At sea between Trinidad and Barbados: I have to say I was impressed with Trinidad and the city at which we were docked - Port of Spain. They were in better repair, more urban, more bustling, and generally less "third world" than the other Caribbean islands we've visited so far.
If you haven't traveled in the tropics, human-created things there tend to deteriorate very quickly. On the other hand, natural things tend to thrive, exhibiting exuberance in every way.
Counteracting tropical entropic forces requires a diligence in maintenance which tropical people often do not possess. Trinidad seems to be overcoming this natural tendency better than most.
Port of Spain city is impressive, has some high rise buildings, and an opera house, called NAPA for National Academy for Performing Arts, that rivals the opera house in Sydney for architectural drama. We were told it was built by the Chinese.
Trinidad & Tobago is, of course, a former British colony. We've visited former colonies of France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, the U.S., and Japan. Of all the colonial masters, the Brits seem to have been the most successful. Regardless of what you think of colonialism, doing it well is better than doing it poorly. The Brits were masters.
We visited the home of Angostura Bitters, used in a variety of cocktails. They also distill rum from molasses, all imported today as cane is no longer grown here. I had no idea the firm was headquartered in Trinidad. They would appear to be major competitors of Bacardi.
