TRINIDAD & TOBAGO- 1 of 3

Have you ever visited or heard of Trinidad & Tobago? Many people know of their big Carnival celebration. Today we visited Tobago, and discovered that it is actually two islands (about 20 miles apart and 2-3 hours by boat) but one Country called the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago. It is the southernmost Country in the Carribean (the earliest settled more than 5,000 years ago). They became Independent in 1962 and became a unified Republic in 1976. The Country is only 9 miles from Venzuela, so of the 70,000 people that live here, 17,000 are Venezuelans. The size of Trinidad is 1800 sq miles and Tobago 120 sq miles.

We docked in Scarborough, the capital on the southwest coast of the island of Tobago. and proceed with our first rainforest of the trip and a visit to do the “Trek to Argyle Waterfall”. We had a minivan with driver and excellent tour guide drive us to the area beginning with what they called their downtown … very quaint. She was a teacher so we learned a lot about the education system and the schools which are part of the Caribbean school system as well as about the way of life in Tobago. In the 18th Century this was a British port (Colombus discovered it in 1498). It history is also Spanish and French controlled prior to British in1797. African, Indian and European influences are seen in the area as most of the population is a mix of African and Indian today.Lue lisää