As well as exploring Trinidad’s capital, Port of Spain, by day, our itinerary also included ‘An After Dark Tour’.
We began in the area of Belmont at the panyard of the Phoenix Steel Orchestra. The day before we’d heard them practicing for the carnival’s national Panorama competition and having been entranced by their music and sheer joie de vivre, we hoped to hear them again. Unfortunately, they were engaged in the more mundane, but equally important task, of painting the stands which hold the drums. However, this gave us the opportunity to learn about the history of the steel pans, how they are made, their cost, and longevity, which can be up to 20 years if played by the same person.
Thoughts turned to eating and an area with several street food stalls near the National Academy for Performing Arts. There were stalls selling corn soup, souse where things like chicken feet are pickled, cow heel soup, jerk chicken and Trini doubles. At a stall imaginatively called Tail Enders, we tried both BBQd pig tail and regular pork meat and then shared a box of delicious meat on a fig salad (fig is a banana in Trinidad). It was then on to Mr Fresh with his 100% juices from both familiar fruits and one’s we’d not come across before like barbadine, soursop and seamoss.
We headed downtown and drove to the panyard of the Massy Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra for a spot of ‘liming’ which means hanging out, socialising, or relaxing with friends, usually in public places. Unfortunately, on the left-hand side of the yard, a wake was taking place, but a friendly guy opened up the bar on the right, and we tried our first Angostura White Oak rum (40%) with a fabulous mixer of Angostura Chill Lemon Lime and Bitters known as LLB.
A screen then showed the All Stars in action at various competitions including the National panorama, a title they have won 11 times, only being beaten by the Renegades and Desperadoes. The costumes were fabulous and there was also the appearance of the Blue Devil, a prominent and traditional Carnival character, known for its blue paint, energetic dancing, and roots in the history of the island’s sugar estates.
Our night finished with a drive down Ariapita Street, a strip boasting every conceivable type of restaurant and nightlife which satisfies both barhopping locals and tourists. Music boomed out and people simply drank and ‘limed’. Having left the Woodbrook area we headed into St James where at a small roadside cart, I tried sorrel ice cream made from dried hibiscus flowers, and particularly associated with Christmas in Trinidad.
It was a pleasant way to end our evening which had shown us a little of Trini nightlife.
See also:
Port of Spain – Sightseeing in Belmont
Port of Spain – Sightseeing around The Queen’s Park Savannah
Port of Spain – Sightseeing Downtown
Port of Spain – Sightseeing in Woodbrook
The Prince of Port of Spain – Brian Lara
Port of Spain – Fort George
