National Academy for the Performing Arts, Trinidad

The new National Academy for the Performing Arts building on the edge of the Queens Park Savannah in Port of Spain, stands out in the city as it is so very different to everything around it. It's all glass, and steel arcs, and a modern anomaly in this old style town.

Opening in November 2009, it features a performance hall, teaching room, practice halls, and reportedly a hotel for performing guests! Although I have been unable to find an official website for it, nor a list of performances for visitors to Port of Spain to see...this is one of the many world-wide structures around the world funded in part by Chinese government funding, through a "concessional loan".


An intriguing sight to see, I hope it grows to provide a place of Trini culture and learning, live performance and music....

Street Art of Port of Spain

Finishing my walk through town in Port of Spain, I started walking back to the hotel via Queens Park Savannah, and found these displays of street art along the wall of the sports ground on the grassy expanse of the city.


There actually was not much out and out graffiti that caught my eye when I was walking around the city, but these these panels along the outer wall of the ground seem to capture a voice and spirit.




Such powerful feminist images, with the use of colour and underlying gender themes. I can only assume 'Me', as the artist has signed one of the creations, is a female Trinidadian.


"I am shaped like bright freedom" - indeed! These works of art were the end of my time in Trinidad, and felt like such an uplifting and fitting message of fun, hope and empowerment.

Port of Spain

My last day in Trinidad I had all to myself, with the rest of the group heading to Tobago, and Melissa flying home. Thus, after taking it easy in the morning, and also waiting out the rain, I walked into town to check out the city sights of Port of Spain.

Taking about 30 minutes to walk from the hotel, past the Queens Park Savannah, and all the way down into town to the Independence Square, I was able to chat to school kids as they spilled out onto the street for the day (or they dared each other to speak to me, the only white girl in town at the time!), take in the food stalls and bustle of the middle of the day.

Once I got to the imposing Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, I sat and took in the strip of space that runs all the way along the bottom of the city, before walking the length of it, seeing men out playing chess among more stalls, and people leaving work for the day.

Reaching the other end, just adjacent to the water taxi terminal, I found the Brian Lara statue. In some brochures this Independence Square is actually referred to as Brian Lara Promenade, such is the reverence to the great local batsman. 'The Prince of Port Of Spain', as the sign below the statue declares, Lara is certainly a figure about town. He has been given a piece of government land for his home on the edge of the Queens Park Savannah for his very impressive, and much talked about, residence. Several of our group managed to meet him during the match, and have their photo taken with him. Some very jealous Sheilas among us, let me tell you!

Walking back into the city and away from the waters edge, I found the impressive Old Police Headquarters and the pretty Old Fire Station Tower, before wandering into Woodford Square.

This space of land in the middle of the city is famous as a place of political and religious gatherings, but there was nothing so topical going on on this particular day. Just people walking through after work, or hanging about.

From the Square I could see the Red House, which is the house of parliament, and perhaps one of the more prominent buildings of the city. It was covered in scaffolding, but grand and bright nonetheless.

Also from the Square I could see the Old Library building, as well as Greyfriar's Church. Having grabbed a leaflet about the historical buildings in Port of Spain, it seems they are all really close together in this compact city area.

Walking back out of the centre of town again, I returned to the new and very modern National Academy of Performing Arts for a closer look, and to take some photos of the impressive sails. This is on the edge of the Savannah. We had joked with a taxi driver earlier in the week that it was the Trinidad Sydney Opera House, which he was delighted by!

Taking one last look at the capital of Trinidad, I returned to the hotel for a swim and some relaxation time within my much needed holiday. I then packed and prepared for the early morning airport run, which will take me and the rest of the Waving The Flag touring group, to our next destination.

Drawn Match in Port of Spain

A disappointing end to what was poised as a great day of cricket, the Second Test between the West Indies and Australia at Queens Park Oval here in Port of Spain finished in a draw, as the rain washed out the final day. The match ended whilst the covers were on, and the rain falling, and with the majority of the Waving The Flag crew having beers and cocktails in the All Out Bar in the Member's Stand.


With the day before seeing just 30 overs, and Melissa and I taking our daytrip to Tobago, we were keen to soak in the last day of cricket, which was also Melissa's last day on tour. With Springer, we walked around the Queens Park Savannah and past the Magnificent Seven one last time, mainly due to flooding due to the rain the day before, and to soggy look of the massive patch of land.

Australia resumed it's second innings at 3 for 73, and batted past lunch, working on a target for the West Indies reply, and a timely declaration several wickets after Lunch by Clarke had the match at a point where either team could win, but the Aussies confident.

As the Aussie attack was a bowler down with Pattinson reportedly on a plane home due to a back injury, Hilfenhaus did some damage early with 2 quick fire scalps, and spirits in our stand were high.

This shifted pretty quickly with Sammy taking to some loose bowling, and lofting the ball over the fence...and the possibility of the WIndies doing this easy was asserted. But alas, we could see the rain approaching over our shoulders and the mountains in view, and the players were offered the light. As soon as they were off the rain started, and didn't let up for the rest of the day. Such a shame, because this game was set for a cracking finish!

Queens Park Oval, with the mountains around Trinidad just beyond, and the views of the ocean out the other way, is really one of the most picturesque cricket grounds around the world. The characters of the locals, and the food and drink sellers, also make it an amazing place to visit for the cricket. Having beer served to you at your seat is always a winner! With the corn soup and roti for lunch add to the flavour of Trinidad.

Tobago

Thinking that one could not really claim to have been to Trinidad and Tobago without actually going across to the little brother island, a day trip to Tobago was in order. Melissa and I debated which day to make the journey, and take a day off from the cricket in doing so, and ended up picking Day 4.

We caught the 6.30am ferry across, which was painful given a large impromptu night the night before. This ferry took 2.5 hours, and got fairly rough when we were out to sea, although it did allow us some valuable nap time! The ticket seller was very reluctant to sell us our return ticket on this day, a Wednesday, when there are not as many ferry's running, and an 11pm cargo vessel being the option. We pressed, and got our tickets.

Upon arrival into the port of Scarborough, we were approached by Jerry, one of the many locals spruiking for business for the day. He talked about the type of island tour we were looking for, and of course, he could offer us just that!

He took us through a section of the main town on Tobago, including a visit to the fort to allow a view of the town and ocean, before we made our way our of town to start the lap around the island.

Having our own driver meant that we could stop and see anything that caught our eye, but also given that Jerry was a local, born and bred, and also that he is a prominent character on the island due to his work with one of the annual festivals, he seemed to know and say hi to everyone we passed all the way around!

The road wound up and around the forest mountains, with coastal views at every other turn. Full, lush forest with fruit trees, palm trees, and even evidence of landslides and water trickles from the centre, were the feature of the day.

Jerry stopped at each point of interest and explained the local way of life to us at every opportunity, including the Mystery Tombstone, and so many beautiful vantage points of a gorgeous blue ocean lapping the beach below. We also stopped at many of these beaches when we were at ocean level, to walk along the white sand, often with almost no one around.

Through village-sized towns on the map such as Plymouth, Castara, and Charlotteville, we stopped at Englishman's Bay and Bloody Bay, with Jerry pointing out the Sisters Rocks.

At L'Anse Fourmi, Jerry took us to meet his brother and a group of Rastas who were hanging about after working that morning. Chatting with the locals, many of them impressed we were in Trinidad for the cricket, we got a sense of the laidback lifestyle on Tobago.

Our lunch stop was at Jemma's Treehouse in Speyside, where levels of her restaurant were built around a huge tree, right on the beach edge. Amazing coconut grilled fish, and the local treat of butterfruit pie was delicious.

We completed the lap of the island for the rest of the afternoon, taking in the mountain views and beachside spots. It was around this time we got a sense of the rained out day at the cricket in Port of Spain, which made our decision to pick this day for our Tobago trip even better!

Upon hearing about our passage home, Jerry talked about ending out island tour by going to the airport and checking out flight options for Trinidad.

When we got to the airport, thinking we would buy a flight and then head off for a swim, we were told that the flights were all full. Jerry did some investigating, and got us standby tickets, and then at the check in desk, had us with boarding passing for the next flight. No swim, but a $23 flight home. On the flight, the sunset was gorgeous out the window over the ocean, and we heard confirmation that the cricket in Trinidad had been washed out. The guy next to me also told us about the cargo vessel return trip we had planned on – a 5 hour all night journey with a boat full of truck drivers, with no passenger spaces, just a barely covered area. We can laugh about this as a crazy near-miss, but I am not sure we would not have survived that, for a whole host of reasons!!

The Magnificent Seven

One of the most glorious sights thus far in Port of Spain, Trinidad, is that of the Magnificent Seven, along the edge of the Queens Park Savannah.


Coming up on the final portion of our walk to Queens Park Oval, these seven Victorian buildings, each built with very different styles, are along Maraval Road.


Several of them are currently undergoing significant restoration, or transformation into new uses, but several of them are also in esteemed use today - one being the office of the Prime Minister, and another a private residence and two others the residences of the Anglican bishop and the Roman Catholic archbishop.






The final one, closest to the city and the cricket ground, is Queens Royal College, and is the most grand. Lit up at night, this is a prestigious secondary school.

Queens Park Savannah

One of the thinks I had heard most talked about in relation to visiting Port of Spain and going to the cricket, was the morning's walk across the park to get to the game, and so I was very keen to have this experience when in Trinidad for the cricket. Day 3 was the first time we actually got to do this, allowing ourselves the time to just wander through it, and take this space in.

Queens Park Savannah is a 1.1km2 piece of flat land situated in the middle of our walk from the Normandie Hotel and Queens Park Oval for the cricket, and being out in the middle of it, you are surrounded by the mountains at one vista, the city skyline at another view, the outline of the Magnificent Seven in front of us (more on these in the next post...), and peacefulness, despite the crazy traffic always hurtling around the whole park in one direction. It's the world's largest traffic round-a-bout! It's a vast space with just a handful of trees interspersed with sporting spaces.

On this particular day, the Savannah was fairly deserted, apart from a couple of guys rolling out a pitch for cricket. There are also soccer and rugby pitches set up at different places, and was full of activity on the weekend.

As we neared the edge, and back to the roads before the Oval, a school group had crossed the road, and begun setting up a group activity, peeling off into their team colours.

We are continually warned not to cross the Savannah at night, but after doing the walk through during the daylight, and navigating through deep ditches, concrete strips and long grass, I am beginning to think that this is more for fear of breaking your neck in the process, rather than any issue with the reported crime of Trinidad.

Second Test at Queens Park Oval

Arriving into Trinidad ready for the second test of the series against the West Indies, I actually missed Day 1 due to illness, but listened from the hotel room through streaming radio. Tentatively back on deck for Day 2, I am not one to miss Chick Pink Day! I caught the bus in with the Waving The Flag crew, and then followed them all the way upstairs to the second level of the BG T&T/Scotiabank Stand. A great view of the ground, we settled in for the days play.

We watched Hussey bat through to a gallant 73, before a rain delay took us too and past lunch. But then a cracking start by our Aussie bowlers had 3 quick wickets, which managed to swing the momentum of the match back into the balance.

Today has been a fairly slow day for Australia, with the West Indian batsmen scoring steadily throughout the day, and through another lengthy rain delay.

Finally, a breakthrough was made, followed by 3 more in close succession, and again the balance of the game seems to have returned to a neutral setting.

We have managed to dance up a storm tonight at the All Out Bar at the Member's Pavilion at the ground, having a great night. So much fun, which such a great group!