Arrival and the Art of Liming

We arrived in Port of Spain Trinidad at around 10pm on Saturday night. Our guest house was not where we thought it would be on the map. We were dropped in front of an unmarked, gated house in a residential neighborhood. A bit dubious, we were happily surprised by our welcome into the hotel and a lovely room. Unfortunately, our welcoming committee was slightly paranoid (which was not reassuring). She told us it was a bad idea to go walking at night and that we needed a cab. We thought about switching guest houses because we wanted to be able to walk to Ariapita Ave (the liming strip).

We were still a bit unsure when we rode a few blocks onto the Strip. We went out "liming" with the herds of people. For those of you who are unsure, liming is the best concept ever. The US needs to adopt a tradition of liming. Liming - the art of hanging out. Trinis lime from Thursday through Sunday, usually every night. Hanging out in the street at the bars and clubs. The "fete" or "carnival" tradition is strong in the Carribbean and when Trinis party, they party hard - but unlike Americans, they know when to stop! Trinis take their liming very seriously. Drinking can begin at 9 am and continue all day throughout the night. However, there are many siestas during the days. It's sort of like European work. Trinis take regular breaks during their liming and will party hop, napping in between. It's actually quite brilliant. In fact, Sunday School is a popular tradition in Tobago where locals gather for a panyard/ soca celebration. Music bangs until 4am - literally. But no one is actually awake the whole time. Trinbagonians get up at around 5am, work, go home, nap, eat a full meal and go out liming. Liming lasts for a few hours until either getting drunk or in need of a double. (A double is the beautiful paratha taco - two small round taco size parathas topped with channa (chick peas) and a liberal serving of pepper sauce (ah pepper sauce - not for the mild of heart). Doubles can be eaten for breakfast or late night snacks. In fact, they are mainly street foods and are not found during the day - no matter how hard you look. More on food later.

The beauty of liming is that you never see the poor drunk darling who can't walk straight and pukes all over everyone. People drink a lot, but not to get drunk. They lime! Liming is not a frat party. It is a sophisticated art form that takes practice to master.

So, Jay and I decided that we will hold a regular liming party. We will sit around with a case of Carib pilsner beer (the local Michelob Ultra), invite our friends, make some Trini food and listen to soca. We will encourage summer dress and carnival masks, and will crank the heat up to 90 and decorate the room in carribbean style "fete" colors. When someone needs to open a beer, it will be done in the Trini way - take two beers and use one to open the other. This seems easy but it takes a lot more talent than you might think. People are encouraged to bring their Henney and rum or whatever else they might prefer. We, as sane people, avoid rum punches made with everclear but don't judge those who actually prefer this...

Look out for our evites!

Stromboli or Burgers?

1/8/11
Why wait to get to the island to start the food party when you can start in the Houston airport? While cajun food and sadly Famiglia's greasy strombolis were tempting (we passed Famiglias drooling 6 times), Ruby's diner won out. Adam Richman would have been proud. Frickin' turkey bacon, and blue cheese with onion rings. I'm prepping a muffin top for a week in my bikini.

A bit of anticipation to arrive, 7 hours of layover led us to decide we needed to hit up a hotel for 5 hours and take a nap since we didn't sleep on the red eye. Felt good to take a bit of a break in between flying. Even though I'd still rather just sit in first class!