Sue's Travels: May 2010

Port of Spain, Trinidad – 2 May 2010

I got up at 6:00 to finish packing my suitcase which must be out by 7:00AM. I can’t find the silk scarf that I brought back from my silk road trip. I still don’t have an answer on the knitting needles. I have to finish packing then go to breakfast. Departure time is 8:30AM.

I was given my passport with all paper work filled out. We boarded the bus for the tour of Port of Spain. We were driven around the city with our guide/driver identifying virtually every building that we passed. He took us to a high point over the city where we stopped and got out of the bus. I was able to take pictures. Trinidad has a population of about 1.5 Million of which ten percent live in the city of Port of Spain. The principal export is oil and natural gas. Trinidad is only about seven miles from the Venezuelan coast and has good relations. The only good beaches are on the other side of the island, which we didn’t go to. We went to the ASA Wright Nature Centre. It was a real white knuckle drive up a mountain. There were hair pin turns on a very narrow road. After we came down the mountain, we were taken to the local airport, where I found that my 2:45 plane has been delayed to 3:20 PM.

View from the ship upon arrival at Port of Spain, Trinidad

Port of Spain, Trinidad

Ships at dock

In the Nature preserve

Herb Garden

Flower

Herb Garden

Note Blue-green bird

Bird

Birds

More Birds

Arature – 1 May 2010

We arrived at Arature and had only one outing in the Zodiacs. I think that I might have gotten some pictures of Toucans, but I can’t be sure. Since my trip was scheduled for 7:30, I ate breakfast before the excursion. Shortly after we returned, the Capitan lifted anchor and we headed further down river. By 11:30 we were in the Atlantic rocking and rolling. Luellen gave the disembarkation lecture and I paid for a tour of Port of Spain in Trinidad. I will be leaving the ship at 8:30 and there we will be a three hour tour at the end which I will be dropped off at the airport. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten an answer on my knitting needle question. If I don’t get an answer, I’ll just pack my knitting needles.

Tanya Edwards spoke about Vitamin D and its importance to a lot of health conditions. Buzz Thompson spoke about the great rivers of the world. I had asked about the condition of the Atlantic and had been warned that I might be happier if I took a Dramamine. I took one at 10:00 before we hit the Atlantic and then another after lunch. Later in the day, I had to ask the receptionist for pills as I had run out. I tried to eat lunch, but when I realized that it was not going down well, I asked one of the waiters to bring me a slice of bread. The Maitre’D had already brought me some ginger, which I ate with the bread. After lunch, I returned to my cabin and lay down for a while. I’m not as sick as I was those two days going from Brazil to Suriname, but I’m not a happy camper. Food does stay down as long as I’m careful.

I made it to the lounge for Hugo’s talk about growing up on the Amazon River. The slide show was shown as a recap and I will be given a CD with the slide show and other information about the trip on it. I returned to my cabin to change and then went to the captain’s cocktail party. Dinner followed and then off to load up my pictures and go to bed.

Bird in Tree

View down Stream

Bird in Tree

Toucan

Toucan in Tree

Living along side river

Children playing at river's edge

Hanging out laundry

El Toro – 30 April 2010

I didn’t have a good night’s sleep. I kept waking up thinking that it was 5:30 and time to get up. I did get up and into the zodiac at 6:00 AM. I was in JJ’s boat. We started up a relatively narrow stream, but the smoke was intense. Apparently now is the time when the Indians burn the fields for slash and burn agriculture. The smoke was so thick that JJ commented that he had never seen it that thick before and we headed up a different, wider stream. Shortly after we entered the stream, we saw red howler monkeys in a tree. I couldn’t get a picture because there were too many leaves in the way. I, really, only saw a red blob. As we continued up the stream I saw a corral with cattle. On either side of the stream, I saw a line of trees with a clearing behind it. Apparently, cattle ranching is being introduced into the area in significant numbers. In an almost leafless tree, I saw three or four Hoatzin (pronounce Hwatson) Birds. They are considered to be rare in this area. Next to the leafless tree was another tree that the Hoatzins flew to. I think that I got some decent pictures, which I would like to be able to enlarge. Further along, we saw another troupe of red howler monkeys. Since there were fewer leaves on the tree, they were more visible. At about 7:30, we returned to the ship for breakfast.

After resting for a while, we headed into the village of El Toro. It consists of about 40 families with about 5 or 6 children each and about 65 buildings. It has the same type of walkways as in Curiapu, but it is smaller. Behind the village was a significant cleared field. Hugo Chavez has provided running water and electricity. It is a subsistence economy. If they have anything left over, they sell it in a larger village two and half hours upstream. The ship delivered some school supplies to the head teacher, who will distribute it appropriately. The number of “Direct TV” satellites never ceases to surprise me. The people were friendly. After walking the full length of the village, I headed back to the ship as it was quite warm in the village. I took a short nap!

After lunch, I headed up on to deck 6 to watch as the ship headed to Rio Arroya. I can sit in an air conditioned room anytime back in New York, but I can’t see jungle scenery. There was nothing spectacular, but I enjoyed watching just the same. When the ship dropped anchor, the nice shady spot that I had found became very sunny; consequently I headed to the aft of the ship to deck 5 where I was able to sit under an overhang. There were quite cool breezes blowing as well. At about 3:15, I headed for my cabin where I put my sneakers on to be ready for the excursion. We went up one of the side streams until one of the zodiacs encountered vegetation that couldn’t be driven through. We saw more Hoatzins and I hope I was able to get some pictures. I did take some pictures of flowers that I considered pretty. I really enjoy the zodiac rides whether or not we see birds or any other animals. I took a nice warm shower when we got back and am ready for the evening program.

Tomorrow’s program will be long on lectures and short on doing. There will only be one zodiac ride in the morning.