The second part of our tour takes us further south in Chaguanas to the Dattatreya Temple compound and the largest Hanuman Murti outside of India. On the way, we stop for a few minutes outside another little used, but still pink and picturesque, temple for some background on the Indian and Hindu religious history.
Trinidad today is 35% Christian, 30% Hindu and about 10% Muslim. Everyone tends to respect each others’ religion, without much strife between them, going so far as to celebrate every holiday regardless of your religion. The Religious schools operate in the same fashion, admitting anyone, not simply whatever religion the institution practices. But, this wasn’t always the case. Under British rule, while the Indians were considered “free” and told they could practice their religion, they every time they built a temple, the British tore it down. Thus the Indians had to hide away to build their temples, and ended up in small segregated areas outside of the main city of Port of Spain. This is where we find ourselves now, looking out over this little temple that is snugged into the houses and buildings around it.
A 20 minute drive, though the little town gets us out into more rural surroundings, with houses, big and small that display different colored flags. Turns out that each flag color represents a different god. While not traditional in India, these flags were created during British rule, when the Indians weren’t allowed to show their religion. They got creative, created flags for each god, hung them outside their homes and the British never knew any better. A few twists and turns down little country lanes, then a sharp turn down what looks like an alley brings us to the Hanuman temple. We can see the murti (statue) from the road as we circle the complex to get to the parking area. It’s crazy big – 85 feet tall – and vibrantly painted (freshly – they just repainted it a while back) and standing incongruently out in the middle of the courtyard with fields all around it. (Turns out the village people donated their land to create the area for the Murti, so that is why it looks like it is sitting out in the middle of nowhere, with no development terribly close by.
We are the only visitors, so we have the place to ourselves as we circle the murti counter-clockwise (with our shoes on, because there is special dispensation here in Trinidad when it gets so hot that your feet will burn), looking at the cool little water way that circles the statue (it’s man-made but with fieldstones as walls, so it gives the impression of water flowing through a streambed), peering into the two shrines placed on either side of mammoth statue, and just generally reveling in the peace and the magnificence of this thing. There is also a rather large camel facing Hanuman, which is his pet camel (not traditional, by any means!) who keeps watch over Hanuman and protects him.
The temple complex adjacent to the murti has a smaller Hanuman statue that preceded this one sitting in the courtyard, and the more traditional elephants outside the entrance door, as well as some spectacular carvings and dome work in the exterior portico area. Inside, the main temple is much more traditional, with the different gods enshrined in smaller temples, the array of star-gods and traditional incense, etc. We aren’t allowed to take any photos inside, so we just walk through looking at all the different Deities and their Trinidadian representations (which are just like the Indian ones, quite frankly).
On our way back to the car, the proprietor of the little shop on the premises invites us inside to look around. We browse a bit, looking for another small Ganesh, but to no avail. Before we leave though the owner shows us a book that has the history of the murti and the yogi who founded the temple and oversaw the construction. He walked us through the entire process, showing us some great photos of how the concrete construction was implemented, the carving, painting, etc. He also gave us some background on the yogi himself, and how he ended up here in Trinidad (which totally escapes me now!). Every one here is definitely very sweet and open and talkative with us. We finally extricate ourselves from his lovely, but long, history lesson, snap a couple of quick pix of ourselves with the camel guard, then hop in the car for the Temple in the Sea.
Otherwise known as the Waterloo Hindu Temple, this temple was built back in the 1800’s by Sawdass Sadhu, in spite of the fact that no one was allowed to build a temple anywhere on British land. He asked the British if he could build it “Not” on their land, and they laughed at him and said yes – which began a 20 year odyssey where he dumped rocks into the ocean about 100 yards offshore to build a foundation, then finally built a little Hindu temple in the sea for worshipers. Creative!
It is also very picturesque, and while the original temple was not very sturdily constructed, collapsing years ago, in 1962, after the Independence of Trinidad the government made a huge effort to ensure all religions were respected equally, and put funds together to fix up the original temple (they had to build a whole new exterior structure, keeping only the original crudely constructed domed roof) , and build a new one with a causeway attached. It’s a great story of dedication and creativity, and a beautiful place for reflection and prayer. While we are exploring the little original temple, a caretaker comes over and unlocks the gates for us to take a closer look and photos. He also says we can pick some flowers to hold while we are in the temple if we want (even though there are signs every 10 feet telling you NOT to pick the flowers). Again – so sweet!
On one side of the shoreline facing the temple is the cremation grounds for Hindus of the area, and there is a cremation just being completed while we are there. Not quite as dramatic as the Kathmandu cremation temple, it’s actually more beautiful and serene and a little more private. On the other side of the shoreline is the only place where people can dump their used or broken icons and religious pottery that is no longer in use. Reminds us of the cave complex in Luangprabang, only more exposed to the elements.
It’s pushing on 2 pm, so we know its time to head back to town – the traffic can be murder here. But, before we go back to the ship, we decide we are all hungry, so Jenelle takes us to one of the best Roti places on the island – the aptly named Hi-way Roti. Aptly named because it is literally right on the highway – but not accessible by it! You have to drive down these little narrow neighborhood streets to access the very small parking lot (and we can’t even get there because of road work, so we parallel park on the side of the road. You can see how people would just stop on the highway to come here – it almost looks like there are steps leading up from the road (not that its allowed anymore – if it ever was!). Walking through the open air eating area in front of the restaurant, every local there turns and stares – we have been the only white folks everywhere today, but here, we really stand out like a sore thumb! Jenelle just carries on, ignoring everyone, and getting in line (it’s 4 deep at 2:30 in the afternoon) to help order our roti. We decide on splitting one chicken roti (since we are having dinner at Polo Grill tonight, we don’t want too much food this late in the day), and Jenelle opts for the goat, which she says we can share.
The plates come out, and boy are we glad we opted for only one roti! It’s maybe not 1/2 a chicken, but there’s a lot of meat on the plate, like maybe a couple of airplane breasts and a thigh? It’s cooked in a yummy red sauce, accompanied by mashed chick peas (which I avoid like the plague) and the best, fresh, warm roti we’ve ever had. Just awesome. We pick our way through it, not even trying Jenelle’s goat, and end up eating all the meat but leaving a good portion of roti for Jenelle to take home with her. And all for less than $7 US, including a bottle of water (no alcohol here – or anywhere that we have seen actually!).
Now it is definitely time to get back to the port. We had wanted to go to a grocery store, but even that seems out of the question at this point in time. Heading down the highway, chatting amiably, we pass through a huge rain storm which producing large swaths of standing water on the road, one of which completely engulfs our car – it’s like being underwater for a few seconds, only surrounded by other huge hunks of metal hurtling down a highway. Scary! But, to Jenelle’s credit, she handles the car beautifully, as she has done all day. It is not easy driving around here, and we’ve felt completely safe with her from the get go.
We arrive at the port with plenty of time, say goodbye to Jenelle then walk through the little market set up outside (nothing interesting) and head toward the security check in. But, on our way we pass by a little liquor store that has cases of beer, taking a chance we wander inside looking for 6 packs. Sadly there are none in the refrigerator case, so we sigh, and start to leave when the owner says, I have one 6 pack left, and goes into his office to get it. Yes! Success! He apologizes for being low, but says they are closing for the holidays so they can go vacation in Kissimmee. Hey, everybody’s gotta go somewhere I suppose!
Back onboard, we sailaway at the appointed hour (this is one all aboard you do not want to miss!), and proceed onto our normal routine. Dinner in Polo is excellent – even though they have a special T-day dinner, with Turkey of course, we’re not wasting our last night here on turkey! Ed has surf and turf and I have the awesome seared tuna – and all is right with the world.
Onto the Amazon. Yay!
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