Trip to Tobago

Tuesday morning we took the 25 minute flight to Tobago. We were picked up at the airport by Prince who had arranged for us to stay in his aunt’s apartment to see if we wanted to rent it for a year. It was a good idea because when we first saw it we thought, sure we can live here for a year. Then we took our shower and tried getting ready for the day and realized it wasn’t for us. It is in a nice location in Riseland Garden but it was way too small for us and there is hot water only in the shower, which seems to be more common than we realized.

Prince rented us a car for the duration of our stay on Tobago. We looked around on Tuesday afternoon, contacted the missionaries and arranged to go see Angelo’s apartment at 10 on Wed. Now Angelo is the one who had the apartment we were supposed to get but no one put money down to hold it before we left on our mission. Therefore, the Conks had to find their own place. They didn’t recommend either of the places they had found. We went with the Elders to look at the unfinished apartment and quite liked it and the location. The Elders took us to see Birdies Nest right on the beach where we had hoped to stay, but Prince already had it rented out. Prince also offered us his home which was behind Birdies Nest, but we didn’t like the washed out road to get to it. We took the Elders to lunch then dropped them off at their apartment and went back to see Angelo and Celia to see what we could negotiate.

Our branch meets on top of the grocery store. It has a huge parking lot out front, which is unusual in Trindad and Tobago.

This is our chapel. There are two class rooms to the right.

Great view off the deck of the branch. This is the Atlantic Ocean.

We saw this house on our walk.

We stayed in an apartment on the first floor behind the one you see. We walked down the small hallway that you can see. The lizard above was in the rocks behind the stairway. Our rental is the gold colored car on the right.

We went walking each morning at 6:30 around the neighborhood up and down the hills. It was delightful. On Thursday morning we met a recording artist, song writer, musician and his wife who said they would also look for us, but we haven’t heard from them. There are chickens all over the island and roosters that crow all night and all day! Angelo’s apartment on Signal Hill doesn’t have walkable streets as they are main roads on each side.

This chicken was downtown at the Internet cafe we went to a couple of times.

We spotted this garden on our walk. There are fruit and vegetable stands everywhere.

Goats and sheep are everywhere. They are frequently staked along the highways to eat the lush vegetation. These, of course, are in a yard. The sheep aren't woolly like we are used to seeing.

The day was cloudy, but you can see the Atlantic ocean from this point near the store below. It over looks the end of the island where the airport and the tourist places are found.

This is a mini-mart on a dead end road.

The driving wasn’t nearly as bad as Trinidad because there are fewer cars. 54,000 live on the island and most of them at our end of the island. Still we loved the feel of the island. It isn’t as crowded and scrinchy feeling as Trinidad. There are no bars on the windows and very few gated properties. It is awesome to come around a corner or up over a hill and see the Atlantic Ocean or the Caribbean Sea depending on where you are.

Thursday we finalized our contract with Celia and Angelo, went into Scarborough to get signed up for Internet. Celia and Angelo are going to England on Friday for a month. Our apartment isn’t finished yet. The AC unit isn’t in the living room as yet. His son is supposed to finish the details for us to be able to move in on September 24. We flew home Friday morning and went to the office to catch up, since we didn’t have Internet. We did visit and Internet Café twice to check on tickets, etc.