The simplest pleasure is to drive along back streets named after English towns. Each afternoon, bus stops throng with schoolchildren in bright uniforms, evoking an image from the past in the Britain from which Trinidad and Tobago finally gained their joint independence in 1962. If schools and churches suggest a colonial time warp, Sunday School shows that something is going on beneath the surface. At Sunday School, a dense crowd of teenagers sways to the reggae beat next to stalls serving crab and dumplings. On many backs are sports shirts emblazoned with the names of US sports teams, or the images of Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls.
All feet are shod in branded sneakers.
There are other signs of a new world intruding. One evening we went with a friend to find the green coconut with the sweetest milk. We drove the back streets of Plymouth until our headlights illuminated a group of youths with whom we bargained for a while before striking a deal. In exchange for coconut milk, he could buy cocaine.