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family member, but what the hey, it was sunny and I haven't seen nearly enough Caribbean countries. Although Trinidad, lying just 5km east of Venezuela, is so close to South America you can smell it. From the minus 20 celcius environs of Toronto I took a plane south, to the southernmost island in the Eastern Caribbean, and also its largest. Surprisingly for me, Port of Spain and its surroundings aren't very touristy at all. This is one of those enviable travel destinations where it's safe enough to go wandering around, and people are familiar with tourists, but at this time of year there are very few about. It's a quintessentially Caribbean island though, with long stretches of low buildings, lush jungle, sugar cane fields, beautiful beaches, and crappy roads. And on the other hand, it has a few things that many other Caribbean islands don't. Oil is big business on Trinidad's west coast. There is at least one offshore oil rig visible from Trinidad's shoreline, and south of Port of Spain a vast network of refineries is a city in itself. Trinidad's tourist industry is not nearly as important to its well being as other Caribbean islands since it can support its small population on other industries such as oil. Being so close to Venezuela's vast oil reserves, it does well for itself. Gasoline is cheap and cars are plenty. Driving here was a particular challenge, though. Not only was it a left-hand driving affair but also in a developing country, where the potholes are large and people don't mind just parking their vehicle in the middle of a highway. People wander across the street with little regard for the cars barreling toward them, service taxis stop intermittently without regard for the cars about to crash into them from behind; driving under these conditions was quite unique, rather nerve wracking, and educational as well. Trinidad is also not entirely African, as most other Caribbean islands are. The local population is split between the Africans and the East Indians; this makes the entire island an interesting ethnic mix, and some crossover does occur. You could imagine our surprise to be sitting in the back of a taxi with a 'hey mon' kind of driver swinging his dreadlocks to some ragamuffin playing on the radio. But yes, they both speak with that same accent, that ya-mon accent that I thought just existed in Jamaica. I guess it's a thing the entire caribbean shares. However, the short trip was worth it. The cost of staying and eating is rather low and well within budget travel limits. Renting a car seemed to be very important for seeing more of the island than just the main attractions; although even seeing some main attractions would take far more than just taking buses around, as we found out when trying to find a bird sanctuary. The sanctuary, clearly marked on a map, was actually past a security checkpoint that looked like the entrance to a field of gasoline storage tanks. Despite Trinidad's tourist-friendly atmosphere it is certainly a confusing place with most of its streets unmarked and its tourist sites buried at the end of winding roads. -February 2003 |
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