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Our first full day in Trinidad. We got into Port of Spain just after midnight, following a long flight with lots of turbulence. We saw some amazing lightning pretty close. We were exhausted from all the travel, so we crashed at our hotel near the airport. This morning at 9, our guide Emille picked us up and we set out for Asa Wright.
The Americans built the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway back in WWII when we had an airbase here. So far it seems to be the last good road between Port of Spain and Asa Wright. The nature centre is located up in the mountains on a very narrow little road that is mostly paved and mostly potholed. There's a huge quarry in the mountainside, so the big trucks tear the road up. After a narrow and tortuous hour of riding, honking the horn while approaching every blind curve, we got to our destination.
Asa Wright Nature Centre is wonderful. It's a throwback to the colonial era, originally owned by a German but sold by him before it could be seized during WWI. The land was a cocoa plantation when Asa Wright and her husband bought it. They originally tried to keep the plantation running, but her husband died and Asa decided to turn it into a nature preserve. And she did a wonderful job.
The main house has a huge veranda were birds all but fly up and shake your hand. I've posted a lot of pictures at our trip Tumblr using my creaky netbook and the centre's creaky wireless. (I'm just grateful there's any internet at all!)
The cuisine here is heavily influenced by Indian cuisine, so the kitchen smells of curry. We had a lovely lunch that included pumpkin fritters, which OMG I have to learn how to make those. There was serve-yourself tea at 4 on the veranda, complimentary rum punch at 6 on the veranda, and dinner at 7. In between times, we hiked a couple of trails and spent a lot of time chatting with all the nature guides on the veranda.
Mom and I saw about 20 life-list birds today, including several species of hummingbird and the amazing and entertaining Crested Oropendula. We saw agoutis and some very large lizards, and I was horrified by one very large spider, fortunately far away from our cottage. A baby fer de lance was spotted by guides this afternoon, but we were nowhere near it.
I am just waiting for the internet to load all my stuff to Tumblr so I can crash. I am exhausted in the best way possible. :D
The Americans built the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway back in WWII when we had an airbase here. So far it seems to be the last good road between Port of Spain and Asa Wright. The nature centre is located up in the mountains on a very narrow little road that is mostly paved and mostly potholed. There's a huge quarry in the mountainside, so the big trucks tear the road up. After a narrow and tortuous hour of riding, honking the horn while approaching every blind curve, we got to our destination.
Asa Wright Nature Centre is wonderful. It's a throwback to the colonial era, originally owned by a German but sold by him before it could be seized during WWI. The land was a cocoa plantation when Asa Wright and her husband bought it. They originally tried to keep the plantation running, but her husband died and Asa decided to turn it into a nature preserve. And she did a wonderful job.
The main house has a huge veranda were birds all but fly up and shake your hand. I've posted a lot of pictures at our trip Tumblr using my creaky netbook and the centre's creaky wireless. (I'm just grateful there's any internet at all!)
The cuisine here is heavily influenced by Indian cuisine, so the kitchen smells of curry. We had a lovely lunch that included pumpkin fritters, which OMG I have to learn how to make those. There was serve-yourself tea at 4 on the veranda, complimentary rum punch at 6 on the veranda, and dinner at 7. In between times, we hiked a couple of trails and spent a lot of time chatting with all the nature guides on the veranda.
Mom and I saw about 20 life-list birds today, including several species of hummingbird and the amazing and entertaining Crested Oropendula. We saw agoutis and some very large lizards, and I was horrified by one very large spider, fortunately far away from our cottage. A baby fer de lance was spotted by guides this afternoon, but we were nowhere near it.
I am just waiting for the internet to load all my stuff to Tumblr so I can crash. I am exhausted in the best way possible. :D
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