Limin'

First off, let me just say that I think i'll have "Alive" (NOT the Celine Dion version, the Silver Star pan band version, mind you) stuck in my head for the rest of the trip. Yes, we did get to see a live pan band play for us last night and they were wicked awesome!!!!

haha but...

Today, David introduced me to the word "liming," which in Trinidad means hanging out...and boy did we do some liming. After a fantastic day yesterday of clearing brush, planting passion fruit, hiking, swimming, and how could i forget, the amazing dinner at the Lee's (picture the biggest spread of every Trinidadian delight), we were all in the mood to sit back and lime:)

We cruised around Trinidad to the outlying islands and enjoyed picture perfect views from every direction. We even stopped off the coast of one island to swim, although we were tentative at first due to the scattered jellyfish floating around. That didn't stop anyone, though, and for the next few hours most everyone was in the water. Afterwards, the sun poured over us while we lay out on top of the boat and talked. Needless to say, we got our fill of vitamin D, and it felt SPECTACULAR.

In the beginning of this adventure, we said this wouldn't be a trip about just going to the beach and "liming", and after the description above, it may sound like we have failed in this aspect. But to me, today was not just liming with friends. We were able to experience the culture of Trinidad and reconnect with Nikki and her family, which is what we came here to do. Although we have only done one day of service work, I believe that we have all experienced, as well as learned about the culture of Trinidad immensely, which is just as valuable.

Today was a day to catch up with everyone, learn some Trinidadian lingo, and apparently develop nick names such as El Fruto and El Muchador...aka Terrence and Conor. oh bonding experiences. So among the many things that we have learned limin, el fruto, and el muchador are coming back to the states with us :)