If I was Trinidad's Prime Minister, my first matter of business would be STREET SIGNS.

Sometimes memories help us to get through those tough days where everything just seems so gloomy.....so while thinkin of this story helps me think of a good time w/my friend who's havin a tough time right now, you can get a laugh at...u guessed it...the comedy of errors called My Life.

I think on my 16th birthday, and not a day later, I asked my father to teach me to drive so I could get my license. Not that I was bad, but it was maybe two lessons before frustration set in, and he said he was done with me. So he turned me over to a driving instructor who constantly asked me if I had somewhere to be that I was in such a hurry......"hot foot" was what the judge in jersey called me before he told me how much I owed.....and "you don't drive like a girl" is what countless guys told me the first time they witnessed me drive. so even when we think we're foolin our parents, we all know, my dad knew what kinda driver I was going to be. All he asked though, was that I didn't attempt to drive on my trips to Trinidad....driving in Trinidad is just a whole nother ballgame.

"car rentals" in Trinidad often consist of an average Joe, (well there it would be a Sheldon or something so) who borrows his cousin and neighbors cars, and "rents" them out. And the roads....picture the narrowest road in the city, squeezing two lanes of traffic, with the most pot holes (never mind Trinidad literally has pitch coming up out of the ground) and cars parked in no particular direction or order, and you've got your average Trinidad road. Oh, and don't forget they drive on the opposite side of the street as here. Ideal conditions right?

So do I need to say that one year, I wanted to learn to drive? On the first day, all my guy friends fought for the BACK seat. Brennon was the only one that day who believed in me. But believing in me didn't mean he was a fool. He quickly devised a plan for us. You never notice until you drive on the left side of the road, that after driving for years on the right hand side, you, although its ever so slowly, you still tend to go towards the right.......and abruptly tellin me "laura, you are about to be driving on the wrong side!" isnt very calming, reassuring or most importantly, safe! So whenever I'd get too far to the right, up would pop his arm, like a traffic guard saying "stop"...I see it, slowly veer back to the left, and he'd put it back down when i was goin ok.....At first, as you can imagine, his arm got a lot of exercise. But the guys were quickly realizing, that hey, lj's not too bad at this!

The real test came though, when it was time for Brennon and I to go get his wife in another town.....So we get ready, get the directions, and hop in the car. Windows down, sweet caribbean breeze blowing, soca playin on the radio, and men at every light selling soft drinks, or roasted peanuts, so we have plenty snacks. This will be my first time driving on one of Trinidad's highways.....which I'd say closest resembles a very very long Eastern Parkway with a few less lights and completely without the benches and trees in the middle...You have the highway that runs east/west, and the one running north/south. We just need to go from Laventille to Couva. Just north to south. So how hard could this be?

About 10 minutes into the ride, the sweet caribbean breeze turned into an evil stormy gust, and carried the directions OUT of Brennon's hand, and OUT the window. Don't worry he says, he's been to tracey's aunts a bunch of times. He knows where we're going. We're already heading South, the way we need to go, we'll be fine. I've never been to South Trinidad so hey, its just cool to be goin somewhere new, and I can practice my drivin skills at the same time.

Well, about an hour and a half later, we're passing probably one of the first signs we've seen, and its for San Fernando.....And I don't know much, but I know San Fernando is FAR. I don't even know of anything being PAST San Fernando. So with my sharp reasoning skills, I say Brennon, I think we gone too far....Yeah, I think so too he replies. We passed it somewhere....So we turn around...back we go.....About two hours later, with rush hour traffic building, I realize we are back near where we started...yep. We went too far....again. Remember, its like Eastern Parkway. A straight road. No bends or turns. Straight. But somehow, we missed Couva. So we turn around again.

Now the sun is starting to set. But we gonna get it right this time. But another hour passes, and still no Couva. BUT, we found San Fernando. AGAIN. Ok, we realize we're in over our heads. We turn around. AGAIN.

I've honestly blocked out how many times we turned around that day. I know it was sunny and hot when we started out, and it was dark and over 4 hours later when we finished. Finally we found a cop, asked where couva was. He replied 'You go 2 flyovers (translation - overpasses) and at the exit after the second one, get off.' As we drove that SHORT, SHORT stretch of road, we realized, there's no sign for Couva......but when we got off at that unmarked exit, what did we see? "Welcome to Couva"....Thanks. We figured that out now.

Ok, well now that we're in Couva what do we do. A fascinating thing about trinidad. A fella is standing in the road, and we ask him for *insert tracey's aunt's name* he says while pointing 'go so, make a right, go so, make a left, make a next left, and the one, two, three, fourth house is hers'.....and it was.......too bad we didn't have him in the car with us from the beginning.

*footnote - it would take the average person about 45 minutes to make that day-long trip*