Thursday, July 24, 2008

Oh, What a Wonderful World

Well...we're back! We had such a great time. The West Indies are beautiful and the culture is welcoming and friendly especially when your husband thinks he's a West Indian...they seemed to like that. I was telling my cousin how important/humbling an experience this was for me. Guyana (located on the north coast of South America) is one of the poorest countries in the world. They don't have much, but they will give to others-no questions asked. I find most countries I've been to are the same way. America needs to follow suit a bit more.

Okay, we visited 2 countries (Trinidad and Guyana) in one week and I still managed to take over 200 pictures. We are so tired, but glad to have such an unforgettable experience under our belts. My eyes have seen some amazing things that I will brag about forever...until our next unforgettable trip. We hope to make this a yearly tradition while we have the time and money.
Here are some interesting facts I came up with about the W.E.:
1. Everything looks, feels and operates like Europe-probably because it was once run by the British for many years (at least Trinidad was).
2. Vendors/vagrants walk the middle of the highway selling their goods.
3. Although they speak English, it sounds like a foreign language to me-a cross between a Jamaican and East Indian accent.
4. People leave their trash bags full of trash on the streets (no trash bins I guess) for the city to pick up.
5. The government subsidizes travel, and food happens to be really inexpensive (not at the grocery store-a box of Cheerios was $7 U.S.)...yay for us!
6. Security guards patrol the grocery store aisles...should we have been concerned?
7. The people either look straight from Africa or India, or are a nice mix between the 2.
8. Stray dogs are like the pigeons in New York. What is that about?
9. Exchange rates: $6 Trinidad/Tabago to $1 American. $206 Guyana to $1 American.

Here are a few of my pictures. The rest can be found in this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jseamons81/WestIndies2008.


Trinidad's Savannah. It was cloudy a lot, but isn't it beautiful?


Some kiddos at the zoo in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
On the way through the jungle to Maracas Bay, Trinidad.
Maracas Bay: this was a shocking realization for Reed that he needs a more thorough tan.
Beauty all around...loved the fogginess.

What a wonderful world we live in.


"The Bird Dance" by the ex-Queen of an Amerindian tribe called the Arawak's. We took a boat ride through the Kamuni creek off the Demarara river in Guyana to visit their village. Sorry for the obnoxious weed-eater noise in the background, but if you succeed in blocking that out you can hear her explain what she is doing and catch her cool accent.




5 comments:

bethany said...

Looks like an amazing trip and so pretty!! It's always so interesting to see how other cultures/people live--makes you really appreciate the blessings we have in our country!!

Get in all the traveling now while you still can!! :)

Jen and Reed said...

Word!

TGS said...

OMG! Jen!!! How beautiful. I'm so glad you went and were able to share it with Reed. I'm sure he was so happy inside to go back where he served his mish. Dan and I want to go back to England. We've both been there, but not together so it would be wonderful to see it again as a fam. I'm glad you took pictures, I wouldn't have believed you went otherwise or know how amazing the west indies were. Thanks for the post

Jefferson said...

Wow it looks like a fun trip!
I haven't left the country since the mission - maybe it's about time for some traveling...

Lark said...

Wow - it is gorgeous there! Loved your commentary/observations - I have had similar thoughts when visiting other countries.
Beautiful pictures - glad you guys were able to take such a fun trip.