Caura River lime
Hi Folks,
You may recall from one of my
earlier post I hinted just how grand a festival a seemingly simple river lime
at Caura River turns out to be. Originating
out of the northern mountain range located along the east west corridor in El
Dorado – it has three main areas along the river for picnicking and spending
some good quality outdoor time with love ones; there are other areas, which are
more private and suited for smaller crowds also. The first location has a small waterfall,
which facilitate diving (for the
experience swimmers), a large car park, and lots of shade from the forest
and bamboo spools. The second has much
more river front area and a pool (not
suited for diving but is fairly deep, so do not venture if one cannot swim)
large car park and beautiful scenery. The
third location do not have any naturally formed pool but goes into the mountain
where there is some agriculture (“the
gardens”) but lots more privacy and simply nature all around with of course
the main attraction within all of Caura River is the ability to “buss a pot” (outdoor cooking).
Now the cultural aspect of the
Caura experience, has been that on a Monday is the busiest day. The reason being sole trader and business
owners (mechanics, tire shops, and the
likes) who work during a weekend would take the day off on Monday and go buss
a pot. This has evolved to now a large
festival every Monday at Caura so much so that sales men would visit Caura on Mondays
to ply their trade with these busy executives.
It was notice by the average Joe and party promoters, radio stations and
just about everyone so much so that it is what it is today.
Getting up early on Mondays is
dreaded for most around the world but not for those who are venturing to Caura;
arriving early to get the best location, gather firewood, and prep the meal is
all part of the fun. Of course, lots of
loud music, professional entertainers, party promoters, Carib girls, alcohol (every which kind you can possibly imagine)
and much more only add to creating a mini Carnival like experience. Warning
be sure to have a designated driver or call Uber to get you home, because the
police do not show leniency towards your plight to avoid a DYI.
Pool one. Source: trinioutdoors.com
Curry duck is the most popular
dish complimented with everything from blue food, gillabart (white) rice, chicken, wild meat and as farfetched
as soup, but do not bring KFC or pizza to Caura, that is sacrilegious. To me the most amazing part of the
experience is where perfect strangers, who would not even acknowledge each other
on a normal day, can be mistaken for family.
Asking someone for some ingredients borrow (everyone must forget at least one ingredient) is met with such pleasantness
so much so that the loaner would not even accept a “thank you”, they are most
willing to assist. Similarly, when
someone’s pot is finished cooking they are sharing with everyone around; and
persons are partaking as if they are at someone’s home, who invited them for a barbeque.
As you can notice, in closing, I did
not mentioned too much about the actual day of fun and the awesome feeling of
bathing in that cool river water, or the many nature walks and experiences to
be enjoy. Simply the cultural appeal of
which allures everyone to such a magical place is undeniable – great food, family,
friends, music, dancing, nature, the art of outdoor cooking its simply too much
to trade for a day of work on a Monday or any other day. So if you are ever in Trinidad, convince your
friends and family to skip work on Monday to go to Caura; I can guarantee you, it
would not require much effort on your part to convince them…
Never been to Caura but sounds like something i must try.
ReplyDeleteI myself have neven been to Caura, i heard people robb yew there.. so im a bit reluctant to visit
ReplyDeleteBe safe when swimming too
ReplyDeleteNothing like a good curry duck cooked on a fire side at caura for some strange reason food tastes better when it's cooked on stone or wood yummy
ReplyDelete