Limin
2004-11-22 1:28 a.m.
Last week was amazing. I�m rarely so intrigued as I�ve arrogantly found things to grow dull over time. I guess that�s my purpose as somewhat of an aimless wanderer. It�s not so much that I�ve no destination, but more that my destination is more of a feeling than a place. A place of comfort as a good friend puts it, and I couldn�t agree more.Last week was a slice of heaven. No mind games. No bullshit. Just good conversation and plenty of drink. Of course, there�s issues with attraction and priority of attention, but I�m not one to worry about such things. Rather, I applaud and welcome them. Many things are clouding my head, but a good kind of cloud. Like sitting in a boiling spring along side the Colorado river watching the world go by a second at a time. The steam engulfing your head and emotions, and birthing an absolute bliss that you never actually want to leave, regardless of how realistic such an idea is. Then again, you could always move to Colorado to enjoy it as often as you wish.
On another note, I just got in from an incredible weekend in Trinidad. My girl wanted to go out there now that she has a better sense of herself. She wanted to be close to the family she left behind as a child 12 or so years ago. Needless to say, it was to be a nervewrecking experience for her, so she asked me to come along for the confidence.
Considering our situation, I was a bit hesitant to go. I really just wanted to avoid the whole marriage question. But my girl really seemed to need me there, and being that she�s met my tribe of drunkards, it wasn�t even a choice to be made. Of course the idea of 85 degree weather on a distant island was attractive as well.
So my girl�s aunt and uncle met us with their youngest son (he�s 6), who attached to me instantly. Really adorable kid. I wasn�t really nervous, as meeting people tends to be my thing. On that end, I had an advantage. Doing battle with my girl�s father among other things her mother kinda brags about in my favor put me on their good side instantly.
So once they scooped us up with a very warm introduction and the first stop on the way back to the house was a local bar. It wasn�t even my suggestion, I swear. I stopped in with T�s uncle to grab a round of beers for everyone and a malta for the kid. It turns out you can drink anywhere, including in the drivers seat in Trinidad. Although I�m not an advocate of drinking and driving, such a thing pleased me to no end.
As soon as we got to the house everyone gave a really warm welcome. A couple of T�s cousins were there, giving me dap and big hugs as a greeting. I�m not too sure, but it seems the house was in a lower to mid class area. Everything is really chill, and you hear the word �lime� at least once in every conversation. Out there, to lime is to chill. �We was limin til 6am and slept for a couple hours to lime some more the next day,� was a notable quote from one of the first conversations we had.
Grannie hooked up food all weekend. Roti, Doubles, LOTS of crab, swordfish, various things I didn�t quite �get� the name of, and whatever else my girl refuses to make despite the goading of her mom� and I even tried pigs feet, which I�ve avoided from my own grandmother for years. They soak it in cucumber and peppers (really fucking hot peppers, which were SO damned good) and I was reluctant, but it�s hard to turn down food from someone�s grandmother. I really enjoyed it.
We stepped out to a local bar and started learnin a bit about life in Trinidad. All I can say is that it�s ALWAYS best to know people where �you�re going. Fuck the tourist shit. To say the least, I hadn�t even realized that I was the only white person I�d seen, the whole time we were there. The last day, as I was leaving, my girl commented about it, and I nodded in surprise. Didn�t even notice.
The hard part of it all was to understand the dialect. The trini accent is very thick, and considering where we were, everyone spoke similar to how the inner city people talk here. Lots of slang. Words with differing meanings. Words run together lazily. I�d say on day one, I caught about 20% of the conversation. By Saturday, I got a lil more than half, and by Sunday I had begun to apply the dialect to my own speech, but still had to ask for things to be repeated here and there. I guess that while I tried to keep up, I began thinking in the dialect, and the next thing I knew things came out of my mouth in a twisted half/dialect. Kinda like when you begin speaking spanglish in Mexico after being out there for a couple days.
We spent a lot of time just sitting on the front porch talking. It seemed that the entire family grew up in that house. T remembered a lot of it from her childhood, and a couple of her friends from preschool stopped by when they heard we were in town. The greatest thing was that everyone that comes by comes with an instant friendly greeting. �Good morning good morning!!� which was instantly replied to by everyone. And the greetings were sincere. Not the run-of-the-mill �what up� in passing, but rather a sincere hello.
By Friday night I was on the porch with grannie, the kid and T�s aunt. We were talking about whatever when we noticed a car door fly open on the highway next to the house as the car screeced to the side (The hightway is more like a busy street on the other side of the concrete fence. Not like a raised highway or anything). The guy ran out and the door from the other side flew open. The scene seemed familiar� A shot rang out, and I shot up to help grannie get inside. The guy who blasted off jumped in the drivers seat and took off.
Grannie and Auntie were at the door peeking out laughing about it all. I guess it happens on that corner quite often. They let off a few stories about such robberies in the past. I�ve seen that shit, and much worse in the past, but never considered having the conversations with someone�s grandmother.
On Saturday we spent a day at Maracas beach, which is stunningly gorgeous. We kicked back, eating, drinking some local rum and some beer, eating Bake�nShark, which is like a shark burger. The waves were at about 4 or 5 feet so a bunch of us went out diving into them. I got my ass beat by a couple of them, which is bugged as if the wave catches you it gives you a really good tumble, sucking you in and blowing you out, flipping you over to seemingly no avail. One time I finally came up after a good minute or so of getting wrecked to 6 faces dying of laughter watching get my ass kicked. It was good to supply some laughs for the crowd.
Speaking of laughs, I found the people to be even nicer than I expected. Not that I expected anyone to be mean, but I do come from a people who enjoy to laugh at others (all in good fun of course). I mean my family, as well as a lot of my good friends families talk a lot of shit to each other. To say the least, it builds the defenses. So when these guys would talk shit, they were being far more playful and less mean. I knew not to respond as I normally would, but it took a bit to get used to the idea that they weren�t all out making fun.
As far as talking shit goes, on Saturday night, the 2 brothers we spent most of our time with began to run theirs. The older one (22), was making it a point that I wouldn�t get any sleep until I left on Sunday afternoon. The younger one (19) began to talk about how to handle liquor. I remained humble, but as the night carried on, they kept pushing without actually getting the drinks going. So I laid it down.
The challenge was made (something I just don�t do anymore), and next thing you know we have a bottle of coconut water and a bottle of scotch. 3 Hours later, I�d killed most of the scotch straight, going about 2 glasses to their one, mine straight to theirs mixed with coconut water. They were trashed, and I was just tired and buzzed. I generally don�t find the need to prove myself anymore. Just too old for all that. But what the hell, it was fun shutting the locals up, if at least to know I�d get a couple family stories out of it once I was gone.
In the end, the weekend was perfect. I�m glad I left early though, if at least to let T get her time in with her family. I�m glad to have the place to myself for a couple days as well. My final comments on Trinidad� Incredible and beautiful place with incredible people. I�d heard soca at my girl�s house in the past and thought it was alright. Now, when actually IN Trinidad, Soca music is very good. Might have to grab a bit. And here are SO MANY BEAUTIFUL WOMEN ON THAT ISLAND. I had mine by my side the whole time so I wasn�t giving too much attention, but with that many� damn.
And as I left, Auntie invited me to come back and visit �with or without T�. She gave me the �knowing� look and then hugged me. I was in awe of such kindness. My girl explained later that she knows the deal and respects the situation. It was the last puzzle piece to the perfect picture. All ends tied up.
Alright, I�m gonna go lime for a bit. I�m in dire need of a smoke and a drink to chill the fuck out after dealing with airports all day (HATE EM). I�ll probably get back into this book I�ve been reading about Ali / Frasier. I�m about 3/4 done and can�t seem to put it down.