I'm going down a different road today . All day I've been nostalgic. Must be something about the humidity in the air that made me yearn for Mayaro and its long , wide expanse of sand. I spent hours on this beach as a child , digging for chipchip and soaking in the small pools at the surf's edge. Two weeks over August holidays would soon slip into the familiar routine of waking up, running out to get your coconut off the tree, drinking the water straight out of the feshly beheaded nut before the nut was split so we could scoop out the slippery jelly. 
These pictures are from my mother's childhood. They would be dated around the mid 1940s. She talks of her parents packing up the car complete with the cat, the dog and the pet squirrel.
The beach is still the same today. Yes, there has been a fair amount of development but by and large, it is the same. Certainly no full scale tourism or large projects. The full moon still rises over the Atlantic ocean much in the same way that it has done for infinity.
The pictures below are my Mum at about five. It's obvious where my love of animals comes from as they have been part of my life from my earliest memories. It's so hard to believe that these are from a life over a half century ago. Some things change but so many remain the same. 
Here she is again with a baby donkey. The baby deer below was orphaned and belonged to her friend and Mayaro neighbour Marlene. He was bottle fed and and the centre of much attention.
The poses of childhood are universal and timeless.
My Mum has been battling breast cancer for 12 years now. She is a survivor who has fought her battle with dignity and humour all the way.
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Nostalgic for Mayaro
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4 comments:
I've never seen these pictures before - you have a powerful scanner because they look great!!
Mummy will be thrilled to see these. Put more..put more.
Some pictures, you look like mummy, some pictures I look like her..next you have to do some for daddy.
Talk to ya in 2 weeks.
Love,
Jen
This is so uncanny, as my brother recently scanned a ton of old photos and sent me, and I was struck by one of my mother and her friend in mayaro in the 50's! I hope you mom keeps up well in her battle.
Thanks Nicole. Isn't life strange sometimes? It's odd to think of all of us Trinis out there sharing these collective memories and experiences.
Sharon I can also remember digging for chip chip on Mayaro as a child with my family. We lived in Diego/Petit Valley on David Ben Gurion Ave. We had a cousin living in Mayaro and some at Cedros. It was exciting to go on a visit. My uncle worked with Amocco and was also a manager of a copra plantation in Cedros. When visiting we would leave diego martin at dawn and drive for hours. We would stop and buy water melons from the vendors/growers on the roadside. All of these memories will be with me forever. When we arrive Cedros it was like being in another world, pineapples, passion fruit, calabash mango bathing in the Gulf of Paria and driving on the beach in my uncles land rover. My dad worked in Park Street opposite T&Tech as a meteorologist and later moved here to Barbados. I am now very nostalgic for Trinidad. And oh I remember being eaten alive by mosquitos on Blanchisseuse beach.
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