Welcome to the Island

Three days and counting; that is how long I have been in Port of Spain. It has already been so much fun that I can't wait for the next couple of months.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Trinidad and Tobago (most of us, right?) here is a little geography lesson.

You see Florida in the top left? Well we are all the way in the bottom right-hand corner. See us? Above and to the right of Venezuela. We are only 6 miles off the Venezuela coast and if you're vantage point is high enough in Port of Spain you can see it to the south.

Port of Spain is the capital of T&T and sits in the north of island of Trinidad. We are bay side and act as an active port so we don't have the pretty beaches in Port of Spain, but it is just a quick drive to the north for some spectacular beaches. We are also planning a trip to Tobago where there are more great beaches. To reach Tobago you take a ferry across.

During our stay on the island BF and I are living in a furnished 2 bed/2 bath apartment in the Bayside Towers. Zach and Kelly forever! Any Saved by the Bell fans out there? No? Okay we will move along then.

This is the front of our building. The complex is made up of two towers and we are in the one on the left side of the photo. I love it, the lobby is all open-air and has the most wonderful breeze in the afternoon. There is also a tiny bright blue bird that is very quick and lives in one of the chandeliers.

Here is our building from behind. Very Miami beach. We figured out that these kind of places are probably painted to reflect the colors in the sunset - peach, pink and teals - we think that the sunset is the only thing that can pull off such hues.

This is the view that we have from our balcony. Technically we are on the ground floor so I don't know if you can call it a balcony or if it is just a porch...

Here is the view from our porch! Better.

Our pool is pretty crazy as far as layout goes but it is nice that the architects were a bit more creative than the typical rectangular pool.

During my first afternoon on the island I was surprised by my super cute husband with some very special tickets to the Beyonce concert. It was the last stop on her "I am" tour and we were very enthusiastic about attending. We stopped at the Hyatt for drinks and to meet up with new friends before the show. It was beyond surreal to have come from the States where it was snowy and cold to the Caribbean where I was lounging by the rooftop pool in the 90 degree weather. Weird.

Beyonce's concert was amazing. That woman can throw a heck of a show. This was the largest concert that Trinidad had ever seen and the Trini's came out in full force. Beyonce even incorporated a little Trini love when she sang, "Say My Name." Her stage extended deep into the crowd and before she started the song she asked this guy what his name was. He was adorable: a big fella, who was squealing and crying and shouting to her how much he loved her. His name was Dariain (spelling?). Can you guess what she did to make his year? For the first chorus she sang, "Dariain, Dariain..." This guy was flipping out already and then she handed him her sweat towel and I'm pretty sure that he passed out with euphoria.

The country had already been having an insane enough week with Carnival, throw Beyonce into the mix and you have a big and happy week. I will let BF tell you all about Carnival and the festivities that go with it. It is a contender with Rio for the best Carnival celebration.

Just a taste...