Chaguaramas Bay...........Trinidad

On our last day in Trinidad, a friend of my mother took us on a boat trip to Chaguaramas Bay. It was nice to have some tranquility! I want to buy that pink house.....!

Downtown Port of Spain........

One thing I did notice about Trinidad was all the natural hair wearers, especially locks. No sister locks however, although there is someone listed on the website in Trinidad, her number was unavailable when I called. A sister was in need of a re-tightening!

However, due to the high crime rate and also the reluctance of people wishing to have their photos taken, I was unable to get any pics. I was too scared to take out my camcorder!

Also the "Soca Warriors" had their welcome home whilst we were in Tobago. Everywhere in Trinidad were banners of the soca warriors, on goverment buildings on cars, everywhere. Tee-shirts for sale on every corner down town.

Family, Friends and Fun in Trinidad

Our days were spent in "town" and our evenings were spent drinking rum, eating roti and liming on the porch! Catching up with mum's friends and reminicing over the good times. It was a whirlwind trip to Trinidad, but I can look back fondly on the time we spent there, with friends old and new.


After 6 days of rushing around, the time finally arrived to venture back to the calm of Tobago. This time, however, we decided to fly!

Well "who tell me to do that?......." Was all our travelling doomed for disaster?

I booked the flights on Tobago Express which flies between Piarco Airport in Trinidad to Crown Point Airport in Tobago, every hour.

I made the reservations for 5 as my brother who arrived in Trinidad whilst we were there wished to see Tobago.

Reservations made for 11.30 am flight. Check in time 10.30am - no problem or so I thought. We arrived at the airport at around 10.40am, and due to the long queue, by the time we got to the desk, low and behold our reservations had been given away as "standby" tickets. Well you can imagine. I was fuming. The next available flight that 5 of us could be accommodated on was the 2.30 pm. We had no choice but to wait in the airport until the 1.30pm check-in. This time I made sure I was first in line, only to be told that they were still checking in the 2.00pm flight. I stood my ground and remaining in line. I was then first for 2.30pm check in.

We then proceded to bagage clearance as you do not need to go through customs inter island. 2.30pm came and went. Then came the announcement that the flight was still in Tobago and would be delayed due to bad weather. Yes it is rainy season and yes it was raining!

We finally boarded the plane and arrived in Tobago 15 mins later at around 3.30pm. Hugh our taxi driver was patiently awaiting our return.

Culture Shock Shower...........

These are the pics of the antiquated showering facilities. I am sure back in their day they were very state of art! No disrespect grandmum, but we had to shower very carefully! I can't seem to keep these posts in order. Having lots of problems uploading the pics and when I do through Picasa they seem to go wherever they like! Although I do think I am getting a little better! Bear with me, I am sure you all can manage to follow the story script somehow!

Skerretts Villa Mt Irvine Tobago

The villa is situated at Mt Irvine Bay, in a nice quiet residential turning. Three minutes walk from Mt Irvine Bay beach.

After peeking at the villa, we walked to the beach and had lunch at the Surfers Restaurant and Bar. Again we dined on fish, but king fish with rice, macaroni pie, callaloo and salad. This time the cost was $50 TT per person which equates to £5.00! that's more like it!
We spent some time at the bay and then returned back to the hotel in the early evening.

Tonigt we were going to eat Chinese. Showered, changed and took a walk to the local chinese restaurant. The food was well presented and tasted nice and above all it came in at around $130 TT about £13.00 in total, including drinks! It's funny how when you are on holiday, you always compare what you would pay at home. It is one thing getting used to the new currency and quite another working out the exchange rates!

Mt Irvine Bay with the Sufers Restaurant in the background.

Home from Home!

Day Three. We made ourselves comfortable at Skerretts Villa. We were only due to spend one night as we had to go over to Trinidad on a business trip.
My aunt has a cleaner, Pinky, whose partner Hugh has a taxi service. Hugh was invaluable and was at our beck and call.

Hugh advised us to travel to Trinidad via the Lynx which is a Catamaran type ferry, which sails twice a day between Tobago and Trinidad. As I have only flown before I decided it would be a good experience to try the Lynx. It certainly was an experience. Hugh advised us to purchase our tickets "downtown" the evening before and that we should take the 6.30am sailing to make the best of our time. You have to purchase your ticket at the Port Authority. So we lined up outside as the Port Authority closes between 2pm and 4pm. It was about 4.30 pm before they re-opened to a rush of irate Tobagonians!. Children were getting squashed and they had no regard for the elderly or infirm! Once at the desk, you have to give the names of all passengers travelling etc. My fist attempt was disaster, the teller did not get it right and I had to go back and change the names again. That over, we returned home to pack a suitcase and prepare for our 4 days in Trinidad.

Hugh arrived at 4.45am as promised and we were whisked off to the Port for our 6.30 am sailing.
A pic of the Lynx. I did feel like I was boarding the "Windrush" like my foremothers. Passengers have to walk up the gangplank and the Port is very commercial. One inside it was quite pleasant. However, the 2 and a half hours sailing was delayed by about 30 minutes due to the boat not having any water on board!

Trinidad..................

Trinidad was certainly an experience, especially "downtown" Port of Spain! Imagine your worst shopping experience and multiply it by 5! Also add the "sun" and "humidity" factors!

The boys enjoyed travelling in the "maxi taxis" , with their loud music playing and decorative interiors.

You can certainly learn alot from other cultures and countries and travelling is definately an education. Not having to deal with attourney's before in this capacity was an education in itself! You make an appointment and you still have to wait at least 3 hours to be seen! Bwoy this business trip was going to take it out of us.

Although it was different, we managed to get through.

Some aspects of "town" were enjoyable, especially the home cooked foods. I really enjoyed "doubles" although the boys had some reservations, especially my 6 year old. And a few glasses of mauby went down a treat!

Trinidad here we come

Trinidad here we come! Arrived in Port of Spain Port. Again another commercial port, downtown. After a long wait for family friends to meet us, we finally arrived at my grandmother's house in the Petit Valley, Crystal Stream, Diego Martin.

It has been 14 years since I last visited this house, when my grandmother passed and the reason I revisited it this time was to clear up business after my mother tragically passed, which was last October. The house was built in the 1950's and my brother and I spent two years as children living in this very house with my grandmother. It was quite and emotional trip, but business has to be sorted. The house is old and in need of modernisation.

My boys had a bit of a culture shock, it was not like home nor Tobago. There was no air conditioning here and Trinidad is more humid than Tobago! The crickets sing very loudly every night and the windows are louvre type so did not offer much sound proofing! There was only cold running water and I think my 16 year old thought I was putting him through a torture chamber. The showering facilities are very antiquated! I guess the electrical connections were to heat the water via the element as it passes through. However, every time you took a shower, you had to be careful not to touch anything metal, otherwise you would get a small electric shock!

I don't think my 16 year old will return here too quickly!

The house is situated near a busy highway, which clearly will expand as the years go by. However, it is in a prime location.

Enchanted Waters Tobago

Following breakfast and a quick dip in the pool. We all headed out for a walk. This is my 6 year old having a dip.

My Aunt, who lives in Minnesota and her family have a villa in Mount Irvine Bay, which was occupied on our arrival, however we were due to get the keys on day three and move in. As we were staying down the road from the villa we took a walk to have a peek! It was about a half hour walk in soaring temperatures, but not complaining as I was comforted by the weather we left behind in London!

The walk took us past the famous Mt Irvine Bay Golf Club and Hotel. Harrison Ford has his Tobago home not far from here.

I don't think the current tenants spotted us. Infact it did not look like anyone was home.

I'm Back!

Hi locked sisters, I'm back. Apologies for the absence, but have been very busy recently. I still managed to read all of the hair blogs, or at least lots of them. I am going to now update my blog in reverse order, as I have a lot of news.

On the 24th June 2006 my family and I travelled to Tobago with my 16 year old son and my 6 year old son. We left home at 4.30 am to catch the Gatwick Flyer, which is a door to door coach service, which unfortunatley does not pick up in my area in London. We had to travel to my aunt's house, just on the outskirts of London to enable us to be picked up. We arrived at Gatwick around 6.30 am, our flight was scheduled for 10.30 am.

Once the British Airways desk was open for check in we checked in our luggage and proceeded to search for something to eat. We opted for a McDonald's breakfast and wish we hadn't! Not recommended at Gatwick airport!

We boarded our flight, but were slightly delayed as they had technical problems. Once sorted and following the safety procedures we were on our way.

It was my first time flying with BA and the service was pretty ok. The food was not too bad either! Good films and lots of drinks. No rum punch though!

We had a one hour stop in Antigua.
However, we were unable to leave the plane whilst passengers disembarked and boarded.

Our one hour stop turned into a two hour stop. This was due to a fellow passenger, a locked brother, getting very agitated with the long wait and becoming a security threat! He was taken off the plane in Antigua to be transfered to another flight going to Tobago. We arrived at Crown Point Airport, Tobago a little behind schedule. The flight from Antigua was about 1 hour.

We travelled by taxi to our hotel, Enchanted Waters in Buccoo. A nice family run hotel. The rooms were comfortable and due to it being low season, the hotel fairly empty. They also had a pool.

That evening at the hotel, we dined on shrimp bisque, which was over salty. I had mahi mahi with garlic sauce and a side dish of rice and broccli with cheese sauce, which comes highly recommended. The boys had chicken and chips.

We had rum punch, mineral water, coke and juice and it all came in at $650 TT! a little expensive we thought.

A comfortable first night was spent in the rooms which were air conditioned.

My dear friend Doran, who escorted me and my friends to the party. 

Another pose!

This is the back of the style. Chi is very talented and I loved this and I had lots of comments for during the evening and the following week at work.
Another pose.




Paulette, Sandra and Me
This is me and my childhood sweetheart, Barry, who celebrated his 40th on 24th February 2006. 

This is me at home just before going out. Note the hair, done by Chi my hairdresser, or rather loctician! I loved this style, he is great and did a wonderful job!

Here are some pictures of my dinner party -"an evening of love.........." 18th February 2006



Below is Mandy and Nighat enjoying the fondue!


The main course - baked salmon and pesto mash!





This is the red berry roulade. It is made with egg whites and cream, however, I did not make it, a colleagues mother did.







Nadine and Rhian enjoying the food and drink

Hi, I'm back with lots of new pics. I had a dinner party entitled "An Evening of Love........." on the 18th February to mark Valentines Day for the ladies!


We dined on Oriental Firepot, a savoury fondue, which consisted of prawns, scallops, snow peas and noodles. These were dipped and cooked in the fondue, which had a soup base, with lemon grass, ginger, soy sauce etc... I also made an oriental dip with prawn crackers. The main course was baked salmon with olives and pesto mashed potatoes, with a rollo losso salad. The dessert was a red berry roulade, made with egg whites and cream, with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.

I produced a booklet for each guest, and the topic for conversation was "how can we as women bring more love into our lives.?"

The booklet contained articles on the chakras, particularly the heart chakra, rose quartz, which is the quartz of love, self love, and rituals! Pampering rituals and alter work.

Each guest had to bring something with them which represented "love" to them. One friend brought a CD, another her photo album, another a book on love by the Dali Lama. I read a story from a book called, "Journey to a blissful life" by Maria D Dowd.

I have typed it out as I love this story:

It is called "Love Affair" by Kimberly T Mathhews

"May I share a secret with you? I'm only telling you because you seem trustworthy enough. I am involved in a very deep and serious love affair. This affair started so subtly, as most of them do. The "relationship", if you will, crept up on me without my even noticing or purposing in my heart to be committed to such a thing. I didn't mean to become so fiercely and passionately entangled, and now that I've turned my head to look back over my shoulder at the path that this relationship has traveled, I'm fascinated that I've been involved for more than eight years! Eight years! My, how one day rolls into the next!

As with any relationship, I've experienced the typical ups and downs, but I've embraced and endured every storm, no matter how upsetting. There have been mornings when I've awakened and asked myself what was going on. Nevertheless, as I pondered the journey, I knew I wouldn't end it. There have been evenings when I just didn't feel like dealing with the drama of this union any longer, yet I pressed on. And what would any union be if there weren't a few nights going to bed angry and teary-eyed, not knowing if the bond would last beyond the wee hours of the morning? Then, of course, there is always a make up period that overpowers any dispute to the point where I can't even remember what the conflict was about in the first place.

As tempted as I have sometimes been to end it all, I just refuse to let it go. Just when I've thought that I couldn't take it anymore, something happens to make me smile, laugh and feel simply wonderful about this love I'm experiencing. Something always draws me back, calming my emotions from the greatest peak of frustration, and settles in the center of my heart. Even when I want to stay upset, I find that I can't. Rather than my saying, "It's over," the words "I love you" tumble across my lips. Rather than packing up and throwing out every single item that brings the slightest notion of this union to my mind, before I build up enough nerve and true sincerity to do so, I find myself coaxing on this intimacy.

A few friends have offered their personal opinions about this whole thing, giving me thoughtless recommendations, suggesting what they would do, and even going as far as to communicate what their individual visions are for me! What a nerve! They say things like, "Chile, you good, because if it was me, then this and that!" I listen sometimes.....just to humor them; sometimes I don't. Some are even silly enough to think that I'm trapped in this thing. "You ain't go to do that," they say. They think that I believe that there are no other options out there for me. Oh, how wrong they are. On the contrary, this is an affair of my choosing! I don't express this to them, but on the inside I stand up defiantly and say, "I'm grown. I can have an affair if I want to." forgive me if I seem defensive, but this is true love, y'all. They don't understand, but that's okay, because this love is all about me. It's who I am, what I want, and what I like. So talk about me all you want; I'm keeping on anyway.

As Usher would say, I got it bad. And I'm lovin' every minute of this affair....with my natural hair!

It was a fabulous evening, lots of discussion and laughs.
Thanks to my friends, Mandy, Nighat, Nadine and Rhianedd.

This is my daughter, Jozan on her 18th birthday!




Checking out the colour of the dye!!



Hi all, feeling much better and back to work today! Thought I would post some photos.

Thank you all for your nice welcome comments and get well wishes. I had my hair retightened yesterday and feeling good. I note that you ladies retighten your hair very regularly. I see my consultant every eight weeks for retightening, and have occasionally had my hair styled by Chi, loctician, who also dyed my locks.

I have uploaded some pictures at various stages of my sisterlock journey. They were all taken at the end of last year. I have also added a picture of my daughter on her 18th birthday, for those of you who do not believe I have an 18 year old (LOL). She is soon to become a mum in May and me a grandma! I am still getting used to the idea!

Hi all

Have not gotten round to posting any new pics, but will do as soon as I am feeling better. Have been off work for this week with "pericarditis" sounds bad, but it is inflamation of the lining of my heart! I have to take anti-inflamatary tablets for 1 week and get some bed rest. Likely reason, is stress and after effects of my flu.

My daughter celebrated her 18th birthday yesterday, which was fun. Catch you all soon.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone. I have been an avid reader of the hair blogs for such a long time now. Finally I am about to get started on one of my own. You American girls really have it going on. Hope to join in the family spirit you all have!

Had my locks dyed on 28th December 2005, by Chi. I have three colours and it looks wonderful. He done a really great job. I have had my sisterlocks since 4/5th November 2004. It was the best decision I have made with regards to my hair. I was natural for 2 years prior to getting my locks.

I have today received my spikey curlers and I am looking forward to trying them out this evening. I have read a lot about them on the blogs. I hope that they work as well as some people have documented. I will post more pictures soon.

Christmas Morning

I have today become a blogger. I have opened my account and will attempt to upload some phootos.