Trinidad and Tobago day 2

A steel band

Today, I woke up feeling relaxed and well rested. I decided to go get some breakfast. For breakfast, I had some sliced fruit with coffee. After breakfast, I decided to go back to the same park as the day before in order to see some more good music. The band at the park was playing some delightful african folk music with some parang songs too. Parang is a mix between african and spanish music. The next band up was playing soca music. Soca is a mix between calypso and indian melodies. They also played a rapso song. Rapso is calypso influenced by reggae. Then, they played some chutney. Chutney is based off of traditional Indian wedding music. Lastly, they played a finale song that was soca-chutney. The indian music in Trinidad and Tobago has surged in popularity ever since Bollywood movies have gone global. Also, more Christian/Hindu music has started creeping in since Canadian missionaries came to the islands and converted many Hindus. Bollywood has also played a part in the popularity surge for indian dancing. But, waltzes and ballets are still favored by the higher classes. The higher classes usually are in the oil business or asphalt. Trinidad is home to the largest asphalt bog in the world. Also, the islands are the United States’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas as well as being home to the largest methanol plant in the world. After sitting in the park, I ate some curried chicken, potatoes, chickpeas, and flatbread for lunch. After lunch, I went and grabbed a nice, cold, refreshing ginger beer. Then, I went down to a theater and watched a long play in which the african dance, the bele was performed. In the mid-afternoon, I had to check out of my hotel and drive to the airport. But I went and got a goodbye meal of chow mein before I boarded my flight back to America.