English English and local foods

May 23, 2012

Or maybe 23 May 2012 as it would be written here….funny the little quirks that make places different…

I am starting to think in English English – in my head I am constantly thinking “those old turtle tracks are rubbish…you lot are going to follow us….let’s make a proper meal tonight…Carla is going to pop around later…right…lovely…gorgeous….brilliant…lovely…” and a bunch of other words and phrases that sound novel in an English accent….

I am trying to sample local foods as much as possible although we cook at the house a lot.  Let’s see I tried flying fish (yum), dolphin fish (yum – not to be confused with bottlenose…yes, I asked…), fish cakes from the ladies outside the grocery store (YUM, will have more next trip!), drank coconut water from the guys on the side of the highway (eh…could have lived without that one….maybe next time we will add something else local – RUM), tamarind balls (ok), Banks beer (yum), rum drinks (yum yum), Delish (YUM – a hot sauce/condiment/etc), West Indian hot sauce (YUM, very hot and spicy), and rotis ( yes, I thought that was an Indian food, but apparently it is also very Caribbean).  So excited to continue sampling the local goods… still need to go to a proper rum shop!

 In other news: In case you were curious, the swelling is better (WOOHOO), however my rash is taking some time to heal… hoping my face and neck skin will return to normal soon…. Darn ants….

I have been to almost every beach on the west, south and and a few on the east coast now!!!! The north coast isn’t easily accessed so we don’t really go there.  The west and south are full of hotels and residences.  The east is open and parts are undeveloped but loaded up with garbage washed up on the shore.  I am definitely starting to have favorites!  The west coast is really beautiful by boat with all the beautiful trees (casurinas, almond, flambouyants, palms, etc) along the beaches blocking out some of the hotels (both in use and some abandoned). 

The walk to our beach and watching the sunset...

 We are almost independent of our trainers during our day and night patrols (woooohoooo) which means we will start going out in smaller groups or pairs instead of the large group! It will be nice to have a regular schedule instead of patrolling all the time with a few hours off in the early afternoon/evening and then going out again until the wee hours of the morning...then repeat every day :)

In the "there is always something" news: I went for a run this morning (yes mom in my running shoes, not barefoot or in sandals) and ran over glass that went through the side of shoe and cut my foot. I had to walk about a mile to get back to the house at which point the whole front half of my shoe had been soaked in blood... it was a very small puncture but it must have hit a vein or something... its a little sore and VERY colorful, but otherwise no big deal...