We were working so hard on the Por Dos re-fit that we did not have much opportunities for tourist activities, but we all went on a hike to a nice waterfall in the Northern range.

As a special treat, I took a “me-day”, and left the boys and Mark working on Por Dos while I did a tour to the Asa Wright Nature Center and the Caroni Swamp; ) for bird watching. At Asa Wright I took about 100 photos and a video of a snake slithering its way in the high branches of a tall tree where half a dozen Yellow Oriole nests hung down. The snake tried for over 15 minutes to get into one of the nests, while the bird parents were pecking at the snake’s tail trying desperately to get it off balance and off the tree. I, and every other birdwatcher around, was cheering for the birds. After 20 minutes of excitement, the snake, still hungry, finally fell from the tree to my sigh of relief. In Caroni, the red ibis flocks twirling in the twilight hours, like a big red cloud, took my breath away. 

Every blog about Trinidad should include its cuisine - by miles the best that we had in the Caribbean. Their population includes 40% descendants of East Indians brought as workers by the British a couple of centuries back. So Trini food combines flavors from the East, with Creole and African influences. We loved the Doubles (two pancakes with a spicy chick pea mixture in the middle), Alloo Pies (roll with a meat and potato mix in the middle) and Sahinas (deep fried mix of veggies with chick pea paste) for breakfast, Rotis (big wrap with meat and veggies) and Curries for lunch and “Bake and Shark” (their spicy version of a Fish Sandwich) for dinner. I also loved their soups, which included obscure parts of some edible animal, such as cow hoofs and pig tails, but so delicious I never stopped to ponder about what I was exactly eating. Yum!