A FULL DAY IN TRINIDAD

We're en route to the Guianas (Guyana, Suriname and, hopefully, French Guiana), but one easy way is via Port of Spain.

Our hotel is very colourful...

including in our room...
 

and the breakfast room

 

After arriving lastt night, we're luckily jetlag-awake when the receptionist knocks on our door at 6am to ask if we have a red car - if so, we need to move it asap as it is parked on the wrong side of the road (where we'd parked it at the hotel's direction last night - what they failed to tell us was that 'the legal side of the road' changes each morning!)

                          

After breakfast, set off a few km to Fort George, to enjoy great city views. 

Next, we follow the road northwards to the Tucker valley , seeing this fine chap

and, via the 'Bamboo cathedral'

to Macqueripe beach 

The path down to the beach is busy with wildlife

Talking of birds, we're due at the Caroni river bird sanctuary (south of PoS) mid-afternoon but we get back just in time for the mother of all rainstorms, which quickly swamps the road and causes chaos with the roads

It's not looking good when we set off 2.45 and we nearly give up but we pull up to see an almost-full boat just leaving. Hurrah!  Money changes hands for our 2 and a half hours on a river-boat.  Firstly, it's through mangrove swamps - birds, snakes, caiman, mudskipper fishes...

 

and then we reach a green, green island to which flocks of scarlet ibis (national bird of T&T) return from their feeding sessions across the water in Venezuela

 

Tomorrow, to Georgetown, Guyana