Back to Trinidad

Thanks for the well wishes, everyone, and greetings from sunny Trinidad & Tobago. Andrew and I arrived Sunday night and the boy impressed me by driving our rental car all the way to our hotel in St James, in a foreign country and on the wrong side of the road! Of course we had help, as a representative of Carifesta, Debbie G, led us all the way.

But later on that night, we went looking for food, unaware that this place seems to shut down at 10pm. So in the wee hours, we found ourselves driving about the deserted streets of Port of Spain, looking for anything open. We ended up at the centre of activity –KFC– after driving everywhere, including into the bus depot.

Today was a little more organized, given that it was a national holiday. Debbie and her sister gave us a lovely tour of the bits of the locale that I missed on my last trip, and then we were off to the main reason for my presence here: a reading at the National Library.

It turns out the evening was largely a Canadian affair, featuring myself, Ita Sadhu and the great Austin Clarke. It was a highlight of my writing career, appearing on the same bill as Austin, whom I’ve met before, back when he was the founding godfather of Pagitica magazine. Photos are forthcoming, courtesy of Herr Currie.

The sucky part is that I’m barely functioning due to a nasty head cold. Yuck. Tomorrow morning we’re to San Fernando to present to some school kids. Stay tuned!