Writing — Travel & Photography

Driving Through the Town of “Big Blood”

Road trip to Sangre Grande, Manzanilla Beach and Mayaro in Eastern Trinidad, Part 2

Yes, we did swim in that pool later on after arriving in Mayaro Beach and it was awesome. But first we had to get there. I already wrote about our rather unsettling drive through Manzanilla Beach, and so I’m happy to report that the rest of the trip went off much more smoothly.

The town of Sangre Grande

One thing that has always struck me about living on a Caribbean island is all the bright and vibrant colors of the houses and businesses — yellows, blues, greens and even bright pinks and purples. Such distinction and character.

Contrast this with the brilliant green of the surrounding savannahs, mangroves and jungle-like forests. Dotted here and there is a street vendor or two —people just trying to make an honest buck by selling a fish, a pineapple, a watermelon, a bottle of cold water, a bag of freshly picked corn or other such things. Everyone just trying to live and support themselves and their families.

There are a multitude of tiny villages along the countryside until getting into the bustling, larger town of Sangre Grande or big blood in English. A bit of conflicting information exists on how this town got such a strange name. Some reports have it that the name derives from the wars and slavery that were once rampant here in times long gone by.

Other reports say that the name derives from the rivers here, which are reddish like blood. There is a smaller town called Sangre Chiquito, or small blood. To me though, these rivers do not look that much like the color of blood, unless something has changed since the naming of these towns. This leads me to believe there may indeed be a bit of truth to the former story, but then who really knows. Just speculation.

In Trinidad there are a lot of houses that look like this one above. Hot salty air is known to pre-maturely age a house or building, and in rather strange looking ways, too. Plus, there are a lot of abandoned buildings and houses to be found, for one reason or another. For me, it just adds to the ambiance. Who wants everything to look all perfect, starchy and fake. This is real living!

Here is a little video of Sangre Grande, if you have a spare few minutes on your hands, you may notice in the video some of the very buildings I took photos of:

Later that day we hit Mayaro Beach, which I will save for another upcoming post. Bite-sized chunks are nice sometimes aren’t they?

Thanks for visiting!

Here is part 1 of this trip, part 3 to come along soon:

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