Port of Spain has been awesome and after a great night out of “limin'” (hanging out) with our buddies from Anti-Everything it was an early wake up call for our first full day of shooting.
We hired a local driver, Jared, for the day and he was great and most importantly a safe driver familiar with the ahem, uh.. lets just say “uniqueness” of Trinidad’s driving culture and infrastructure.
Our first stop was Maracas Bay so that the film crew could get a taste of the famous Bake n Shark. This was my 2nd time so I guided the guys through the process of hooking up their Bake N Shark at the buffet line. It being a beautiful Sunday and Easter vacation beginning, well the line was much longer than when I went last Thursday, but worth the extra wait.
We then doubled back and headed to the small, remote village of Lopinot Village, where Arturo Guerrero and his considerably large family have lived for generations. They opened a guest house for travelers wishing to experience this lovely little town. Arturo, his mother and 7 sisters and their extended family welcomed us with a traditional Spanish song called a “parang”. The singing of Parong is from Venezuela and is normally performed at Christmas, but in Lopinot, is sung year round.
W e toured the Lopinot Museum which was more fun than you’d expect thanks to the colorful presenter/curator there. The Guerrero’s then fed us a delicious meal and sang some more Parangs for us as we reluctantly had to part and return to Port of Spain to hit the Anti-Everything rehearsal.
Anti Everything is Port of Spain’s only punk band and they are currently recording their 2nd CD, so we dropped by the lead singer, Bryan’s house to hear them perform a few songs. Bryan’s family graciously fed us some excellent Roti, an East Indian style of food that I’m starting to really dig. The guys have been nothing short of amazing in their hospitality and arranged for us a ride to our hotel as we had worked a 14 hour day.
I was really glad we had hired a private driver because the roads to both Maracas Bay and Lopinot are really, really winding and narrow, not to mention they drive on the other side of the road with the steering wheel on the right side of the car! I couldn’t help but dread Tuesday when I was scheduled to rent a car for a drive down south Pitch Lake.
But in the meantime, I reveled in the friendliness of the Trinidadian people. They are so laid back and friendly in a very real and non patronizing way. It’s really an infectious vibe that I hope I can incorporate into my own life on a regular basis.