The nature of Trinidad

It is the rainy season in Trinidad  -- a time that runs from about February to September or October. This means it rains nearly every day, typically a late morning or afternoon shower that appears from the sunshine nearly as fast as it disappears a few minutes later. It has kept the temperature cool and brings down the humidity every once in a while. The rainy season also mean the ocean is very rough. Unfortunately this did not allow us from boating to Madamos Beach during the week, but in its stead we’ll be walking to the waterfall up the river.

Interestingly enough, I’ve seen much less wildlife than I was expecting. There are quite a few insects (the mosquitos love our legs) but very little in the form of wild animals. After a few days of pondering how a "deer" (by our standards) could be traveling through the mountainous jungle, we found out that a deer to them is what we would call a goat. It is quite often that we see birds flying about and dogs roaming the street, but we have yet to see anything in the jungle, especially the coveted sight of a monkey. One dog in particular likes to relax on the guest house door step – he goes by Henry, among other names.

One of the most wonderful experiences throughout the week is seeing and learning about the sheer number of fruit, nut, and spice trees that naturally grow in and around the town. I had at least three different kinds of oranges (Cocoa Orange, King Orange, Portugal, etc...), a Mammy Apple, a Pomerac, Mangoes galore, and countless others.