This entry is one of nine that I wrote in roughly 8 hours and over a 28 hour period. I apologise for the quality of writing, but had to type furiously to get it all out before I collapsed. I preferred you read it in order:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 For several minutes, I sat in front of the computer, my head in my hands, staring at the blank page before me through semi-lidded eyes, completely unsure how to begin. I left for Tobago on Friday morning, and finally returned to my house just before 7pm on Monday night. Before I left for Tobago, I decided that I would not really write much about my trip. What could there to be write about? By the end of the second night, I thought that I had to write about it – just the main events, the highlights. By the morning of the 4th day, I knew I had to write it all down. Everything. In detail. Not to do so would be a travesty to my memory, and an injustice to my diary. Never would I have considered that so much drama could be crammed into a 4-day, 3-night trip in Tobago. Oh, how wrong I was.Here is a list of the people who were on the trip:
1. Tiragem, female, age 21 – yours truly
2. Zodiac, male, age 24 – the potential boyfriend I turned down
3. Rum, male, age 21 – the guy who only goes for me when alcohol is running through my veins
4. Harry, male, age 20 – Rum’s friend
5. Kerri, female, age 21 – one of my two best friends from secondary school
6. Candy, female, age 20 – ditto
7. Mae, female, age 20 – another good friend from school
8. Liz, female, age 21 – ditto
9. Kris, male, age 22 – Kerri’s big brother
10. Crys, female, age 23 – Liz’s pierced cousin
11. Tami, female, age 21 – Kerri’s step cousin
12. Joie, female, age 21 – a friend from primary school who only spent one day with us
Joie was never in the picture. A girl named Tash, a friend of Crys, was supposed to have been there but cancelled at the last minute.
We were not all to come in at the same time. Exactly half of us would be coming in on the 10:00 am boat, and the other half, would be on the 5:00 pm boat. I was paying for and organizing the trip, therefore I was on the first boat to Tobago.
The online reviews I had seen of the place where we to stay were mostly mediocre, but I expected no more from a resort that was the second cheapest of the several possibilities I had called. The absolute cheapest was far too distant from the beaches we wanted to hit to justify the few dollars worth of savings.
When we got to the place however, mediocrity was far from my mind. Perhaps when you have few expectations, mediocrity can blow you away, but I figured we got a pretty sweet deal for the price we paid. We had 3 rooms, which meant to hold 4 people each. The rooms were roomy and spacious enough to hold 4 people, with air conditioning, hot and cold showers and tubs, with cable TV, and in the case of my room and the boys’ room, direct access to a pretty sweet pool.
After checking in, we settled in. An important part of our 4 day stay was where each person stayed. Kerri was the cook, and therefore was in charge of the room with the kitchen. All of the rooms with kitchens were in a separate part of the compound, and with her stayed Candy and Tami. The other two kitchen-less rooms were right next to each other. Kris was in charge of the Penis room where all the boys – himself, Zodiac, Rum, and Harry – were supposed to stay. I was in charge of the other room where slept, myself, Mae, Liz, and Crys. It was the latter two rooms which had direct access to the pool.
After our places were settled, we started relaxing. This included watching TV, playing in the pool, which we had completely to ourselves, and waiting for the second batch to arrive, which they eventually did.
My previous trip to Tobago taught me that there were plenty of opportunities for pictures in Tobago, so I had my camera whipped out and ready to go. I was taking pictures of Kris belly flopping into the pool, when suddenly my camera completely freaked on me. It would not come off, I could not change the modes, the only button that was working was the one that took the pictures – not even the on/off button worked properly. Sure, I could turn the camera on, but not off – I had to take out the batteries for that.
I was, and still am extremely annoyed about this. I did not drop the camera. As far as I know, it did not get wet – at least nothing to speak of – yet, it is no longer operating as it should. It still is not working properly – I don’t know where to go to get it fixed.
Still, at that point, I tried to put it out of my mind, and enjoy the trip for the good things. At some point in the night, perhaps after twelve, Kerri, Zodiac, Rum, and Harry, were playing “Knock Rummy”, and any time you lost, you had to take a shot. But that started after Kris and I left to watch TV – specifically to watch the roast of William Shatner (for the 2nd time, for me). We fell asleep – me in Zodiac’s bed, Kris in his, at about 2 in the morning.
I woke up at 10 minutes to 5, thinking I should go to my own bed. When I did, the 4 cards-players were still outside playing for shots.
“You guys know that it’s almost 5 in the morning, right?”
Zodiac: “Yeah, we know. Go back to sleep.”
I did as I was told about 15 minutes later, in my own bed. Half an hour after that, Kerri was gone and Zodiac was waking me up, telling me how impressed the boys were with Kerri’s drinking skills. Of course, I was worried. When 3 rum shop Indians tell you that they are impressed by how a girl drinks, you know the girl can drink. Especially if Zodiac said so. That is like Brian Lara being impressed by your batting. Or Bill Gates being impressed by your programming. Or Donald Trump being impressed by your toupee. You get my drift.
I could not go check on Kerri because I knew that no-one would get up to open the door at that hour, so there was little I could do except trust Harry who had walked her to her room, and just allow myself to go sleep. Eventually I did – the sound of the boys jumping into the pool at 6 in the morning did not distract the Sand Man for long.
Half an hour later, Zodiac came into my room, and onto my bed. He wrapped his arms around me, but I untangled myself and turned around. I drifted in and out of sleep. When he started snoring, I completely left Dream Land, and also the room. At twenty past seven, I was in Kerri’s room, lying down, and waiting for everyone else to wake up.
And thus ended the first night of our stay.