Trinidad & Tobago

where have all the photos gone?

I realize that it has been a long while since i have last posted anything here and I keep telling myself that i will start back up. one of the things preventing me from doing so is the daunting backlog of stories and photos and the time it would take to 'catch up'.

In the meantime, or maybe i should say, from now on, i have begun posting photos at http://picasaweb.google.fr/Brian.Kinzie

Enjoy.

Ortoire River Trip

On January 28th a group of us made the long drive to Mayaro in order to take a boat ride on the mighty Ortoire River. We started at the Naparima-Mayaro Road bridge and putted downstream to where the river meets the ocean, where we had a nice long lunch and bathed in the sea and river.

Unfortunately I am stuck in the stone ages so the bulk of my photos are on slides and aren't here. I have some nice ones, really!

Pitch Lake

On November 5th my friend Olivia and I drove to the southeastern part of the island to pick up a friend and deliver him to Brasso Seco. We took advantage of the trip to visit Pitch Lake. The lake is renowned as a source of natural asphalt and was used by Sir Walter Raleigh to caulk the hulls of his ships. Since then it has been used in pavements all over the world and is now the site of a mechanized mining operation.

There aren't many photos since it really just resembles a large parking lot.

Our guide at the lake.

Sulphury goodness.... mmm!

Don't stand in one spot for too long...

Madamas revisited

Somewhat sheepishly I joined an organized hike to the elusive Madamas Falls, having been unsuccessful in locating them myself - below are the results.

Yes Virginia, there is a Madamas Falls.

Down the gorges on the way back...

The leap into Macauel pond

Macuel pond

Grande Rivière

On August 19 Alastair, Terry, Neena and I made our way to Aripo in the late afternoon. We met up with my friend Thompson, who happened to have a group of 15 hikers in his front yard cleaning themselves up after a trip to the Aripo caves.

We had a chat with Thompson and then set up camp on the ridge overlooking his place which also affords a great view of Cerro del Aripo. Despite numerous mosquito bites we all had a good time.

The next day we left Aripo early as we were supposed to meet Olav, a german friend, at the airport on his return from Tobago. Unfortunately he missed his flight so the four of us made our way to Grande Rivière for lunch.

On our way home from Grande Rivière we accompanied Olav at his hotel near the airport and watched with envy as he ate his 11$US KFC chicken platter.

Neena teeters on the edge...

Nice hat, kid.

looking for madamas

On the 6th of August my friend Olivia and I set out from Brasso Seco to find Madamas Falls. It is of course only in hindsight that I realize that there are no fewer than three waterfalls which might be so named, depending on the source. This, as you might imagine, lent a bit of confusion to our hike.

My principal piece of information came from an outdated T&T hiking book that I have used to get lost in various parts of Trinidad. In short, we did reasonably well in deciphering it's cryptic descriptions and even managed to find some flagging which led us to a river. At this point we lost all trails despite a fair bit of hunting around. I consulted the topo map and bravely declared that we were standing in (really, our feet were soaking) the Miguel river, which joins with the Madamas at a later point. Reasoning that it is difficult (though not impossible) to get lost while walking in a river we planned to head downstream, find the junction with the Madamas river, then head up the Madamas to find the fabled waterfall.

After a considerable amount of wading and some detours to avoid full-on swimming we decided to turn back - we had now been hiking for about 4 hours. On the hike back we decided to check out a side trail, about a half hour walk from where we parked. Sure enough the trail led us to the spectacular Madamas waterfall pictured below.

But the mystery remains and I do need to return (perhaps with a GPS) someday to try to find the other. Doing a bit more digging I have also realized (and perhaps should have realized sooner) that another waterfall named Madamas is usually accessed from Matelot, a long way from Brasso Seco.

the miguel river. maybe.

looking for madamas falls

Me looking particularly white in front of what we think must be Madamas falls

Bamboo

Our friend Lennox has a great spot in Brasso Seco - check out the giant silk cotton tree that fell, narrowly missing his house. ask him and he may tell you about the seven foot long snake he discovered in his couch.

Sunset over the North Coast Mountains, seen from Brasso Seco

Icacos

The morning of Emancipation Day (august 1) Alastair and I arrived back from Tobago early in the morning. I then picked up my friend Terry and the two of us made the trek to Icacos at the southwestern tip of Trinidad. Having made the journey I can now say that I have truly visited the four corners of Trinidad.

Being a holiday there were lots of 'limes' going on and the normally deserted beaches were full of partygoers. Although this meant less 'tranquility' it also meant interesting times getting to know people in the area.