Scarborough, Tobago

Sunday, 14 Jan 2018 – Today our ship docked in the Bridgetown harbor, where it sat all day alone, with no other passenger ships in sight.  Our small bus of about 20 passengers departed from the pier by 8:45 AM to start our 4-hour “Tobago Highlights and Folklore Show” excursion.  Our guide was Smeaki (at least that’s how her name sounded to us – she might have said “Asweeki” or something similar); the driver was Roger.

Fort King George

Scarborough was first settled by the Dutch in 1654.  A few years later, the settlement fell first to the French and then to the British.  Since the British won any engagements, English is the official language of Tobago.  (However, Smeaky’s heavy accent was indicative of some other native language!)  Our bus stopped at Fort King George, built by the British on a cliff high above the ocean in the 1770s.  This fort, which is the island’s best-preserved historical monument, offers a fine panoramic view of the bay.  (Today, the saturated soil showed the results of heavy rain last night or early morning.) 

After viewing the remains of the fort, we visited the Fort King George officers’ quarters which is now the home of a small but interesting museum.  Inside, among other items, are ancient Amerindian artifacts, maps from the 1600’s, and some very nice artwork from Africa. 

In the museum Sally noticed a plaque on the wall explaining August 1st, Tobago’s Emancipation Day as the “Day to mark freedom” after the Middle Passage and 300 years of slavery.  Further research on this topic, as related to Tobago, provides more detail:

In the British Parliament, the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 abolished slavery throughout the British Empire (with the exceptions of the Territories in the Possession of the East India Company – which took place the following year on August 1, 1834).  Only slaves under the age of six years were freed.  Former slaves older than six were re-designated as “apprentices” and required to work 40 hours per week without pay, as part of compensation payment to their former owners.  Full emancipation was finally achieved at midnight on July 31, 1838.  Interestingly, although President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation didn’t happen until 1862 (to take place as of January 1, 1863, abolitionism gained momentum in the U.S. in the 1830’s.

Smeaki informed us of the money exchange rates, and then said that the minimum wage here is $15 an hour – but at $1 USD = $6.7 Trinidad/Tobago, $15 equates to about $2.44.  She also said they have oil; it is deepwater off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago.  Online, we later learned that Trinidad/Tobago is the wealthiest country in the Caribbean as well as the third richest country in the Americas after the U.S. and Canada.  Unlike most of the English-speaking Caribbean, the country’s economy is primarily industrial (not based on tourism or agriculture), with an emphasis on petroleum.  Additional petrochemical aluminum and plastics projects are in various stages of planning.  Although Tobago was obviously more prosperous than the other Caribbean islands that we visited, it did not appear at all “wealthy” to us.  And, so far, only about 5% of its employment is in oil/gas.

When we passed a cemetery, we saw what appeared to be goats grazing on the grass there.  Smeaki said they were sheep that had been recently sheared.

At another stop, we saw Fort James, a British-built fortress constructed with coral stone in the 1800s on the site of a picket post where soldiers watched for enemy invaders.  On those grounds are two old-looking trees with big bumps like warts on them; we were told these are almond trees. 

Also nearby, near Plymouth, on the grounds of what was once a sugar plantation, is the Mysterious Tombstone (or Mystery Tomb), which bears a puzzling epitaph from the 18th century.  The perfectly visible inscription is as follows:

“Within these Walls are Deposited the Bodies of Mrs. BETTY STIVEN and her Child  She was the beloved Wife of ALEX B STIVEN to the end of his days will deplore her Death which happen [sic] upon the 25th day of November 1783 in the 23rd Year of her Age  what was remarkable of her She was a Mother without knowing it  and a Wife without letting her Husband know it, except by her kind indulgences to him.”

Smeaki said, in part, that Betty was of royal descent, which required that she be interred on the grounds of their residence, not in a common cemetery.  However, the Internet provides other hypotheses, definitely not saying that Betty was of royal blood, but rather than most locals believe that this was a clever concealment of an interracial romance between a white slave-master and a black female slave.  From https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mystery-tomb:

“The stories, though, are a bit too big to believe: that Betty gave birth to four children while unconscious, whose existence was then concealed from her.  Also, the story relies on the idea that once a man takes a woman’s virginity, he becomes her husband, even without a ceremony.  Another, contradictory story claimed Betty was a wanton woman who fell in love with a man and got him drunk enough to marry her without his consent, but proceeded to indulge his every whim.  After getting pregnant, she got sick and gave birth in an unconscious state.”  There continues to be much hypothesizing.

Our bus drove through the Mount Irvine Bay Golf Course, carved from the grounds of an old coconut plantation, not far from a 5-star hotel.  Here, we used the washroom.  Inside the ladies’ room was a sign in English and three other languages that said, “Please do not wash your shoes in the sink.”  The sign struck Sally as funny because she remembered a similar sign in one of the Arabian countries that said not to wash feet in the sink.  Nearby, the beach at Store Bay on the island’s western tip offers a glorious view of the sea.  When we passed some coconut trees, Smeaki told us that they use coconuts in many ways.  Of coconut oil, she said that they even rub it on a baby’s skin as young as 2 days of age.  [Hey, you pediatricians out there – does that sound like a good idea?]

Finally, at the Fairfield Cultural Centre, we were greeted with a drink of punch, rum and coke, or rum punch before being seated for a traditional folkloric performance held outdoors.  At first, two men drummed skillfully, making those drums talk! Then, five young female dancers appeared, dressed in colorful costumes.  (Smeaki was the lead dancer.)  They wore long, white dresses (Smeaki’s was satin) with a shorter, red plaid skirt open in the front over the white dress and a matching short cape fastened at the neck.  Turbans with big bows in the back were on their heads.  Then the drummers performed again while the dancers changed clothes.  When the dancers appeared again, they were wearing orange and light green outfits, tight shorts now instead of long dresses, while dancing between two wooden poles.  Smeaki asked one unlucky man who was sitting on the front row to join them briefly.  Then, two young ladies used one of the poles to do the limbo.  Although they also asked for a volunteer for that activity, the audience sat still.  (Jesse says he was pretty good at the limbo in his younger days, but when he tried it later in our cabin, he was glad that he hadn’t volunteered!)  Anyway, the performance continued, with one young lady performing the limbo with great expertise, getting extremely close to the ground.

After returning to the ship, we swam and then Sally napped (since she awoke at 5:00 AM today).  Before dinner, we danced for 15-20 minutes.  For dinner, we ate Creole seafood soup and then salad; for the entrée, Jesse had beef stew with okra in it, and Sally had vegetables and a very thin slice of roast sirloin, which she requested of the server who was slicing the meat.  (Food is definitely as one likes it here!)  Jesse had dessert.  Later, in rough seas and the floor seeming to move under us, we danced again for a half hour, trying hard to put our feet where they were supposed to go – and sometimes just giving up and laughing!  Later, we danced for a half hour before the show (again with a “wobbly floor”) while people were gathering.  As many as 5 couples were on the floor this time; often there are only two couples – not many dancers on this ship.  We are known as “the dancers” to many other passengers, who compliment us.

Before bed, we set our clocks ahead again.  Now we are 2 hours earlier than Eastern Standard Time.  (In this way, we will gradually lose much more sleep!)