Whenever I travel outside the US, I always find it funny to see stores that look exactly like the American version with just a few changes. It’s as if they couldn’t think of a good idea on their own, so they just took an American idea and modified it to suit their needs. While China is by far the king of knock offs and knock off brands, you can also find many similarities much closer to home. Here is a collection of funny international knock off brands that I found while on a recent visit to Trinidad and Tobago.
Category Archives: Caribbean
A Guide to the Best Trinidad Street Food
There’s no doubt in any travelers mind that one of the best ways to try out a new culture is to sample their food. The islands of Trinidad and Tobago offer some of the most unusual food blends in the Carribbean due to the island’s mixture of African, Indian, British, Chinese, and even Spanish influences. Interestingly, even though the islands’ primary language is English, many of the foods have foreign names dating back to their roots. This can make it quite confusing to a traveler that wants to try something new. If you are planning a trip to Trinidad take a look at this handy guide to some of the best Trinidad street food before your journey.
Carnival in Trinidad, A White Man’s Guide!
From behind me, in a hoarse whisper coated with the stench of cheap rum, beer, and cask wine, I heard “Wine for me now Boy”. It was a woman who I had never met before. She was twice my age, her diminutive 5′ 1′ Indian body pressed up against my ogreish 6’4″ frame, and yet I had no choice but to comply. Any hopes of flight left me before the thought could even escape the ether of my mind. It was her next line that left me no other course of action. No choice but to wine and grind on her right then and there. You see, before I could reel from her stench, or even flinch, she whispered “I been watchin’ ya dance for hours now boy! I know ya can! You dance like a Trini man” I was trapped! I did what any man in my position celebrating carnival in Trinidad would do. I chugged the rest of my Carib, let my body and mind surrender to the soca beats coming from the music trucks, and I wined up on her…
About Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago
Brief History About Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago
Being from Trinidad and Tobago I’m very proud of the annual carnival celebrated there. I wanted to share it the rest of the world so I created this post about Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. In it’s original latin form, Carnival literally means “farewell to the flesh” and is celebrated by many cultures world wide. In Trinidad, Carnival came about when the European Catholic rituals fused with African “Mask Rituals” in celebrations symbolizing the giving up of meat for Lent. During the British colonial reign it was unsuccessfully repressed and is now one of the island nations most prized festivals, that bridges all religious and cultural gaps. Carnival is celebrated across the entire island of Trinidad with the largest concentration in Port of Spain, the country’s capitol city, in the north and San Fernando in the south. Continue reading