Blue Basin
by Indigo Dow
My dad is from Trinidad, so I am a Trini! I used to call myself the Half-blood prince and my dad’s friend Ulric used to call me 50/50 because I am half Trinidadian and half American. Back in about 2013, I invited my best pal Jamie to Trinidad. On one of the first days after arrival, we were looking for an adventure, so I decided to take Jamie to Blue Basin, which is a waterfall down di hill from my father.
I remember swimming there many times with family and friends growing up. Blue Basin waterfall feels like a hidden gem because the surrounding area is known for having one of the highest murder rates in Trinidad. However, this was not on my consciousness because whenever I had gone to Blue Basin in the past, I always felt safe.
So, down di hill we go in a car we had rented for the week. We pull up to the basin and start our trek through the woods to the waterfall. We arrive and the vibe is serene.
We are the only people there and it was a beautiful day for a dip. We jump in the ice cold water and enjoy ourselves thoroughly. This was the escape we had been looking for. After a few dives, Jamie and I agree that we need to come back the next day to take some photos, as Jamie had forgotten his camera this time around.
So the next day comes and back down di hill we go. We arrive and 7 or 8 young people had beaten us to the Basin. This time Jamie brought his camera and his Iphone to take pictures, but since we don’t know these folx, we look at each other and decide to sit down and wait it out until they leave.
We tensed up and the vibe had become physically uncomfortable as we waited for the youths to leave.
15 minutes go by.
30 minutes go by.
And we are still waiting. I think to myself:
This is super awkward, we should either jump in the water or just leave.
But since we had already been waiting, We decide to wait a bit more. Finally, the kids finish up their swim and start leaving 1 or 2 at a time. One of the last young boys is on his way out and asks Jamie,
Original Young Boy: “Where all yuh from?”
Jamie replies in his Boston accent, “I am from the United States,” and I am quick to add, “My fadda (father) livin up di hill.” I speak in my Trini accent, so that the boy knows I am from here. A few moments later he talks to his friend and then comes back to Jamie to ask, “Can I borrow your phone?”
In my head I am thinking No, don’t do it but my telekinesis powers are not working in this moment. When the young man jumps on the phone he takes a few steps away and starts whispering. At this point, I know something is up.
He returns the phone and I look at Jamie and say, “Let’s get out of here.” As we turn to leave, a man comes out of di bushes with his hand pointing through his shirt with the outline of a gun. Now we are both shook!
The young boy and his friend speak to us again, but now their tone has become cold:
“All yuh, give us everything you have!”
We are frozen, so one of them shouts, “All yuh want to get shoot? Give us everyhting yuh have - wallet, phone, everything.” The group starts searching our bags and then our pockets. They take Jamie’s camera, lenses, phone, money, then take my credit card, phone, and money.
They then find my keys and ask, “What are these keys for? You have a car?”
“No, I don’t have a car,” I reply with a lie, as I cannot afford to give up the car I had just rented
“I know you lyin!” They say, and they throw the keys into the water and then run off into the bushes. I immediately run into the water where the keys were thrown and retrieve them. We wait for a few minutes and then head back to the car scared out of our minds.
We are so embarrassed because we were just robbed by some little boys! How could I have let that happen? My mind starts to race and I think, how can I fix this situation? We jump in the car and we head back towards my dad's house on North Post Road.
As we start heading up di hill, I see my friend Lanpan on di corner. I pull up and say, “Lanpan, Come here I need to tell you what just happened!” I start explaining the story, but am so fired up that my words come out a jumble-up mess. I catch my breath and with Jamie’s help explain how we just got robbed. I introduce Jamie to Lanpan and point out that he is from away.
I joke with Lanpan that I don’t want this to be how Jamie remembers Trinidad. Lanpan wants to help, so he asks for some more details.
Lanpan: “Where did this happen? Can you describe the guys who robbed you?”
As I am describing the young fellas, Lanpan stops me and says, “ I think I know the guy who had the gun through his shirt.”Lanpan hops in di car and we head down di road to the house of a man who Pan said runs Blue Basin. For the sake of this story we will call him Charles.
We get to Charles’s house and we quickly explain what happened. He listens and says he knows one of the men we described. He says it’s a guy who actually just got out of jail for gun possession. Charles wants to help and feels bad that we have been robbed, so he gets in the car and directs us to the guy's house. We pull up to the yard, knocking on the door and calling out the man's name. The guy reluctantly comes outside and it is him! The man who had come out of the bushes with the gun! Charles grabs the guy and says you need to give these people back their stuff now! The guy who robbed us goes inside and comes back out with the camera and lenses.
He comes around to the window, apologizes and says, “I am sorry, I didn’t know you was from here. Here you go.” We then head to a nearby shack, and in a similar fashion get back our phones. Then, we head to a corner store and talk to a few people who go around back and retrieve the credit card. We have gotten back everything except the trini dollars, which is most likely a lost cause.
We drop Charles back home and thank him profusely. We then head back to North Post Road, and drop off Lanpan, telling him how thankful we are and how much we appreciate the time he took to help us in getting our stuff back. We are still in utter shock and finally head back up di hill to my dad’s house. When we get there we explain the whole story to my dad and he just starts laughing at us. He said he’s glad we got our stuff back and got home safe. We then head by my sister and she and my nieces go off on the two of us, especially me...
My Sister:
“All yuh rel stupid. You don’t know it’s dangerous in di back there?
Why didn’t you go with someone you know?
All yuh get rel lucky boy!
How you bring Jamie to Trinidad and this is what he’s going to remember?”
We all share laughs and I take the blame, knowing that I will never go back to Blue Basin again. I apologize to Jamie, but he somehow is still in good spirits for the rest of our trip. I am surprised, but he actually wants to return to Trinidad in the future!
As I reflected that night, I thought to myself:
This is the craziest thing that has happened in my life.
I thought about what I had done to get us in that situation and how we could have responded differently.
I was upset because I normally give people the benefit of the doubt, but in this instance, I felt taken advantage of.
I felt cowardly and dissatisfied with myself for being robbed by mostly kids much younger than us.
That being said, one of them had been a man who had recently been in prison for gun possession, so it’s best that we had been compliant.
The questions I was left with:
Was it stupid to bring all of those valuables that second day visiting the waterfall?
Should we have made a decision about swimming or leaving earlier?
But we went to sleep that night to live another day.
Lessons from this incident:
by Indigo Dow
My dad is from Trinidad, so I am a Trini! I used to call myself the Half-blood prince and my dad’s friend Ulric used to call me 50/50 because I am half Trinidadian and half American. Back in about 2013, I invited my best pal Jamie to Trinidad. On one of the first days after arrival, we were looking for an adventure, so I decided to take Jamie to Blue Basin, which is a waterfall down di hill from my father.
I remember swimming there many times with family and friends growing up. Blue Basin waterfall feels like a hidden gem because the surrounding area is known for having one of the highest murder rates in Trinidad. However, this was not on my consciousness because whenever I had gone to Blue Basin in the past, I always felt safe.
So, down di hill we go in a car we had rented for the week. We pull up to the basin and start our trek through the woods to the waterfall. We arrive and the vibe is serene.
We are the only people there and it was a beautiful day for a dip. We jump in the ice cold water and enjoy ourselves thoroughly. This was the escape we had been looking for. After a few dives, Jamie and I agree that we need to come back the next day to take some photos, as Jamie had forgotten his camera this time around.
So the next day comes and back down di hill we go. We arrive and 7 or 8 young people had beaten us to the Basin. This time Jamie brought his camera and his Iphone to take pictures, but since we don’t know these folx, we look at each other and decide to sit down and wait it out until they leave.
We tensed up and the vibe had become physically uncomfortable as we waited for the youths to leave.
15 minutes go by.
30 minutes go by.
And we are still waiting. I think to myself:
This is super awkward, we should either jump in the water or just leave.
But since we had already been waiting, We decide to wait a bit more. Finally, the kids finish up their swim and start leaving 1 or 2 at a time. One of the last young boys is on his way out and asks Jamie,
Original Young Boy: “Where all yuh from?”
Jamie replies in his Boston accent, “I am from the United States,” and I am quick to add, “My fadda (father) livin up di hill.” I speak in my Trini accent, so that the boy knows I am from here. A few moments later he talks to his friend and then comes back to Jamie to ask, “Can I borrow your phone?”
In my head I am thinking No, don’t do it but my telekinesis powers are not working in this moment. When the young man jumps on the phone he takes a few steps away and starts whispering. At this point, I know something is up.
He returns the phone and I look at Jamie and say, “Let’s get out of here.” As we turn to leave, a man comes out of di bushes with his hand pointing through his shirt with the outline of a gun. Now we are both shook!
The young boy and his friend speak to us again, but now their tone has become cold:
“All yuh, give us everything you have!”
We are frozen, so one of them shouts, “All yuh want to get shoot? Give us everyhting yuh have - wallet, phone, everything.” The group starts searching our bags and then our pockets. They take Jamie’s camera, lenses, phone, money, then take my credit card, phone, and money.
They then find my keys and ask, “What are these keys for? You have a car?”
“No, I don’t have a car,” I reply with a lie, as I cannot afford to give up the car I had just rented
“I know you lyin!” They say, and they throw the keys into the water and then run off into the bushes. I immediately run into the water where the keys were thrown and retrieve them. We wait for a few minutes and then head back to the car scared out of our minds.
We are so embarrassed because we were just robbed by some little boys! How could I have let that happen? My mind starts to race and I think, how can I fix this situation? We jump in the car and we head back towards my dad's house on North Post Road.
As we start heading up di hill, I see my friend Lanpan on di corner. I pull up and say, “Lanpan, Come here I need to tell you what just happened!” I start explaining the story, but am so fired up that my words come out a jumble-up mess. I catch my breath and with Jamie’s help explain how we just got robbed. I introduce Jamie to Lanpan and point out that he is from away.
I joke with Lanpan that I don’t want this to be how Jamie remembers Trinidad. Lanpan wants to help, so he asks for some more details.
Lanpan: “Where did this happen? Can you describe the guys who robbed you?”
As I am describing the young fellas, Lanpan stops me and says, “ I think I know the guy who had the gun through his shirt.”Lanpan hops in di car and we head down di road to the house of a man who Pan said runs Blue Basin. For the sake of this story we will call him Charles.
We get to Charles’s house and we quickly explain what happened. He listens and says he knows one of the men we described. He says it’s a guy who actually just got out of jail for gun possession. Charles wants to help and feels bad that we have been robbed, so he gets in the car and directs us to the guy's house. We pull up to the yard, knocking on the door and calling out the man's name. The guy reluctantly comes outside and it is him! The man who had come out of the bushes with the gun! Charles grabs the guy and says you need to give these people back their stuff now! The guy who robbed us goes inside and comes back out with the camera and lenses.
He comes around to the window, apologizes and says, “I am sorry, I didn’t know you was from here. Here you go.” We then head to a nearby shack, and in a similar fashion get back our phones. Then, we head to a corner store and talk to a few people who go around back and retrieve the credit card. We have gotten back everything except the trini dollars, which is most likely a lost cause.
We drop Charles back home and thank him profusely. We then head back to North Post Road, and drop off Lanpan, telling him how thankful we are and how much we appreciate the time he took to help us in getting our stuff back. We are still in utter shock and finally head back up di hill to my dad’s house. When we get there we explain the whole story to my dad and he just starts laughing at us. He said he’s glad we got our stuff back and got home safe. We then head by my sister and she and my nieces go off on the two of us, especially me...
My Sister:
“All yuh rel stupid. You don’t know it’s dangerous in di back there?
Why didn’t you go with someone you know?
All yuh get rel lucky boy!
How you bring Jamie to Trinidad and this is what he’s going to remember?”
We all share laughs and I take the blame, knowing that I will never go back to Blue Basin again. I apologize to Jamie, but he somehow is still in good spirits for the rest of our trip. I am surprised, but he actually wants to return to Trinidad in the future!
As I reflected that night, I thought to myself:
This is the craziest thing that has happened in my life.
I thought about what I had done to get us in that situation and how we could have responded differently.
I was upset because I normally give people the benefit of the doubt, but in this instance, I felt taken advantage of.
I felt cowardly and dissatisfied with myself for being robbed by mostly kids much younger than us.
That being said, one of them had been a man who had recently been in prison for gun possession, so it’s best that we had been compliant.
The questions I was left with:
Was it stupid to bring all of those valuables that second day visiting the waterfall?
Should we have made a decision about swimming or leaving earlier?
But we went to sleep that night to live another day.
Lessons from this incident:
-
Know my surroundings. When going around Trinidad, especially in parts I don’t know as well, maybe go with someone who is truly from the area. Keep visitors safe.
-
If I do go somewhere with a visitor, make a decision and follow through with confidence. If you don’t know what you are doing, fake it until you make it. People can smell fear from a mile away.
-
Always make connections with people who are from that area(locals). Be willing to appreciate and reciprocate when someone has your back.
-
Times of challenge or struggle can be the best learning experiences. I am learning about my flight and freeze responses and that I don’t always like how I respond in times of danger. I would like to be more of a protector of friends and family, but that is not my natural instinct. Are my natural instincts self-serving? Can I change that?