Goodbye, Trinidad!!!!

So this is going to be my last posting from Trinidad: the project is at its end, my job is over and it is time to pack up and go home (home being Ecuador). We've been getting our luggage ready and saying adios to friends for a week now. It is pretty sad, especially for my wife and the two children. They made lots of very good friends at school and it is hard for them to think that they might never see each other again. People here have been especially nice to us. Maybe my being from India resonated with them or maybe they are just nice generally, but they really made my family feel very much at home.

It has also been sad in another - cruel - way. Yesterday, our dog, Calypso, escaped onto the main road through the gate, carelessly left open by the rental manager of our house here, and was hit by a pickup traveling very fast. The whole thing happened in literally the blink of an eye. By the time the man shouted that the dog was on the road and I turned around it was already over. The poor creature breathed his last in my arms. My wife has been devastated by this tragedy and has still not stopped crying. We did not have the heart to tell our children about this - luckily they did not see it happen - we just told them that we gave him away to our driver, which is what we were going to do in the evening, anyway. He was just six months old and not yet wise to the ways of the world beyond the house walls. So, goodbye, Calypso. You brought much happiness to our family and taught the kids a lot. May God keep you in dog heaven eternally.

Where do we come from?

"Daddy, where did I come from?" the seven-year-old asked. It was a moment for which her parents had carefully prepared.

They took her into the living room, got out the encyclopedia and several other books, and explained all they thought she should know about sexual attraction, affection, love, and reproductions. Then they both sat back and smiled contentedly.

"Does that answer your question?" her father asked.

"Not really," the little girl said. "My friend said she came from Detroit. I want to know where I came from."

Leena and Sebastian absorbed by the sea foam.

Leena running through the waves.

Sunset on Store Bay

Private beach at Coco Reef Hotel. This is a white sand beach made of white river sand imported from the neighbouring island of Granada.

Santa came on a surprise visit bearing gifts for the kids.

So, Christmas in Tobago. A nice Nativity scene on the Store Bay beach.