Port of Spain, a Modern City
Captivating and noisy is Port of Spain, the capital, at the feet of the Northern mountain range. Founded in 1754 by the Spaniards, now has modern skyscrapers like the impressive Twin Towers, 92m high, and elegant malls, contrasting with the old colonial buildings. During the day, a walk by Independence Square and Queen’s Park Savannah, to the attractive buildings called the Magnificent Seven, won’t be too tiring. However, walking during the night, around downtown and the southeast districts, could be dangerous.

Independence Square is flanked at the east, by the neo-gothic cathedral of Inmaculada Concepcion. Walking to the west towards the cruisers station, you’ll find at both sides of the broad square, many commercial centers, banks, the colorful rasta market of Tent City, a Columbus statue and the Twin Towers, where the government offices are.

Peddlers are around Frederick Street that leads to the Park of Woodford Square. Here, unsatisfied citizens keep alive the tradition of the Speaker’s Corner, criticizing vigorously the decisions of the Red House, seat of the Parliament, at the west end of the square. The Anglican cathedral of Holy Trinity, the Supreme Court, the City Hall and the police headquarters, surround the park and the magnificent old trees.

Walking 15 minutes north by Frederick street, you’ll arrive to the broad, but not green or dense, Queen’s Park Savannah. Nearby, at the National Museum and Art Gallery (open from Tuesday to Sunday; free entrance), you can see documents dating back to the colonial age, apart from an astonishing collection of colorful carnival costumes that are a good advance of what you can expect of the major event of the year.

To The Northern Tropical Jungles
The rough coast of the Chaguaramas peninsula, a US naval base (1945-1964), northwest of Port of Spain, is very popular among sailing fans. At the island of Gaspar Grande, twenty minutes by boat from the city of Chaguaramas, are the limestone caves of Gasparee (entrance fee).

Scouting from the capital to the Northern Mountains, you will take some time to leave behind the big city, with the residential districts, supermarkets and side streets. But once the last streets are behind, the mountainous inner land appears suddenly. The Eastern Main Road takes from Port of Spain to Tunapuna. At the other side, the Royal Road goes north through the thick jungle, arriving to Maracas Waterfall, where water comes down from 100m high.

Back to the main highway, you’ll watch at the top of Mount St. Benedict, the oldest Benedictine monastery of the region (founded in 1912). Following another 13 km., you’ll reach Arima, the third most important city of the island. From here, the winding road to the north crosses orchards and gardens, until reaching the Asa Wright Natural Center (open daily; entrance fee). This place of 74 km. has a fascinating collection of tropical flora and fauna that has been studied by the New York Zoological Society for decades.

At the craggy littoral is Blanchisseuse, a small village of the northern coast, extending along 37 km. of curves with impressive sights and dangerous potholes. To the west, the sandy cove with the shape of a half moon, next to the fishing town of Las Cuevas, is specially attractive; while the Maracas Bay, at 16 km. from Port of Spain, is now the most visited beach of the island.

The Unending Palm Trees Harbors
At the northwest end of Trinidad, you’ll find the splendid cliffs of Toco, two hours by car from the capital, following the Eastern Main Road, and a highway full of potholes that crosses a mountain region covered by a thick tropical jungle. Between April and June, when going into the water is forbidden, huge land turtles go to the remote beaches to deliver their eggs. The East Coast Road goes down to Matura, from where three unending sandy harbors extend, majestically, along 64 km of the eastern coast of Trinidad. At the middle of this coast is Manzanilla Beach, surrounded by coconut trees with places for picnics. Mayaro, at the southern end, has many houses for rent. Here you can still find many desert, well-preserved beaches. However, going into the Atlantic waters is dangerous, due to the strong underflow.

From Manzanilla to the harbor of Cocos, behind the palm trees bordering the coast, are the swamps of Nariva, where you can see, at both sides of the road, youngsters driving their water buffalos to the fields, remembering images of India. The rural south of Trinidad is full of families with East Indies’ roots. Generally they are small farmers, or workers of the sugar cane plantations, earning just enough to maintain their families.

Where the Land Boils
At Devil’s Woodyard, at 13 km east of San Fernando, the second biggest city in Trinidad, in the southwest coast, you can contemplate the spectacular gas bubbles formed inside one of the 18 mud volcanoes around the island. This is a sacred place for Hindus that present expiation gifts. The small volcanoes, as well as the tar lake of La Brea, at 20 km southwest of San Fernando, are connected with the oil and natural gas deposits, discovered in 1897, under the continental platform of South America. La Brea is the world’s largest natural tar lake, with almost 100m deep, in some points, and discovered in 1595, by English captain Sir Walter Raleigh, who used this sticky substance to help maintaining the impermeability of his ship. You can walk over the lake’s surface, but as it could be dangerous in some points, don’t explore it without an expert guide.

Just north of San Fernando, some wild bird species have found refuge at the heart of an oil refinery. The Pointe-à-Pierre Wildfowl Trust, is dedicated since 1966, to nurture species facing extinction, and the conservation of their natural habitats in this industrial region.

The Trinidad national bird is the crimson ibis. At noon you can see large flocks of these elegant creatures, with long curve peaks, posing over the trees to spend the night in the Ornithological Reserve Caroni, south of Port of Spain. This large zone of swamps with labyrinthine water channels, has been transformed into a shrimps and other fish nursery, and serves as habitat for different wild bird species, that you can see on a tour by ship, leaving daily at 16:00 hours.