East Indian Experience

Saturday morning we got ready to start the beginning of out learning about the East Indian influence in Trinidad and Tobago. We left the lodge at 8am to go visit the fresh produce market in Chaguanas which is the biggest of its kind in all of Trinidad. It was so big that it had two floors and the second floor had an awesome view of the whole first floor where you can see all the rich and bright colors of the fresh produce from every stand. It was a really cool thing to see! Something that I don't think will compare to any farmers market in the states. While there we got some breakfast at a stand where they sold some delicious East Indian delicacies. They had doubles (which we can't ever have enough of), Saheena which is a vegetarian recipe of chopped spinach stirred in a split pea flour base & topped with some chutney & pepper if you can handle it ;) It was my first time trying it & it was sooo good! I'm planning to take the time to make it at the lodge so hopefully I'm successful at it.
After eating we drove off to visit the Indian Caribbean Museum. The museum is dedicated to the preservation of the history of the Indo-Caribbean culture & it's the only one of its kind in the Caribbean. We were very lucky to have someone open the doors for us as that day it was supposed to be closed. Walking around the museum & learning about the history of the migration of Indians to the Caribbean was so awesome! We saw some actual artifacts from the immigration period & some copies of the ship records & the names of the immigrants on those ships. It was honestly mind blowing & really cool that they had so much information from that period of time.
Our next stop from there was to visit Siewdass Sashu's Temple in the Sea. This temple, as the name gives, was built by an indentured laborer from India, Siewdass Sadhu who came to Trinidad in 1907. Long story short, he was charged for trespassing & imprisoned for 2 weeks after he began building his 1st temple in 1947. He was released & declared that he would build his temple in the sea if he couldn't do it on land, so that is exactly what he did. He began the backbreaking work using a bike for transportation to carry 2 buckets with his materials back & forth every single day. The temple has been restored over the years but there is still a part of it that stands strong in the same spot Siewdass built it in. When we got there, there was a cremation ceremony that had just ended so it was really interesting to see how that compares to a ceremony in the states. We walked down the path that took us to the doors of the temple. Standing at the edge of the perimeter around the temple, overlooking the sea filled me with such a peaceful & spiritual feeling. It was a feeling I cant't put into too many words. I didn't to leave the place. I really liked how & what I was feeling at that moment. A few of us plan to go back & attend an actual service at the temple so I'm looking forward to that.
From the temple, our final stop of the tour was at the Dattatreya Yoga Center. At this location stands one of the tallest statues in the Caribbean, the Murti of Lord Hanuman at 85 ft. tall. This visit granted me another state of relaxation, spirituality & peace. We walked over to the temple that was also there & it was really cool to see the intricate architecture & details of the main temple. We enjoyed taking pictures & spending a lot of time absorbing the beauty of everything as we were the only tourists there. We were also lucky enough to speak to a guru that was there & he shared some wise words with us. None of us wanted to leave his presence as it surrounded us with peace & wisdom. We hope to go back to that location as well & talk to him longer as well as attend a service at that temple.
By the end of the tour, we were all starving so we went to an East Indian restaurant where they only had vegetarian options & that food literally brought me back to life haha. It was delicious! Overall, the tour we had that day was a really nice one& something I needed. It gave me some clarity & reminded me to keep myself grounded while I am here. I kept my family in mind the entire time so shout-out to them! <3