Trinidad
I have long thought that Jamaica's adopted slogan, "No Problem", constituted a cruel, near-fraudulent misrepresentation of the spirit of the island's character; Jamaica is a land of fierce, bubbling culture, of insistent music, relentless street children, of sharp local fashion. Problems abound, and threaten to seize you by the throat; but vibrant beauty is more common still.
"No problem" is more the credo of the smaller islands of the Caribbean, Barbados not least among them.
Trinidad is somewhere in between; but more like the former than the latter.
Where Jamaica presents a single, clear, sharp note of culture, Trinidad presents a chord; African, Indian, European, and South American elements intertwine, but do not quite blend, resulting in a tension, a vibrancy, that makes many Trinidadians feel as if everywhere else on the planet is flat and lifeless by comparison.
I am always fascinated by the degree to which just a few minutes' travel within the Caribbean can leave me confronted with physical and cultural geography that is so similar, yet so different, from that of my own country. Trinidad is half an hour's flight from Barbados. How is it that they share the Barbadian readiness to lime, but that they go about it so differently? Where on earth are the good beaches? And what's this about snakes?
It's good to be here. I hope to spend some time with my Trinidadian friends, but the limitations of the season may prevent me.
Merry Christmas, though, to those I see as well as those that I don't.
"No problem" is more the credo of the smaller islands of the Caribbean, Barbados not least among them.
Trinidad is somewhere in between; but more like the former than the latter.
Where Jamaica presents a single, clear, sharp note of culture, Trinidad presents a chord; African, Indian, European, and South American elements intertwine, but do not quite blend, resulting in a tension, a vibrancy, that makes many Trinidadians feel as if everywhere else on the planet is flat and lifeless by comparison.
I am always fascinated by the degree to which just a few minutes' travel within the Caribbean can leave me confronted with physical and cultural geography that is so similar, yet so different, from that of my own country. Trinidad is half an hour's flight from Barbados. How is it that they share the Barbadian readiness to lime, but that they go about it so differently? Where on earth are the good beaches? And what's this about snakes?
It's good to be here. I hope to spend some time with my Trinidadian friends, but the limitations of the season may prevent me.
Merry Christmas, though, to those I see as well as those that I don't.