Trinidad again

Page 1 of 1

15 June 2000 - 08 August 2000

I won't tell you much more about Trinidad and Chagaramas, because nothing great happens there for kids, but 8 miles away is a bay called Chacachacare where all the excitement happens. Chacachacare was a leper colony until 1974. When you get leprosy, parts of your body decay. We started our adventure at the doctors jetty. While we were busy slashing the gashes through the undergrowth, we spotted a birds nest. The nest contained a single spotted blue egg, the size of a thimble. The island is totally overgrown and seeing the sun through the green leaves makes everything look so lush.
Our first stop was the boiler room, which was the last building to be abandoned. On the way to the dispensary, 4 or 5 red and black spotted butterflies fluttered by. The dispensary is the highlight of all the ruined buildings. Downstairs, was an X-ray machine and in a separate room there was a chair that looked like a dentists chair. It was, however, the chair in which the patients sores were scraped and then had sulphur powder poured into them. Upstairs was the dispensary and laboratory. There were bottles of Sulphur, Penicillin and Diasone and many more.
Across the bay is the nuns quarters, church and a school. There is a little jetty where we tied up. The view is amazing and well worth the climb as the stairs are rotten and you have to walk on a slippery rim. The only person living on the island is the lighthouse keeper.
We are now in Scotland Bay, Trinidad. It is wonderful here, we wake up with the sound of howler monkeys. It sounds like a big surge going into a cave, the vacuum that is caused makes a howling sound. This morning dad and I were talking to the people on a boat called Wind Spirit, when a turtle popped its head out of the water checked us out, took a deep breath and vanished. I then came back to the boat and started my maths exams. My mom still has to mark it. I went swimming with my new lilo.
Mom got me three new books. Charlie and the Great Glass elevator by R Dahl, Children's Classic Compendium and the stories inside are Sherlock Holmes, Tom Brown's Schooldays and The Call of the Wild. The last but definitely not the least is The Hobbit the prelude to the Lord of the Rings.
Carnaval:
In early January to March, the streets are filled with colour and music as carnaval season kicks into action. Brilliant colours fill the streets. red, orange, yellow and black are the main colours of the costumes, but some people take it to the extreme with bells, feathers, glitter and drums. After each theme group has past, I went running in the street for any hats and bits of costume I could find, oh what fun! The only problem was finding a way to get all the "stuff" home without dad seeing.

Liz

Dad and Liz in "Tassies" with a local fish called a "Jack Crevalle" caught on a spinner in the middle of Chacachacare bay.

Our Jack, the dog, couldn't resist the temptation to jump into the dinghy and investigate, he loves eating fish.

A view directly aft towards the shore of Chacachacare on a calm evening.

Views around the boat, Southern Terrier appears on our Stbd. side. It might look cold and miserable, but we were wearing nothing much in a constant 30 deg C.

The view of our boats from across the bay, taken while visiting the ruins of the Nuns quarters and church.

A view of Chaguaramas in the distance on mainland Trinidad, as seen through one of the windows of the hospital.

The Nuns quarters entrance.

The main passage of the hospital, abandoned in the early seventies.

A view east over Chacachacare bay towards Chaguaramas.

Dad and Liz larking about as usual. Liz with machete in her teeth like a pirate.

A view from the hospital overlooking the church, amazingly overgrown in a few years.

Dad and Liz on the "road" that joined the leper colony with the church etc.

The landing beneath the hospital etc. Note that although the weather is overcast, the temperature was well above 30 deg.c.

All three buildings, Nuns, Hospital and Church as we left them to the peace of the jungle.