Beach Day!!

Carnival is done, finished for 2017. So what's a person to do?  Go to the beach! After all, this is an island and every direction you go, there has to be a beach!

Susan's Cousin Darlene picked us up and we headed to Maracas Beach on the north side of Trinidad-Northwest of Port of Spain, the capitol. Lots of others had the same idea but I'm told the day after Carnival is the worst day to go to the beach.  Lots of loud music and crowds of people.  This was 2 days after Carnival and all was tame and quiet.

Up over the small mountains and down to the beach area. 

Winding, narrow roads!

Looks barely wide enough for one car!

Beautiful overlook!

Beautiful scenery--looks like Haiti with the mountains but more vegetation.

I've been hearing all week about Bake-N-Shark, we have to try Bake-N-Shark. Everyone in Trinidad asked if I had tried Bake-N-Shark.  So today was the day. It is the thing to eat at the beach.

Richards is the place to get it!  The line was long.

Bake-N-Shark ended up being a lot of fried fish in an oversized bun with lots of garnishes.

No way to really tell if it was in fact shark!

Maracas Beach-Big waves, the tide is coming in, lots of people enjoying the ocean!

Water was cold until I got used to it!

Snacks and touristy stuff for sale at the overlook.

A sudden rain came down and cleared up just as fast.

I'm told it's unusual for rain this time of year.

$1 TT to use the restroom and take a cold shower after swimming in the ocean.

That's about $ .17 US!

After enjoying Maracas Beach we decided to check out Las Cuevas Beach a few kilometers away (La Cuevas translates from Spanish to the Caves-although I didn't see or hear of any caves being nearby).

Beautiful drive

Fishing boats moored in the Bay of Cuevas Beach

Low sun on the beach

The beach goes on forever. No high rise hotels to impair the scenery.

Back to Port of Spain before dark. The road to the beach was very winding and narrow!

Another great day in Trinidad.

Tomorrow is the last day!  Time seems to go fast and yet we did a lot everyday while here!

Trip down the Southeastern Coast of Trinidad to Mayaro.

Susan's cousin Devon (who you've met in previous blogs) drove us down the Eastern coast of Trinidad to meet his daughter and her mom, Ann.

This coast faces the Atlantic Ocean and the wind is really strong. The waves look quite wild!
Beautiful coastline.

Driving down the road were small food stands. Saurel and Susan spotted fruits they hadn't eaten in years. So we stopped and got some fruit. I had never eaten or even heard of these fruits.

Pomeracs-has a pit like an avocado with taste and texture like a pear. White inside.

Saurel found purple and green (both ripe-just different types) Caïmites-star apple.

Milky inside, juicy, not too sweet and seeds like an apple or pear. 

Had to peal the outer rind as it not edible.

Tangerines in the back with the Pomeracs in the foreground.

They also had small pineapples and bananas.

Not mango season so no mangos!

Crossed the Nariva River, one of the largest rivers in Trinidad.

Devon says there are Manatee and Anaconda snakes in the river.

Saurel and I couldn't see any from the bridge!

Where the Nariva River flows into the ocean.  

Looks  inviting but told it can be very dangerous to swim there.

Fishing boats in another river inlet.

We bought fresh caught fish on our way home.

More fishing boats.  Low tide.

Taking photos of the river.

People who live in Port of Spain and want to get away from the noise and chaos of

Carnival come up to this area to camp by the sea or stay in a hotel.

Beautiful and breezy.

Ann made us curried lobster for dinner!  Wonderful! 

We ate on the deck or at the table right off the deck.

Such a nice breeze off the ocean keep the bugs away.

Many of the towns in this area have French and Spanish names. A hold over from when those countries controlled the island of Trinidad.

It takes a lot of skill to drive down these narrow roads! At some points it looks like it is too narrow to pass safely. Very lush along the road, beautiful palms.

Including the solar powered Hula Dancer on Devon's dash.

Tomorrow is a beach day. Off to Maracas Beach on the north coast of Trinidad in a nice bay.  I'll need to make sure I have enough suntan lotion to not get a burn.

Ann prepared lobster soup for us.

Some information on Trinidad and Tobago...

T & T consists of two small islands 7 miles off the coast of Venezuela. T & T have their own immigration problems with boats from Venezuela arriving with potential illegal immigrants.
Tobago is the smaller of the two islands and is famous for it's beautiful beaches (I won't be making it there this trip). Trinidad has the majority of the population.

As with the other Caribbean Islands during colonial times it changed hands with wars and treaties, finally becoming a British Colony.  Trinidad/Tobago finally gained independence from England in 1962 and became a Republic in 1976.

Fun facts:
- TT is the 3rd richest economy(GDP) in the Americas following the USA and Canada

- TT has rich reserves of natural gas and petroleum

- Steel Pan was invented in TT

- Calypso and Soca music originated in TT

- Pitch Lake in Trinidad is the world's largest natural deposit of asphalt. It covers about 99 acres and is 246 feet deep (Imagine being the one to determine the depth of that!)

- Main Ridge Forest Preserve on Tobago is the oldest protected rainforest in the Western Hemisphere.

- Tobago got it's name because it resembles a traditional tobacco pipe (tavaco) used by the locals

- Trinidad is the home of the largest Carnival in the Caribbean, which consistently ranks in the top 10 most coveted events in the world

- The limbo dance was created in Trinidad

- The novels Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island were based on these islands, and the movie Swiss Family Robinson was filmed here

- TT exports petroleum, petroleum products, natural gas, chemicals, steel products and fertilizer...among other things

- Trinidad's Moruga Scorpion Pepper has been named the hottest pepper in the world

- The beaches of TT contain the second largest nesting site in the world for leatherback turtles

- The largest living brain coral(about 10 ft by 16 ft) has been recorded off Speyside in Tobago

- Education in TT is entirely free, contributing to the over 98% literacy rate. Children are expected to have basic reading and writing skills before starting school at age 5.   Most start preschool at 2 ½ years of age

- TT is one of the world's leading exporters of natural gas

- Curried Opossum and Curried Iguana are a delicacy in TT

- Cricket is the national sport

- The KFC in the capitol city of Port of Spain, Trinidad has the #1 sales of any KFC in the world. Open 24 hrs, you can buy fried chicken any time day or night! Needless to say, I did not feel the need to visit!

- National bird is the Scarlet Ibis, found mostly in the Caroni Bird Sanctuary

Scarlet Ibis

I've never seen one of these-never knew they existed!!

Carnival Tuesday!!

After a good nights sleep I am up again around 8 am. We opted to not go at 5 am to get a spot to watch Carnival Tuesday parades.

Carnival Tuesday or Fat Tuesday has the kind of parades and dancing you think of when you think of Mardi Gras or Carnival.  People are dancing in skimpy costumes with elaborate feathers, ribbons, and beads. There are organized groups that buy coordinated costumes and dance to a steel band or a DJ. If you are a participant in a group, this is called playing Mas. Each group is called a band. All ages parade through the streets and then up on the stage where the TV captures it live.

All body types-no problem!

  No apologies for wardrobe malfunctions. That's the idea-exposed flesh. And the bumping and grinding called wining (wine) is captured with no excuses. They dance through the brief rain showers and in the heat of the sun.

Everyone I asked was delighted to pose for a photo!

We head out to the streets to watch the parading bands of dancers in the afternoon. We start out at one of the stages and then follow the last group through the street hoping to find Marcus and Marcel who are "playing Mas" with a band. Here's a small sample of the paraders and their costumes! Fun, fun, fun!

Comfortable shoes!

Stilt walkers-young boys mostly!

Showing a little flesh is quite common!

White guy in an Indian head dress! What's with that?

Such a variety of costumes

Evidently these are very heavy-pulled along on wheels!

Every kind of costume-these for those who don't want to show that much flesh!

Part way along the route we found Michael and Mark and their perch for watching the parade.  I opted to join them on the platform to watch the rest of the Mas parade by! Saurel and Susan went in search of Marcus and Marcel. They managed to find each other!

Michael had food and drink...and a potty!

Mark, Saurel, Susan, Michael. We are staying with Michael and his wife Hilda (Susan's aunt).

Sun has gone down but they keep coming!

Each "Band" has it's own food and drink trailer for it's group of participants.

Your wristband gets you access to water, pop, mixed drinks and beer.

Food varies from group to group.

There are no trash cans along the way. Just drop your bottles and trash along the street and the sanitation workers will clean it all up after the parades finish. 

Saw this with the J'ouvert...the sanitation workers were close behind us!

The DJ's  are on the trucks with huge speakers!

After it seemed like everything was over, here come the steel drums!

Playing up a storm!

Cute girls with mom have their feathers and costumes on while watching the bands go by.

Marcus and Marcel with their band, playing Mas.

Can't wait to see what was captured on the Go Pro Marcel is wearing!

We are off to the countryside-Mayaro tomorrow where the Devon's (Susan's cousin-featured earlier in J'ouvert) wife will be making Lobster Soup! Yum!