In the middle of a torrential downpour, on a dark, gray day on the island of Trinidad, Flat Blake arrived. The postman popped him into a mailbox just when he was feeling really tired from the very long trip by 'plane. Blake felt he could sleep all day in the nice, dark mailbox, but soon his curiosity got the better of him.
"Just where is Trinidad?" he wondered, as he peeped through the bright red letter box at the rain falling down in sheets. "I can't see very much with all this rain, and my envelope is getting a little soggy. I thought islands were supposed to be sunny, bright places..not cold, damp and rainy!"
He had forgotten that in Trinidad it was the rainy season and that he should have worn his raincoat for the trip! On this island we don't have spring, summer, winter and autumn - just the dry season which is from January to June and the rainy season which is from July to December. Trinidad lies at 10 degrees North - which is very close to the Equator, so even in the rainy season we still have lots of sunshine...just not today. He stuck his hand out of the post box and 'plop!' A big wet raindrop landed in it! "Wow!!" thought Blake..."The rain feels warm..not like the freezing cold rain where I am from...I should like to go out and play in it!"
All of a sudden he heard a squeak..and the top of the post box opened. A smiley little boy with curly hair was looking down at him. His name was Ryan and he was 4, he was going to be Blake's friend and tour guide for the next few days. Blake was very excited and Ryan was too! Ryan quickly grabbed Blake's envelope and brought him in out of the rain, which had now died down to a drizzle. Ryan was very happy to come home from school and find this new friend in his mail box. They were going to have great fun together!
The first thing Ryan did was take Blake up the steps and plonk him on the couch in the porch. Blake could not believe his eyes!!
There right in front of him was the sea!! "Wowie!!" He thought "I AM on an island!!" Out in the water he could see a few large tankers and other smaller boats. Way off in the distance he could see the outline of tall blue mountains. Hmmmm...I wonder if that is Tobago? I was told that Trinidad is actually a Nation of two islands - Trinidad and Tobago." But it wasn't Tobago, as Tobago is very small and lies to the North East of Trinidad. What he was looking at was the mountains of Venezuela which is a country in South America. Once a very, very, very long time ago Trinidad was attached to Venezuela by a thin strip of land but over time the sea wore it away and Trinidad became an island. The name of the water Blake was looking at was the Gulf of Paria - or the Gulf of Whales - the very same water Christopher Columbus sailed in when he was on one of his adventures to explore the world. Blake pulled out a map to see where he was and quickly found the little dots of Trinidad and Tobago. What a great adventure he was going to have!!
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