Gambling!

A casino located within Port of Spain

There are a few elderly people who you would come across in Trinidad that would say they don't or have never played a "play whe" or scratch a "scratch". I myself have grown a liking for playing scratch after my first $500.00 win! If I remember correctly it was a lucky 8 scratch card for those who are wondering. :-)

The country has its own National Lottery board which offers various games from cash pot, pick 2, pick 4, play whe, lotto plus and a collection of scratch cards. If you can't make it to a lottery boot you are sure to find someone crouched up on the corner of a pavement selling lottery tickets and scratch, all right at your service.

If you are more of a big time gambler, no worries, you could walk into any of the many casinos in town, once over the age of 18 and 21 for some. Casinos and lottery ticket boots, are just as rampant like the number of bars.

The Chinese have set up quite a few casinos including the famous Ma Pau. The night life of Port-of-Spain is filled with flashing, blinking lights from casinos drawing people in like flies to spend their pension money and monthly pay.

Damn lights, I'm such a fly myself, intending on visiting one for my upcoming birthday. I can't help it, I guess it won't hurt seeing that I tend to be pretty lucky at times, right?

If your not much into playing games and just wish to sit back and win cash, you can always go bet on a horse!

So far the many gambling establishments, bars and clubs which can be found around the city is bringing about an urban place which is quite hectic, busy, crowded and full of night life activities.

Bar hopping!

Pablo and Jenny's Bar, down town Port of Spain

The picture above shows one of the many, many, many bars we have in our country. On my hunt to find a picture for this blog post, I came across about eight different bars just in down town Port of Spain alone. There are still much more, each within quite close proximity of each other.                                                                             

The old guy present in the above photo and many others like him, represents a culture of people who like to drink! Not saying that our country is filled of alcoholics, but it is evident by the number of bars, that most adults fancy a drink from time to time. Local bars are also a place where people may go to lime with friends and one may not even drink. 

Bars can be found not only in down town Port-of-Spain, but notably around the west of Port-of-Spain in areas such as Woodbrook and St. James.                                                                                                                                 
While bars are a characteristic of the city, much can also be found in rural areas.

The term bar hopping is used a lot among young adults who visit the various bars, especially along the avenue in Woodbrook. It's actually a street lined with bars and clubs! Quite the liming and partying spot in the Port of Spain area.                                                                                                                         

In this part of the city you will find more modern building designs and structures, while within down town Port of Spain and St. James, it is common to find older structured buildings, which have been there for many years. Within Woodbrook which is mostly a residential area, the avenue has only recently been going under changes of development. Much of the houses in the area are being bought and renovated into businesses.           

Besides bars, there are also a lot of clubs. I'm not much of a party person but some "Trini's" really like to party! 

St.  James is another hot spot for liming and is known for the country's most famous bars. For instance "Smokey and Bunty" was quiet the liming spot back in the days. However, the night life seems to be shifting and gearing towards the more developed, vibrant and young vicinity of Woodbrook.

We are no Ireland, which is famous for their drinking culture, but like them our city is filled with bars and what they call "pubs" short for public house. Like them it can be said that our country is known for its night life, alcohol, and vast number of bars and clubs, which gives shape to our urban place.

  

Take a listen and buss ah wine to Machel Montano's: "On the Avenue" soca song for 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQv0Wc5IA5Q

Other bars within the city

Place of Recreation

Woodford Square, Port of Spain

I don't think there is much to do and places to go here in Trinidad, except if you are a party goer or nature explorer. Our parks are no Disney Land or Fun park although we do have our recent Harry's water park! Thank God for Harry right!?

The picture above shows one of the many parks that can be found within the city. It is more of a green park where one may go to relax or lime with friends on evenings. Some are often used to hold events during the carnival season and rest of the year. During the day you would often see people playing a game of checkers or chess. In the night it's pretty much a cozy spot for vagrants.

Besides parks there are also squares such as the Woodford square or the Independence square. Most of the parks and squares located thought the city were named in honor of someone. Like the Brian Lara Promenade located in Independence square which use to be known as the Plaza de la Marina. It is named after Trinidad's well known cricketer, Brian Lara, who once clocked 400 runs in a past test match.

These parks also act as green spaces. Much cities around the world tend to lack green spaces or recreational parks within their cramped high rising glass and concrete structures. While doing some reading, I found out about "pocket parks". Pocket parks are the solution to the lack of green space within such cities. They utilize small unused spaces like between large buildings and can be found in cities of Greece and other developed countries.

The parks withing Port of Spain are well known, utilized by everyday city dwellers and help give shape to the city's urban place.

Brian Lara Promenade

The promenade at night

A look at Pocket Parks.
http://www.globalsiteplans.com/environmental-design/lack-of-green-spaces-pocket-parks-are-the-solution/

The Eats of the City!

"Doubles" vender on the Brian Lara Promenade

I believe that one of the things "Trini" people like to do most besides liming...is to eat ! 
"A man like dey belly!".

While watching television this morning I stumbled upon one of my favorite TV shows, "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern". The show was featuring the city of San Francisco and its diverse and well, bizarre food culture. One of the things that struck me was the city's most talked about "Food Trucks". I have read that the city has over 150 food trucks that park along the sides of streets, serving delicious gourmet foods for a cheap price and has become a major characteristic of their city.

This instantly reminded me of the various food establishments found across Trinidad. Our past history has allowed our country to be filled with people from all over the world, bring with them their food culture.Some of which are just as bizarre as the foods in San Francisco, seen and eaten by Andrew Zimmern himself when he visited for a recording for his TV show.

Located all over the city and elsewhere, there are venders like in the picture above who are famous for selling "doubles", one of the country's most favored street foods. It is an East Indian delicacy from heaven. Not only known for making doubles, East Indians have established "roti and curry" food restaurants, which can be found all over the city. Recently on the rise and probably the next best thing are "gyros" and Arabic dish. Not really a favorite of mines, but the businesses is quite a success. It is owned by Syrians living in the country and venders can be found right around the corner from your favorite "doubles" stand. I am however, a sucker for Chinese food. The Chinese culture is very evident in the city and they too have a great number of established food restaurants.

There are also many other types of street foods found within the city including; nuts vender, ice cream, snow cone and coconut venders. I have also seen some new establishments of old buses being transformed into mobile restaurants selling Fried foods.

Besides for the ever growing foreign fast food industries such as KFC, Burger King and McDonalds that can be seen spreading throughout the country, our diverse cultures and historical foods has still remained prominent within the city.


You may enjoy looking at the episodes below!
Andrew Zimmern Bizarre Foods Trinidad episode 1.
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU1ghzRL-8g
Andrew Zimmern Bizzare Foods San Francisco episode 1.
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTpFXzADcZ0

Or viewing a local song about Doubles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPecNRsq98A

My Introductory!

Hi yall, welcome to "city vibez" where you can learn something new about the urban space in my home country, Trinidad and Tobago.
Vibes/Vibez/Vybz/Vybes however you may want to spell it, is a 'Trini' short for Trinidadian slang which to me, I can't really explain but, has many different meanings. I was told by the urban dictionary it's actually a feeling, a feeling either good or bad.
But there are many different ways and times we "trini" people use the word "vibes". For example " Hey Jim, you feeling a party vibes"---->"Hey Jim, are you feeling the party feeling" or "We go vibes lata"---->"We will meet up later" or "We vybzing on the avenue?"---->"Are we hanging out down town?".
By the way, in no means am I here to give English lessons just trying to make things clear for those who may be wondering what the heck "vibez" mean.

Ok now to the boring stuff, I mean stuff on urbanization! I actually like studying human geography :)

Urban geography can be thought of as being the study of towns and cities as the home of people. Within the scope of urban geography there is the study of "urban place". Urban place refers to the spatial concentration of human economic, social, cultural and political activities distinguished from non-urban/rural places by both physical aspects such as population density or administrative definition and lifestyle characteristics. The country of Trinidad has people of many different races and ethnicity, such bringing about a mix of culture. For this blog I wish to focus on the urban place and try to show how our culture shapes the city and how our lifestyles are reflected in it.

Down town Port-of-Spain