After a good night's sleep and a morning cup of coffee my traveling companions and I explored downtown Chaguanas, the city where we are staying. We went to the local market, a place filled with the sights, sounds and smells of all manner of foodstuffs! We saw produce heaped in colorful piles ranging from avocados to something that intrigued grandson Zak called sticky fruit. Many of the vendors were bagging up their goods--there seemed to be lots and lots and lots of hot peppers! A couple of them sat chopping avocados to sell in pieces. I know--you want some chips for guacamole, don't you?
The butchers were also hacking away at pork and beef and chicken. You could buy a pig's face (just the face, not the whole head) for soup or whatever. There were body parts I couldn't identify. And fish--lots of fish. We watched as one vendor cleaned and filleted a very large tilapia for a customer right on the spot. One of our number is a vegetarian, and his commitment to his eating lifestyle was only reinforced by much of what we saw. And, quite honestly, I had a vegetarian lunch!
Speaking of lunch, we went to one of the mall food courts for lunch--as I was to have a lunch meeting with the General Secretary of the Conference of Caribbean Churches. Unlike most other regional ecumenical bodies, the Caribbean group includes the Roman Catholic Church. A very positive sign! It was an informative and productive meeting, and I left further impressed by the hospitality of Trinidadians! Zak and the others had lunch and then poked around the stores while we talked. Zak was delighted to have Burger King French Fries for his noontime meal!
Our afternoon tour of Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, included some intriguing facts including two miscellaneous tidbits: the largest traffic roundabout in the world is in Port of Spain, and so is the KFC selling the most chicken of any franchise! The things you learn!
Tonight we join our Rotary host at her home, along with about twenty invited guests for a "lime"--not the fruit, a party. Any time you hang out with friends, it's called a lime. I haven't discovered the history of the word's use yet, but I like it!
In case you haven't picked it up--and I don't know how you could have missed it--hospitality is the theme of the trip so far! We have been blown away by the graciousness, the kindness, the openness of our hosts. Jesus, of course, was known for his hospitality--and we've certainly seen his face in so many people here. Who knows, maybe the Last Supper was really a lime!
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