Steel Drums and Puncheon Rum: The Rest of Tobago

Our chariot for the tour

Me and my roommate Abby

Tobago from the boat

So Saturday was our day on our boat tour. After a bit of a drive, we arrived at the dock, boarded our glass bottom boat, named Sugar Lips, and began our adventure. Our first stop on the boat was at a shallow spot of Buccoo Reef. Through the glass bottom, we could see some of the 40+ different types of coral and a variety of marine life while the captain explained what we were seeing. Our second stop was a slightly deeper part of Buccoo Reef where we were supposed to snorkel. Unfortunately, our captain forgot to bring the snorkels and enough masks, so we had to take turns swimming with the masks. I still got to see the reef, but I was bummed that I didn't get to experience it to the extent offered by snorkeling. Next, we headed to the Nylon Pool, a shallow spot in the middle of Buccoo Reef. The pool was named by Princess Margaret who, when viewing it for her villa on the shore of Tobago, thought it resembled nylon. The pool is a popular spot for wading and swimming in Tobago, and many boats were anchored there, including one called Cool Runnings which was blasting all the best Soca hits of 2014. Our visit to the pool turned into a huge dance party, complete with great music, rum drinks, and beer. This was probably one of the best parts of the trip so far; you really can't beat partying on a sand bar in the middle of the ocean. Everyone was having such a great time dancing and singing, I don't think anyone wanted to leave. Unfortunately, we had to move on to the next part of the tour, a stop at No Man's Land. This part of the trip of the tour also proved to be a lot of fun. We enjoyed a barbecue and more drinks, music, and dancing as the final rays of sunlight waned away. When we returned back to the resort, the group dispersed. Some people headed to Store Bay beach, while others went to nap in preparation for our night out. Later that evening, we went to The Shade Nightclub, one of the most popular nightclubs in Tobago, which also happened to be within walking distance from our resort. We encountered many of the locals that we had met earlier that day at No Man's Land and had another great night dancing to a mix of Soca and popular US songs, but we decided to turn in early because we had another busy day ahead of us.

We began our day Sunday with a trip to the Tobago Cocoa Estate. At the estate, we were given a tour of the grounds and were informed about the many different types of plants that grow on the estate. One of these plants we saw was called the Mother-in-Law, which featured large black spikes strewn across its bark. I believe it was named for the pain and unpleasantness associated with encountering one (because I guess that's how most people feel about their Mother-In-Laws). I got to experience this unpleasantness later in the day. Most of the tour address the cocoa plant and its cultivation. We got to taste the pulp of a Cocoa pod, which is the part that is dried to make cocoa beans. I enjoyed the taste, but the texture reminded me of the texture of mucus, which was repulsive. After tasting the pulp, we got to see the process involved in using the pulp to create cocoa beans. Essentially, the pulp is dried in large shallow bins in direct sunlight. Workers push the pulp around the bin frequently to ensure complete and even drying, and the bin must get covered when it rains or the beans will be ruined. After this demonstration, we got to the best part of the tour: tasting the chocolate. The samples were pretty small, but the chocolate was so dark and rich and delicious. In retrospect, I really should have bought some, but at the time, I didn't want to spend 15 USD on a chocolate bar.

Argyle Falls

With the conclusion of the estate tour, we set off for Argyle Falls. Getting to the falls entailed a long, muddy hike through the woods, but it was worth it. The falls were so beautiful and evoked a strong feeling of peace; I would have been content sitting at the bottom of the falls all day. Then I learned about the trail up the hills to the top of the falls. The trail was steep and slightly dangerous, but many of us decided to give it a try anyway. The first part of the trail let out halfway up the waterfall, and the view was great, but the climb was tiring and many people decided to stop there. Nonetheless, some of my classmates and I decided to continue up the trail to the top of the falls. This part of the trail was even more perilous, but it was worth it. The view from the top of the falls was absolutely beautiful, and looking down on everyone below made me feel like I was on top of the world, or on top of Tobago at least. I wish I had taken my camera up there to capture the experience, but I was too afraid to drop or break it on the way up. A few of us sat up there until it was time to leave, and then we slowly made our way back down the trail. The climb down proved to be harder than the climb up, and many times I had to just reach out for anything to prevent myself from falling down the trail. This was when I had my encounter with the mother-in-law. In the clamber of my descent, I reached for yet another tree the prevent a tumble down the hill, and this time it happened to be that awful tree. I grabbed hard and immediately felt the pain of its thorns digging into my hands. I quickly withdrew my hand and found it full of long, needle-like thorns. Fortunately, it didn't hurt much to remove the thorns, but I'm pretty sure I still have a small fragment of one stuck in my hand. Aside from my encounter with the mother-in-law, I managed to finish my descent unscathed.

Once everyone made it safely back to the bus, we headed out for a late lunch/early dinner at Jemma's Seaview Kitchen and Treehouse Restaurant. Our meal consisted of salad, breadfruit pudding, macaroni pie, fried rice, veggies, plantains, corn fritters, and a choice of chicken or fish. Many of us hadn't eaten all day and the service was pretty slow, so when we finally got the food we devoured it quickly. It was all really good, and I left the restaurant feeling happily satiated. Once we returned to the resort, we spent the rest of the day swimming, hanging out, and enjoying our last few hours in Tobago before our early morning departure on Monday.
So that was the rest of my weekend in Tobago. The past few days haven't been incredibly eventful, and we have a huge test tomorrow that I need to study for, so I'm going to conclude my post here. Keep an eye out for my next post, which will hopefully be tomorrow or Friday. As always, thanks for reading.