Yak Attack

Evidently, the thing to do when on an island is to go to another island that is smaller than the first. When in Madagascar we went to the Ile de Saint Marie and in Trinidad we went to Tobago. Now, I’m generalizing from a specific example but everyone does that. At least I do. In fact, during the trip we almost decided to go from Tobago to an EVEN smaller island Little Tobago (cleverly named, I know) but in the end the fates conspired against us. So yeah… onward!

One thing to note… I’m finding myself “un-inspired” when writing these little blurbs regarding my trip. It probably has less to do with the trip and much more to do with the rustiness I am experiencing with regards to writing. So, rather than force myself to weave a narrative out of my quite disparate thoughts, I’m going to go for a much more “list like” posting style. This way I can get it all down with out, you know, exhausting myself.

Day 5  - Where good gets better

The next morning we woke up relatively early (for vacation at least) to catch a flight. Did you know the flight from Trinidad to Tobago takes 15 minutes? I mean, it was literally a take-off and a landing. I’m not sure if it is worth calling it a flight… Needless to say I did NOT sleep during this flight. You know, despite the brevity of the flight, the total travel time was close to 40 minutes, the bulk of it taken up by waiting for my baggage. Some parts of air travel never change. From the airport a taxi was sent to pick us up. This taxi was summoned by the proprietor of the place we were staying Millers Guest House. The place itself was simple, but quite enjoyable. It had that island/vacation vibe that I honestly want to live in at some point in my life. While waiting to check in I chatted with, what turned out to be, a Canadian retiree that spends 6 months out of the year at Millers Guest House getting away from the cold. After getting settled in, we decided to head out for the beach. I later learned that Tobago is surrounded by a coral reef and one of the popular things to do for the tourists on Tobago is to go in a glass bottom boat. I mention this because my small group decided that is exactly what we should do. I didn’t really understand the appeal, but hey, when in Tobago! A taxi ride, van ride, and quick flag down of a boat later… we were on a glass bottom boat. If the previous series of events seems somewhat… odd… to you its because the only part of it was the taxi. The taxi driver upon learning our desire to get on one of the glass bottom boats lead us to some gentlemen in a Van who drove us to a place on the boat’s path where they flagged the boat down for us. We actually had to wade out into the surf to board. I wonder what the other people on the boat thought of us.

The boat ride itself was pleasant (I didn’t throw up!) where we:

• Looked at some coral!
• Learned a bit about the island.
• When snorkeling (I decided not to do this)
• Waded/swam in a sand bar (this I did do)
• Played on a remote beach

By the time we returned, nearly 3 hours had passed! We really expected a short 40 minute tour of the water. It ended up being quite the deal for about 10 bucks a person. Following our return we called our taxi back and returned to Millers Guest House.

That night we attended a weekly party called “Sunday School”. The party featured a steel pan band and lots of dancing. To be honest Erin and I got a little tired of Calypso music and returned to the room early to play cards.

Okay, first day back at work under the belt. And it was not a “go light on the guy just back from vacation” kind of day. No, it was a “oh you are back, well let me show you what you missed” day. I think I’ll need some vacation reminiscing to recover. 

Day 3 – Ringing in a New Year:

Today was the first day on the island that I woke up fully rested. The beds in thy Hyatt are quite comfortable and I got to sleep in as long as I wanted.

At this time, I would like to make a brief discussion of the shower in the room. It was a somewhat awkward thing. There wasn’t really a “bathroom” per se in the room. Instead the bathroom area was open (save the toilet which did have its own door… a glass one that was mostly frosted) yet divided from the rest of the room by… the shower. And this shower… all glass… mostly frosted granted but if I wanted to see the person in the shower it would not be a difficult task. Let me see if I can find a picture on their website…In the end it worked out okay as we avoided any awkward moments.

The plan for this day was to make the most vacation like day as possible. It began with cafe breakfast eaten outside while looking out to the ocean. As we ate we waited for Ravi to return from his parents home we luxuriated in the island heat. After he arrived Jacki and he conspired to the business center to take over the world or whatever. Jacki made some excuse about school work but honestly I don’t think I was paying attention. Instead I was more focused on a day by the pool! This was vacation! Erin and I put on our pool gear and headed down. While not the biggest pool ever, it was close to the most beautiful I’ve seen. I’d once again pause to find a picture but honestly checking out the Trinidad Hyatt website would be easier. After ample application of sun tan lotion (Erin more than I) we settled in for a relaxing day by the pool. I brought a crossword book but was just as occupied by sleeping, watching the ocean and just enjoying being warm. I also took a few swims in the pool, something I had not done in something like 8 years. Jacki and Ravi eventually joined us in time for a quick swim but by the time they got out, the day was waning and it was time to transition to the next part of the day.

You see, what might not be entirely evident in this post that this day was New Years Eve and that night we had tickets for dinner and a party at another hotel called Crew’s Inn. We returned to the room to get ready where I got to don by brand new white suit. I’ve always wanted a white suit and now maximum awesome had been achieved. The cab ride out the Crew’s Inn was about 30 minutes out, but the pris fixe menu was quite good.

You see, what might not be entirely evident in this post that this day was New Years Eve and that night we had tickets for dinner and a party at another hotel called Crew’s Inn. We returned to the room to get ready where I got to don by brand new white suit. I’ve always wanted a white suit and now maximum awesome had been achieved.

The cab ride out the Crew’s Inn was about 30 minutes out, but the prix fixe menu was quite good. After dinner we headed down to the NYE’s party below. To be honest when we showed up we were disappointed. Everyone was sitting and no one was dancing. While a little disappointed we were not dissuaded from having our own good time! And it was contagious too, the little dance party we started soon expanded to the rest of the crowd. I guess everyone was really full from the great meal and needed a little inspiration. That night we danced the night away to a mix of Soca, Calypso, and Pop music.

I guess everyone was really full from the great meal and needed a little inspiration. That night we danced the night away to a mix of Soca, Calypso, and Pop music. And it was contagious too, the little dance party we started soon expanded to the rest of the crowd. I guess everyone was really full from the great meal and needed a little inspiration. That night we danced the night away to a mix of Soca, Calypso, and Pop music. If there is one thing to said about Trinidadians, they love their island music, and it is REALLY fun to dance too. I’ll say that my Samba/Salsa class that took back in the day helped as I pulled off some rather impressive dips. Later that night, in an effort to cool off and to enjoy the night, we went outside to sit on the dock . Along with conversation we also took the time to take some pictures. You know to commemorate the moment. All in all it was wonderful evening and when we returned to the room we all fell asleep quickly.

Day 4 – A little aftermath

The next day I woke up a little… how shall I say… fragile. I may have over indulged a little the night previous and was feeling some ill after effects. Breakfast was a quite affair where I got some eggs benedict and Erin got waffles. Jacki and Ravi had left for breakfast before us, and at the same place no less, but some how we missed them. After breakfast we packed up our stuff and checked out. I praised my previous wisdom in requesting a late check-out as I needed it.

That day we had a plan to go to the famous Maracas beach. Unfortunately the road there was full of twists and turns, not exactly the best thing for a hangover. Especially for one prone to motions sickness such as myself. Thankfully I fell sleep for at least half the trip. The rest I survived. When we arrived in Maracas we tried the local specialty: Bake and Shark. Basically this is a super island sandwich made of a fried bread, shark, and a whole MESS of toppings and sauces. A combination that ends up being both delicious and messy. This did help cure my illness temporarily. After the meal we headed to the beach where Jacki and Ravi headed in the water while I watch the bags. Erin wandered about and took pictures.

It was quite peaceful sitting there on a bench. I snapped a few photos of the scenery. After Jacki and Ravi had successfully played in the waves and I was freed of the bags, we headed back to the car. There was another windy trip back (again I slept through a good part of it) and we returned to Ravi’s parents home.They were kind enough to let us stay with them again which saved us hotel night! Unfortunately no one was home when we arrived and Ravi did not have any keys. Dejected we were forced to go the movies.

This turned out the be one of the best choices we made during the trip. The movie we saw was a Hindi masterpiece (I have no idea how good this move was really but we were way entertained) Tees Maar Khan. I have never seen a Bollywood movie before and this was so over the top that we did not stop laughing. After the movie we stopped at a local bar for a few beers then headed home. At home we discovered that his family had returned and it was time to turn in for the night. The early night was well worth it since the next day we would be catching a plane to the island of Tobago and didn’t want to miss it.

Vacation!

Sun. Sand. Beaches. Fun. This is what vacation is all about. Oh! and sunsets. As you can see in the picture (I think it will end up to the right) there were some beautiful sunsets on this trip. I only really got to take photos of one sunset, but the natural beauty of Trinidad and Tobago were really amazing. I will admit that the bulk of the “wow! pretty!” moments were in Tobago, but we didn’t get to explore Trinidad enough to give it justice.

The goal of this post (and the posts to follow) will be to summarize the trip and highlight some pictures (mine and other’s). It also will work towards my goal of practicing writing. So, anyway, I the story at a place where most trip stories begin: the airport.

Day 1 – Airports

Okay, so the first day doesn’t REALLY start at the airport. It starts at home in California while I pack at 1 am in the morning. You see, for some unknown (read: I forgot) reason I booked ALL my flights for this trip (including the one that brought me to California for the holidays) for 7:30 am or earlier. Stupid? Yes. I assume that past me had some sort of method to his madness. I’m going to assume price. ANYWAY, I am packing at 1 am and discovering that the combination of holiday gifts and holiday shopping have resulted in an incredible FULL suitcase. This annoys me because I know during this trip we’ll be moving around a lot and repacking my suitcase every few days will be a huge pain. Nonetheless, I get the thing closed and I am sitting on the couch playing DS when my dad wakes up, gets ready, and takes me to the airport. I arrive WAY early and I pass through check-in and security with ease. Note, I did not say quickly. My arrive was so early that the counter was not open. After waiting for it to open and checking in, I arrived at security before IT opened… ha! Foiled by my own punctuality! After all that waiting, my flight to Miami (first stop) was pretty uneventful; I slept through most of it. In Miami, I had a 5 hour layover (damn you past Dahiaka!) where I managed to entertain my self adequately. This is important because my 5 hour layover became a 8 hour layover due to some technical difficulties on the plane… wheee… Needless to say, I was not amused. This pushed back my already late arrival from 11:50 pm to 3 am. Thankfully my friends, and ride, were still there when I arrived and I got to my destination in one, if extremely tired, piece. I did learn much later that as a result of the delay I was awarded 5000 extra airline miles, which was nice. I wonder what the people not in the program got for their discomfort. One thing should be said: my hosts for the night were extremely nice and greeted me despite my insanely late arrival. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ravi’s mother and father.

Day 2 – River

Day 2 started early. Okay, not as early as, say, a work day, but early enough to make me ever so slightly annoyed. Why did I arise early? because our hosts had a picnic by the river planned for us that day. This ended up being an extremely fun time but, at the moment of waking up I was a little miffed. After a 40 minute, or so, car ride we arrived at a small, picturesque spot by a river. There we proceeded to eat, drink, and party like true islanders. As you can see we were fairly happy.

One thing to be said about this day is the sheer AMOUNT of food that was brought with us and prepared there. This ended up being a trend for the entire trip. I was basically FULL for 8 days. All of the food quite tasty and the people we were with were friendly and regaled us with stories of their good times and powerful rums. One in particular (rum, not person) called Puncheon would make an appearance later in the trip. After a number of hours having fun, it was time to head back home. This was ok by me because, I still had not completely recovered from traveling. That night, we were also moving from Ravi’s family home to the Hyatt in the capital, Port of Spain. This part of the trip was my planning. I really wanted some part of my vacation to be in an resort like environment. This fit the bill and in my exhaustion I failed to take picture of the place.

That night for dinner we went to a local restaurant with some of Ravi’s friends. Funny thing about going out in foreign lands: the local food isn’t what you often find in restaurants. Evidently, unlike the tourists (like myself), when they go out they don’t want the food they have at home. This makes sense when you think about it, but it threw me for a loop as I bit into my bar burger. Food regardless the company was good, as was the conversation.

After dinner we returned to the hotel to pass the hell out.

Whew… this has been a much longer post than I anticipated. I guess I’m feeling wordy. I’m going to stop for now… take a breather and a snack. And pick it up later.

In the mean time the rest of my pictures can be found here. Check them out and witness the beauty of Trinidad.

Edit: So I just re-read this post and my god was it in need of some editing. I apologize if you read it before I did, evidently.

So it is a new year! And again, as new years go, I want to try and start blogging/creating content again. This is partly spurred by the acquisition of an Akai sound board as an Christmas gift. So I’ll be making some beats evidently.

If you want to see an Akai in action check this out: Akai in action

I have a simpler model but it should be fun.

In other news 2011 started out with a bang and an awesome trip to Trinidad and Tobago with Erin and Jacki. Honestly one of the best things ever. I’ll post pictures and update on the trip later. There are picture on Facebook already but I’ll put them up here too so if Facebook ever decides to collapse I’ll have them saved all over the place.

Going back to the whole “blog more” thing. I can see I have… 4 posts from last summer in the draft bucket. Hilarious. I think I’m going to purge them all out. Start a-fresh.

So other things I want to do this year:

- Exercise and lose weight (yes this is a repeat of last year’s resolution, one that I utter failed at)
- Save money (This I also did poorly at last year, but I think it was money well spent. Lots of fun memories were formed in 2010)
- Learn! (I want to take some fun classes: writing, acting, painting…)
- Code (time to dust off that part of my brain)
- Love (I think it is time to get off the bench and play the game)

I think thats all for now. I may fail at some of these, I may have a great 2011. Either way I it will be fun to try.

Okay so maybe my blog is becoming a bit of a picture sharing site. So! It’s mine and I can do what i like!

Anyway check out the new pictures here:

http://www.dahiaka.com/wordpress/?page_id=188&file=Peru+Trip/

So… I went to Vegas. And by “I”, I meant “me and 8 other people”. And by “people”, I meant “extremely funny and fun friends”.

During this trip I had the opportunity (and foresight) to take some pictures. You can check them out in the link below:

http://www.dahiaka.com/wordpress/?page_id=188&file=Vegas+Baby/

I am still working on a video… but I have NO idea what song to put it to. Suggestions anyone?

The link below are pictures of the new place. Over a month here and still not completely settled in.

Apartment Pictures

So today I started te great calorie counting again. Tomorrow I will begin the weighing an the posting of the weight.

Let the process begin again.

Ahhhhh! My family have started a comment bonanza on my blog. Well sorta. Okay so 4 comments is a lot to me.

Since the topic at hand seems to be my mass, I felt it might be prudent to describe my weight loss plan sketch.

January: Begin working out. Build up some endurance and strength to prep for the year. Do not change eating habits at all (one step at a time).
Results: Moderately successful. While I did manage to workout some… things like work and moving has slowed down my schedule. Need to pick it back up.
February: Ramp up working out. Goal is to get at least 3 work outs a week. Start to track calorie consumption. Shoot for less than 2100 net calories a day.
April: Build work out schedule to 5 days a week. Shoot for less than 1900 net calories a day.
June: Work out 7 days a week. Calories the same.
When I hit 165 (September-ish): Maintain workout schedule. Bump up calories to equilibrium level.

The plan will adjust as needed and based on how well I do. I actually look forward to warmer months and the ability to work out / get exercise on a regular/daily basis. To be honest I’m more looking to get fit rather than get thin. Weight it just an easy indicator of fitness. Better than a bevy of weights and reps to count.

Next update: Info on the move.

So… I weighed myself for the first time in like forever and the results were… unpleasant. 191.8. My goal for the year is to end 2010 weighing 165. There is a long way to go. I do have a plan, sorta. one that I will detail later.