In Trinidad: Oscar and his world

While in Trinidad I had the opportunity to meet Oscar and I was humbly honoured to see a part of his world that he so cherishes.

Oscar lives in the old centre of Trinidad. You can quickly recognise him pushing his hand cart or sitting on top of it as he peddles fresh fruits from corner to corner in Trinidad. However, Oscar is not just your quintessential fruit vendor.

We first saw Oscar at the Plaza Mayor. He is super-duper friendly. He doesn’t speak English at all but I understand and speak a wee bit Spanish accompanied with the vital hand language of course, haha, so that made communication a bit easier. However, at Plaza Mayor we just smiled at Oscar and didn’t really engage in a talk with him.

Later, he found us again sitting in a small park in front of the Church and Monastery of Saint Francis. He gave us a warm familiar smile. He then put down his wagon on the street, walked up to us and started a conversation. Interestingly, we managed to have a decent chat in my oh-so horrible almost unintelligible Spanish. He then sat down beside me and asked where we are from and I said—Holland. The Netherlands.

His face shining, he said, ‘Ahhh Holanda! Un momento...’

Oscar then took out a plastic pouch in his bag and opened it. I was quite curious what he wanted to show us? And then slowly he took out his precious collection, a bunch of pictures and letters. They were from his friends and acquaintances all over the world. From tourists passing by Trinidad. Tourists from the Netherlands as well. Some of the pictures he even looked younger and a few of the letters were dated old.

He then spoke, with pride, about these friends.

Blondine and I were a bit surprised and at the same time charmed by this friendly old man. I on the other hand was so touched. He showed us a part of his world and the friendships he cherished with these people. Tourists, visitors, they were just like Blondine and I, passing through Trinidad.

It also seems that he carries the pouch of pictures and letters with him every single day as he peddles fruits in the old centre of Trinidad. I have very strong suspicions that Oscar uses his fruit peddling activity as a front; simply an excuse to meet new (foreign) friends.

His world revolves around meeting people from different parts of the world and he cherishes this experience deeply. Such a very sweet man.

I didn’t have anything to give to Oscar, such as a picture and a letter, but I have this blog entry to dedicate to him.