Postcard from Trinidad & Tobago

There's been a lot of rain here in the past few days - it's supposed to be start of the dry season now but it's apparently getting later and later every year.

The weather's great right now though, dry and sunny with a light sea breeze and I'm working about 14km off the coast of Tobago. The helicopter flight here was a highlight, flying from Port of Spain (the capital), right over the north coast of Trinidad and much of Tobago.

Trinidad is much larger and is reasonably industrial - and much of it is covered in forest. Everyone drives everywhere and the traffic is a real problem, especially going in to PoS in the morning or out at night. It's supposed to be too dangerous to walk anywhere. Tobago is small and is much more popular as a tourist destination, mostly because of its great beaches.

Spent a few days working in town. Food is an adventure, and there seems to be a big gap between the expensive western-style restaurants and the authentic local restaurants and street vendors. The price doesn't affect the taste of the food, though - so by way of recommendation we started having lunch at Shiann's roti restaurant, a small place in Port of Spain. Roti is one of the most popular local foods. You get a choice of a variety of curries - potato, vegetable, chicken, goat and/or duck - with or without hot sauce, all wrapped up in a soft bread. Very tasty. Apparently the world-famous cricketer and national hero Brian Lara often comes in for his roti on a Saturday morning.

More later, and a merry Christmas to all.