Paria Springs Trinidad and Tobago Eco Adventure Tours

Weekly Mountain Bike

Every Tuesday and Thursday a group of friends of Wayne's and mine ride various trails around Chaguaramas each week.  Well I join when I can, which is when I am not on tour.  These are a couple shot of the laddies riding with me.

Limping having PC fun with Cheese and Scab

Hi All,

Last week I had the privilege and fun of hosting 4 adventure writers; Rob Story of Bike Magazine, Tom Bie of Canoe and Kayak, James Dziezynski of Women's Adventures and Shannon Schiner of Cheryl Andrews Marketing. Assisting me was my right hand Sheldon, Dane and Wayne Filmalter the honorary Trini.  My purpose for the week was to show the writers a great time so they can tell all how great T&T is. 

The adventure started with mountain biking up some fairly tough single track, then hiking to Jacatan Waterfall in Grande Riverre.  One section of the trail is a tough climb on the bike.  On the first attempt no one makes it up, so a couple of us try and try again.  Eventually it ends up James and I doing it until we make it.  I did it on my third try, James almost made it - twice!  Then we hiked the waterfall which was very refreshing, at least for most of us; Tom and James spent all their time comically and unsuccessfully trying to catch crayfish.  Tom will do anything to catch fish, its an instictive reaction in him, which means that his brain does not always engage and that led to him entertaining us with mad snatches at crayfish.  Our way out was a fun and fast down hill, where braggin rights were gained a lost a couple times.   

The afternoon was spent kayaking on the new Cobra Quads I just bought.  Tom captained one boat and I the other, both towing fishing lines.  Tom concentrated on fishing while I concentrated on exploring what my new kayak could do and the coast itself.  On looking at Tom's boat it was noticed he seemed to be the smallest person there, so he was then rechistened "Chinee" since In Trinidad's wonderfully polically incorrect language anything short is Chinese, which we say as Chinee.  With James on the bow and Wayne right in front of me, we went up the coast battling wind, current and waves to a small secluded beach that gave me great ideas for a kayaking tour.  I was very pleased with the Quad's performance as it tracks very well, is stable yet quite fast. Heading back was far easier as the wind, waves and current was now behind us.  On returning we found out that Tom had caught and released a nice fish, so he was happy. 

That night after another fantastic meal at the Le Grande Almandier we looked at well over a dozen Leatherback Turtles nesting on the beach, allways a treat for me, and I have been seeing them since about 7 years old.  We got up at dawn where we counted another 20 of these massive dinosaurs still nesting on the beach; splendid.  I also noticed the track of a turtle hatchling that was quite dizzying in its spirals and zig zags.  I started to follow the track and soon found that Wayne and James had done the same and had actually found the feisty hatchling heading up the road, they were on a mission to release him next to the sea.

The day continued with a drive to Mt Harris, where we rode on paved and dirt roads and single track to Plum Mittan where we had a fantastic curry lunch.  Then it was onto the much anticipated Tamana Cave and its hundreds of thousands of bats!  On entering the cave Tom transformed to his true identity: BAT MAN!!!!!  So with the Masked Marauder in tow we entered the cave fill with his cousins.  Tamana was its usual variety of insects / guano / cockroach filled, smelly, batty yet exciting self.  All got through the squeeze hole intact and investigated the further reaches of the caves system.

When we got out the cave a stream of bats was already flowing out the cave so we joined in.  This event is one of nature's spine tingling moments where we have the chance to study the nuances and magnitude of nature.  We all had a great time.

That night we retreated to the Pax Guest House for a lovely meal and the warmth of Gerard and Oda, our hosts.  A surreal experience after the cave.  After beakfast at the Pax we headed off in different directions.  Tom went to Chaguaramas to go kayaking in the Gulf of Paria with some adventurer buddies Phillip Fung and Chris Kelshall, while Shannon headed to relax and do some errands, as James, Rob, Wayne and I departed on our biggest mountain biking adventure.

The mountain biking trail starts in Cuarita on the leeward side of the Northern Range at about 1000 feet elevation with brilliant views of the valleys below us.  The trail is a fantastic cross country trail slicing the Northern Range in half and has a long history starting with the Carib Amerindians, then the Conquistadors and on to farmers and hunters until it was abandoned in the 70's.  The mountain biking community both local and foreign have been clearing the trail for about 4 years now.  It took us three years to fully clear it as it probably had about 200 trees across it initially; now we maintain the trail with about 20 trees down by wind and rain each year, of course there is constant re-growth; the rain forest is constantly changing.

We start with a climb on jeep trail and after 15 minutes we hit the single track we have been aiming for.  Its fun as we pick up speed, but initially there is a wooo factor as the right side of the trial is often a steep cliff.  Soon we enter old growth rainforest and the trail is littered with leaves, sticks, roots and times rocks.  We motor on and arrive at the pass called the Rest Hut, which used to have a hut but only the name remains now.  Form here we are in sight of our destination; Las Cuevas Beach, but are only quarter way there.  We relax, refuel and motor onto the windward and more rugged side of the range.  The trail now redefines single track as it closes in and at times its difficult to see the trail, so its now technical when you ride it fast because you never know whats coming at you, which makes it ass kickin, adrenalin pumpin fun.  Difficulty is then boosted up a notch by a proper tropical down pour, Trinis call it 'bucket-a-drop'!  The down hill is followed by Tarzan impressions (we needed Bat Man here) and a tough bike/hike climb, which is followed by a sweet downhill of serious root / rock infested switch backs.  Kind of like Bob Marley: Roots, Rock, Reggae! ;-)  I can be corny at times.

The ride is tough and fun as we storm headlong through the dense rainforests amazing at its wonders.  Eventually we meet up with the section that we have not recently cleared and our progress slows a bit as we navigate around fallen trees.  Then it happens: we are carrying our bikes over an old landslide, on the way down my foot slips then jams in a rock twisting my ankle hard.  So we stop and I elevate my ankle and put a cold pack on it to stop swelling.  After a bit we motor on with me riding and the guys carrying my bike over obstacles as I cannot lift my bike.  Determination, bad mind and desire to GET OUT combines to make me bomb the down hills, I even leave out James who has been close on my tail for the most of the ride.  Rob and I wait for Wayne and James and after a bit the feeling is that something is up.  James comes around the corner and his leg is covered with blood.  He said he had done a sweet endo and left some skin and scab in the brake levers.  I now have a permanent sample of his DNA in the brake levers.  We cleaned his leg up as best we could and motored on.  Of course we had some tough hills yet to climb which we pushed over and got the just reward of the descent.  Somewhere in there I heard a loud shout from Rob who reported that his front tyre decided to change direction without his implicit approval, so he tasted some Northern Range dirt; yumm.  In the end we made it out in one piece and big smiles all round.  Back at the buss we cleaned up and traded war stories over some beer supplied by the vivacous Shannon.

Our journey continued onto Brasso Seco, a village situated in the heart of the Northern Range surrounded by dense rain forests.  In the rum shop we meet my long time friend, Cristo, who immediately give me my new Chinese name - wait for it - Limping!  With my new name in tow we headed up to our night's abode and some bottles of rum.  There we met Tom the Bat Man, who now had turned a discernable shade of pink, so he now became the "Pink Chinee"; the evening's entertainment had begun.  In the spirit of naming we decide that James is now "Scab" because of his wonderful gash.  Cristo is the Shaman of Trinidad's Carib Community and a Parangdero.  Parang is a unique form of music for in Trinidad that is a mixture of Spanish Catholic and Amerindian culture coming here through Venezuela.  A Parangdero is someone who plays in a Parang Band, Cristo is the lead singer of a band made up of family and friends who regaled with stories, laughter and music over a bottle of rum.  Some where in here one of Rob's toe nails descides it had enough and departs fo good; hmmm! 

The night's slumber passed quickly and after a local breakfast we headed for the airport and onto Tobago.  Soon Rob was in his most beloved past time other than riding; sleeping, that man could sleep on a fence or in a rat hole.   Wayne, Sheldon and Dane separated from the marauding crew at the airport and we took the flight to Tobago, soon we were headed to the Buccoo Reef for snorkeling.  We met up with Derek and his crew at Undersea Tobago, geared up, got on the boat and headed to our first dive site; Buccoo Reef. 

Buccoo Reef is Tobago's largest Barrier reef and offers wonderful snorkeling.  We all got in and immediately were treated to many reef delights like damselfish, and I had a brief glimpse of a queen angel.  Soon Rob reverted to his non mountain biking status of sleeping, fortunately he did this on the boat and not in the sea.  The waves were a bit choppy here so we headed over to Mt Irvine for a calmer snorkel. 

At the new location all jumped in, the others found an eel, while I found schools of squid for them.  Shannon chased to squid around while Tom sought something he could fish for.  I was the last in the water and on the way back to the boat I heard something plunk into the water next to me, I look up and all on the boat are grinning at me.  It seems that Rob has thrown a golf ball at me, this clearly demonstrates our general level of maturity, if fact many would question if there was any maturity at all.  As I am getting in the boat the Dive Master points out a large Stingray swimming right below me.  I drop back in and swam with the ray for about 10 minutes.  This of course made me think of Steve Irwin and how unlucky he was, swimming with the ray was far less dangerous than the insane stuff he did with massive crocs and deadly snakes.  To see a ray flying through the water is a magical experience. 

We drive across the island enjoying the views of the windward coast, except Rob who is sleeping for most of it; of course.  We arrive at Blue Waters Inn our abode for the night and Tom is not too enthusiastic to go kayaking as its later than we expect but the sight of gulls and frigate birds fishing in the bay gets his game face on and soon we are out there.  Now I have heard many times how great fly fishing is but until then I had never experienced it.  Tom is an obvious expert as he time and time again drops the fly 20 to 30 yards away right on top of where a mackerel has broke the surface chasing sardines.  Then I realize that he is actually a Fishing Bat, which is a real bat that uses highly eveolved echo location to catch fish swimming at the surface.  Its fun to watch him display such skill.  We had a great time chasing the fish but catch none, returning we get a great workout battling currents and riding waves.  We all trade stories over a wonderful dinner.

The next morning we have breakfast and chat about various things; there was a mention of cheese and an observation of the many goats that Tobago has, then Rob for some inexplicable reason gave his favorite chant of "Go Chiefs!" which harkens to his other addiction of American Football, which I have to separate from actual football (had to get that in).  However there was a lost in translation moment and we heard "Goat Cheese", so Rob Story has now been rechristened "Goat Cheese" :-)  Rob, James and I head to meet Sean de Freitas of Mountain Biking Tobago for a day of riding.  Of course I am just sticking to the down hills because my foot is fairly swollen and I am still limping.  We meet at the Arnos Vale Waterwheel, gear up and the guys ride out while I follow in the mini bus.  The ride is along mostly dirt road, first easy then they hit a tough climb.  At the top of the climb I gear up and join the crew for the descent of "Coke Kills", so named because it is fast and steep and the road which becomes the trail is called "Coker Trace".  The ride is fast, the scenery is of astoundingly Caribbean beauty and the switchbacks sweet.  We descend 1000 feet to a secluded beach where we relax and enjoy lunch.  My ankle is now so swollen that it is bulging over my shoe; so my riding is done for the day.  The guys spend the afternoon riding single track to a waterfall and I am sore for missing it.  Ah well.   

That night we link up with Shannon and the Pink Chinee the Fishing Bat Man (Tom) and head back to Trinidad to St James for Roti (a curry meal) and the sweet music of steel pan and jumping rhythms of a drumming section.  In the music and instruments we hear influences of Europe, Africa, India, America, Amerindians and more all gelling into a unique sound and experience that is the creation of Trinidad and Tobago's people.  It makes me proud to show this amazing gang of adventurous foreigners to our shores such a wonderful experience.  I then reflect on the week as a whole and I think of the cornucopia of sounds, smells, sweat, tastes, falls and laughter all I can think is WOW!!!!

The tally goes something like this:  25 miles of single track over 3500 feet elevation increase, 3 great hotels, 10 miles of ocean kayaking, at least 20 gallons of sweat each, 1 sprained ankle, 1 nasty gash, 1 lost toe nail, several nick names applied, hundreds of thousands of bats, thousands of cockroaches, 1 vine swung, lots of squid, fish, corals, 1 stingray, 1 fish caught and released, great music, great food, fun exciting people, many many hours of laughter, smiles, teasing and giggling all add up to a fantastic week.  Thanks all.

I want to say a huge thank you to Goat Cheese, Pink Chinee the Fishing Bat Man, and Scab for trusting in me and allowing me this wonderful opportunity to show them a great time.  Oh, and their help in pushing the bus on the last night :-)  A huge thank you to Wayne for all his assistance, and Wayne and Shannon as some of these photos are theirs.  Thank you, thank you thank you to Janelle  and Shannon for setting this up and helping me in many ways.  Thank you to Sheldon, Dane and the gang for their constant support and assistance, I'm lost without them.  Thanks to Chris and Phill for helping on the kayak, we have to make this a habit. 

Thanks to the Tourism Development Company for their excellent support and sponsorships and dealing with my criticisms.  Thanks to Le Grande Almandier, Pax Guest House and Blue Waters Inn for their sponsorships and always being there for me and for constantly putting up with my more often than not dirty, sweaty, grubby tourists tracking through their very clean accommodations.

For more information on tours in Trinidad and Tobago check www.pariasprings.com or email Courtenay at [email protected]