Sunday, May 2, 2010

April tourist destinations - tar pit and wildfowl refuge




It may be that all nations believe that they have within their borders "one of the seven wonders of the world." Jordan certainly believed that Petra was worthy of that honor. We think that Trinidad's wonder may be among the more modest. It is the La Brea tar pit. I think brea must be spanish for "tar" because California has one too. Trinidad's tar pit is still being used commercially with equipment harvesting the high-quality pitch - but it is also a tourist site. We joined a group of 20 Trinis for an explanation of the greatness of pitch. You can walk on the surface and most of it feels like the sponge-y surface they have under fancy playgrounds. In some spots the liquid pitch is closer to the surface. Here is our guide showing how liquid it is.Still liquid-y...
People marveling. The guide praised the restorative qualities of the water that is also in the pitch lake.

We continued our tour of "industry as tourism" that day with a trip to the water foul refuge housed within the nation's petroleum processing plant. You need a reservation and you drive past many scary plants spewing gas flares and then you enter a stunningly beautiful park with ducks...

And birds who like showing off for the turtles...








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