Ah Feelin Hot, Hot, Hot

If you are reading this huddled around fire, wrapped up under layers of clothing, my apologies. Perhaps you should come back in two weeks time.

The average temp in Trinidad at the moment, the height of the Dry Season, it's 36'C. I'm writing this wearing a skimpy top and a pair of denim shorts, with my hair tied up, off the back of my neck. I do wish my family would have fed the mosquitos before we arrived. They smelt foreign blood and said 'Om nom nom'. I could play connect the dots on my legs and make a Picasso painting. Today, I was smarter and slathered on the repellant. It's certainly repelling me.

The last few days have been spent on the move. On Sunday evening we went to the Blue Range reunion. Blue Range was the area my brother grew up. As I arrived 10 years later, I missed most of their escapades. But the old crew, now all middle aged with familial and economic responsibilities, got to relive the good ole days. The way they grew up, with the only rule of Be Home by Dark, is a fond and distant memory. They talked about roaming around the neighbourhood, picking fruit from trees, making toys from sticks and playing pranks on each other could never be recreated now. It's a victim of a more health and safety culture. It's a wonder any of them survived. They drank water from outside taps, ate fruit straight from the tree they picked by climbing up unsupervised and without safety gear. They entertained and fought without adult supervision and being told to 'play nice'. They learnt to sort their own problems out, to shrug off their hurts and to have fun.

I had a fantastic time. I was able to sit away from most of the crowd, but I still had company and was able to chat and dance and drink to my heart's content. The bar was free. I had 2 rum punches to start with and then moved on to the rum and cokes. The barman had a very light hand to start with at the end of the evening, one of my brother's partners in crime was returning to me with a drink that looked like weak tea. I swear there was only a teaspoon of coke. Needless to say, I did my usual drunk texting when I got home. When will I learn?

Yesterday, I crawled out of bed at 6.30 (that's am, apparently there are two 6 o'clocks in the day, I'm not impressed). I was not feeling very well. I had a smoke, a coffee and a couple of large glasses of water. I went back to bed for an hour and a half. When I got up, my brother offered a trip to the beach which I accepted. I figured it was kill or cure. I'm glad we did. It was great to see my family's old beach house. The Rock is still there in all it's glory. Boy and I slathered up and hit the beach for a couple of hours. We still are a whiter shade of pale, so we need to be very careful in the intense sunshine. Getting sun burnt here will not be any fun what so ever.

Last night, there was more socialising. Fantastic food, good company. I did not drink. I could not face it.

Thankfully, my Brother and SIL have to work, so Boy and I have a day of rest. I have a sore throat which I'm not impressed with, you know how good I am at being sick; and I'm still feeling washed out by the travelling. It's great hanging out with my Dad, Niece and Nephew today; we are just chilling. We will be off to Mayaro, to my brother's estate in the rural south of Trinidad for a few days. Bush, as they say here. Proper rainforest. Though there's not much rain at the moment. There has been a 55 day gap between rainfalls and everything is tinder dry. The hills behind my brother's house are burning night and day.

Right, my 4 year old Niece has completely run out of patience with me blogging. I'm off to compare nail polish.