September 21, 2003

Saturday Afternoon in Port-of-Spain

Two colleagues promised to take me out and about so I could get some stuff I needed. Is a good thing I don't put all my eggs in one basket, and that as an independent woman, I know how to get around.

So put on my sneakers, borrowed an umbrella and out the hotel I went at about 2:00pm. Mission: To buy knee highs and juice and some other stuff. Destination: Excellent Stores on Abercromby Street, and Cost Price Supermarket at the corner of Abercromby Street and I think it's Henry Street.

Now some tips about walking in the heart of Port-of-Spain. Don't walk with your head held high. Why?

You might walk into a pot hole as I did, or worse, your yamfoot might land in some nasty fish water running down the road from up the road where they wash the fish right on the side walk. Yuk. Port-of-Spain got to be the dirtiest city I have been in, in the entire Caribbean. Well the 10 or so countries I have visited.

And if is not pot holes and nasty water, it's vagrants everywhere you turn. Maybe it's the same in Downtown Kingston, I don't know. I don't walk there. But those are the two things that struck me about the city here - unclean, and mad men, men just sleeping on the side of the road just so.

So why go there again? Well, because it's in walking distance from the hotel init. Don't have to call anybody to ask for a lift to the Mall, I can use mi two yamfeet.

Then you get to hear interesting conversations, like this one. Walking past a Muslim woman sitting outside a shop. Says she "Ah don't like to wash, ah don't like to iron". I smiled to myself. That could have been me talking. She went on to say that she didn't like cooking either. Lady, you have real problems. I lucky you see, cause Sis like to wash and iron but she not a lover of the cooking and washing up wares thing. So we complement each other.

Well thankfully the rain held up, and I got my stockings, some bars of soap, a specific deodorant which works very well, some juice and some unmentionables. So I am set for however long I am here for. How long is that? Your guess is as good as mine. But that's what makes life interesting init. Not knowing when you're coming or you're going.

Ciao. Until next time, this is Yamfoot in the heart of Port-of-Spain on a Saturday afternoon. ("No, ah don't have any money to give you". "Mind you splash mi wid yu dutty watah")

Posted by yamfoot at September 21, 2003 10:42 PM
Comments

You've never walked anywhere in Downtown Kingston? Well, are you from Kingston? Anyway, Downtown does have some vagrants, like uptown (eg. Liguanea and New Kingston) and it can be messy here and there, but I haven't noticed fish water. We have potholes aplenty, but not in the sidewalk. If you walk in the road, you got more to worry about than potholes, eg. cars.
I haven't been to Coronation Market, maybe they have the fish water there. Also, if there is fish water, it probably is thrown in the gutters, and no one walks in the gutters, do they?

Posted by: Mad Bull at September 22, 2003 08:11 PM

Unmentionables?? What are unmentionables? And why mention them at all if they are unmentionable?

Posted by: larr at September 23, 2003 11:21 PM

Now, you just make sure you print a retraction re: me not liking to cook! Who used to run you out of the kitchen when you were small??That is, until you went to cookery class at St.Hugh's and learned to make macaroni and cheese...huh huh???The washing dishes thing now, I am totally allergic to!! Your nephew is laughing his head off at this.

Posted by: Sis at September 28, 2003 05:45 PM

As a Trinidadian, I suppose it's my duty to defend my capital city from these criticisms... but I won't, because I can't; they're all true. Downtown Port-of-Spain has got to be one of the most filthy, ugly, inhospitable places one could ever hope to visit. And there's nothing charming about it to redeem it in any way. Most depressing, though, is the way that the majority of people in the city seem so at ease with the dirt and degradation that surrounds them--way too much at ease for my comfort.

Posted by: Jonathan at September 29, 2003 03:12 PM

ok sis, part retraction. but face it...you'd rather wash and do laundry than cook and do dishes..nuh true?

Johnathan, the dirt is one thing, but i am amazed at the amount of vagrants all throughout the city, lying around the parks. is not like other cities are a lot cleaner....i had problems with the capital of Grenada, but you just dont see vagrants in a bundance.

mad bull, perhaps downtown kingston is like this, i don't know. the last time i walked down there though was to go to where Oceana hotel was, and i didnt see any mad people. Maybe they are in parade or on princess street, but i just dont remember them being in abundance like they are here. maybe i am mistaken though. i stand to be corrected.

Posted by: Michelle at September 29, 2003 11:28 PM