Commuter Birds and Indian Arrival Day

We started our last morning with a final visit to the beach, which was well rewarded.   They’d found a nest of turtles that had hatched during the previous day, and had gathered them to release into the water when the dogs and birds weren’t around.  We got to help release one and it was so cute!  I know its odds aren’t good but I’m still rooting for it.  We also saw a few final nesting females.

Baby Turtle!

 

The day was a national holiday in T&T, but for a different reason. While Americans observed Memorial Day, Trinis celebrated “Indian Arrival Day”.  After slavery was abolished, they brought indentured servants from India (thank you, British Commonwealth) and many stayed, creating a delightful fusion in food and music (one popular genre here is called “chutney”).   I half expected to see Bollywood-style dancing in the streets, but ‘twas not to be.  We celebrated by driving to a popular Roti place for lunch.  Roti here is like a ginormous fresh tortilla, filled with all sorts of spicy goodness.  Again we faced the embarrassing questions where we couldn’t quite understand what they were saying, and even if we did, had no idea how to answer.  So we
said “yes” as they scooped in meats, veggies, potatoes, chickpeas, etc.—I now suspect tamarind sauce may have been involved.  It was interesting to watch the women make the rotis, but the place was sweltering so we got it to go and ate at our final accommodations:  Pax Guesthouse.  On the grounds of a monastery, it was an oasis of calm high on the mountainside and you felt like you were stepping back in time with the historic architecture and antique décor.

So delicious!

With full stomachs and a free afternoon before our next adventure, we went in search of some Indian temples mentioned in the guidebook.  For a small country with relatively few roads we still got turned around, but eventually found one of them which boasted a giant statue of Hanuman, and what appeared to be the evidence of a big party the previous night.

 Our big adventure for the day was the Caroni Swamp at dusk.  I was squeamish that we’d be hiking through snake-infested areas, but was relieved that we were in shallow boats instead.  Turns out the birding world here is quite small, as we ran into the same chap we’d had lunch with at the Nature Center a few days before and were on the same boat.  Our guide steered the boat through channels cut in the mangroves to access some small islands in the lagoon, pointing out wildlife along the way (thankfully, the only snake we saw was asleep high up in a tree).  Out in the lagoon, we saw them:  the scarlet ibus, national bird of Trinidad, coming in to roost for the night.  These birds commute to Venezuela daily.  OK, turns out it’s only about 15 miles away, but that’s still crazy to think about as a daily commute!  It was so relaxing to sit there and watch flashes of scarlet bobbing along the sky in various formations to land in the branches.

Through the mangroves to the lagoon

Commuter birds!

We returned to Pax in time for a candlelit dinner on the balcony, and were joined by some college students on a research trip.  Turns out the candles were part ambiance, part power outage (didn’t last too long, though).  Best Indian Arrival Day ever.