Revisiting Trinidad, My Childhood Home

September 26, 2020

TRAVEL | TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

A nostalgic trip to the twin-island republic

As I stepped off the plane, I knew that I was home. I’d lived in Trinidad between the ages of 5 and 12, and hadn’t been back since my early 20s. Yet, something about the place still spoke to my heart.

Perhaps it was that my mother is Trinidadian, so even when we no longer lived on the island, the connection remained. Or maybe it was more visceral, in that I remembered many happy times during my schooldays. Whatever the reason, I was glad to be there.

First, a little history. Trinidad is the bigger part of the the twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, which has a population of about 1.4 million. It changed hands among European powers several times, eventually becoming part of the British West Indies. T&T, as it’s sometimes known, became independent in 1962. There are still descendants of the island’s First Peoples, the Tainos, alive today.

Beautiful Mountains

The first thing I noticed was the Northern Range, the backdrop to my time in Trinidad.

Those majestic mountains were visible from every home we’d lived in, and were a stunning contrast with the flatter (but by no means flat) topography of Barbados. I remembered attending camp up in the hills, and trudging through mud to see rivers and waterfalls. Happy days.

This time, there’d be no camping, as my 10-day trip included a four-day conference, but I was eager to explore and see what had changed.

As we drove around, some places looked smaller than I remembered. That’s typical when you return as an adult to somewhere you lived as a child. However, Port of Spain, the capital, was bigger and busier than I remembered, and now had skyscrapers.

When Does a Lime Become a Fete?

Overall, the energy of the place had remained the same. Trinidad is home to one of the best parties in the world, Carnival, which happens every February/March. It’s also the birthplace of the only brand new instrument of the 20th century, the steelpan.

And there’s a celebratory vibe. Two-three Trinis makes a lime (hanging out with friends is called “liming”), four or more and you’re heading for a fete (party). It’s a spirit I remember well from my mother’s card limes at home, and the fetes my parents attended.

Trinidad also provided a reminder that no two Caribbean islands are alike. After leaving the excessive humidity of Barbados, the climate there was cooler and drier, so although I was warm, I thankfully didn’t break a sweat for most of my 10-day trip.

Trinidad also has a diverse cultural mix. The descendants of enslaved Africans and indentured East Indians are the largest groups, but there are also people of Chinese and European (Portuguese, French and Spanish) descent, as well as the First Peoples. Plus there are mixes of all of the above. If people still used phone books, the surnames would reflect this variety.

As well as attending Carnival, there’s plenty to do in Trinidad. Some of my favorite activities on trips to the island include:

  • going to Maracas Bay, where the surrounding mountains give the clear water a greenish hue

  • visiting a panyard, and being amazed at the range of beautiful music professionals can wring from what’s essentially a steel oil drum

  • a trip to the Caroni Swamp, where the egrets and the national bird, the Scarlet Ibis, fly back to the trees at sunset, making them look like they’re covered in red and white flowers

  • attending plays — Trinidad has a vibrant cultural scene

An Explosion of Taste

That also has another benefit: food. I time traveled back to my youth to enjoy sweet shop delicacies like salt prunes, tamarind balls, bene sticks and more. And then there was the real food. Things I tried on the trip included:

  • Corn soup — I was dubious about this, but it turned out to be delicious, with a rich, full flavor. Shrimp wontons turned out to be the perfect accompaniment.

  • Callaloo — Callaloo is the first dish people think of when they think of Trinidadian food, and it’s one of the best. Made from the leaves of the dasheen bush and including a wide range of possible items (salt meat, pork etc), it works well with rice or on its own. I had a delicious vegetarian version — yummy!

  • Bake — The bake comes in two varieties and I had both. The healthier roast bake has consistency somewhere between a firm bread and a cake. The version I tried was flavored with coconut and went well with another Trinidadian staple, buljol (saltfish, tomatoes, onions and oil).

  • Bake and shark — But even tastier was bake and shark (or shark and bake), which I got at the best location on the island, Maracas Bay. This bake is fried. You could choose from the traditional shark, another fish or even cheese, topped by several of a buffet of fillings. Delish!

  • Chinese food — Another night saw us visit a Chinese food buffet. Trinidad has the best Chinese food I’ve ever tasted and although I couldn’t name everything on the menu, it certainly pleased the tastebuds.

  • Doubles — two pieces of fried dough, with chickpeas (channa) and a sauce. It’s not the most attractive dish but it’s tasty.

  • Roti — I couldn’t go to Trinidad without having a proper roti, essentially a chapatti stuffed with a spicy mix of foods like channa, potato, vegetables, and your meat or fish of choice. This one came from the food court in Trincity mall. The roti skin was light and the filling tasty — still the best in my book!

A Trawl Through the Malls

I’ve always said that you can get virtually anything you want in Barbados — and it’s true. So why do so many Bajans (another name for Barbadians) head to Miami, Canada or the UK for an annual shopping trip? It’s because although you can find everything you like, you might not want to pay the local price. Barbados has a high import duty and unless you are buying computer equipment (no tax imposed) then sheer economy dictates a trip abroad.

But as I discovered on my recent trip to Trinidad, you might not have to go that far afield to have a great shopping experience.

In 10 days on the island, I visited:

  • Long Circular Mall — a bit run down but with some excellent shops

  • Trincity Mall — everything you could want, and much bigger than it had been in my youth

  • The Falls at West Mall — an upmarket mall that wouldn’t be out of place in Miami, with higher prices (no doubt so shop owners could pay their rent)

  • Valpark — one of the earliest malls, now expanded (as a child a visit to Valpark meant adding to my library as it had a great bookstore)

  • and a mall on the outskirts of Chaguanas that I never caught the name of.

With an exchange rate at the time of TT$6 to US$1, doing the maths meant that some items turned out to be very economical. A breakfast meal of roast bake and buljol for two at the airport (and airports usually have higher prices) along with three bottles of mineral water cost approximately US$6 and other food prices compared well with many places in Barbados and elsewhere.

For shoes and clothing, I was astounded by the range of items, including many that were a better fit for both my personal style and my pocket than is usually the case in Bajan boutiques. Don’t get me wrong, not everything was cheap, but there seemed a wider selection of affordable items. Perhaps that’s because of the size of the market — a bigger consumer pool means economies of scale.

Going Back in Time

While I was on the island, I took the chance to revisit many haunts of my youth. These included:

  • My primary school, and the savannah across the road where we could find some of the aforementioned snacks

  • My secondary school next door, where seeing the grey/blue and white uniforms brought a wave of nostalgia

  • The areas where we lived, including my grandparents’ former home in Arima (and the nearby savannah where I flew my first kite, made with my grandfather out of brown paper and string one Easter weekend)

  • The childhood home of my oldest friend, whom I’ve known since we were 8. While she now lives in the US, I caught up with her mother and sister, and once again occupied the spaces where we all used to play together.

By the end of the 10-day trip, I’d renewed my acquaintance with my childhood home, and my love for the country was undimmed. I look forward to my next visit to Trinidad.

© Sharon Hurley Hall, 2020.

Sharon Hurley Hall is an anti-racism writer, a professional B2B writer and blogger, and co-host of The Introvert Sisters podcast. This is a significantly updated and expanded version of a story originally published on Barbados Caribbean Travel.