A few weeks ago I got a stupid ridiculous airline ticket deal—$289 roundtrip from NYC to Trinidad and Tobago so I decided on a whim to just go. My mom was heading there for a 3-week stay and since I needed a bit of a break I figured I #minuswell go, too. Only thing is, though I’ve been to my parents’ homeland a bunch of times, I’d never been outside of Trinidad Carnival. Not going to lie—I seriously thought I was going to be sitting up in my grandmother’s house twiddling my thumbs while my mom talked my ears clean OFF. I have cousins and other family that live inhe country but many live pretty far and people have things like lives to tend to. I also have cousins who live very close who I hang out with the most (and eat up all their food) but their sole existence isn’t to babysit me…lol. I figured no matter what I’ll be in a place where the weather is amazing and is SO not NYC (I love NYC but girl, she can get on my nerves). But then the homey Christene from ThisThatBeauty also decided to come on a whim so I thought, “PERFECT. Someone who has NO choice but to go on adventures with me.” HA.
So here’s the thing about the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago: unlike many of the islands in the Caribbean, tourism isn’t one of its biggest industries (that would be oil and natural gas). So you won’t see a ton of hotels around places-to-see like Maracas Bay and other beachfront areas. I had a bunch of people asking questions about hotels to stay in and while there are many in the capital of Port of Spain (like the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton) and guest houses on sites like AirBNB, I know nothing about staying at any of them since I’d probably get disowned for staying in a hotel when there’s more than enough room at grandma’s house.
Also while there’s modes of public transportation like the maxi taxi which I saw plenty going up and down Western Main Road, you won’t exactly be able to go out and hail a cab. Or at least not in St. James where I stayed. Finding a private driver (or renting a car if you can handle driving on the left side of the road) to get you around is ideal—you can look into options available with either your hotel or guesthouse. I got around the country thanks to my cousins and a family friend (thanks, Mr. Charles!) so without them we’d have been stuck to only what we could get to on foot. Which wasn’t bad—there’s tons of things to do (and eat) in the St. James and Woodbrook areas but um, having a car is ideal.
Though Trinidad is known for the yearly Carnival festival, there certainly is TONS of things to do around the country during the off-season. I actually found it better to see the country when it’s NOT Carnival since things can be very hectic around the festivals—streets in town are blocked off, there’s non-stop fetes (high-energy parties that last until sunrise), and don’t even think you’ll be going anywhere far on Carnival Monday and Tuesday if you’re staying in town.
So yeah, as I was saying—there’s TONS to do in Trinidad during the off-season and I along with Christene explored a few. Here’s eight things that kept me busy during my 9-day stay…
1. Eating
Snacking on a currant roll
No lie, I ate EVERYTHING in Trinidad. It was hard not to—everything is just so flavorful and delicious. Even the KFC. YUP. Even the Kentucky Fried Chicken. Now you’d be hard pressed to find me eating KFC in these United States of America, but catch me in the Caribbean and chances are I have a snack box in hand…lol. If I had a twenty every time I ordered a 2-piece spicy with fries, I’d have enough to buy another RT fare to T&T and grab more KFC…lol. What makes it taste so good is—well, I’m not saying the chicken used in the KFCs in the US aren’t real chickens, but I am saying the chickens in Trinidad must have lived that good Caribbean life before meeting their maker. Even the fries taste better—they don’t do the wedges like they do here, but the fries are so crispy and delicious. Typically when I eat fried food now that I’ve been on Weight Watchers, I can taste every single ounce of oil used and I can often get sick right away. But in T&T? I was downing that mess like they were vitamins.
Don’t even get me started on how sweet the ketchup tastes. I went into Burger King (which turned out to be a bad idea—it tastes the same as it does in the US) and they tried to hand me “American” ketchup and I was like “NAH, YO.”
Boneless chicken roti
Now, I didn’t spend my nine days eating just KFC. I’d be incredibly basic if I did especially with all the wonders to explore in the realm of cuisine in Trinidad. For me as a first generation American, I grew up on a lot of typical Trinidadian foods and as a Queens, NYC dweller, I can roll up to Liberty Avenue and many other areas in the borough to find any number of Trinidadian restaurants. I don’t eat those delicious foods everyday, but I did on this last trip. I OD’d on typical Trini street food items like pholourie (flour-based batter fried in oil served with a sauce like a mango chutney, tamarind, or pepper), doubles (probably the holy grail of all Trini street foods—it’s channa or curried chick peas wrapped in fried dough and usually served with slight or plenty pepper—I’m super vanilla so I go with no pepper whatsoever—it’s usually served in the morning and is an especially good treat after a night of partying), and aloo pie (fried dough filled with seasoned mashed potatoes and sometimes also filled with curried channa). You can find these delicacies on just about any major thoroughfare and you should totally seek them out and try them. They’re more delicious than mere words can describe.
Vendor selling doubles on Western Main Rd
Vendor making pholourie on Western Main Rd
Pholourie
Another popular Trini street food is bake and shark and the best place (I’m told) to get it is at Richard’s on Maracas Bay Beach. It’s exactly as its name would suggest—fried shark wrapped in bake (fried bread) and you can fill it with any number of add-ons like lettuce, tomato, red onions, pepper, a number of sauces, etc. I’m quite plain Jane when it comes to eating so I only added lettuce, tomato, and a touch of some mayonnaise-based sauce. It’s a definite must-try when you’re in Trini.
(I’m starting to think this list might be easier to write the things we DIDN’T eat…lol)
There’s also a sizable Chinese population in Trinidad so there were quite a number of Chinese restaurants in town. If you grew up in NYC like me, they don’t quite serve four chicken wings with french fries there…lol. We ate practically everything on the menu at Fei Wong in St. James. I can seriously still taste the house lo mein if I concentrate.
Lo mein at Fei Wong
Along Arapita Avenue (aka D’Avenue) in Woodbrook, there a quite a number of restaurants of any type of cuisine you can imagine. Next time I’m in Trinidad I have to take the time to explore more of the restaurants—so far I’ve only been to two: More Vino | More Sushi (so good) and All Out Sports Bar & Gourmet Grill (also very good with good drinks).
But above all the restaurants and street food, one of the best places to eat in Trinidad is in someone’s kitchen. I’m lucky that one of my cousins is an amazing cook and lives just downstairs from where I was staying so I popped into her kitchen PLENTY of times…lol.
2. Family
Being that my sisters and I are the first generation of our family born here in these United States, and that both of my parents are Trinidadian—I have A LOT of family that stills lives in T&T. It could take me staying there for months in order to see everyone so for a nine day trip, I could only see a handful. Obviously I saw my grandma because I was in her house…lol. Then there was my cousin and his family who I got to see pretty often. I also got to see my auntie on my dad’s side (which was great since she lives in Arima which is a bit of a drive away) and I also got to meet a cousin on my mom’s side.
3. Maracas Beach and Las Cuevas Beach
Maracas Beach
Every year on Ash Wednesday after Carnival Monday and Tuesday, many people drive up to Maracas Bay to lime (hang out) on the beach. The mountainous drive to Maracas is decorated by breath-taking views—we got out the car several times on the drive up to snap pics and just view all the beauty.
Maracas Lookout
Maracas Lookout
Maracas Lookout with my mom
Once you get to the beach you’ll be awe-stricken by your beautiful surroundings. Not to mention this is home to tons of bake and shark tents and the famous Richard’s.
There’s a reason why Trinidadians will tell you to get a bake and shark at Maracas Bay: it’s smack somebody in the face good…lol. The best place I’ve heard is to go to Richard’s and by the way people were flocking to the tent, I knew it would be good. Mere words cannot describe the way that fried shark and bake hit my taste buds and did a little dance. You seriously have to experience it for yourself. Some roti shops in NYC will serve bake and shark on certain days, but I bet it’s nothing like having one at Richard’s.
There’s just one hotel at Maracas Beach and not only did it not have wifi (yes, this was a bit of a vacay but mama still has to work) but it also got really bad reviews. Womp womp. So we headed up to Las Cuevas Beach which was just a few miles away from Maracas and stayed at the Las Cuevas Beach Lodge. It’s not exactly a five star hotel—not even really three—but the rooms were clean, they had an on-site kitchen (where the food was delicious), and they had wifi.
Thing is, Las Cuevas is actually a prettier beach than Maracas. It’s not as popular though and there weren’t any bake and shark spots but there was a restaurant that sold things like fish and chips near the beach which was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Lodge.
4. Turtle nesting
Another great thing about Las Cuevas was that the Lodge arranged for a guided walk at night to watch the turtles nesting. Now these turtles can be like my size and they come out of the ocean and waddle onto the beach to lay dozens of eggs then waddle back into the ocean. At first we thought our trip was a bust because we made it down to the end of the beach and saw plenty of turtle tracks but no turtles. Christene and I walked back toward the hotel when after about 10 minutes she spotted something in the ocean—a turtle! We signaled back for the guide and the rest of our group who were signaling us over. The guide came over and told us that a turtle was now on the beach nesting so we walked over to check it out.
My camera doesn’t have the right gear to take pictures in such dark areas but it got these pics–fuzzy but it got them…lol
Not sure why—most likely because of it’s massive size—but I was super scared to get close to it even though it’s like, um, how’s a nesting turtle going to do anything to me? LOL
4. Exercising
Listen, all that eating—we HAD to have something to counter it. When I’m in Trinidad I start making up meal times—so like breakfast, breakfast part 2, breakfast part 2 sub D, pre-lunch, lunch 1, lunch 2, lunch again, more lunch, dinner, etc…lol. So on our first full day in Trinidad, we walked over to the Long Circular Mall and bought week passes at Long Circular Health & Wellness Club. This gym is SO dope! Maybe because I go to a super basic gym in Queens and my other membership at the YMCA is at one that could use some renovations, but I was super impressed with how amazing this location was. We managed to work out 5 days out of the 9 we were in Trinidad—two of those 9 days were traveling days so they don’t really count…lol. We were working out like crazy.
And that’s another thing. EVERYONE in town it seems is about their fitness. We walked around a lot and spotted at least 5-6 gyms in St. James alone. Plus around Queen’s Park Savannah (aka “the Savannah” which is the world’s largest roundabout) there had to be at least 200 people running around getting exercise in after sunset. And these were folks who appeared to already be super fit. Some were even doing HIIT-looking workouts. I guess you gotta maintain that Carnival physique…lol.
I managed to not gain any weight despite how much I was eating and I credit it to all the walking we did, working out at the gym, and not drinking any alcohol. Plus it doesn’t hurt that the food we were eating was super fresh.
5. Liming
Liming or hanging out is practically a national pastime. And most times it doesn’t even cost you any money to do. Liming is basically hanging out and typically you don’t even have to leave your house to do it. During times where we didn’t really have anything planned, we limed on my grandmother’s veranda and passed time talking to my family and my grandmother’s neighbors.
6. Blogger meet-up
One of the best things about blogging is it makes the world so much smaller because you’re able to interact with people all over the globe just by opening up your laptop or smartphone. I was posting about going to Trinidad on my Instagram when Lise Marii whose day job is in advertising and runs a blogger group in Trinidad asked me if I was interested in having a meet-up. I LOVE meeting new people so I had an amazing time drinking wine and eating sushi with these lovely ladies.
Make sure you follow and subscribe to them on their various outlets:
instagram.com/lise_marii
instagram.com/niikaology/
youtube.com/gingerlillys
youtube.com/blessednelly16
instagram.com/reallyorchid
instagram.com/blessednelly
facebook.com/kinknationnaturalhair
7. Ziplining in Chaguaramas
The last time I went to Chaguaramas, I was in the bush at a j’ouvert party. This time I was gliding above the bush on the Zipitt lines. This was my first time ziplining and I was SHOOK before we went on the first longer line. Even more so when one guy from our group decided to drop out…lol. But after that first longer line I wasn’t scared and by the time we got to the last line I was sad that it was over…lol. Totally recommend doing this if it’s your first time ziplining since after the first line the other 5 or 6 aren’t as long. These aren’t as treacherous as the ones I saw online in Costa Rica and Puerto Rico which again I’m guessing is good for a first timer. The staff is really friendly and helpful and will make sure you have a good (and safe) time on the lines.
8. Shopping
Though I didn’t have time to go to Trincity Mall (the largest in Trinidad), I did get to go to The Falls at West Mall which had a ton of stores—some we know like MAC. There’s also a chain store called Wonderful World which sells SO many cult beauty supply makeup faves from brands like L.A. Girl Cosmetics, Kiss, Ruby Kisses, and more plus tons of accessories and underwear. We also went to Long Circular Mall a bunch of times since the gym was inside the mall. It’s ok inside but West Mall was definitely more our speed and I’m sure Trincity would have been a fave. Guess I’ll go next time I’m in Trinidad. I surprisingly didn’t buy much. Just some moto sweat pants and a sweatshirt then for makeup I picked up some items from Trini brand Sacha Cosmetics and then a few NYX Cosmetics items that looked new to me. No trip to Trinidad and Tobago is complete without a visit to Tobago. Christene and I were trying to coordinate a stay at a guesthouse and flight (Tobago is about a 20 minutes flight away or about 3 hours by ferry) but we couldn’t get a flight back to Trinidad since the airlines were busy with people heading back from Tobago Jazz. So we missed out on going—we should have booked earlier or tried to go during the beginning part of our trip. I did get to go last year so check out this post. We were planning to stay in Pigeon Point, too :/ You’ll definitely have more of the “island” experience when visiting Tobago. So that’s that—another adventure down. It was great spending time in Trinidad and getting to see parts of the country I couldn’t possibly see during Carnival time. Can’t wait for my next trip :) P.S. There’s a gazillion other things to do and see in Trinidad that we didn’t get to. These include visiting La Brea Pitch Lake, the Bird Sanctuary, the Emperor Valley Zoo, and a host of museums, restaurants, and other interesting things depending on your personal tastes. See more photos on my Instagram!
Display at Wonderful World
Display at Wonderful World
Honorable Mention
Have you ever been to Trinidad and Tobago? What are your favorite things to do in the country?
That is the biggest turtle I’ve ever seen! And to think, I was impressed by loggerheads coming ashore to lay eggs. I’ve never visited the islands, but get a definite feel of being there with you in this post. Has anyone ever mentioned you doing a book of your travels back to your parents’ homeland? It would be a great coffee table book.
Author
Sorry just saw this! Thanks so much for the suggestion! I’ll have to look into that—would be really nice :)