I just returned home from a lovely trip to the southwest USA. One thing I love about visiting the States is the availability of things. Unlike in Trinidad, where one sometimes has to go to multiple different groceries in order to make one recipe, everything is available to you in the You Ess of Aye. I’ve waxed poetic before about the produce section of Whole Foods and how it inspires me to want to cook. However, America is such a crazy place that a company will literally send you recipes ALONG WITH THE INGREDIENTS ALREADY WEIGHED OUT FOR YOU SO YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE TO GO TO WHOLE FOODS. There is now an App that will send a Messenger to Sephora (or Chipotle or Duane Reade) for you and call you to make sure that the shade of Becca Illuminating Skin Perfector that they are collecting for you is correct. (“So did you want the Pressed or the Poured? And was that in the Topaz or the Champagne Pop?”) Sigh.

The US is definitely the Land of Plenty. However, one thing that also happens to me when I travel is that I always make sure to stop and appreciate the things from home that I am not seeing. When I was in LA with my cousin, we drove past the La Brea Tar Pits, another Pitch Lake, which unfortunately and unlike ours, you can’t walk out on to. In fact, Trinidad’s Pitch Lake is the only Pitch Lake in the world that can support weight (just make sure to move around so you don’t sink into the pitch). So needless to say I wasn’t moved enough to get out of the car to see the one in LA.

I don’t know if it makes any sense but leaving Trinidad makes me appreciate coming back so much more. And being at home makes me appreciate the difference and the exploration of going away. For me it’s of the utmost importance to have a healthy balance of the two, and it’s a goal that I keep at the forefront of my life.

Photography: Kyle Walcott Photography