First day on the Island of Trinidad in the West Indies

It is always a challenge and at times stressful just to show up in another country without any advance planning. Such was the case with a recent trip to Trinidad and Tobago – on the island of Trinidad. I found some wifi at the airport, called around a few guesthouses, and found one quite cheap. The 30 minute taxi ride was nearly the same price as the room. Upon getting dropped off, some old guy peeked out the gated door in a bad part of town and said “we have no room tonight”. I told him I had just called 45 minutes prior, but he was adamant about not letting me in. Fortunately another guy saw me outside and told the old guy to give me a room. As it turns out, there were plenty of rooms.

Found a rental car company the next morning – they had one car left. I knew which boulevard they were on but did not have an address – started walking there and as luck would have it, was directly across from the street that I walked out on. What is probably the best beach on the entire island is in the north around the small town of Maracas. This town is accessible only by a very steep winding road that crosses through the rainforest from one side of the island to the other. Several small beach villages, not yet really developed for much in the way of tourism dot the rugged coastline here. Picturesque bays framed by palm trees and the crashing of waves are situated along the coastline.

Not finding much in the way of lodging – I ended up pulling off the side of the road into the jungle – behind a large pile of dirt. I had scouted out this part of the road for about 45 minutes before sunset, so after some fresh fish from a roadside stall, I knew exactly where to pull in, lights turned off to not attract any attention. The Northcoast road has very few pull outs and the ones that it does have are immediately next to the road. Doesn’t make for very good privacy. This road reminds me of the “Road to Hana” in Maui, Hawaii. It is covered with rainforest, steep, very narrow and towards Maracas, there are some stunning views of the jagged coastline and bays far below.

It doesn’t get much better than this afternoon – driving this crazy road and listening to inspiring Indian music on the radio. It reminded me of strolling along the great Ganges River in Varanasi at night in India – listening to all the live music. By the way, 50% of the Trinidad’s population is of Indian descent (India).

And here are a few photos from flying over some of the lesser Antilles, just north of Trinidad – umm yea, I think I’ll be making a few more trips to this part of the world!