Tuesday 12th October World Heritage Site Trinidad Pitch Lake

   
     Well I have been remiss, partly because the blog site says there have been no visits recently I just wonder who reads the blog.  At least one person who emailed me some home news wondered why there was a lull.  Today I have been shopping and almost drowned in the torrential downpour of Tropical Rain and uploaded the October folder of photos to Picasa, Now to tell of the trip we took to the World Heritage site here in Trinidad (except I can no longer find it listed on the website for World Heritage sites!)
  We set off once again with the intrepid explorer and man about town ‘Jesse’ and the rest of the travellers.  A short drive out to La Brea the village perched on the old shores of the lake.  La Brea actually means Pitch Lake in Spanish since it was they who first discovered it. Sir Francis Drake and other seafaring visitors also stopped by to re caulk their galleons.  Thank goodness we have antifouling to prevent the re-homing of marine animals.  Many of the wooden hulled ships in those days sank due to ships worms eating through the hull rather than by cannon fire during a war.
     It had almost stopped raining when we set off along a short path out onto the Pitch Lake, so I carried my rain coat.  Our guide filled the hike with many facts about the vegetation and geology of the area.  The plant we call ’The Sensitive Plant’ grows wild here and she demonstrated with her umbrella how the leaves fold when touched.  The Pitch Lake lies above the sandstone which is part of the geology of great oil deposits in the area.  The surface is sufficiently solid to support a tractor and JCB which the Asphalt company use to ’mine’ the deposits.  Underneath the surface it becomes more plastic until there is a point at which it becomes liquid and very dangerous.  Before the advent of guides visitors had been known to ’drown’ in the lake.  As you will notice in the picture she managed to find an area where the pitch was bubbling up to the surface and she demonstrated just how liquid it was.  After mining an area to reach the liquid layer that place is left to rest and recover.  As the top is taken away so more rises to take its place.  Once in a while an artefact , tree or bone comes to the surface which may have fallen into the lake thousands of years ago. 
     We hike back to the visitors centre and have a quick look at the interpretive centre but only just have time for a quick look.  Most people (including Jesse) are hungry for lunch so we stop at a café and have ‘Rostis’ or curry in a wrap if you haven’t tried them at home.  Jesse also bought the drinks and a ‘Cutter’ of Beef.  This being the name of a plate of spiced cubes of beef to nibble as an appetizer.  As usual it was all very tasty.
  After lunch we drove back along the southern most road to see the huge industrial areas where crude oil & Gas are stored,  chemical plant where Nitrogen and other such are produced.  We stopped next at a Hindu temple and again at another newer temple which had a large statue of Hanuman a Hindu Deity.  The usual quiz on what we had remembered came as we were almost home and today I tried a delicious pineapple ice cream.

Just to keep you up to date with the ongoing work:
After a week of waiting for good to arrive from America we were inundated with workmen yesterday 17th.  Nathan was back to sand the cockpit now that the caulking has dried, so there is a fine layer of teak dust everywhere (yet to be cleaned)
  The domestic batteries have been fitted but the engine batteries are still to arrive and much re-wiring has been done to remove the now surplus lines.  The electrician was most impressed with the condition of the wires.  We were expecting to have them replaced due to age but he said it was not necessary!  We have the seats back for the saloon but are awaiting the final items seatbacks and mast cover before I show you a picture.
  Today our American Visas arrived- phew so now we can sail into American waters and they can't impound our boat! and we get to visit any American Islands (and the mainland) any time we like.
  Our friends Julie & Terry aboard ‘Mervyn’ have left for Grenada and Willie & Mark ‘Liahona’ have gone too. Having said that there are new people at all the ‘Potluck’ events we go to so plenty of book and DVD swaps to while away the idle moments—if we get any!