Trinidad And Tobago Day Six: A Scenic Drive To The Beautiful And Sleepy Coastal Village of Grand Riviere

Trinidad And Tobago Day Six: A Scenic Drive To The Beautiful And Sleepy Coastal Village of Grand Riviere

Trinidad Day Six ride to Grande Riviere (21 of 44)
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I had arranged for a ride  for  my stay at the  Mt. Plaisir Estate Hotel in Grand Riviere on the remote northeast coast of Trinidad.  My driver arrived around 2 p.m. I soon learned that I was to have the honor to be driven to the hotel by its owner Piero Guerrini. He is also  famous for his efforts to save the leatherback turtles that  lay their eggs on the beach where his hotel is located. Observing these massive turtles  was the main reason for my visit to Trinidad and Tobago.  As we left the lodge we found this large deadly bushmaster snake that was killed by an automobile along the road. It must have been 8 feet long. I walked past this very spot every day during my stay at the lodge. I was sad it was killed and disappointed I didn’t see it. dead bushmaster on road

We continued our two-hour journey to Grand Riviere,  driving down from the mountain through the thick rainforest. tree lined windy mountain road

I learned much about the island and its  people Piero. He moved here in 1993 and purchased the hotel a short time later. He was able to provide me with insightful information about the people, culture, history , flora and fauna of the island.  We left the busy city of Arima and drove scenic country roads with the mountains of the North Range in view. clouds above mountains

The skies were filled with tropical cumulus clouds making the scenery even more spectacular. clouds above highway

We made a stop for gas in the town of Valenciastreet in Trinidad town

I was delighted to have a chance to get out of our vehicle for a few minutes and take a quick look around the town. 

School was ending for the day and the town was filled with children and traffic. 

I loved seeing the markets, stores and shops of foreign cities and wonder how the residents lives were similar and different from mine.

We continued our eastward drive and encountered something, as a Pennsylvania resident, I am very familiar with road construction. 

The road continued through small towns and villages and I enjoyed listening to Piero’s  experiences on the island and his career as a photojournalist.

We soon approached the ocean on the eastern coast of Trinidad. We stopped to let  me take  some photographs of the spectacular beach near the town of Salybia.  The coastline  was just so pristine and beautiful. I wish I had weeks to explore this country.

We drove north now, as the road twisted along the coast,  passing through small towns and villages. 

Looking at the map, one can see that the mountains and vast rainforest were not far from the highway,  the only one in this part of the country. It was like driving back in time.

We made a few more stops to view the incredible beautiful beaches and shorelines of this  isolated coast. 

We soon were driving through the largest village in this remote area of the island, Toco. I have tried to research the current population but the most recent figures I could obtain was a population of about 1100 people in 1980. I don’t believe it is much more now. Like I said this is a remote area. This isolation may change with the plans to build a port here in Toco.  A new highway will cross the country and connect it with  the capital of Port of Spain. Cargo and cruise ships will change this coast, and, in my opinion not in a good way. I think it should be preserved and develop  eco-tourism. The locals could charge tourist from around the world a premium rate to visit their hotel, restaurants and shop and enjoy this pristine natural beauty. I hope the port and highway are never built. And I hope  I can visit again before the port is built if the plans proceed. 

We now turned west again driving along the rugged and spectacular north coast of Trinidad. 

We again passed through small towns and village. Piero seemed to know everyone we passed along the way. It was a delightful journey. 

We turned north one last time, to drive over one of the beautiful mountains of North Range of Trinidad. Driving through this rainforest covered mountain was like driving into paradise. At the bottom of the mountain we crossed over the river for which the remote village I was staying was named, the Grand Riviere. I couldn’t wait to begin exploring this sleepy and scenic tropical coastal village. Here is a link to some more photographs from my drive. Trinidad and Tobago Day Six Drive to hotel April 29 2019. 

 

“The West Indian is not exactly hostile to change, but he is not much inclined to believe in it. This comes from a piece of wisdom that his climate of eternal summer teaches him. It is that, under all the parade of human effort and noise, today is like yesterday, and tomorrow will be like today; that existence is a wheel of recurring patterns from which no one escapes; that all anybody does in this life is live for a while and then die for good, without finding out much; and that therefore the idea is to take things easy and enjoy the passing time under the sun. The white people charging hopefully around the islands these days in the noon glare, making deals, bulldozing airstrips, hammering up hotels, laying out marinas, opening new banks, night clubs, and gift shops, are to him merely a passing plague. They have come before and gone before.” 
― Herman Wouk

 

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1 Comment

  1. cmalifts on May 25, 2019 at 4:12 am

    I nostri montascale per condomini sono in grado ddi salire e scendere scape drіtte, scale curve е scale
    a chioccola.