Nothing beats a Mayaro Road Trip :) Part I

Radix Village in Mayaro is a quiet beautiful beach community located on the south-eastern side of Trinidad facing the Atlantic Ocean. It is a small, close knit village and it is the spot where my mother and her siblings spent their summer holidays when they were growing up.  The actual county of Mayaro is much larger and encompasses many villages along the coast and inland such as Plaisance, Ortorie and Grand Lagoon. Last weekend, my mother, uncle and myself decided to take a road trip to Mayaro and ohh what a lovely weekend it was. I cannot wait to go back! ❤

We began our journey at about 11:30 am. The first stop was an essential stop for any Trini, we needed to get some doubles in Sangre Grande. My order, the same as it always is, a Big Red and one Doubles with no pepper, plenty sweet sauce. Now, if you ever come to  Trinidad and Tobago, you must, and I repeat, you must stop at the side of the road and have a Doubles. But of course, let a local tell you which one to stop by or better yet, make sure and by doubles where there is a long of patrons, if it has a lineup, it is worth the wait. 

After this late breakfast, we were on our way again and by 1 pm we were driving “Under the Coconuts”. Now this is one of my favorite parts of the journey especially on a sunny day like we had on Saturday. The hundreds of coconut trees line the road as we drive through, a symbol to me that you are leaving town and “going country” as they say in Jamaica 😎 Of course, back in the day there were many more coconut trees lining this route than there are at present, but to me it still is a sight to behold. This is surely something that you will not see in Port of Spain or San Fernando, this is a country thing. The coconut trees swaying the breeze on your left and right and the blue skies and white puffy clouds welcome you to the countryside.

As we headed to Ortorie, which is one of the villages before Radix, my mother was telling me about a house at the side of the road with a “fake” snake wrapped around a tree at the front. This being an impromptu Road Trip as I callled it, I said that we had to stop.

When we arrived at the house, I was able to speak to a guy sitting outside. He stated that yes it was a fake snake on the house but that it was just some decoration and that he did tours to the Nariva Swamp with an access point at the river next to his home at a cost of TT $200. Tours? Who knew? I took his contact info and promised to return for a tour sometime in the future. However, while he was talking I couldn’t help but be distracted by the plethora of fiddler crabs scurrying around in his yard 😮 . I had never seen such a site before! Who has so many crabs in their yard? It was all so surprising to me and made for a very unusual and memorable stop.

Our next stop is a stop that I make every time I head to Mayaro. The point at which the Nariva River meets the sea This location is extrememely popular on holiday weekends in Trinidad and TObago and often times hundreds of people descend here with their tents and food and cars and music, but today it was quiet, serene, peaceful.

Also, check out this wonderful drone video at this same location by Iere Eye Aerial Photography on You Tube.

 

As we continued driving through the coconuts, we finally arrived at the Book Junkie, a beautiful bookstore a stone’s throw away from the beach and alongside the road. I first heard about this after a viral post on Facebook, however, this was the first time I saw it open. This Bookstore is run by Angelo Ishmael and there are books of all genres crime drama, fantasy, biographies, historical, just to name a few. I ended up buying the book War Dogs which was actually made into a Hollywood Film in 2016 and also the Mitch Albom book For One More Day for only $20 for both (I had read Mitch Albom’s book The Five People you meet in Heaven already and loved it). Okay okay, it was my mom who paid for it but I chose it so…technically I bought it because her money is my money right?

The view from the bookstore was truly lovely and the beach behind was priceless. Mr.  Ishmael was a kind, friendly person who clearly loved books, the beach and Mayaro. He kept saying look at the view! It really was a priceless view from inside the quaint little bookstore. He is open on Holidays and on Weekends and if you have any extra books on your bookshelf and want him to have them, feel free to drop them off and if you are looking for a new book, how about you take a drive to Mayaro and stop at his bookstore 😀

The BOok Junkie Book Shop was our last stop before we headed into Ortorie and what a time we had there. Stay tuned, I will post soon Part II of our Mayaro Road Trip ⭐

Much Love

Celly