Skip to main content

Dreaming of Tobago

The TTAL (Tobago Tourism Agency Limited) has launched their #DreamingOfTobago campaign. We are being encouraged to share our memories and dreams of Tobago until we can travel again, using that hashtag. What does Tobago mean to me? For me Tobago is a getaway. A vacation. A time to relax. A reason to let go of my problems and worries. A time to reflect. A time to dream of a good future.

When I was an office worker, I would look forward to taking vacation and taking the ferry to Tobago. The ferry is less expensive than taking the plane and is an adventure in itself. As the ferry departs we see the waterfront cityscape and the port area then through the bocas passage. The 3 hour ferry ride is enough time to listen to music, eat some good food, take a nap, and write a blog post.

Walking is my favourite thing to do. When I stayed in my uncle's place in Sou Sou lands, I would get up as soon as the sun started and I set out to walk. My walking has taken me to Crown Point, Grange Bay, Little Rockly Bay, Lowlands and Tobago Plantations. The smell of greenery, the sounds of birds, the feel of cool morning breezes, the taste of fresh mango, the sight of swaying coconut trees, are the memories that remains with me.


Where my feet cannot take me, the buses and taxis can. The two hour bus ride to Charlotteville is filled with winding roadway and mountain views of the sea. The bus is air conditioned and comfortable and costs only 8 dollars one way. I have been on most of the bus routes. Some of these are Plymouth, Black Rock, Mason Hall, Lans Formi, Montgomery and Crown Point.

Tobago is filled with places to see, things to do, and food to try. Maybe you want to stay indoors and read a good book. Maybe you want to go to the movies. Maybe you want to bird watch. There is something for you and me in Tobago. We are sharing our paradise with the rest of the world. I am dreaming of lounging on Pigeon Point beach listening to steel pan music. What are you dreaming of?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Below the surface

This is a chapter from my eleventh book called Quotation Marks Sparks . __________ "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." - Jon Kabat-Zinn __________ I was looking at quotes that hit hard and this quote stood out to me. It seems mundane and obvious and often repeated. Life is about how we respond to the inevitable. It is not what happens to us but how we respond. I had to ask myself to dig deeper and look below the surface. Then I saw that when we surf we really become the waves. We become friends with the waves. The waves and us are the same. Further, the waves are created by us and in our heads. We can control the waves because who can surf all the time? Sometimes we just have to come to shore and build sand castles on shore. I asked my friend Gemini for feedback and he said that I was right, the Jon Kabat-Zinn quote initially seems like a simple call for resilience, but my deeper dive reveals profound layers. The idea that we can move beyond merely rea...

Thankful

It is 617pm and I have decided to write. Right now I am thankful. The cool of the evening has replaced the heat of the day. I took a bath and changed and now I am just relaxing. Sometimes I complain. Not often. But I feel bad afterwards because there is so much to be thankful for. There is always room for improvement and we have to identify the things for improvement and change is often good but we do not have to make it into complaints. Yeah I get it. Life is hard and none of us has it easy. Look on the bright side of things. And sometimes it is the little things that remind us that life is good. Things that we take for granted. Like I was coming in the maxi taxi today and heard a gospel song that was about gratitude. God does appreciate a grateful heart. Trinidad and Tobago celebrated sixty four years of independence yesterday and if we stop and listen to the many complaints we would swear we are living in the worst country in the world. That is not the case. We do get a lot of thing...

Having a soft spirit

It is 137am. It started raining. I decided to write. I have heard about having a soft heart but what does it mean to have a soft spirit? And is having a soft heart related to having a soft spirit? My friend Chatty says that a soft heart feels deeply — it breaks, heals, and loves with tenderness — while a soft spirit moves gently through life, unresisting and at peace with what comes. The two are kin: a soft heart opens you to emotion, and a soft spirit teaches you to carry that emotion with grace. Together they make a person both tender and strong — able to feel the rain and still trust its rhythm. I like the quote, "a soft spirit in a hard world" by author and poet, butterflies rising. It resonates with how many of us feel. My friend Chatty tells me that that quote captures the quiet strength of staying gentle in a harsh world. It reflects the author's signature themes of vulnerability, tenderness, and emotional courage — the idea that softness is not weakness but a form...