Exploring Trinidad

Here is a fun commentary by the Collins, a LDS missionary couple who served in Trinidad and Tobago for 6 months. They loved their preparation day outings:

We will share with you some of the fun things we found to do in Trinidad and Tobago. If you visit our blog, listed below, you can get a look at some of our adventures. Our number one was the trip to Paria Bay and Falls. We went over on the north shore, past Maracas and Las Cuevas Bays to the town of Blanchissuse. There is a blue building, the police station, on the south side of the road, across the road is a fisherman's station - where the fishermen bring in and sell their catch. We stopped there and contacted a man to take us to Paria Bay - I think it cost us about $30.00US (with tips it quickly got to about $60). Seven locals joined us on the ride and three of them hiked to the falls with us - we had a great time. On our return home we took the Arima Blanchissuse road (about a half mile past the police station) over the mountains to Arima. We've gone that way twice - a must see trip! It takes about an hour, to an hour and a half, but it is beautiful. As you near Arima you will pass the Asa Wright Nature Center. We didn't go there, but I understand it is a good place to visit. There are several water falls near this road also, that we haven't visited - President Robison wanted us in the office too much. If you want to spend a little time on a more secluded beach while you are over on the north side, there is a real quaint beach between Las Cuevas & Blanchissuse. Watch for a little wooden archway with a long flight of steps that take you down to the beach - There is an area to park off the road.

Another trip we enjoyed was to the northeast corner of the island. This is also where you would go to see the turtles. You take the Churchill Roosevelt Highway east to near the end, then north to the Eastern Main road, and east/northeast to Toco. There are some beautiful sights along the way. In the Toco area watch for the sign and road to the right that takes you to the Light House, a historic structure and beautiful sights. When you return to Toco, take the road along the north shore to Matelot - another scenic drive.

We have visited the Caroni Swamp twice and enjoyed it both times - a leisurely experience, well worth the time. We very much enjoyed visiting the Chaguanas open market on Saturday mornings- this is one of the most unique experiences. Relax, enjoy the traffic, and when you find the place, and a place to park - both are challenges - go in and buy some fresh vegetables, or upstairs about anything else. On the west end of the market you will find piles of pig snouts and tails, along with fresh fish and swrimp.

The entire island is beautiful. We enjoyed drives to the southwest corner through Point Fortin and down to "The Serpents Mouth", as well as the drive through Princes Town and along the Manzanilla shore line. The northwest corner, for a short trip, was nice, with some nice places to eat.

Our visit to Tobago was great. The glass bottom boat ride and snorkeling in the Boccoo Reef was a beautiful experience. We also drove around the island, snorkeling in Englishman's Bay, the best place we found - you are right on a reef with lots of life! We also went down and down and down into Pirates Bay, a nice swim, but not as nice as Englishman's, and parking is very limited. We drove up to the Rain Forest, but didn't have time to take any of the tours. We contacted Dominique 'Peter" Amann to go deep see fishing. He and his deck hand were great to be with. His contact is Hard Play Fishing Charters, 639-7108, or Peter at 739-6762. We were not there during the better season. (End of the Collin's report)


Trinidad was recently featured online in a New York Times Travel article by Chris Ramirez (http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/travel/28trinidad.html) as not being the Caribbean of white sand beaches and umbrella drinks. We have lived here for two years as as the New York Times article says, "there is oil money there, and tall buildings in which to count it, and grinding poverty and the sound of calypso drifting by on the breeze. There is serious cricket when there isn't serious soccer, and there is always a plan afoot for Carnival, the island's month long, pre-Lenten feast.

People visit Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, for Carnival, or pass through on their way to more traditional vacations on Tobago, the nation's other main island, a short flight away and thick with resorts.

But stay a while, exploring the busy streets in which V. S. Naipaul, the country's prodigal son, found his literature and eventually a Nobel Prize, and a truth emerges: This is one of the great eating towns in the Caribbean, the greatest of the Lesser Antilles, and the fount of some of the finest rum in the world.

Start with breakfast, in particular the ones available at the Port Authority Canteen, a stevedore's cafeteria perched on the edge of the harbor. It is made up of a dozen or so tiny kitchens with electric hot plates and propane hobs. There are long picnic tables in front of these, some set with oilskin cloths, others painted a soft lime green.

They are packed for breakfast, and again for lunch and dinner — men eating in shifts, wolfishly, then heading back into the sun. Fans move the humidity around, under signs at each end of the room that proclaim, “No Obscene Language.”

People talk about the laid-back, easygoing nature of the Caribbean, but Trinidad is a working hub, one of the most prosperous islands in the region. There is plenty of off-work downtime, the slow and pleasant dance into sociable half-drunkenness that Trinidadians call “liming,” but the women who cook in the Port Authority Canteen have little time for it.

Charmaine Cupido is one of them. Her stall is in a far corner of the room, almost invisible from the door. Fish sandwiches are her thing, the delicacy known here as bake and shark, best consumed with one of the frothy sweet drinks sold nearby: a watery concoction of mauby bark, cinnamon and sugar, say, or sea moss and milk.

Ms. Cupido slices a round of bread into two discs, and places on one of them a number of pieces of fried fish — carite that October morning, a local mackerel, though she'll cook the traditional shark if she can find it at market. The fish has a flavorful crust, bright with the tingle of ginger and pepper, with an undertow of salt: her special mix. Next comes some lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced cucumber, along with a squirt of thinned ketchup and a more substantial one of her own pepper sauce, which has an orange, slightly sweet hot-pepper kick that is in tune with the morning hour.

She wraps this into a waxed-paper bag and sends you on your way, down to the far end of the cafeteria, where other women are doling out fresh juices in paper cups.

It is really about the best fish sandwich in the world. But, of course, there are others. Bake and shark is a point of national pride in Trinidad, and fierce debates rage over who serves the finest.

One of the handsomest places to take a stand on the matter is Maracas Bay, a 45-minute drive north from Port of Spain, and one of the island's most famous beaches, both for its proximity to the capital and for its shocking beauty: a limp half-circle of soft, reddish sand beneath towering mountains and wisps of fog. Imagine the Oregon coast with palms the size of redwoods and water as warm as a baby's bath and you have about a quarter of the experience; you need to add a funk of humidity, and much besides.

The city empties onto the beach at Maracas Bay on weekends, and the lines for bake and shark at the stands there can stretch for yards. Davan Maharaj, a Trinidadian of great passion and distinction who is the business editor of The Los Angeles Times, would not speculate on the best of these in a telephone interview, but he offered expert advice: “Look for the longest line.”

Which will leave you, inevitably, under the red awning of a stand called Richard's, where you are given a plain plate of bake and shark, then told to go to the condiments table to dress your own sandwich.

“Lots of people make bake and shark how they like,” said Irwin Britto, who was selling gourd purses and pretty shell necklaces in the parking lot, “but Richard's, you make it how you like.”

Which means extra pepper sauce, of course, lettuce, a bit more tamarind than usual, three pieces of tomato and two of pineapple. To drink? There are giant plastic fish boxes set up beside the stand packed deep with ice and beer. Carib is the label of choice, there and across the island. Lunch — rich, fatty shark deeply spiced against the bread — is served, slightly different from breakfast, and almost as good.

The North Coast Road will take you back to town, back down the range of mountains that rise above Port of Spain to capture the clouds. It is a narrow road plunging through the forest, giving way occasionally to splendid views of the ocean. Strange magical birds with yellow chests — boat-billed flycatchers! — perch on the telephone lines. It is hard driving for Americans used to being on the right side of the road. Every passing vehicle is an excitement: possible death in a far-off land.

At one turnoff, a farmer's shed stands: Raja Jahan's produce. Edmund Hendrix works there most days, selling sugar cane, mangoes and spider apples to passing motorists. Gesturing down toward the sea one day, he said, “They call it the Champagne glass view.”

And for good reason: the mountains give way in front of his farm like the curve of a glass in a Cole Porter song to hold the fizz of the ocean beneath. Teenagers from the city drive north after school to photograph it; it's as if they are documenting perspective itself.

TRINIDAD'S history is a long run of indentured diversity. Slavery left its African mark on the native Amerindian population, of course, as it did all over the Caribbean. But the servitude that followed in the 19th century brought people from even farther afield: East Indians first, followed by Chinese, Syrians, Lebanese. Each group had its effect on the nation's food; the result is a kind of culinary heterogeneity that finds common ground in pepper sauce and friendly rivalry.

You can head to the Hott Shoppe on the Maraval Road in the city's center to try it in a roti wrap of beef curry, accompanied by a cup of red fruit soda, or up to the Tiki Village restaurant on top of the Kapok Hotel in the north, where the fried dumplings come fat with pork and local chives. You can taste it in the Lebanese kibbe at a Syrian bagel shop called Adam's, up in the foothills of the Maraval suburbs. And in the chicken tikka at Apsara, a fine Indian restaurant not far from the president's residence on the east side of town; it's right out of a Graham Greene novel, down to the pouch-eyed old Englishman eating curry in a dark corner.

But a meal at Veni Mangé is the wisest bet. It is one of the nation's best restaurants: an old home in the city's west, restructured as an open loft space, with ceiling fans and the jalousies known here as Demerara windows, with brightly colored chairs and fantastical tabletop paintings. The work of local artists crowds the walls, and the low hum of conversation leaks out onto the sidewalk at lunch, and late into the evening on Wednesdays and Fridays, when the restaurant is open for dinner.

Veni Mangé is the work of sisters — Allyson Hennessy, a local television star, and Rosemary Hezekiah, an artist — who opened the restaurant in 1980. The point of the place, Ms. Hezekiah said, was to present “an authentic aesthetic” of Trinidad's Creole food to residents and visitors alike. So while Ms. Hennessy is a French-taught chef, she provides only advice to the kitchen staff, not recipes.

“I've got a local Tobagan woman in there instead,” Ms. Hezekiah said. “She cooks with love, not training.”

And thus: there is callaloo to start, the classic, bright-green Trinidadian soup of puréed dasheen leaf and coconut milk, enlivened with blue crab, thickened with okra; and a plate of sweet accra, or fritters of crab and shrimp. Follow these with a dark and fiery pork stew and moist hunks of grilled mahi mahi served with a tamarind glaze and plenty of fried plantains. Rice, beans. More pepper sauce. Glasses of Angostura 1919 rum, smooth as molasses, apparently bottomless. Sleep will come easily.

For those interested in taking Ms. Hezekiah's notion of an authentic island aesthetic a few steps further, though, it is worth another drive, out of town through the gritty eastern slums in awful, exhaust-choked traffic, out the Eastern Main Road toward the central towns of Arima and Valencia, and from there down to the empty coast of Manzanilla Bay.

In Sangre Grande, a rough little town of auto-parts stores and metal shops southeast of Arima, you'll find the Cock's Bar, and on Fridays and Saturdays, a barbecue cook named Bharat Cooblall. Mr. Cooblall cooks pork, chicken and lamb over hard charcoal, bathing it in a tart sauce that nods slightly to the American South; it's more tamarind than tomato, though, and the perfect accompaniment to crisp, smoke-flavored pig tails.

Don't be squeamish now! The way Mr. Cooblall cooks them, they're meat popsicles, and one of the island's great treats.

But then so is a fine hamburger lunch dressed in pineapple and pepper sauce at the First and Last Bar, a few miles southeast in Upper Manzanilla. And so is a cold coconut hacked open by Rob Joseph at his rickety stand there, on the road above the empty beach.

And so, to finish where we began, is a breakfast of what's known as doubles, purchased in dawn's light from one of the stands along the Western Main Road in the St. James neighborhood in Port of Spain. These are two rounds of turmeric-hued fried bread, filled with curried chickpeas and topped with fiery chutney. Look for a stand with lines, then order two, and take with a cold Carib. That's liming.

VISITOR INFORMATION

GETTING THERE

Several airlines fly from New York to Port of Spain, with direct flights between the two cities offered by Caribbean Airlines (www.caribbean-airlines.com) and Continental (on Saturdays). Delta joins them on Dec. 20 (twice a week). A recent Internet search for a nonstop flight in mid-November turned up round-trip fares starting at $475 on Caribbean.

WHERE TO EAT

Port Authority Canteen, Dock Road, off Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, no phone. A breakfast of fish, juice and cake will run less than 40 Trinidad and Tobago dollars, $6 at 6.5 T & T dollars to the U.S. dollar.

Hott Shoppe, Maraval Road, Port of Spain, no phone. Two roti, with drinks, will cost about 60 local dollars.

Richard's, Maracas Bay, no phone. A plate of bake and shark, along with a Carib, will cost about 35 local dollars.

Tiki Village is atop the Kapok Hotel (16-18 Cotton Hill Road, St. Clair; 868-622-5765). Figure about 100 local dollars a person for dinner.

Apaara (13 Queen's Park East, Port of Spain; 868-623-7659) serves excellent Indian food. Dinner runs about 300 local dollars for two, without drinks.

Veni Mangé (67A Ariapita Avenue, Port of Spain; 868-624-4597; www.venimange.com) is closed on weekends. The menu changes daily, but a meal for two will cost roughly 400 local dollars, plus drinks.

Cock's Bar (Eastern Main Road, Sangre Grande; no phone). A plate of barbecue with rice and salad costs around 25 local dollars.

First and Last Bar (Eastern Main Road, Upper Manzanilla; no phone). Have a burger, buy a beer for new friends and get on your way for less than 40 local dollars.

WHERE TO STAY

The Hilton Trinidad (Lady Young Road, Port of Spain; 868-624-3211; www.hiltoncaribbean.com/trinidad) may be Trinidad's most comfortable hotel, and its location above the Queen's Park Savannah offers views of the harbor below. Facilities include a pool and a fitness center. Doubles start around $220, but can be less on the Web site.

Kapok Hotel (16-18 Cotton Hill, Port of Spain; 868-622-5765; www.kapokhotel.com), a nine-story building in the suburb of St. Clair, also offers harbor views from some of its 94 rooms; doubles start at $181, with Continental breakfast. Service was excellent, but it would be a stretch to describe them as anything approaching luxurious.

Reader suggestions on the Travel section Web site, www.nytimes.com/travel, include a recommendation for the “absolutely fabulous” L'Orchidée Boutique Hotel (3 Coblentz Gardens, Port of Spain; 868-621-0618; www.trinidadhosthomes.com). Doubles are $150 with breakfast."

Creole Beach Hotel, Gosier, Guadeloupe

We just spent three nights in the newly renovated Creole Beach Hotel and Spa and loved it. Before the renovation this past Fall, things were nice but slightly shabby. Now the resort has been transformed into a sleek, modern but still warm spot. The traditionally hard French beds are soft and topped with light duvets. The air conditioning is new (a previous problem) and even the toiletries are upgraded from the slim sliver of white soap to an line called "Pure Herbs" - a combination of rosemary, melissa and thyme in keeping with the upgraded name of the hotel - Creole Beach Resort and Span.

The water surrounding the hotel features the turquoise of the Caribbean and the brown pelicans (gosier) after which the town is named are plentiful. Breakfast and dinner are served buffet style in an amazing restaurant. When one is not eating or lounging, there are wonderful little places to stroll.

If you tire of buffets, along the street leading up to the hotel are a number of charming little sidewalk restaurants, each with their own French charm and about two minutes from the hotel. Across the street is the best souvenir shop we found for table clothes, swimming suit cover-ups, post-cards, books, etc. (next to the Karawak Hotel.

Once you exit the highway into Gosier, you pass 2 round abouts, then a exit to the "stade" (stadium) and then turn right to the hotel on the next turn just prior to arriving at the Sofitel Hotel. At the first round about, you will find one of the Caribbean's few McDonalds, if you are tired of French culture and want an American memory.

The Creole Beach Hotel and Spa is a 15-20 minute drive from the airport. It is best to purchase gas in Gosier if renting a car because gas stations along the route to the airport are difficult to find.

Grenada Grand Beach Resort, St. Georges, Grenada

About every three months we stay in the Grenada Grand Beach Resort on the Grand Anse Beach in St. Georges, Grenada. Each time we have stayed at the Grenada Grand, they have been undergoing renovations. This past weekend was our best visit thus far.

Although we have never been able to get their internet to work in the room (they always say it is done) if it does work, the charge is $15 per 24 hour period. However they now have a nice business office just off the lobby with three computers and there is no charge for using them.

Each room is now equipped with an electronic safe, which is good. The beds are nice, which is also good, and the air conditioning worked well. (It did not our first two times). However, the bathroom is dainty and has kind of a plastic feel to it. The rental to use the inroom refrigerator is $5 per day (which is a bit weird).

Each time we have stayed at the hotel, we needed a maintenance man to explain how to use the television. Although it does not have many channels, you can only use it by employing two separate remote controls.

The gem of the property is the Grand Anse Spice Market that is located just to the east of the hotel (toward the cruise dock and the LDS Church). You can purchase hand squeezed coconut oil for $7 a bottom. Don't leave the island without trying nutmeg syrup and stocking up on almonds and cloves. This is afterall, the spice island.

Located across from the hotel is one of the island's main grocery stores. It is crowded, but has as good a selection as you will find in Grenada. The food in the hotel is adequate, but we have had good experiences trying out the local restaurants.

You will not get a reservation number, but you will need to reserve using a credit card. Be sure to get the name of the person taking your reservation.

All in all, this hotel is perfectly situated on Grand Anse Beach. It is a great walking beach and has white sand. The swimming outside of the hotel is excellent, and the water is a bright turquoise color. You will love your stop in Grenada.

Karibea Valmeniere Hotel, Fort de France, Martinique

We stay most frequently at the Valmeniere Hotel when we visit the island of Martinique. In fact, this was our home base, when the two missionaries were lost on Mont Pelee. You will find that renting a car from the front desk is very reasonable and convenient. Also there is a little grocery store on the corner across the street from the hotel.

You will get internet in the room and breakfast is included with the price of the room. It is a very nice breakfast. At night, the restaurant is a bit pricey, but the food is excellent.

Hidden away from the world on top of the hotel is a hot tub. It is up the stairs from the pool which is situated just outside the restaurant. We have also stayed at the Sofitel in Martinique but find the Valmeniere very convenient to Fort de France.

Sunset Shores Hotel, St. Vincent

This reasonably priced hotel is our favorite in St. Vincent. It now has wireless internet in the rooms, the air conditioning is good, the food is excellent and the staff is friendly. It is about 10 minutes from the airport.

The only concern might be the hardest of the beds. They are solid, but not heavenly beds if you are like the "princess and the pea."

Maho, St. Maarten

For us, a great find in St. Maarten on the Dutch-side is the Maho. This hotel is very close to the airport ($7 taxi) and is located across the street from some very nice restaurants of varying price ranges.

The rooms are very comfortable and the air-conditioning is as fine as you would find in the United States. Finding food at the hotel itself is very inconvenient and a breakfast is not included in the room package price.

The beach next to the hotel is very short. It takes three minutes to walk from one end to the other. The water is as blue and spectacular as you would find in Barbados, but the beach is very crowded. A jewel we discovered this trip is Mullet Bay. This beach is found in the opposite direction of the airport and beach next to the hotel. It is located next to the golf course just before you get to American University (the medical school). If you go to this beach before 9h30 a.m. you will find that you get the entire beach to yourself. It takes only about 10 minutes to walk to this beach from the hotel and is truly one of the finest beaches we have found in the Caribbean.

Now with this all said, our preferred stop in St. Maarten/St. Martin is still the French side in Grand Case, but if you do not have a rental car and want to be near the airport, the Maho Hotel is a great choice.

Arawak, Gosier, Guadeloupe

What a great discovery the Arawak was for us this past week. We stayed three nights in Gosier and unfortunately could not find a place at the Sofitel or the Creole Beach Resort because they were fully booked.

We spent the first two nights at the Canella Beach in Gosier at the Pointe de la Verdure. The layout of the hotel was quite nice and the breakfast was good, however the rooms were terrible. During our first night we were in a room where the springs in the bed were broken. Upon request of a room change, we were given a room with faulty airconditioning that smelled musty.

The Arawak Hotel was a welcome relief to our two horrible nights. The feel of the hotel is quite American. It is spacious, airy, and the furnishings were relatively new.

None of the French hotels seem to be overly generous on bath towels or soaps in the bedrooms, except for the Sofitel. If you have trouble breathing or are overly concerned about the quality of the bed, I would not recommend the Canella Beach or even the Maison Creole down the road. We toured that facility and found the same musty smell at the Maison Creole.