10 reasons why I love Tobago but hate going there!!!

2 - All Tobago Posts, 2010, Trinidad 5 Responses »

Jan 042011

This is a general shout out and blogger rant to all the people in Tobago who work in the tourist industry or what purports to be a tourist industry.

I don’t live in Trinidad anymore – some days I’m sad about this, but all it takes to remind me that I’m glad to visit but not stay in Trinidad is a two week refresher in Trinidad itself. However, the frustration I feel at Trinidad, is nothing compared to the contempt I generally feel to those in the Tobagonian tourist industry.

A couple points about why tourism in Tobago cannot and will not ever grow or be significant

Tobago needs the tourism but the tourists do not necessarily need Tobago yet the powers that be that control tourism cannot see that the problem is the people themselves.
Customer feedback is a waste of time. Abject, absolute waste of time. Tourist “people” in Tobago ask for an exit survey when you leave. You can make the most wonderful suggestions – do not bother – it is a colossal “make work” project, so a politician can say that they are trying to improve things.
Tourists need efficiency and facilities. The airport is neither efficient or has facilities. Until some money is spent to upgrade Crown Point – it will just be the same unconcerned staff with their nonchalant attitude about you, your time or your business. I always fly to Tobago from Trinidad, either very early or very late – since I don’t want to have a problem with these people – they couldn’t shit in a swimming pool.
Have you all heard that computers have revolutionized the world – “we can use them to make things go faster”. Customs and immigration use a considerable amount of time going through papers and documents and using stamps but never seem concerned about getting the people through as soon as possible.
Smiles are free, even if your people seem to be broke all the time. When I have to beg for a coffee or almost slap someone in a grocery to give me a bottle of rum, while she dusts the aforementioned bottle of rum and people are behind cussing, will make tourists homicidal.
I’ve never had to pay a bill or use a bank, but I have heard of waits of two hours at a bank for service. Which tourist in their god damn mind would come back?
Hustlers made people hate Jamaica, and unless you’re a German woman looking for a black Tobagonian penis (Germans are especially unwelcome in Tobago for the way they behave); hustlers are not welcome. I hate people grabbing at me and trying to hustle me for anything.
Why should Sugarlips, Tight Chest, Dimples (actual names on the beach… seriously) be hustling to rent chairs and umbrellas on the beaches (at Store Bay for example). Having these hustlers is just terrible and gives tourists the impression that Trinis and Tobagonians are some hungry, starving people who can’t find jobs. These guys can’t hustle me, since I’m hard with them and don’t even talk to them until I am ready …
Everything is so expensive. Food is brutally expensive, when compared to other islands. I have no issue with being charged US prices, but then give me US or Canadian service with the same portion size.
You all claim it is expensive to import things into Tobago … what about other islands, don’t they have the same issues? Tobago still has a long way to go in order to meet the standards of the other islands and tourists are having to pay too much for what they get in return. When the tourists go to other islands, they realise this and never return to Tobago.
Spend money on “Tourist” police, like other tourist destinations. Police who specially trained to deal with tourist and civilian matters. Spend money on presence also – as a Trini, I can handle myself in Tobago, but other people have issues with this. Trinis like value for their money, don’t you think that tourists also like get value for their money.

Fix all of this and maybe then one old British couple won’t be able to wreak havoc on perception of Tobago and then they will want to come and spend money in Tobago.

=============

PR professional for Tobago tourism

Originally printed at http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/PR_professional_for_Tobago_tourism-112841024.html By Abby Brathwaite abby.brathwaite@trinidadexpress.com
January 4, 2010

The advice of a crisis communication expert will be sought for help in dealing with the damage to this country’s tourism industry as a result of a cutlass attack against a British couple in Tobago last year.Minister of Tourism Rupert Griffith made the announcement yesterday after a meeting with tourism stakeholders at the Ministry of Tourism head office.The meeting was in response to record low tourist arrivals in Tobago and also came on the heels of a public campaign by British couple Peter and Murium Green, who were hacked across their faces in August 2009, to warn tourists about the crime situation.The Greens have complained that their promised compensation was not forthcoming.
”Among some of the decisions we took here today was on the Greens issue is that we see the need for an intensive PR (public relations) campaign for damage control because of the effect it is having on the tourist situation not only in Tobago but Trinidad and Tobago,” Griffith said. “We want to engage a crisis communication PR agency whereby we will seek to get all the facts surrounding the Green issue and we will set up a marketing strategy to do some damage control.”

Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Orville London, who was also at the meeting, said hiring this expert should not be seen as an admission by the THA that they did not handle the situation properly.”From the perspective of what was already done I do not think that the Tobago House of Assembly can be faulted we got to accept the reality and that is according to international standards we would have treated with this situation in an exemplary manner,” London said.

“But the perception out there is something that must be treated with and that is one of the areas that we may need some expert advice. But the fact that we are doing it does not indicate that we are dissatisfied with the way that we treated with the issue.” He added that additional compensation for the couple was not discussed at the meeting and said that they (Greens) could still access compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act. Cabinet is yet to appoint a board to administer compensation to victims of crime.
Tourism stakeholders will meet again tomorrow in Tobago where it is expected a decision regarding the hiring of the public relations expert will be made. London also noted that a major cruise ship company, Royal Caribbean, will not visit this country for the 2011-2012 season, until an outstanding sum of $6 million which was stolen in Grenada, but ended up in Trinidad, was returned.

So you think can swim … Tobago Style … Castara Bay, Englishman’s Bay, Parlatuvier Bay, Bloody Bay

2 - All Tobago Posts, 2010 No Responses »

Dec 292010

When you’re from Trinidad, you think that the world has things that are better, prettier and more well known. I can safely say that driving along the Leeward Coast of Tobago has to rank amongst the prettiest drives with some of the beach vantage points in the world. Many Trinis/Tobagonians take these things for granted, as most do not have a basis of comparison to other more celebrated places.

The stretch of four large beaches after Moriah that are easily accessible by road … there are a couple other more remote beaches, but for a long day trip (8am - 6pm) from Crown Point, if you take a swim at these 4 beaches

Castara Bay : The home village of T&T’s 3rd Prime Minister is in a small friendly village with a decent beach facility and villagers who actually welcome a tourist or two, unlike places in Trinidad. The village itself is known for the fish and there is a fishing facility in the middle of the beach. While you’ll always see some fishing activity, please ask before you run over and volunteer your muscles in the search of a great story to tell your friends at home. There is another smaller beach, known as Heavenly Bay, just around the headland on the northern end of the main beach, but I personally have never made it over there.
Parlatuvier : This beach is surrounded by the village itself. There is a school that is practically on the beach – how cool would it be to go swimming instead of playing cricket or football at recess and lunch time as a young boy. The bay is quite the photographed princess with her rugged rocks closing in from the sea. The water does get deep rather quickly though but this is good since there is excellent jumping and diving from the long pier.
Englishman’s Bay : This is probably my favorite beach in Tobago. It’s definitely not touristy like Store Bay or Pigeon Point, since you have to drive down a dirt track to get there (if it rains, the track can be muddy) - there is good snorkeling and generally calm seas – depending on the day of course. Although it’s gotten a bit more developed in recent years, it still feels like the complete deserted beach you could imagine if you were shipwrecked on a Caribbean island.
It’s a lovely green-blue sea surrounded by a wall of shady almond and coconut trees. When it rains, the Rockly River that runs at the back seems filled with energy and sandflies *lol*. The beach slopes steeply down to the sea which has short but often large breakers, which is challenging for the new sea bather but if you’re a good swimmer and adventurous, this is definitely Da’Beach.

By the way, Eula’s is the only restaurant around these parts, but remember you’re only 45 mins away from fresh food in Pigeon Point or Store Bay. Is convenience worth the risk of no running water around your food? Just my thoughts!
Bloody Bay : This beach for all its natural beauty is set a little way from the main village, unlike most other beaches, hence it seems always deserted, except for yachties and fishermen. The beach facility here is almost brand new with a “tourist” office … that never seems to be open.

Tobago’s Leeward Beaches

View photos at SmugMug

Store Bay, Tobago … nothing much needs to be said …

2 - All Tobago Posts, 2010, Trinidad 3 Responses »

Dec 262010

Getting from Trinidad to Tobago is an easy plan; no hassle, short flight, no crazy drivers that one has to worry about in Trinidad. If you’re in Tobago, after taking the 14 minute flight from Trinidad, your next steps should go something like this …

Call pre-arranged taxi rental company to pick you up from airport and head straight to the rental company. Fill out paper work and take car out.
Depending on what time you get in, there are two logical options
1. If you come in anytime BEFORE sunset, go directly to the beach – Store Bay or Pigeon Point. They’re close (2 min drive in either direction) and proceed to eat and get your water or tan on.
2. If you come in anytime AFTER sunset, go directly to the hotel, check in and go for dinner and check back to hotel for drinks. If you’re new, you won’t know any places to go for drinks. (MyTobago.info maintains an excellent listing of places to eat in Tobago – updated every three months and has pertinent info.)

In High Season (Christmas time [Dec 15- Jan 3rd] or the two weeks after Carnival) Always prearrange your accomodations and rentals from Trinidad … if you don’t, you will probably not have availability or you will be charged a king’s ransom – either way, not a great start to a trip.

We couldn’t find a taxi, so I went up to a guard, asked him where to find a taxi, he directed me to another guard booth. She said there was none, but then asked a friend who with her liming to give us a lift to our homestay. Of course, he couldn’t do it immediately as he was looking in the parking lot for his keys to his house (seriously!) … so now it is the three of us (female guard, her friend, and me) looking through an empty parking lot for a bunch of keys. After we found the keys, the friend gave us a lift to the hotel … no cash, compliments of the car keys

After getting to the hotel, it was late – hence dinner and drinks – however trying to find an open bar on Christmas night is next to impossible – but we were quite lucky to find a local bar that was serving.

In the morning, we collected our car and went off to Store Bay for a couple hours in the water. The other thing about Store Bay is that it is the collection point for tours to the Buccoo Reef, Nylon Pool and Coral Gardens. Driving into Store Bay, many guys will wave at you trying to sell you tours at different prices – there are only 4-6 boats that do the tours on any given day – twice daily (leaving between 11 and 11.30am or 2 and 2.30pm).

The tours consist of the following sequence of events:

Journey to the Buccoo Reef
Snorkel in the Coral Gardens
Swim in Nylon Pool – use the coral sand to exfoliate your skin
Stop off at No Mans’ Land for some BBQ and Rum Punch (optional and usually on a weekend, depends on weather, and depends on nice you are to the tour guides)

If you want to get a decent price – talk to a couple guys. They’ll give a piece of paper with their names and phone numbers and ask them their price (a good price is something between $50 and $70 TT ($8 – $11 USD)). All the boats are fairly do the same route, all have glass bottom sections and they all leave around the same time.

Once you’re set, then you’re off for breakfast at the Store Bay food sheds and then hit the beach and go on your tour. BTW – if you’re in Tobago, you have to do the tour – it’s completely worth it, just to bathe in the Nylon Pool.

Store Bay

Nylon Pool

No Mans’ Land

Store Bay | Buccoo Reef

View photos at SmugMug

Trinidad’s Pitch Lake with a side of Debe Doubles …

1 - All Trinidad Posts, 2010, Trinidad 4 Responses »

Dec 242010

It’s been about 20 years since I last went to the Pitch Lake in La Brea. One might ask why I haven’t been back to this geological phenomenon located right in my “backyard” in Trinidad in so long … well it’s simple really … it’s always been there and will always be there.

As for the facts

The Pitch Lake is the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world, located at La Brea in southwest Trinidad.
“Discovered” by Sir Walter Raleigh in the year 1595 … never mind the local people knew about it before time.
Can be used to pave roads … except that the roads leading the Pitch Lake are amongst the worst in Trinidad.

There are various legends associated with the lake. Local tribed believed that it was the wrath of their Gods that was inflicted on them after killing a Hummingbird – to punish them, the Gods sank their village into the pits of hell and what bubbles up are their spirits and remains.

Getting to the Pitch Lake is easy trip from Chaguanas, but when hunger strikes, it calls for a sidetrip to Debe – the capital of all things fried – Indo-Trinidadian style.

First on the menu was Saheenas. Look at them .. so sad … being trapped in their oily prisons … we had to release them … in our bellies

Next on the hit list was the various other friends and family of the Saheena

Aloo pies (Fried dough stuffed with seasoned potatoes, curried chick peas (Channa), mango pickles (Kutchela) and two types of mango chutneys)
Baiganie (Fried dough stuffed with strips of whole eggplant, curried chick peas (Channa), mango pickles (Kutchela) and hot sauce – like an eggplant fritter)
Multiple doubles … no explanation required

For those uninitiated in the Trini protocol of anything …

Nothing – Plain, boring and the mark of the utter tourist
Slight – a touch of pepper and sweet chutney – typical tourist order
Regular – Typical Trini order – a little bit of all chutneys and pepper sauce
Heavy/Plenty – Venturing into no man’s land, unless you the know “Doubles man” chutneys well and know that he doesn’t have a really hot pepper sauce.
Kill It – The mark of the expert white rum drinker aka Alcoholic (no more taste buds), the mark of the “Iron Stomach and Rectum” or a “Doubles man” with the hottest hot pepper sauce possible. The “Doubles man” will give you a slight nod of recognition.

Then it was time for a sweet or two …

Starting from the top

Above the glasscase (from the left)
- Rice cake : Rice Krispy squares with Cinnamon
- Jalebi : It is made by deep-frying batter in a kind of pretzel or circular shape, then soaked in syrup. Sometimes rosewater or lime juice is also drizzled over it.
First shelf of glasscase (from the left)
- Chocolate Barfi : Carmelized condensed milk, with sugar, chocolate and nuts
- Jam Cookies
- Kurma : Muslim sweet that has now become ubiquitous all year around in Trinidad
- Regular Barfi : Carmelized condensed milk, with sugar and sprinkles
Bottom shelf of glasscase (from the left)
- Coconut sugar cake: Carmelized condensed milk, with sugar, chocolate and nuts
- Almond Fudge
- Nut cake
- Some unknown thing at time …

So after our early lunch, it was on the Pitch Lake. A tour of the Pitch Lake can be as long or short as you want it. Our tour guide Jonnie was an affable fellow with a big toothless smile … well his first two teeth were missing … we assumed that it was to pay the pimp of the lake. However, he took his time and showed us all around and took us on the paths safely.

So the first pass around is to see the machinery used to harvest the Pitch from the lake. The story is that the labourers would have to fill 24 of these trolleys in a given day for the work to be completed.

After the trolley was filled, it would hauled up to the refinery to be processed. Again was a semi-manual process with hitches having to be attached to each trolley.

The top layer of the lake looks like an old parking lot. However, unlike any regular parking lot, the surface yields very easily. On hot days, it can be quite unsafe to walk on certain areas and of course driving on the top is forbidden, as a car or even a cow would sink into it fairly quickly.

The top layer of the lake is known as the skin. It can be easily peeled off and is quite dry and flaky.

The tar is also over 350 feet deep at the center of the lake, which is shaped like an inverted cone. The Trinidad Geological Society has a nice amateur rending of what it looks like.

So continuing on, we went to the most famous part of the Pitch Lake. As well as regular tar, there are also lighter distillates visible on the surface of this waterhole, as well as the soft creamy colored substance at the bottom of the hole, which is known at the “Mother of the Lake”.

After walking around the rest of the lake, then it was time to wade through the sulfurous waters in and around the lake. The gas action and methane bubbling through the lake is always evident.

The waters themselves are quite clean and are supposed to be very good for the skin.

And of course, you can pick up a water lily or two.

And you can always grab a 6 pack of Carib, park your car and head back into the pools for a relaxing bath.

Pitch Lake and Debe Doubles

View photos at SmugMug

Tadjah night hunting in St. James

1 - All Trinidad Posts, 2 - All Tobago Posts, 2010, Trinidad 3 Responses »

Dec 182010

This is the reaction I got tonight from the folks at home (note Trini English)…

<Dad> Where are you out to tonight?
<Me> Hosay
<Dad> Huh? Yuh mean in St. James? But it not safe down there … it have so much crime there
<Me> I’ll be fine …
<Dad> Who yuh meeting?
<Me> People ….

Anyway for years I’ve heard about Hosay in St. James, but it was one of those things you learnt about in your Social Studies class, but no one I knew ever went to Hosay, especially as it was in “North”.

In a nutshell, Hosay is observed with a parade full of colorful tadjahs in commemoration of the martyrdom of Hussain (Hussein), the grandson of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, in the year 680 AD. There are 5 families in St. James that each make their own tadjah in their own idiosyncratic style.

Hosay parades take place in two Shiite communities in Trinidad: St. James, in the western section of Port-of-Spain, and Cedros, in the South. The colorful procession in St. James is the largest (five tadjahs) and draws thousands of spectators of all religions every year. The Shiites of St. James spend a considerable amount of time and money in the building of miniature temples (tadjahs, taziyas, hosays, mausoleums) with bamboo, wood, paper, and tinsel to depict the tomb of Hussain.

These tadjahs range in height from 10 to 30 feet and are hauled through the streets on parade days accompanied by the beating of drums (tassas) and two standards in the shape of half-moons, each carried separately on the shoulder of one man at a time. The half-moons (one red and one green) symbolize the deaths of both Hussain and his brother Hassan; red for the blood of Hussain that was shed at Karbala and green for the poisoning of Hassan, 11 years earlier. The drums and flags are symbolic of those used in wars in the 7^th century. (I’ve lifted the history and account can read from Best of Trinidad)

So back to the hunt, so armed with knowledge for our local expert Anisa, we went walking through St. James for all the other Tadjahs. Some tadjahs were already locked up behind bars, but with Anisa’s help, we were able to stroll around and walk into people’s yards to take pictures.

Anisa also explained the family history and the order of the tadjahs in the parades. It’s based on longevity as follows:

Panchayatee (Bay Road) Hosay – belonging to the entire Shiite community and located on Mathura Street (previously on Bay Road)
Ghulam Hussein Hosay – named after one of the local icons of Hosay and located on Western Main Road
Cocorite Hosay – belonging to the community of Cocorite at the western end of St. James
Balma Hosay – belonging to the Emamali family and located on Clarence Street;
Bisnath Hosay – belonging to the Bisnath family and located on Bournes Road.

Definitely enlightening to find out the process, the number of volunteers and the overall cost to upkeep this tradition. Each family raises money to build their particular Hosay – which is no mean feat in itself.