Bush Fires Rage in Trinidad

We've been waking in the morning to heavy, grey skies, not because the sun isn't shining, but because bush fires are raging in the hills above the marina. The smoke is so dense, it burns your eyes within minutes. Combined with temps in the 90sF/30sC and high humidity, it's hard to breathe. It's stifling. This is all too vividly reminiscent of the fires in Tasmania while we were there. The decks are gray with soot and smoke.  

March is traditionally the driest month of the year here, and bush fires are nothing new in Trinidad. Officially the “bush fire season” runs from December 1 to June 30 each year. The latest Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service Dry Spell/Drought monitor at the end of March 2016 shows that rainfall this year was less than 50% of average in most parts of the country. They're blaming the current declining El Niño for influencing drier and hotter local conditions and it's expected to continue during April and May. Lord knows we saw plenty of bush fires burning on our recent trip around the island.

In the meantime, there's a severe water shortage in the area. Tobago, Trinidad's sister island, is harder hit to the point of crisis. Here in Trinidad, water conservation rules are in effect, not so different than we experience in Las Vegas or Colorado during the dry summer months.

Most of the fires are started by locals who routinely burn their fields. With so little rainfall, everything is tinder dry, but still they persist in the burning thinking that they can control it, but obviously in many cases, they cannot. There's a helicopter that makes routine runs over the marina dropping sea water on the fires, but we wonder how effective it is based on so many areas of concern.

It will be good to be back to the sea, away from cities and fires and soot and smoke, where the salt air is fresh and clean and we can breathe in deeply without coughing. All the more incentive to get our jobs done and get back into the water. Soon … very soon!

Trini Food - Hot Stuff!

Living in Trinidad for awhile, we've had the opportunity to sample some of the local food. It's a mix of Indian and Creole and African, with a Caribbean flair. They make use of locally grown veggies and fruits mixed with the spices they're use to. They like “HOT”. In fact, one of the world's hottest peppers, the Moruga Scorpion is grown here. Hot sauce is usually available and on the table in every restaurant.

We've talked about roti before, but there are so many different foods here that we've never mentioned. Bake & Shark, for instance. First, you catch a shark, cut the meat into sandwich-size filets and deep fry it. Then you fry up some dough (aka bake) and make a sandwich. Add some lettuce and tomato and maybe some catsup or hot sauce and you've got bake & shark. Maracas Beach, on the north coast, is especially noted for this local favorite, but we saw signs advertising it throughout the island. David tried it and liked it … basically a fried fish sandwich with a bite.

Doubles are offered daily right outside the Power Boats entrance gate. The local workers line up at little makeshift stands and the ladies dish up the doubles for breakfast and lunch. Doubles are a pretty common street food here. It's basically a flatbread sandwich filled with channa (curried chick peas) and some kind of topping like mango, tamarind or cucumbers and maybe some added hot sauce.

Legend has it that those who eat cascadura (aka cascadoo) will end up back in Trinidad. It's a freshwater fish covered with scales and does not look particularly appealing. It's usually served curried and we heard about it, but never got a chance to try it. I guess we're not coming back.

Fruit chows, comprised of local fruit in season like mango and pineapple, are common and sold as a snack food. The fruit is mixed with lime juice, garlic, cilantro, oil and peppers.

There's souse which sounds disgusting. Pig trotters or chicken claws (i.e. pig or chicken feet) and sometimes conch, are boiled and the meat (how much meat is there on a chicken foot?) is served cold in a briny sauce seasoned with lime, cukes, peppers and onions. We passed on this one, too.

The locals also hunt during season (and probably out of season) for agouti, iguana, possum (manicou), wild hogs (quenks) and armadillo (tatoo). We saw none of these on the our menus. Just as well.

At the market, I had to do a little translation. Ochro is okra, melongene is eggplant and zaboca is the local avocado. Papaya is pawpaw. Garbanzo beans are chickpeas or channa. Dasheen is taro and its leaves are used to make the African-Caribbean callaloo soup, which is quite good.

When we were at Toco Beach, we were offered sea moss (sea weed) … both dried and also as a drink. The fellow selling it claimed it was good for energy. We read that Trini men also claim it to be an aphrodisiac. If it is, it would certainly be more ecologically sound than rhino horn powder.

While we were driving through the countryside, we saw a small, hand-painted sign for “Sucker Bags for sale”. Turns out this is a frozen confection made from sweetened, condensed milk.

There's also coocoo (corn meal and ochre) and cowheel soup, pigtail and frypork and several dishes where goat is the main ingredient. There's probably dozens more dishes we've never tried or heard of. Eating in a foreign country is always interesting, but Trinidad has been an ongoing epicurean adventure.

Walking in Port of Spain

Our Trinidad touring was coming to an end … already … and we hadn't even spent any time in the capital city of Port of Spain. Lin had Marriott points and we camped out for a couple of nights at the Courtyard close to the city center. What a lovely change from the musty room at Salybia. Let's face it … we can and do adjust to third world accommodations, but first world hotels are really wonderful … especially when they're free. Sounds snobbish … and it is. We had a map of Port of Spain, our trusty Maps with Me app and a new free app I'd found, GPSmyCity, which had several interesting walks in Port of Spain. We were all ready to go.

We took the local transport, a Maxi-Taxi (shared van ride), and got out at the Red House, Trinidad's historic Parliament building, which unfortunately was under renovation and pretty much covered up. Judging from newspaper articles, the building has been deteriorating for decades and only in March was serious renovation begun. It was painted red in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and became popularly known thereafter as “the Red House”.

The Old Police Headquarters is pretty much across the street from the Red House. Built in 1876, its limestone Gothic style architecture with traditional arches and tower are quite handsome. It still houses several police department offices, as well as the T&T Police Museum. We passed on the museum.

The old Fire Station was picturesque and a good example of how building preservation and restoration can work and how old and new can blend. Built in 1896/1897, it was restored in 2000 and is now part of the National Library complex.

The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity is the oldest Anglican church in Trinidad. Built in 1818 for the British troops that lived on the island, it's a combination Gothic/Georgian architecture and very impressive as cathedrals usually are. We stepped inside to admire it and get out of the heat.

The cool interior was lovely and peaceful with lots of stained glass windows to let in filtered light. It has a particularly ornate ceiling of carved mahogany supported by graceful hammered beams.

The streets of Port of Spain are bustling and crowded. Buildings, shops and street scenes caught our interest.

We wandered in search of souvenirs in the shopping district, but were always on the lookout for interesting things to see. Fabric shops are plentiful in Port of Spain and we browsed at the rich, colorful, glittery, sequined materials perfect for carnival costumes and saris. Lots of “bling appeal”, but no souvenirs.

For lunch, we stopped in a roti shop. Lin had never eaten roti and was intent on trying it before leaving Trinidad. She chose veggie and we chose chicken roti … chicken curry with veggies (potato and pigeon peas) wrapped in chapati (flatbread). It's messy and watch out for the chicken bones!

Back out into the heat of day, our feet were getting tired and our bodies longed for A/C and cold beer. We'd hoped to get to the Botanical Gardens and the zoo, but after finding very few acceptable Trini souvenirs, we gave up and headed back to the Courtyard for some pool time, a cold drink. We needed time to rest and get ready for a special evening.

Lin had read about Buzo Osteria Italiana in Trip Advisor. This gourmet restaurant, situated in an old, stone salt house in downtown Port of Spain, has been consistently rated as the #1 place to eat in the city and we were longing to splurge and try it. In Italian, “osteria” usually translates to a place serving basic meals and wine with a limited menu. Buzo was anything but basic and limited. We ordered appetizers to share and three different fish entrees as our mains … halibut for Lin, grouper for me and a zuppa di pesce (a top shelf seafood stew) for David. We sampled each others, ate our own, drank some wonderful Montepulciano, lingered over cappuccino and had a spectacular, most memorable evening.

Our touring vacation of Trinidad ended on an up-note, but all too quickly, it seemed. It was time for Lin to head back to the States and time for us to tend to Nine of Cups and get her back into the water. It's time to move on. Where to next? Let's see where the wind blows.