Maracas Beach – Trinidad
Trinidad is the best kept secret of the Caribbean. A lush tropical isle populated with a cosmopolitan mix of intelligent people makes this a favorite travel destination.
This is a guest post from a friend who lived in Trinidad & Tobago for two years.
Food
Trinidad & Tobago is not xenophobic. They love foreigners, they love traveling, they are highly educated. No, it’s more that they don’t want to share their secrets, they prefer people who come and visit them to experience their hospitality and top notch street fare for themselves. When visiting Trinidad & Tobago, make sure you know the proper terminology.
A dude making delicious doubles in Trinidad & Tobago
Ask people you meet what their favorite doubles stand is; or where you can get fish pie (similar to a double, but filled with fish); or chip chip pie (chip chip are tiny clams, painstakingly split and cleaned).
My absolute FAVORITE fish/chip chip pie and double stand was Boodoo’s, located in Matura. It is run by a woman and her three daughters. One of my friend’s who visited (and who has traveled to all contents except for Antarctica) said it was one of the most delicious morsels he has ever tried.
American tourist mixing with a friendly local doing the wining dance
People
The people of Trinidad & Tobago are very cosmopolitan and polite. Everyone says hello, good morning, etc.
Carnival tips
First, my recommendations for Carnival. Carnival is a three day event, starting with the Sunday night drink fest known as J’Ouvert. This is followed by Monday’s Carnival celebration, Monday night’s Blue Devil event in the little village of Paramin and finally with the MASSIVE street party: Tuesday’s Carnival.
You never know who you will meet at Carnival
I STRONGLY recommend the following: Go to J’Ouvert. Have a blast, drink tons of beer, get covered in mud. Then go home and sleep until the early afternoon; wake up, eat a bunch of fish and chip chip pies, lounge around a bit before heading to Monday night’s Paramin extravaganza. It’s crazy, it’s scary. Then go to Carnival on Tuesday. Wake up early and play Mas all day.
A Paramin Blue Devil wanted me – how scary
Okay, for out of the way places:
East Manzanilla
Awesome, miles long stretch of beach, mostly empty. Beautiful, gorgeous, awe inspiring. It’s on the Atlantic side, so the waves are a bit rough, but it’s quiet and beautiful. The U.S. marine and army World War II jungle warfare training was held in East Manzanilla, on Camp Trace road (also known as “The Road To Hell”).
What makes this a worthwhile hike, not only is it a trek taking you deep onto a peninsula where no one lives or goes, there is a fantastic Amerindian settlement where pottery shards lie out in the open. It is an untouched/undiscovered archaeological treasure with views to die for.
While in East Manzanilla, a world heritage site, the Nariva Swamp beckons you. There exists the last population of East Indian Manatees, but even now their plight isn’t looking good. Regardless, if you contact the Manatee Trust, you can get a ride out to Bush Bush island, in the middle of the swamp, where one of the most endangered monkey’s in the world lives. They are adorable, and curious creatures. Awesome for taking pictures. The boat ride out there is great, too. Highly recommended. You’ll probably see parrots and other animals as you go out there.
Nariva Swamp – Trinidad
Photo credit: Denni Schnapp / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
Farther South along the Manzanilla-Mayoro road (which in itself is worth the trip, as you’ll be insconced in a coconut tree forest) you’ll find Mayoro. If you need some pampering, stay at the Queen’s Beach Resort. Very very nice.
For those of you who enjoy the mountains, a MUST SEE is Brasso Seco. It’s a tiny village founded by cocoa farmers in the 18th century. The village boasts a community center where you can purchase ice cream and ground cocoa, rent a cabin in the area. I stayed at the Cocoa Palace (not palatial, merely a name. It’s an olde cocoa house). The beautiful attraction about Brasso Seco, in addition to the people, is all the waterfalls to be found in the area.
Two young ladies, Emily and Grace, dancing on cocoa beans [to help speed up the drying process] at the Brasso Seco food festival – Photo credit – Martha Flick Jungenberg
Plan on camping out or spending a night in Grand Riviera, but visit Shark River. Snuggled in the woods, a river meanders from hills that set themselves up as a backdrop to the sea. The river in years past flattened a large section where the government put in picnic tables for visitors to relax. You can swim the river up to the ocean. The area got its name from shark sightings many many years ago.
Blanchisseuse beach
The last beach one can reach by car on the North Coast. It’s a beauty, with a small cafe on the beach that serves outstanding fare. However, there are two awesome places reachable from here by foot. Follow the river upstream until you reach Three Pools, a favorite amongst picnickers. There is a nature made slide one can take from the upper part of the river into the final “pool.”
Blanchisseuse Beach – Trinidad
Photo credit: TaranRampersad / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
For the hiker, follow the road across the spring bridge and walk . . . .and walk . . . and walk, until you reach a beach only accessible by boat or walking. You can also hire a fisherman working in the village to transport you via water. I’ve done both, I would recommend walking there and taking a boat back (make sure someone you’re going with is taking a boat both ways). There is a beautiful waterfall about 7 minutes off the beach, you walk thru the jungle to the waterfall. Very beautiful.
Maracas Falls
A stunning waterfall, it’s a splash waterfall, about 300 feet. Awesome hike to reach it through the clouds. Just stunning. Still one of my favs.
Rincon Falls
You will need a guide for this one, or a native. This, too, was one of my favs. It’s a two hour hike, but the falls are worth it.
Okay, for those readers who like animals, Knolly’s Tunnel is relatively easy to get to. It’s a tunnel built thru a hill in the 1800’s so trains loaded with cocoa and sugar could more easily get to market. The tunnel is close to a half mile long. As such, since it was abandoned, bats, by the hundreds of thousands, now inhabit the structure. Go during the day and they’ll fly all around your head.
Tamana caves
Great hike, go in the evening and as you sit around the openings hundreds of thousands of bats fly out of the hole in the ground in a vortex. They spin out of the cave like a crazy tornado. This is a good trip because you’ll be out in the middle of no where, a great place to meet locals, too.
Thank you mystery guest poster for sharing your amazing two years of travels in Trinidad & Tobago.
Stay tuned,
TT
The goal of Traveling Ted TV is to inspire people to outdoor adventure travel and then provide tips on where and how to go. If you liked this post then enter your email in the box to get email notifications for each new entry. Daily travel photos are excluded from your email in order to not flood you with posts. There is no spam and email information will not be shared. Other e-follow options include Facebook (click on the like box to the right) or twitter (click on the pretty bird on the rainbow above).
Definitely on my dream destination list!!!!
I hope you make it there, it is a country I think you would enjoy.
Beautiful area. I don’t know much about Trinidad except for the fact that Billy Ocean is from there. That might be enough of a reason to visit.
Jeremy Branham recently posted..Assassination of JFK: reliving history at The Sixth Floor Museum
Perhaps Leah and Lola should go then. They have a penchant for running into popular singers from the 80s on their travels.
Haha…you got that right, Ted. We only go for multi-platinum, Grammy award winners though. No one hit wonders in our roster.
Leah Travels recently posted..Dublin, Ireland: Favorites of @FionaHilliard
Billy Ocean was more than a one hit wonder, but true, he is not in the same league as Mr. Ritchie.
Sounds like a very interesting place to visit Ted – but you’re the only blogger I’ve seen write about it. Carnival looks pretty wild!
Leigh recently posted..Crosscountry Skiing in Whiteshell Provincial Park, Manitoba
Carnival is a great party and then it is awesome to stay and visit the jungles, beaches, and waterfalls after you sober up.
great post! I wanna go to All of the ABOVE! 😀
You would love the food here Ciki. Very cosmopolitan with a wide variety of influences.
Ted, I agree with how T&T felt to me. The people were very warm and the islands fascinating. I was only there for 3 days and wished I had gotten to see some of the things you share here. For next time!
Raul (@ilivetotravel in Twitter) recently posted..Preparing to Hike Mt. Kilimanjaro: More than Training & Gear
Yup, I need to hit up Trinidad soon. It’s been years since I’ve seen the Caribbean!
Tawny of Captain and Clark recently posted..Pickpocket Proof Pants (Giveaway!)
Oh, I’ve always wanted to visit ever since I saw Andrew Zimmern eat doubles. LOL
Kieu ~ GQ trippin recently posted..Our Worst in Food
Not sure what would be more fun: the chocolate mess or walking on cocoa beans. Ir street food. Well, I might have to venture in that corner of the world one day…
Pola (@jettingaround) recently posted..Photo Focus: San Diego Bay
I didn’t know much about Trinidad before last year. After I met Jeff, he went down there for Carnival and after seeing his pictures and hearing his stories, I knew I had to visit for myself. This is further motivation!
The World Wanderer recently posted..Back on the Slopes.
Yeah, I like Trinidad, but I LOVE Tobago.
Leah Travels recently posted..Dublin, Ireland: Favorites of @FionaHilliard
Thank you Travelingted, I live in Trinidad and write about things Caribbean on my blog. I certainly enjoyed your article. I live here and have not done much hiking in Brasso or any of the places you mentioned. Carnival you can’t ignore as you may have noticed it is the Biggest Party in the World. Thanks again for sharing the article.
Tony Puckerin recently posted..A lesson in roti-ology
Hi Tony,
I am glad you enjoyed the article. Carnival is a blast, but there is much more to the island than that as I am sure you know since you live there. I hope you get to see some of the places here in the article. I have not hiked many of them myself as I was only there for a week during Carnival. I did get around to Asa Wright and Caroni Swamp, but did not have much time for the out of the way places.
methinks we don’t give the caribbean enough of our time. and trinidad & tobago is just fun to say.
the lazy travelers recently posted..hungary in new york: our dinner at andre’s
methinks we don’t give the caribbean enough of our time. and also that trinidad and tobago is fun to say.
the lazy travelers recently posted..hungary in new york: our dinner at andre’s
Curious about this mystery guest poster… I’ve been throughout a huge chunk of the Caribbean, but never as far south as Trinidad, Tobago, or Aruba. Looks like I need to make that happen…
D.J. – The World of Deej recently posted..Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island – Picture of the Week
UGH i miss the Caribbean…it’s been too long since i’ve seen that gorgeous water and felt that warm sun. thanks for reminding me what i’m missing!
lola recently posted..4 Reasons I Love Four Seasons Milano
I always joke that I want to be a Polish Ambassador in Trinidad and Tobago, now I will be claiming it quiet seriously 🙂
Marysia @ My Travel Affairs recently posted..Voodoo in Ouidah
It is funny you mention ambassador because the author of this post works for the U.S. State Department and lived there for two years although he was not the ambassador.
No, we don’t have 5 star Hotels.
No, we don’t have amazing vacation packages.
No, we aren’t a top cruise ship destination
But…we have real people who are nice and you truly get an honest island feel. We’re not paid to be nice…we are just nice people
Cheap plug for Caribbean music and karaoke.
http://www.caribkaraoke.com/Home.aspx
I completely agree. I can’t wait to revisit.
Whoa, I’ve actually been living there the whole time! What a secret!
Lucky for you Justin. Eat some doubles and roti for me 🙂
Haha. Not really. Am very much an internet-addicted geeky teenager who prefers Wendy’s to doubles. (Honestly. I really hate doubles.) Glad to see you like it here, though. Come again some time.
Thanks Justin. There is nothing wrong with Wendy’s. I am a fan myself. Glad to know there are more doubles for me since you don’t partake for the next time I visit.
Hi there — thanks for the great post! Quick question: Do you know of someplace safe to camp overnight in Grande Riviere, and/or any other camping sites along the coast?
Thank you Martine,
Unfortunately, I do not know about the camping opportunities in T&T. I hope to return someday and check it out.
I used to live there (I’m from Chicago)! Grande Riviere doesn’t have any camping availability, but the two hotels are awesome. BUT, for beach camping with visits by the giant turtles you need to hike thru the jungle a couple of hours . . . I can’t think of the beach name now but people do camp out there. 100% secluded, safe, and lots of giant leatherbacks.
Great article, although there is a typo. Mayoro is misspelt, it is supposed to be Mayaro.
read your article about macqueripe in Trinidad. My father was stationed there in 1952 thru 1955 and we lived there in officers housing. started school there and have great memories, even being 5-7 years old. spent every day on that beach. had to be out of water at 6pm when barracuda came in to feed. 73 now and am planning return. thx for story from your visit
Hello Scott,
I hope you get a chance to visit Trinidad & Tobago once travel restrictions are lifted. I hope to return someday soon as well.