Americas

[Visited: July 2001]

The North coast of Trinidad has some attractive beaches in its abundant tropical vegetation. Some of these are readily accessible, but some require a bit of walking to reach them. There is a 30km. stretch of coast where no road has been constructed yet. It is this stretch which deserves some exploration. So we set off one morning from Blanchisseuse, a small village on the coast where the road ends, and walked along a dirt road that followed the coast.
Soon, we crossed the spectacular Silver Suspension bridge, over 100 years old, moving like a snake under the weight of the few cars passing it. The dirt road turned to a genuine hiking trail after some time, which made the sensation of walking in the jungle even more intense. Dense vegetation all around us, birds singing and shrieking, fruit falling directly from their trees (we ate a lot of mangoes like this), and various shades of green all around us.
And then, after less than 2 hours of walking, the canopy opened itself before us, and we ended up on the deserted beach of Paria Bay. The beach was full of traces of leatherback turtles, this was, after all, the season in which they lay their eggs. After some trouble finding the right way, we ended up at a waterfall with a deep natural swimming pool with cold water. Very welcome after the sweaty walking we did. We relived the pleasures of this hike again on our way back to Blanchisseuse.

Around the World in 80 Clicks

Personal travel impressions both in words and images from Paria Bay (Trinidad & Tobago). Clicking on the pictures enlarges them and enables you to send the picture as a free e-card or download it for personal use, for instance, on your weblog. Or click on the map above to visit more places close to Paria Bay.
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