Viewing TT football is a "contact" sport

After the crushing loss Trinidad received at the hands of the US a few weeks ago, the much anticipated re-match was at hand.  However, this was not just a rematch, this was kind of a clutch game for TT.  For TT to get back in the running for passing this first round of World Cup qualifiers, we had to beat the US and Guatemala had to lost to Cuba.  That won't seal it for TT to pass through, but makes it much more likely.  I could get into the why's and how's, but anyone who follows sports knows how confusing these different scenarios get, and I will spare us all of that.

The game began on a beautiful, clear evening with an enormous full moon over head.  The TT fans came out in much larger numbers for this game, in comparison to the Guatemala match last month.  We got there a little later than the last time, so we weren't in the midst of the really rowdy section.  This time we were in the equivalent of the "end zone" and across from the party section.  However the crowd in our section was still quite lively.

I won't go through the play by play, because quite honestly, I can't remember when the goals were scored.  I do know that we (we being TT - I was rooting for the underdog tonight) scored and shortly after, the US scored with at 3 on 1, the 1 being the goalie.  As expected, the crowd went wild, throwing beer in the air and down to the field, and the crowd was subsequently silenced.  Later in the 2nd half, there was a penalty by a US player near their own goal, which resulted in a penalty kick for TT.  We scored and were once again in the lead.  The minutes were ticking down and the crowd was going wild anticipating the win.  Over the loud speakers, the announcer announced that Guatemala lost to Cuba, thus nearly ensuring our advancement to the next round of qualifiers.  The Soca Warriors managed to hold off the US as the game ended and there was much celebration.

There is often talk about how crazy people get at football/soccer games outside of the US.  I kind of expected it here, even though we are a smaller country.  But everyone was in good spirits.  So there were no fights or anything of the sort.  I guess the most contact that we had was from the buzz that we all got from everyone smoking marijuana in the stands.  I swear, if there wasn't a slight breeze that night, there would have been a cloud hanging over the stadium.

The Quest To Save Some Turtles - Part III: The Return

After the turtles and another walk down the beach, we went back to the guest house, had some food (turtle soup anyone? - just kidding), and chatted about what to do the next day.  There was a waterfall that we heard was near by and was supposed to have some fresh water pools that we could swim in and all were in agreement that that was what we should do.  Unfortunately, it's about a 4-hour hike and you need to start at 6 AM if you want to do it, so you can beat the heat.  We found out these minor details around 8 AM, before we even started eating breakfast.  So that was out of the picture.  Plus it was supposed to be really crowded as this was all happening over the holiday weekend.  It was suggested by the folks at the guest house that we try it again another weekend and we all agreed to do such.

Instead, they suggested that we go to a slow flowing river nearby and wade in that for an hour or two.  Not really wanting to go back home already and having our minds set on a refreshing swim on a hot day, we all agreed.  The lady running the guest house said it was only a 10-minute walk from where we were staying.  After about 30 minutes of hiking through some rather thick brush and wooded areas, being led by a guy with a machete, we came across an opening and a beautifully tranquil river.

The water was cool and refreshing and perfect after our hike.  We spent a couple of hours here, just relaxing and talking and letting the little girls explore a bit.  The rest of the trip back to the guest house and to Port of Spain was pretty uneventful.  But there was definitely a bond that was created amongst all of us as we went through this journey.  These are some good people and I'm really glad that I'm getting the opportunity to get to know them.

The Quest To Save Some Turtles - Part II: The Rescue

After all the excitement, we all got back to the guesthouse in time to check in and catch the truck that was taking us to the beach.  This picture is looking down the coast of Matura Beach.  Where we ended up finding some hatchling turtles was behind me.

We all go to the beach and started walking along it, not really knowing what we were looking for.  The guides split up to use their "professional" eye to find some hatchlings.  The guide who was wandering with us, got a call on his walkie-talkie and said that the other guides found some lost hatchlings and they needed our help, stat!  Ok maybe he didn't say all of that, but he did find some and we were off to do our duty.  We hiked back down the beach and found this disgusting pool of water that was an outlet for water from the mountains near by.  But apparently there wasn't enough water in it to make it up and over some of the beach hills to get out to the ocean.

In this disgusting pond, we saw little turtle heads popping up and down.  The guides were trying to get the turtles with this long, fallen tree branch, but were not having much luck.  The little girls looked a little despaired by the situation, so Nick (now dubbed the "Hero Dad") climbed into the pond to start gathering up the little turtles and handing them to his daughters saying "girls, can you take this one for me so we can make sure he gets back to the ocean?"  "Yes papa," the girls would respond with joy and excitement.  This went on for a couple passes and fortunately for the Hero Dad, no appendages fell off as a result of wading through this pond and to date, no additional unwanted growths have been reported.

We gathered up the hatchling turtles in a small bucket and the guides began to tell us about the whole process of the mothers laying the eggs, predators of the hatchlings, where their food is stored, etc.  These things were so cute and they were just barely bigger than the size of your palm.

After our lesson on leatherback turtles, we took them to the beach by the ocean and set them on their way.  Apparently they need to feel and smell the sand, so they know where to come back in 20-30 years to lay their own eggs.  We had 22 in all.  I guess during the actual hatching season, you can find a couple hundred on a tour like ours.  But there go our 22 little friends.

I think we were told something like 1 in 500 of these hatchling turtles actually make it to adulthood (which is a staggering 1-1.5 meters in diameter), so chances are, our rescue will still end in death for all of them.  At least it was a cool experience.  And who knows, maybe one of these 22 little hatchlings will beat the odds and grow up to be president one day.

The Quest To Save Some Turtles - Part I: It's the journey, not the destination.

You know that I've had internet difficulties, so these next three posts go back in time a bit.  The end of August is Trinidad & Tobago's Independence Day, so we were given a 3 day weekend to celebrate.  Looking to take advantage of a little time off, a pack of my fellow teachers and I took the time to get away for the weekend and do some exploring.

One of the things to do in TT is watching the leather back turtles lay their eggs and then after a couple months, help any misguided turtle hatchlings back to the ocean.  The turtles lay their eggs in the sand along the northern and eastern coast in April and May and the hatchlings come out in July and August.  Being the very end of August, we were told by some of the local teachers that we wouldn't find any hatchlings.  Even if that were the case, we all wanted to get out of dodge for a bit and see some new scenery.

There were 11 of us going for this two day excursion - leaving Saturday morning and returning Sunday afternoon.  Kate and Aaron left before the rest of us because they wanted to run some errands before leaving.  The rest of us (Ginger & Charlie, Mark & Rebekah, Nick & Gina and their girls, and me) were going to go up as a convoy.  Nick, Gina and the girls piled into their car and the rest of us piled into Mark's car.  I guess two cars isn't really a convoy, but we followed each other nonetheless.  We were ready for our adventure to begin.  I say that now, knowing that truer words could not be spoken.

As I mentioned in a previous post, there are driving challenges in this country.  Roads are not always in the best of shape.  Drivers are not always the most courteous.  Because of this, Mark decided to lead since he had been here for a year and had a better feel for the roads and directions.

We were driving along and we approach a single pass bridge (ie - a bridge that is only the width of one automobile) and as we get on it, we see a cargo truck approaching the bridge from the other side.  This truck was not on the bridge when we first entered the bridge, but it did not appear that it was slowing down at all.  So Mark put the car in reverse and started backing up.  Nick was not immediately on our tail so we were able to get almost all the way off the bridge, but the front of the car was still positioned on the bridge.  At this point, the truck was halfway over the bridge and still not really slowing down...that is until he started driving up on top of the hood of Mark's car.

It all happened in slow motion.  Rebekah, who was in the front seat, was actually talking to her grandmother as all of this was going down.  She started yelling that the truck wasn't going to stop and we all jerked forward from the impact and then back again when we were stopped by hitting Nick & Gina's car.  The truck finally came to a standstill approximately a foot from smashing into the windshield.  But as you can see from the picture of the aftermath, it was on top of the hood of the car.

Once we came to a halt, Mark sat there for a second in a bit of shock.  Rebekah, who is a Trini, got out of the car and started yelling at the driver, and I got out and ran back to Nick's car to make sure that they and the kids were ok (which they were).

Traffic started backing up on both sides of the bridge and people were milling about trying to figure out what happened and making sure that everyone was all right.  The truck driver backed up a bit to get off our car and we backed up to get off the road and get out of the traffic's way.  The truck driver pulled forward a bit and Nick ran and got his insurance information.  Then surprisingly, the truck drove off.  Rebekah called the police, who are not the most expedient people in the country, and i called Kate and Aaron to fill them in on the situation.  They were already checked into the guest house and were about 2 km from Toco Beach, which is about another 45 minutes past where we were going and is supposed to be a quite beautiful beach.  They turned around and started heading back to the guesthouse to wait for us and see how they could help out.

After a bit, it was decided that Nick, Gina, their girls, and Ginger would head up to the guesthouse so at least the little ones could still make it to see the turtles before dark.  Aaron was going to drive down and pick up the rest of us and the head of our security at the school, Mr. Ralph, was calling a wrecker to come and get the car and decided to come out to make sure that we were all ok.  Oh yeah, Mr. Ralph also got into an accident coming out to check on us.

A short while later, the driver of the truck came back in another car driven by his wife and some friends.  He piled our with a beer in hand and waited with us for the police to arrive.  While it was a little suspicious that he left the scene of the accident (we think he had too big a load in his truck and was scared about getting cited by the police), apparently it's no big deal if you kill time waiting for the police to show up to a motor vehicle accident drinking a beer.

The police showed up, stories were exchanged, reports were taken, and things started to calm down in general.  Aaron arrived and we all piled into his car to continue our quest.  Nothing was going to stop us from saving those turtles.

Beer here! Peanuts! Feets??

A couple weeks ago, the Trinidad & Tobago soccer team played here for the first time in over a year.  Apparently there was some political issues with the Ministry of Sports and the team over where they could play, prices, etc.  Because of this, over the last year, every "home" game was actually played in the states or at other locations across the caribbean.

But the triumphant return of the Soca Warriors (the name of the TT soccer team) was upon us.  And in their re-inaugural soccer match, they were playing the hard nosed competition of Guatemala in the first of a two match game for the World Cup pre-qualifiers.  (FYI - each team plays other countries in their region twice - once at home and once away - and the aggregate of the scores of those two games determines who won that match).

So this was the first of the two meetings of TT and Guatemala.  We were expecting a huge crowd, so we got to the stadium a little over an hour early.  However, due to the locals protesting the issues with the Ministry of Sports, the fact that this was the first of two matches, and apparently that the Soca Warriors are somewhat fair-weather fans, the stadium was barely 1/3 full.  It was still a great time though.

As the crowd was getting riled up and excited for the game to start, they came out with this enormous flag and pulled it up over all the people in our part of the stands.  There was one faithful Guatemalan fan amongst the TT fans and trouble did not ensue as would be expected based on stories that have been told about how crazy the fans can get.  Instead, he was supported by the locals, maybe it was because he had a good gimmick.  

As the game began and progressed, we were closely watching the clouds roll in.  Fortunately for us, the rain never came and it ended up being a perfect evening - temperature wise.

Almost the entire game was scoreless.  (FYI-Soccer matches are two 45-minute halves.)  Then in the 85th minute, TT scored and the place, while pretty empty, went nuts.  People were cheering and jumping up and down.  I can only imagine what it's like when the place is full.

We thought that we had this wrapped up, because scoring is not so easy in soccer.  However, shortly after the TT goal, there was a quick penalty kick by Guatemala on the far side of the field.  I don't know if the TT goalie wasn't ready or maybe wasn't aware what was going on, but it went straight in the goal without even being touched.  You could hear a pin drop in that stadium.  The game ended in a tie.  Bummer.

But that's not the thing that really sticks out from my first soccer match in TT.  Rather it's the vendors that were selling drinks, food and cigarettes.  Yes cigarettes.  Apparently the non-smoking thing hasn't invaded TT like it has in the states.  I will say that the way they were sold was enticing though.  The packs of cigarettes were carried around in a big, clear garbage bag.  Nice merchandising.

The other thing that stuck out was what people were calling out.  Sometimes its hard to understand what is being said with the thick caribbean accent and all.  I was able to figure out the beer call pretty easily.  The guy selling different types of roasted nuts was hard to figure out until I actually saw someone eating them (they're sold in small, wrapped up paper bags, so it's not as obvious as one might think).  But the last thing that I thought I kept hearing was "feets".  What the...??  But as the "feets" lady walked by me, I saw on a tray, a bunch of styrofoam cups with chicken feet sticking out of the top of them.  Apparently they sold chicken feet soup.  Hmm.  Who would have thought?

I really wish I had a picture of that.

Boy, I wish I could post a comment on these witty stories.

Well, now you can!!  If you're reading along and feel the desire to post a comment (which I love to see - it lets me know that people are actually reading this thing), then you just click on the "comments" link under any given story.  

Apparently is where it is getting tricky for some folks...

1) Type all your great comments in the big box on the right.

2) Type in the funny looking word in the box provided.

3a) If you have a Gmail account, click on the button next to "Google/Blogger" and enter your Gmail ID and password as if you were logging into Gmail.

3b) If you DO NOT have a Gmail account, you can click on the button next to "Name/URL" and type your name as you want it to appear in the "Name" box. 

4) Click the "Publish Your Comment" bar and your comment is posted.

Good luck!

New Posts

I realize that it's been a while since I've posted last.  I have lots of stuff to write about and stuff that I've already written down, but I just recently moved apartments and I'm still waiting to get the internet set up there and my school blocks blogs, so I can't get on there either.  

So how am I posting this you ask?  Well, I'm actually sitting in my car on the street outside my apartment complex, swiping someone else's wireless signal.  Since I don't want to sit here and type pages and pages of stuff, I'm just going to say sorry that it's been a while.  I'm thinking that I should have a connection in my house in another week or so and then I'll be a bit more regular with my posts.