Writing — Travel

Eight Reasons Not to Move to a Caribbean Island

Even paradise can have its downside

I love the island life — the sun, the beach, the slower pace — most of the time it really is like paradise on Earth, as I wrote about in this recent article: “Eight Reasons to Move to a Caribbean Island”.

However, there are downsides to everything and living on a Caribbean Island is no different. Here are eight aspects of living in Trinidad & Tobago that are far less than ideal. And if you want to check out this article that’s cool, too:

1. Bugs, bugs everywhere… and lizards, too

After living in Florida for ten years, I was somewhat used to this — that is, if a person can ever really get used to something like pesky bugs. I did live in the city of Orlando though, which is a bit of a concrete jungle — exposure to bugs is probably lessened in comparison to living out in the country somewhere.

Here in Trinidad however, the bugs are hardcore. We have an empty lot next to our house—reportedly someone from Canada bought it years ago and never got around to developing the land. On one hand, this has led to having more quiet and privacy. On the other, the overgrowth of vegetation on the property gives it a swamp-like quality and has made it a prime breeding ground for mosquitos, pesky flies and lizards.

Lizards aren’t such a big deal — that is until they start crawling around your living room or kitchen leaving poop and slime wherever they go… maybe I’m exaggerating about the slime part, but it still grosses me out.

2. To make things worse, screens on windows are not typical here

For a long time, this seemed to be the norm in Trinidad — no one seemed to have screens on any of their windows or doors. Couple this with most everyone loves to keep their doors and windows wide open all day and night. The fresh air can be lovely, for sure, but this makes the bugs and lizards just that much more difficult to bare as they have little holding them back from entering.

I accepted this as the norm until a few weeks ago when we were invited to a lime at the brand-new house of Andy’s uncle and aunt. Guess what I saw there? Screens on the windows!

My husband probably wishes he’d never taken me to that lime because now I won’t stop bugging him about it. I started looking on the internet and saw that there are plenty of screen like things that can be bought and fashioned to windows. Finally, I got him to agree to start dealing with this problem.

Nagging does have its benefits!

3. A more lawless society?

Less rules would seem to be a good thing, but not always.

Many towns and cities across the U.S. have laws designed to protect residents in many ways. Most of these are non-existent in TT or aren’t enforced at all.

Take that empty lot, for instance. In the U.S. a simple complaint to the city would force the property owner to get his/her a$$ in gear and take care of maintaining their property by cutting down the forest and getting rid of the excess weeds. Swamp no more.

And then there is the noise. We often have people drive by our house with the music blaring louder than a bar. Then, for a few weeks one of our neighbors was building a carport and used his own property as a machine shop for everything he needed done. Not sure if you’ve ever heard steel being cut, but it sounds like the devil has come to do his worst bidding.

Most of the U.S. has strict zoning laws and further laws about what can and can’t be done on residential property. Furthermore, noise ordinances are often in place in sizable municipalities. Not here though. Anything seems to go.

4. Availability of my favorite U.S. staples

It’s rather funny what a person can find here and what they can’t. A few months ago I wrote about snacking equivalents: “Do What Tastes Right — My Favorite TT Snacks”. Snacking is important to me, so I’m glad to have some suitable substitutes.

Life is about far more than snacking though, unfortunately. Things that are much harder to come by include certain pharmaceuticals, dairy products, assorted grocery items, clothing and furniture and of course the list can go on and on depending on whatever a person is looking for at the moment.

Since this is an island, competition is naturally going to be low, thus prices will often be higher for many items. And, since so much has to be imported, the cost of those items is just going to be that much higher as well.

5. No thrift stores, dollar stores or yard sales

This is a very personal reason, I get that, but I really miss my U.S. thrift stores and other things like yard sales. “Going junkin’!” — yes, I miss that indeed!

We came here with nothing more than what was in our suitcases and ended up having a whole empty house to fill up. In the U.S., so many things can be found at thrift stores, including furniture, small appliances, decorative items, crafting supplies and a host of other useful stuff.

Don’t even mention thrift stores here though. They will just look at you like you are crazy!

Along with no thrift stores, there are no dollar stores either. Miss those, too!

6. Small narrow roads most everywhere

Just like many islands, most of the roads here are narrow and extremely crowded. The infamous Eastern Main Road, for instance, is a place only for the fully initiated. And of course driving into more rural areas or the mountains the situation just gets that much worse.

And the worse by far for me is that I do not drive here. Mostly I don’t trust myself to not accidentally drive on the wrong side of the road, but also driving here can be treacherous in so many ways. When I was younger, I probably could have handled it. No problem. Now that I’m older, I just don’t have the patience. Andy is far more used to it so he gets to do the driving. I feel like the exchange equates to far less personal freedom, which I find myself often resenting.

When I’m back in the U.S. it’s so nice to be able to drive again! Such freedom. Something I never took for granted, but still it’s always nice to have a reminder of how wonderful this is.

7. Water, power and internet outages

It could be worse. Hearing stories of some countries and how the power routinely gets shut off for hours at a time helps me remember this.

Still, there are occasionally times when these things will cut suddenly and without warning. We always have buckets and extra water on standby in case the water cuts and we need to take a bucket shower. Keeping candles and flashlights handy for power outages is a must.

The internet, well, little can be done there. Just have to wait it out and use it as a nice break from technology. Andy, Trini by birth, gets much more pissed off about it than me. He does have to pay the bill though.

8. The hot water issue

Lastly, there is the deal with having hot water. To take a shower, a switch needs to be flipped. The switch is far enough away from the shower that if a person forgets, they will need to get back out of the shower to turn it on.

The true downside though is that this is the only hot water switch we have in the entire house. Our kitchen sink does not have one, so all our dishes have to be washed in coolish water. All I can say is that I’m grateful Dawn dish soap is commonly found here. If I have a particularly dirty or greasy pan, I will partially fill it with water and place it back on the stove so that it can be washed with warm water.

One nice thing is that we have a gas stove, so if the power cuts we can still cook and warm water if we need to take that bucket shower.

Conclusion

So, what are the pluses and minuses of your ex-pat location? What do you love or hate about where you’ve landed?

Would love to know!

I know I probably shouldn’t compare where I am now to where I’m from, but I find it extremely hard not to!

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