough!!) and we all had a lot of fun.

After my group (Gustav, Patrick, Claire, Sarah, Rachelle, Monde and myself) had done our grocery shopping, just outside the shop, a man called Marcus walked over to us and we began chatting. He was an ex-active USA marine and was involved in a group of ex marines who would walk around the streets seeing if anyone needed help, especially tourists, and take them to places, always keeping us in the assurance of safety, as they had a reputation wherever they went. He took us all over the city and showed us a lot, informing us about all the important landmarks and features. The last stop was Mahatma Gandhi Square where there was a statue of Mahatma (aka Brandon) and there was a homeless man who Monde and Rob had a long conversation with. He was surprisingly knowledgeable and had a freaky funny laugh. He was a part of a program that Marcus ran which tries to give all homeless people food, a shower everyday, clothing and hopefully eventually shelter. Monde felt really connected to him, and was obviously sad when we had to leave, otherwise we wouldn't have been back at the ship in time.

Once we had said bye to Marcus and thanked him for his help, it was awesome having someone like that with us, especially at night in a strange town. When we were back on the ship, most people who had laptops were on them because internet was available from the port. So everyone was up late, talking or chilling and one by one we began going to bed.

Trinidad is an incredible place and the people are all so friendly, it is definitely somewhere I want to come back to in the future! Everyone had an amazing time, but we are all looking forward to our final leg of the voyage...

Today was also Felix's birthday!!!!!!!!