Turtles

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Trinidad was not on our list of countries to visit, but it was the best way to fly from Caracas to Georgetown as there were no direct flights. We decided to stay a few days since we were there. It was strange arriving in Port of Spain. We had been travelling South America for two and a half months, so this english speaking Caribbean island was something very different. The taxi man spoke english and drove on the left. The cars were more modern and drivers more courteous.

We stayed with Mona at her bed and breakfast, a lovely old colonial house close to the center of town. Her house was on a 90s postage stamp. We arrived quite late in the afternoon so first job was to eat. Lots of restaurants were just a few tables outside and the food was received over the counter, often behind bars. Made you wonder what they were afraid of. We settled for a mexican joint but it was really just jerk or bbq chicken, ribs and fish etc with side dishes. It was good food and we ate on a picnic table outside. We found an open bar for a pricey Smirnoff Ice and beer. There were a few middle aged white fellas there. Looked more like they were working than on holiday so Pieter asked the British guy if they were in oil or communications (the two main sources of foreign employment in the region) and he said they were laying cables on the ocean bed and they lived on a ship. Interesting work.

People in Port of Spain are lovely. In the space of one morning we were helped by a number of smiley people. When the bank didn't have US dollars a nice man showed us where an exchange place was on the map. A lady walked with us to the Caribbean Airlines office after we were directed to the wrong street. She pointed out buildings of interest on the way. Then the lady at the Caribbean Airlines office happily reconfirmed our flights to Guyana. We realised that we had booked pm and not am as we thought. Didn't bother to change but the lady helped us with our options. She also directed us to the Ministry of Tourism for tours. We sceptically trotted down to the Ministry and found that the lady on reception was the 'tour agent'. Jenny had a printed list of contacts which she gave us, telling us what was possible and making phone calls for us. We finally decided on turtle watching tomorrow night. She also gave us a map of the town and directed us to a nice place for lunch.

Our afternoon was spent finding and exploring the museums. The Police museum is only open Tuesdays and Saturdays so we felt blessed to be there on a Tuesday. It is housed in the current police station, a nice building from 1876. There was no one at the door so we wandered in. Lots of photos and memorabilia lined a staircase leading up. At the top we found a room with a lady inside. The museum was free to visit, she told us. They had London Met and Essex hats as well as local uniforms. The most memorable exhibit was a book logging convicts and their convictions from about 1880 onwards. There was a photo and physical description followed by a dated list of offenses and sentences. There were lots of locals, Indians and some English even. For stealing petty things guys tended to get 3 months while more valuable items earned 6 months. People had stolen clothing, umbrellas (one bloke did that twice), a bull and a donkey. There were also some women imprisoned for assault.

Next museum we found was the History of Trinidad and Tobago. Down by the lighthouse, it was free again. On the top floor of a two story wooden building, the shutters were open onto the balcony and we had views in all directions. The display had lots of photos and writing with no historical objects. The ladies at the museum were very friendly. One of them told Pieter that they used to hold slaves in the building. Some had died there. The other lady was a little shocked and asked her colleague why she hadn't told her before. There could be ghosts!

Then we marched straight back up Frederick Street to the National Museum. Another lovely colonial building. Free again. Fossils, carnival costumes, a faded oil display, faded butterflies and battered looking stuffed animals. Some nice modern art. The air conditioned Natural History section was my favourite ... mostly because of the air con.

That evening we went to the movies. Die Hard 4. There were quite a few people there and we were the only white faces. It was 12tt (US$2) for the stalls, 20tt for the balcony and 30tt for the box. We got box seats which basically meant the front row of the balcony. The theatre was a lovely, traditional type theatre with starry lights flickering on the ceiling. Best thing about the movie was the audience ... although the movie was excellent also. They laughed louder, clapped harder and had lots more to say than an english audience. During the many previews people in the stalls would often offer their opinion and shout 'Shit!' to which everyone would laugh. When Bruce Willis kicked the arse of the bad chinese chick there were such loud cheers that we had to laugh out loud ourselves.

The next day we decided to try and see if we could our Suriname visas. After getting the necessary passport photos taken we decided to take a taxi to the embassy. It was going to be 25tt to the door but only 6tt to the main road. We opted for the second and soon realised why there was such a difference. Two more people got in the car. It was a collective taxi. She would pick up and drop off all the way up the main road.

Embassy went well. We didn't expect it but they could do the visas in 2 hours. We had to pay the fee of US$40 each at the bank which involved a walk around the Savannah which was on our list of things to do anyway. There are lots of beautiful big old houses, mostly run down, some being restored. Only the Presidents building was in good condition. It was hot work walking to the bank and on the way back we stopped for a coconut from a man with a truck full of them. It was nice and refreshing. Back at the embassy we were presented with our visas which were very pretty. This was the only country in South America we needed visas for.

In the afternoon we left for Las Cuevas beach. We took a maxi taxi from George St. Definitely the dodgy side of town (Mona had told us not to go beyond Henry St and George St was beyond) as seen by the population of crazy people. One decided to have some fun and give Pieter a big punch in the arm. He was a big man. Good thing he was only kidding around with the white fella. We waited a good 20 minutes and had to shove our way into the minivan with a bunch of other people and boxes. The traffic was shit and it took ages to get out of town but once away we found the landscape turned to beautiful forest. It was 10tt each to the beach and it took about an hour. We passed Maracas beach on the way which looked lovely but we were happy to see that Las Cuevas was much less developed. There was one restaurant where we had fish and chips. I had the fish and Pieter had the chips. Then we went down to the beach. Beautiful sand and clear water. We put our stuff under the cliff with the forest looming above to protect it from the little bit of rain. The rain didn't bother us as we were in the water. The beach soon clear of people and lifeguards as night time arrived. We returned to the restaurant where Pieter ordered some lovely local berry wine and discovered the lady who owned the place was Rodney's mum. Rodney was the guy who was going to show us the turtles. Rodney arrived with dreadlocks and a friendly disposition. Around 8pm we went off in search of turtles on the same beach we had been swimming at. It was a long beach and the fishing boats and swimming beach were at one end. The other end was undeveloped and the turtles like the dark. It was near the end of the laying season so we were not going to see lots of them but Rodney was confident of seeing some. And near the far end of the beach we saw our first fresh tracks. Following the tracks a huge dark blob in the sand became apparent. Rodney shone his torch (there was no moon yet) and we saw for the first time a magnificent big leatherback turtle at least a meter across the shell. She had tough looking flippers and a huge head. So as not to disturb we stood around the back and avoided shining the light in the turtles eyes. She had already laid and was covering the eggs and disguising the area. It was an amazing sight. It really brought tears to our eyes. We walked back up the beach and spotted a second on the swimming beach, laying eggs only meters from where we had been sunbathing that afternoon. To pass some time Rodney invited us to his place. We walked up to the village where Rodney had a temporary home because his pregnant Norwegian wife was unable to cope with the steep approach to their hillside hideaway. We chatted with Rodney and his wife for a while, watched a bit of TV and feel asleep. At 4am we got up again to look for more turtles. We saw two more. One we watched as she returned to the sea. The moon was up now and it was a beautiful and emotional scene. We had a great experience. We had coffee and I had a 'Bake Fish' (fishy sandwich) at the fishing port before catching the first maxi taxi of the day back to town. We slept.

That is about the sum of our stop over in Trinidad. It was a wonderful interlude to our South America trip. If we had more time we might have gone to Tobago where all the tourists go but we found Trinidad offered enough to keep us amused for a couple of days.

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Photos

Leatherback turtle
On her way back to sea

An Abandoned Castle
One of the posh houses next to the Savannah. Most required attention like this one.

Las Cuevas
The beach where we swam and later saw the turtles

Comments

[Deidre]

Hello
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your experience here in Trinidad. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your South American trip as well. All the best to you and yours. :)