Scarborough
I popped a Xanax and two of my remaining antidepressants at seven, with the sealion barking outside. I had started to pack as soon as it got light, taking my time with the countless items in my backpack. The task felt almost insurmountable, but I got it done and when I finished, all was quiet. I said a quick good-bye to Shern and hurried away from there.
The bus drove by just as I passed the shop that sold tickets. The bastard was twelve minutes early and even had the nerve to hoot at me. I got the ticket and sat down to roast in the sun for an hour and twelve minutes when the next one pulled up, making me haul my bags up the street where it had stopped at no visible sign.
The bus had stopped just before the pharmacy drive-in, opposite Kilgwyn Road, and bugger me if there wasn’t Jacob’s Plaza Guest House right down there [EDIT: it wasn’t a guesthouse, it’s a seafood supplier!].
By then I felt better. I went to the bank, then got a taxi up to the Hope Cottage which the LP writers describe as an ‘arduous, half-hour walk uphill’ (which means at least an hour’s trudge up the steepest slope I have seen). The rates they quote are pure fantasy. Even without bath and AC, the rooms are 100TT.
I’m rethinking of using Scarborough as my base.
It seems that I’ve hopped from the frying pan straight into the fire. The traffic here is hellish at any time, not just during the rushhour. And there is a strange vibe, which serves as a reminder that there is crime on Tobago, and I’ll probably act as a magnet for all the town’s petty criminals. I’ve left my moneybelt with reception and take good care of my bag.
At eleven twenty I could feel the Xanax wearing off, which was a little fast for my liking. A man stopped me. He’d recognised me from Crown Point (but I could tell that he thought I was lying when I said I remembered him). He pointed the way to what turned out to be the town’s cheapest and fastest internet café (run by Rhand Credit Union, believe it or not!), and now I’m calm. I’ll be ready to hop on a bus tomorrow and explore the island.
Tags: Americas, Crown Point, Tobago, Tag Index
Denni