Roma was my closest friend for many years, mainly throughout my 20's and early 30's. We met at church and were soon inseparable. When she moved back to her native Trinidad, I was crushed. It was as if a part of me had gone with her.
In the years that followed, I visited Roma in Trinidad every chance I got. Aside from reuniting with my best friend, taking a day trip to both Maracus beach and Las Cuevas beach were the highlight of each trip. Trinidad is an interesting country in many ways, to say the least. And getting to the beaches is not an easy feat. The beaches are of course located along the coast of the island, but getting to them means driving up and over mountains, upon extremely narrow roads. But once there.. ahhh, it' so worth the time and effort. Never crowded, Trinidad's beaches are naturally so beautiful. It was always well worth the visit.
Two things have stuck in my mind from those days spent on the beaches of Trinidad. One was the first time seeing a cashew tree and being amazed to see one cashew on each fruit (no wonder they're so expensive!). I also got my worse sunburn on one of those trips, on a cloudy day at the beach. I somehow thought a cloudy day meant sunblock was optional and I had opted out. A big mistake, it was a bad burn, but I learned after that to love my skin, in spite of it's whiteness. Another great memory was a cook-out one night with friends. As the sun went down, Roma and I took one last dip in the ocean and then ended the day just "liming" (Trini for "hanging out") with friends, awesome food and drink. Ah, those were the days.
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