Shark River Lime

On the way up to Grande Riviere, about 7.30 am in the morning, Omar pointed out that the guys ahead of us in the back of the pick up truck were reading the newspaper and drinking beer. I laughed, and Omar reminded me that in Trinidad there is no specific time to drink a beer. I laughed some more, but lower down the road they stopped to take a piss and in passing them we slowed on the narrow road, they waved and asked us if we wanted a beer. I figured why not, though I was tired. After all, I had only a couple hours before stopped partying at a club! They gave me a Carib and said they were heading to Shark River to have a lime (a chill out party) and that they would be cooking and we were welcome to come.

Later, when I woke up, I remembered this and got my friend Uli to drive us up to Shark River on his motorcycle, about a half hour from Mt. Plaisir, where we met up with them and spent the afternoon swimming in the River, eating and drinking and limin'. It was over twenty men and just one woman, me, for several hours. Finally, about the time I was about to leave, one other woman appeared.

Surely, this area of Trinidad is heaven on earth. The river is beautiful and curves around a bend and under a river and flows out into the ocean. At the mouth of the river it is rocky and there is a big backwash of salty water from the sea. Divine.

The next day when I left I felt so refreshed, reborn almost, as everything in the environs is restorative, from the trees, the water, the people, the music. There was a big soundsystem set up at Shark River; the locals said they do that every weekend. Shera, or Queen as some people call her, gave me a massage. She is the wife of the Rasta Jackatan. They live in the forest and take people on tours to the waterfalls and such. Queen, or Shera, knows all about the herbs and their curative properties. It's great to talk to her and learn about these things.