CARIBBEAN ADVENTURE – PART 3

Geologically speaking, Dominica is one hell of a hot spot.  An island country with a land only 13% the size of of Prince Edward Island, it has the highest concentration of active volcanoes (9) on earth.

Looking at where Dominica ranks in terms of economic and social indicators, we’d expected to see a much poorer country.  It may be poor by our standards but seems headed in the right direction, certainly if tourism and environmental quality are indicators.  The island bills itself as the “Nature Island”, a title well chosen based on our five-day stay.  Dominica boasts three national parks and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Trois Pitons National Park, and the park infrastructure is world-class.  Despite having few beaches and high-end resorts, the country may yet carve a niche for itself in the competitive world tourism market.

We landed at the airport on the northeast coast of the island and took a taxi through the central highlands to the capital, Roseau, on the southwest corner.  Our hotel, the Fort Young, right on the waterfront beside the cruise ship terminal, proved to be the nicest one we’ve stayed in on this trip.  Downtown is a bit on the hardscrabble side, but better than some of the other capital cities we’ve visited in the Caribbean.  On our first day, we walked through the narrow streets to get our bearings and find out where to pick up local buses for our planned outings.

On our first full day, we took a local bus to Soufrière, a pretty seaside village on the southwest corner of the island.  We strolled the seawall on Soufrière Bay until we came to Scott’s Head Bay.  There, we chatted with fishermen mending their nets, walked to the top of Scott’s Head and got a glimpse of Martinique, the French island that lies across Martinique Channel.  We learned that the local Creole language contains many French words.

After a delicious lunch at a tiny snackette on the water’s edge, we walked back to Soufrière and headed up into the hills to the sulphur spring.  The volcano that feeds the sulphur spring is called Morne Plat Pays.  There are several pools you can soak in, if you’re so inclined.  The water is very warm - not the best remedy for a very hot day - and is said to have therapeutic qualities.  So I ‘took the waters’.  We then walked up a forest trail to the first sulphur deposit.  The rotten egg smell hit us first; then the soles of our shoes got very warm, reminding us we were on the slopes of an active volcano.

Next day, we rode the local bus all along the west coast to the second-largest town in Dominica, Portsmouth.  On first sight, it’s a hard-luck place, waiting for its turn to benefit from a stronger tourism business.  There are signs that its time will come: one planned and one half-finished resort; a cruise dock designed to service small vessels; and Cabrits National Park.  Interestingly, there's a medical school nearby, Ross University, which hosts 3,000 or so students from around the world.

We walked through the town, strolled along the abandoned beach, and made our way up to Fort Shirley.  The former military garrison was completely reconstructed and opened to the public in 2007.  The project, like many on the island, was funded in part by the European Economic Community.  I asked a local what Dominicans make of investment in public infrastructure projects by foreign governments, most recently China.  “We have a vote in the United Nations, you know.  Sometimes they need it,” he answered wryly.

At the top of the hill above Fort Shirley, I took this picture of La princesse du Cannontown.  In fairness to La princesse, she was really suffering from the heat that day. It seems we each have our 'hot' days.

On day three, we again boarded a local bus to cross the island to Kalinago Territory.  The Kalinago are the indigenous people of Dominica and theirs is the only reserve in the Caribbean.  Autonomous since 1903, they live on a 3,700-acre territory and number approximately 3,600, spread out over eight main villages.  We arrived at the Kalinago Barana Auté, a reconstructed village, and took an excellent guided tour with a Kalinago woman who explained the history of her people and how they live in the modern world. 

There are many parallels with our First Nations in Canada, but also some important differences.  They elect a chief and council who have the last word on everything that happens on Kalinago Territory.  They are full-fledged citizens of Dominica, paying taxes and receiving the same services as all Dominicans.  They have a guaranteed seat in the country’s 21-seat Parliament and a dedicated Minister.  They struggle with many of the same issues as our First Nations: unemployment, addiction, lack of economic opportunity, and the unequal rights of men and women.

Our visit complete, we trudged up a very steep hill in the pouring rain to get back to the main road.  We’d been told that a local bakery made cassava bread.  We relished the fresh, hot, tasty treat, more like a macaroon than bread, with a heavy dose of coconut and a bit of sugar.  My brother-in-law, David Thompson, serious coconut aficionado, would have been jealous!

On our way back to Roseau, we took a short hike into Emerald Pool in Trois Pitons National Park.  We haven’t seen better trails to a natural attraction in any of our travels.

Roseau is about the size of Summerside.  We walked to Windsor Park, the impressive 12,000-seat national cricket stadium and watched two teams play.  The game is a mystery to me and about as exciting as watching paint dry.  How did a small, poor country like Dominica come up with over $20 million CDN for a cricket Stadium you might ask?  The answer was right in front of me: a Chinese flag flapping right beside the Dominican.  They paid the whole shot!

On our last full day, we hired a taxi to take us to Middleham Falls, the highest in Dominica at over 200 feet.  It took us almost two hours to get there and back along a wet and treacherous mountain trail in the heart of the rain forest, but it was worth it.  

You have to take the good with the bad.  After getting soaked $80 CDN for the taxi ride to our hotel from the airport in Dominica, we inquired about other options.  “Local bus to Marigot.  From there, it’s a short walk to the airport,” one man told us.  “They won’t take you with your luggage,” another said.  Since we weren’t in a rush to get to the airport on our last day, we walked to the local bus station.  Just as we got there, a guy drove by and asked us if we wanted a lift to the airport.  He lived near Marigot, was a local bus and taxi driver, and had come to Roseau to pick up some parts for his van.  We hopped in and had a pleasant drive to our destination, all for $10 CDN!  Lesson learned: you have to ask.

Since an incoming Liat flight was late arriving, we were re-booked on an earlier one to Antigua, arriving there mid-afternoon.  The smell of money hits you as soon as you set foot in the airport.  Gleaming marble floors; everything just so.  Quite a contrast from our last few stops. The early arrival gave us time enough to get some grub for our six-day stay at Dickenson Bay Cottages.  So we walked thirty minutes to the supermarket, did our shopping, had a bite at the deli, and headed back before it got too dark.  A few minutes later, along came a local bus.  It was our lucky day!

St. John’s, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda, is home to about one quarter of the country’s 92,000 inhabitants.  It has a very impressive cruise port and high-end stores carrying all the brand names, from Prada to Breitling and everything in between.  Unlike some of the more modest capitals we’ve visited on this trip, St. John’s has some nice downtown restaurants and a lively street buzz.

Dominica may have the highest concentration of active volcanoes in the world; St. John’s surely has the highest concentration of hair and nail salons.  Women here are very style-conscious.  Elva got her hair cut and her nails done and I got my sandal fixed before we called it a day.

English Harbour was our destination on day 2.  We took local buses to get there and arrived at the Nelson Dockyard UNESCO World Heritage Site mid-morning.  The harbour was of key strategic importance to the British in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries during the days of sail.  Admiral Nelson was stationed there from 1784 to 1787.  Many of the original structures have been re-purposed, now home to high-end restaurants and lodgings.

We took a water taxi across the narrow harbour and followed a cliffside trail through a cactus forest that took us to Carpenter Rock.  The views were amazing.  From there, we hiked to the Blockhouse, a high point from where we saw the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other.  Nearby Shirley Heights overlooks English and Falmouth Harbours.  The view literally took our breath away; the best we’ve seen on our Caribbean adventure.

While the boats moored in English Harbour were impressive, they were mere dories next to the ones tied up in Falmouth Harbour.  I took note of a couple of names and looked them up on the internet.  The Odessa is a charter yacht and she rents for $235,000 US per week.  That base charter fee doesn’t include food, crew, fuel and a few other odds and ends.  The Illusion V, a bit nicer I thought, will set you back a cool $350,000 for a seven-day junket.

And these two were in turn dwarfed by the monstrous grey affair in the photo below.  We asked a couple of locals who owned it.  “Some Microsoft guy,” they answered.  Again, I looked it up.  According to www.superyachtfan.com, the 232-foot Skat belongs to Charles Simonyi, developer of the Microsoft Office Suite, who’s worth a reported $1.6 billion US.  She set him back $75 million US!  And to think we can travel for $350 CDN per day.  A couple of regular hillbillies!

Antigua is a nice place to visit and we’re glad we came.  The weather's cooler and there's always a nice breeze.  There’s also money here, lots of it, but it’s not clear that it’s being spent wisely by government.  Again, there’s no sign of a middle class.  Roads are a mess, streets in St. John’s are terrible, the whiff of raw sewage downtown curls the nostrils, and several major building projects seem to be at a standstill.  The one project that seems to be coming along is the restoration of the Anglican Cathedral.  The roof has been replaced, all structural timbers had to go because of termites, they put in a new cement floor, and all the pews are new.  The oldest grave we found was from 1760, so the place has been around for a while.

Antigua bills itself as the island of 365 beaches, one for every day of the year.  Since our hotel was a fifteen-minute walk from Dickenson Bay Beach, one of the nicer ones, we spent time there on our last three days.  The azure water was crystal clear and just the right temperature, and the beautiful sand the perfect place for an afternoon nap.  Not Basin Head, but not bad.

One good thing about Antigua: all beaches are public.  So, like La Sagouine who observed the goings-on from the back of the church because she couldn’t afford a pew, most watch the rich play at Sandals from their vantage point on Pogey Beach, also known as La plage des Acadiens.  The photo below shows Pogey Beach, complete with wrecked sailboat in the distance.  People rent a beach chair for $2.

But we took our towels over to Sandals, squatted on the beach there, and watched the high class folk come and go.  Back at our hotel, I checked on the price of a one-week stay at the all-inclusive resort: a jaw-dropping $6,000 CDN!  They can have it...

CARIBBEAN ADVENTURE – PART 2

After a short flight from Trinidad, we landed at Maurice Bishop (more on him later) International Airport in Grenada.  I noticed from reading bronze plaques as we stood in the Customs line that Cuban aid had helped build the airport and that Venezuela had close ties with the country as well.  Hmm!  And I thought all these Caribbean countries were carbon copies of one another.

After settling in to our seaside lodgings, the Kalinago Beach Resort on beautiful Morne Rouge Bay, we walked 20 minutes or so to a nearby mall where we took the local bus into the capital city, St. George’s, for the princely sum of $1.25 CDN each.  After walking around a bit, hunger pangs got the better of us and we took a table with a view of the inner harbour at The Nutmeg restaurant.  It was time to try “jerk”, a Jamaican delicacy I’d been told.  My first mouthful of jerk pork almost blew the top of my head off!  Jesus, Mary and Joseph!  Talk about hot!  No quitter, I finished both pork chops and was none the worse for wear; not even the next morning!

Grenada is about the same size as Barbados, barely one-sixth the land area of Prince County, Prince Edward Island, and has a population of 110,000.  It’s a sovereign country and a member of the Commonwealth with a form of federal government very similar to ours.  Known as the Spice Island, it is one of the world’s largest exporters of nutmeg and produces very fine chocolate as well.

The main island is volcanic in origin and very mountainous.  First settled by the French in 1649, Grenada was ceded to Great Britain at the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763.  It gained its independence in 1974.

In 1979, following a coup, Maurice Bishop declared himself prime minister.  He headed a communist-style government for four years until, on October 25, 1983, US President Ronald Reagan ordered an invasion of the island country to remove Bishop from power.  Reagan didn’t want another Cuba in the Caribbean.  Bishop was executed by soldiers of the Barbadian armed forces and his body was never found.  But, the country has moved on and now enjoys a very stable government.

We had plans to explore the west coast of the island on our second day, Sunday, but the whole place shuts down on the Lord’s Day.  No buses!  So we took a walking tour of St. George’s with Percival Smith, local guide who’d no doubt been expecting a quiet day.  We learned that Hurricane Ivan damaged or destroyed 85% of Grenada’s buildings in 2004.

From hilltop Fort St. George, we walked past the ruins of the Presbyterian church and the Parliament Buildings, a tree rising up out of the shell of the latter.  The country has rebuilt and evidence of the contributions of wealthier countries is everywhere: South Korea, Japan, the United States, Canada, Venezuela, and the World Bank.  The United Arab Emirates and Mexico are helping cover the cost of Grenada’s new Parliament.

We rode the local bus up the main west coast road, got off, and started the 3-kilometre walk to Concord Falls, thinking it would be a piece of cake.  It wasn’t!  the road goes straight up, the last half featuring grades of 20-25%.  We were so soaked with sweat when we reached our destination that we looked as if we’d dived into the pool at the base of the falls.  The walk back down was easier but I was pretty well cooked.  The forest greenery along the narrow road was incredible.

We also visited the most northerly town in Grenada that day, Sauteurs, so named because it’s where the island’s last remaining indigenous Caribs leaped to their deaths rather than surrender to the French in 1651 at a site behind the present-day Catholic church.  It’s a beautiful place, with wonderful views of the islands to the north, the Grenadines.  We stopped in Gouyave on our way back for a short visit to a nutmeg factory.

Next day, we took the ferry from St. George’s to Carriacou, an island off Grenada’s north coast.  Since it was just a day trip, we faced the choice of walking around the main town of Hillsborough, taking a taxi tour of the island for $100 CDN, or riding the local buses.  We chose the latter and, for less than $15, saw the whole island!

Travelling the buses with the locals was fascinating.  More than simple transportation, the system fills many other roles.  One woman called in her order from the bus terminal and we picked up her fresh fish at the market along the way; another passenger looked after a woman’s young child as she went into a store to get something; one woman handed her phone to a shopkeeper, asking him to top it up in time for her return; a spear fisherman asked the driver to drop off a nice fish he'd caught on one side of the island to his aunt’s place on the other; a driver picked up his lunch box left hanging on a post at the end of his driveway.  Way better than a sterile air-conditioned bus filled with old white people!

We wanted to learn about the cultivation and processing of chocolate, so we boarded a bus at the main station in St. George’s and headed across the island toward the town of Grenville on the east coast.  There isn’t a patch of flat ground on Grenada and the central mountains rise to almost 3,000 feet.  Bus passengers endure a stomach-churning ride around switchbacks and hairpin turns on a road barely wide enough for two vehicles to meet.  Up to the highest point and down the other side - a thrill rivaling the best amusement park at a fraction of the price!

While Grenada is a popular tourist destination, it would be an exaggeration to say that its attractions are world class.  Exceptions to the rule were the Grenada Chocolate Company and Belmont Estate, both well worth a visit.  The former is a small cooperative that processes cocoa beans into chocolate bars.  The latter is a full-fledged plantation.  We took guided tours of both and, at Belmont, sampled the most delicious chocolate confections I’ve ever tasted!  The photo below shows dried and raw cocoa beans.

On our last full day in Grenada, we took the mountain bus to Grand Etang, a National Park smack in the center of the island.  It had rained hard the night before and the trail we’d hoped to take around Crater Lake was too treacherous.  So we just hung around and watched as cruise ship passengers poured out of their fancy air-conditioned buses.  Hundreds of them!  It was all too much.  “Too many white people,” I remarked to the locals as we careened down the road back to St. George’s.  “We had to leave!”  They all laughed.  “You blendin’ in,” one woman answered.  Safely back in the capital, we took a bus up to Fort Frederick.  This highest point in the city afforded commanding views, including those of the two cruise ships, carrying 6,000 passengers.

We won’t soon forget Grenada.  Not only is it a beautiful place, it’s home to the friendliest people we’ve ever met.  I say that having visited 49 countries to date.  They greet you in the street; drivers help you find the right bus; everyone wants to know if you’re enjoying your stay; no one pesters you with things to sell.

Imagine going from downtown Charlottetown to Summerside and back on a small bus for about $20 CDN.  That’s what it would cost in Grenada.  Privately-owned nineteen-passenger vans running every 20 minutes or so, picking up and dropping off passengers along the way.  Imagine a fleet of them in and around Charlottetown, Stratford and Cornwall, back and forth on main streets at five-minute intervals with multiple pick-ups and drop-offs, all for $2-$4 a ride, depending on distance.  No government subsidies, just private initiative.  Maybe we’re not so smart in Canada after all!

Due to a mixup in our flight reservations, we spent an additional night in Grenada.  Our airline, Liat, put us up at the luxurious Radisson Resort, provided us with dinner and breakfast, plus a taxi to and from the airport.  Can’t beat that!  As we say in French: Chanceux dans notre malchance!

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is Grenada’s neighbour to the north.  It consists of the main island of Saint Vincent and a chain of 31 smaller islands and cays to the south.  It’s similar in area and population to Grenada.  SVG gained independence from Great Britain following a referendum in 1979, the last of the Windward Islands to become an independent country.

France and Great Britain fought over SVG as they did over other island chains in the Caribbean, with the British eventually prevailing in 1783.  But they faced resistance from a different foe: Black Caribs, descendants of escaped African slaves and Carib natives.  The British finally vanquished the Black Caribs, sending 5,000 of them to the island of Roatan off the coast of present-day Honduras.

Three hours late, we landed in the capital of Kingstown just around sunset and a taxi took us to our hotel, the New Montrose.  Hardly what we'd expected!  The room we were given reminded us of our one and two-star hotels in Central America.  We asked the night clerk where we could get a bite to eat and he directed us to Subway, saying there wasn’t anything better open close by.

So we walked through the darkened grimy streets, not too sure where we were going, found the Subway just as it was about to close, and ate back at our room.  Then the dogs took into the barking.  Dozens of them!  You’d have thought we were next to the SCPA!  We turned on the TV and the cable wasn’t working!  So we turned in.  At 2:00 am, it was the roosters’ turn.  It’s not true that roosters crow at the rising sun.  No, Sir!  They’re at it long before that.  As I write these words at 7:00 am, they’re still at it.

But, the intrepid traveller never gives up on a place.  We met the hotel owner, Ronald.  He served us a delicious breakfast, made arrangements for us to have dinner at the hotel, upgraded our room, gave us directions on how to get around the city, and offered to give us a tour of the island, for a price of course.

Everything shuts down in St. Vincent on Sunday.  People here are fervent churchgoers, so we joined in, attending Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral.  The choir sang beautifully; very upbeat, very Caribbean.  We then walked through downtown to find the ferry terminal.  Kingstown can only be described as a sorry-looking city for the capital of a sovereign country.

Two other attractions were on our list for the first day: Fort Charlotte and the Botanical Gardens.  The walk up to the fort took us a good half hour but the views of the city, the harbour, and the west coast were well worth it.  True to our tradition, we always look for the best vantage point and get there on foot if we can. 

Back down in the city, we walked to the Botanical Gardens, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, established in 1765.  We found the gardens to be well worth a visit; a nice, cool and quiet place.  And throughout the day, we spoke to locals at every opportunity.  As with all the countries we’ve visited, people are very friendly.

On day 2, we boarded the ferry for the one-hour trip to Bequia (pronounced Bek’way), the country’s second-largest island, barely 18 square kilometres in area.    As we usually do, we dropped in to the tourism office in the main town of Port Elizabeth to ask for options for a one-day visit.  The young woman behind the counter told us we could take a taxi tour of the island for about $45 CDN an hour.  “Kinda steep,” I remarked.  “Isn’t there a local bus?”  She pointed at a map, rather dismissively, and let us know she was too busy.

Undaunted, we walked along the pretty main street and asked one of the locals where we could catch the local bus.  “Right next to the tourism office,” he answered.  We hopped on and rode to the other side of the island, got off at Paget Farm and strolled along the wharf there.  The ride to Paget Farm and back to Port Elizabeth cost us $4 CDN!  After walking up to Fort Hamilton for a spectacular view of the bay, we made our way back down into town, had lunch, and I went for a dip at a cute little pocket beach.  Our day on Bequia turned out to be well worth it!

On our last day in St. Vincent, we were ably guided by hotel owner Ronald Reddock.  He drove us up the west (leeward) coast as far as the road went and within sight of the island’s active volcano, 4,000-foot Mount Soufrière.  At our first stop, the location where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed, we took a couple of pictures and took in the scenery.

Many breathtaking panoramas later, we stopped for lunch at the small town of Chateaubelair and ate a delicious lunch at a seaside restaurant.  Then we drove into Dark View Falls, a magnificent natural attraction; a cascade of water tumbling down from the slopes high on Soufrière surrounded by sheer rock faces on three sides and framed by lush tropical rain forest.

Although our time in St. Vincent and the Grenadines was brief, we made the best of it.  With Ronald’s help, we learned many things about the country that we found very interesting.  It’s a struggling democracy whose people seem to have accepted second-best from their government.  They deserve better.  Evidence of poor planning and substandard infrastructure is everywhere.  As I’ve said before, not all Caribbean countries are the same. 

Now, we’re off to countries five and six on our adventure, Dominica, and Antigua and Barbuda.

CARIBBEAN ADVENTURE – PART 1

Most peoples’ fondest memories of Barbados are likely of luxurious all-inclusive resorts, pristine beaches and free rum punch.  Mine are of hurtling through the streets of Bridgetown in the company of nineteen others shoehorned into a twelve-passenger bus, ear-splitting reggae and calypso music on the radio, sweat pouring off me as I wonder where the hell we’re going!

Elva and I decided to travel and eat like the locals on our eight-country, seven-week Caribbean adventure.  To experience something beyond the Caribbean cliché.  The $2 buses that take you all over Barbados proved a splendid introduction to this very interesting country.  In addition to the twelve-passenger versions, larger private and public buses ply the busy, narrow, winding roads that criss-cross the island.

The food is delicious.  Some of the dishes have their origins in Africa.  Wherever we went, we opted for the place where the locals eat and were not disappointed: cou cou (a mix of corn meal and okra); patties (a baked turnover filled with chicken and a spicy sauce); macaroni pie; and my favourite, rotis (a soft tortilla filled with a mix of meat and chickpeas, and flavoured with a curry sauce).  And we ate at the Oistin’s Friday night fish fry, a “must-do”.  The grilled swordfish was to die for.

From our home base, the Coconut Court Beach Resort, we visited several of the major attractions and saw as much as we could of the island in the six days we were there.  Although Barbados is less than 10% the size of our island at only 439 km², it has double Prince Edward Island’s population.

The country has an interesting past, similar to the history of many of its Caribbean neighbours.  Amerindians were the first inhabitants but left little trace of their presence.  The first European settlers arrived from England in 1627.  Sugar cane became the dominant crop after 1640, completely transforming society and the island’s economy.  African slaves, 50,000 of them by 1700, did the work while their English masters reaped the profits, some of them not even bothering to live on the island.

Emancipation in Barbados dates back to 1834, 31 years before the United States passed the 13^th Amendment to its Constitution, abolishing slavery.  While 92% of Barbadians are of African origin, they didn’t gain the right to vote until 1951.  We learned that the struggle for self-government was a long and difficult one, with the country declaring its independence from Great Britain in 1966.  The photo below shows the Parliament Building.

While sugar cane is no longer the dominant crop, the economy is quite healthy.  Per capita GDP is $16,700, making Barbados the 53^rd richest country in the world.  Economic ties with Canada are strong.  RBC Royal Bank, Scotiabank, CIBC, and TD Bank branches are everywhere.  The UN’s Human Development Index ranks Barbados 55^th, just behind the Bahamas, and just ahead of Antigua and Barbuda, and Trinidad and Tobago.  People are healthy-looking, hard-working, and very friendly.  The literacy rate approaches 100% and school children look very smart, dressed in their immaculate and colourful uniforms.

From our home base on Hastings Beach, we toured the capital, Bridgetown, visiting the Barbados Museum, the Museum of Parliament, several markets, and the beautiful Cathedral Church of Saint Michael’s.  We strolled the waterfront and ate where the locals have lunch, Mustor’s, where I had my first taste of the national dish, cou cou.

We travelled north to Speightstown one day on the $2 bus, walked around for a while and hired a taxi to drive us to Barbados Wildlife Reserve and Grenade Hall Signal Station.  Many of Barbados’ native species became extinct due to extensive land clearing.  The small reserve is home to brocket deer, tortoises, iguanas, snakes, birds, and the Barbadian green monkey.

Next on the agenda was a short visit to St. Nicholas Abbey, a 350-year-old sugar cane plantation which survives quite well these days on revenue from tourism and the famous Barbados rum.  Back in Speightstown, we again ate at a local joint, Carlo’s, where I sampled delicious cassava, heavily seasoned with garlic.  Yum!

One morning, we walked to the nearby Hilton and sat in the lobby watching the rich folks come and go while I nursed an americano.  For lunch, we tried Cuzz’ Fish Shack, another highly-recommended local institution, where we sampled fish cutters, fried marlin stuffed into fresh salt bread, garnished with tomato, lettuce and cheese.  Delicious!

The east coast of Barbados is wilder and less developed.  We’d been told that the town of Bathsheba was worth a visit, so we made our way there early one morning.  We walked along the beach and found a trail that took us to the nearby hamlet of Tent Bay.  This little building on the Bathsheba waterfront is an example of either desperate poor planning or galloping coastal erosion; maybe both.

The photo below shows a 'chattel' house in the traditional Barbadian style.

On our last full day, we took the bus to Oistins and walked along the beach, encountering a couple of fishermen with fresh-caught barracuda.  Locals lined up to buy and we watched as the fish were expertly prepared.  We’ve learned that the best experiences happen when you have time to just sit and be in the moment.

We then boarded the bus to Sunbury Hall, another of the fine old plantation houses that dot the island.  With more time to linger and explore, we found the place to have several very interesting and eclectic collections.

We have nothing but fond memories of our time in Barbados: breakfast every morning on the patio outside our room, bathing in the warmest water I’ve ever been in, listening to live music at the Coconut Court, and strolling the beautiful boardwalk along Hastings Beach.  It’s a great place to spend a quiet vacation if that’s what you’re after, and an interesting country to visit if you want to learn and experience more.

Trinidad and Tobago, the second country we visited, is made up of two very different islands and lies just 11 kilometres off the coast of northeastern Venezuela.  Geologically and ecologically, Trinidad is more like South America than the other Caribbean islands.

Trinidad and Tobago became part of Britain in 1802 and obtained its independence in 1962, becoming a republic and member of the Commonwealth in 1976.  It is the third richest country in the Americas, as measured by GDP per capita, after the United States and Canada; about double Barbados’ per capita GDP.  Unlike most of the Caribbean, the country's economy is primarily industrial, with an emphasis on petroleum and petrochemicals.  The country's wealth is based on large reserves and exploitation of oil and natural gas.  Residents enjoy free health, dental and vision care, and free prescription drugs.  And post-secondary tuition is subsidized according to income level.

A more multicultural society than the other countries on our itinerary, one-third of Trinidad and Tobago’s residents are of East Indian origin, one-third of African origin, and the remainder a mix of cultures.

Taken together, both islands have an area just slightly smaller than Prince Edward Island.  The country’s population is 1.3 million, making it by far the most populous of the countries we’ll visit.  The terrain on both islands is a mix of mountains and plains.  The capital city, Port of Spain, boasts a slew of modern office buildings.  Tobago is much quieter and more like the other Caribbean islands we’ve visited.

We strolled through Port of Spain, enduring the 34C heat and high humidity.  There’s something about the city that didn’t quite feel right.  For a country on the move, we would have expected a more attractive capital city.  While there are nice areas, especially around Queens Park Savanna and the embassies and consulates, many important public buildings show signs of serious neglect.  The most extreme example is the old parliament, called Red House.  A protective structure hangs over the top of it like some oversized umbrella, but the interior has been gutted and the site is eerily quiet.

The magnificent and massive National Academy for the Performing Arts looks very much like the Sydney Opera House.  Opened in 2009 after many years of controversy, design flaws and cost overruns, it seems totally out of proportion to other buildings around it.  We’d hoped to tour the building but it was closed.

Our best day in Trinidad was courtesy of a tour provided by Island Tours.  Jenelle, an effervescent twenty-something part-time university student, picked us up at the hotel and spent the next eight hours with us, explaining everything we wanted to know about the country and taking us to the rain forest in the mountainous northern part of island.  Along the way, we stopped to sample "doubles", a popular roadside snack consisting of spicy chickpeas in fried bread.  Yum!

The Asa Wright Nature Centre, set high up in the Arima Valley rainforest, is a birdwatcher’s paradise.  We took a walking tour with Caleb who introduced us to a number of colourful species of birds, some mammals and reptiles, and the many flowering plants in the forest.

We drove through a downpour worthy of the Grand Déluge on our way back down the mountain before visiting St. Benedict’s Monastery.  Here, we observed a priest blessing vehicles driven to the site by their owners.  Maybe a profitable sideline for Elva’s brother, Father Albin?

The day of our departure for Tobago, we sampled local cuisine at the Chalet des Femmes, a local institution on the Port of Spain waterfront.  Breakfast was so good that we came back for lunch!

The Trinidad to Tobago ferry is an adventure.  Though very cheap ($10 return each), it's an exercise in frustration and inefficiency.  Tickets must be purchased in advance and foot passengers must arrive at the terminal two hours in advance of scheduled sailing time.  Although the ferry left port on time, it took 90 minutes longer than forecast to reach Tobago.  We learned later that the service used to be maintained by our own Northumberland Ferries, but things have gotten worse since the contract ended.  Only one of two ferries was running and the one we took was on half power.

We arrived at Bacolet Beach Club late in the evening after a very long day and decided we’d fly back to Port of Spain rather than take the ferry.  The next morning, we walked into Scarborough, the largest city on the island and explored on foot before climbing to Fort King George.  The hilltop redoubt affords a magnificent view of Scarborough and the coastline looking east along Bacolet Bay.  For dinner, we sampled excellent pizza at Ciao’s Café.

Natasha, the hotel receptionist, booked us a tour with a local taxi driver she said was better than the tour companies.  Stafford "Beardie" Taylor picked us up at 9:00 and drove us around the eastern two-thirds of Tobago, showing us all of his favourite places.  A wealth of knowledge, friendly, and courteous to a fault, he proved the highlight of our Tobago visit.

Tobago is a place we’d come back to.  It’s very laid back; the people are mellow and friendly; the beaches are beautiful; and the scenery is magnificent.  Grave markers don’t say “Born” and “Died”.  Instead, they say “Sunrise” and “Sunset”!  Damned civilized if you ask me.  There are high-end resorts here if that’s what you’re looking for, and monthly rentals can be had for a reasonable price, especially in the low season.  Next, we’re off to the third and fourth countries of our Caribbean adventure: Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Stay tuned for more!