On Saturday I went to Port of Spain for the first time since the fires at the Beetham dump started last week. Driving past the dump meant passing through a thick wall of pungent fumes all the way to the Hyatt.
I went to Buzo restaurant for the first time. They need to fix the entrance to their car park as most of their clients probably have cars that scrape getting in and out. A tidy grating would be a nice fix for the steep drain walls you have to pass through. The food was good and the staff was great. When I arrived the smog was not noticeable. I came outside an hour into my stay and there was a cloud as soon as I stepped out and the smell was horrible. There was an attendant opening and closing the door.
The drive back past the dump was a little better with a lighter haze visible.
Today I went to Harry's water park in Tabaquite. Generally I had a good time but there is serious room for improvement. The road has greatly improved since I was there last time over a year ago. I still advise you use an SUV to get there as some point are still deplorable. When there, you see many signs around the compound including a very visible on at the entrance gate stating no loud music is allowed. The site's bar has a wall of speakers that can be heard from all points in the park, a few meters away is the largest sign of its
kind stating "No loud music". The speakers are pointed outward away from the bar's patrons otherwise they would not be able to function. At least 5 of the groups at sheds had their own music systems that competed with the bar's. One was a car that rattled while music was playing and the others were self powered speakers with laptops. There are signs in front of where these groups were. The quietest place was the board walk area but just slightly better. There was no peace to be found. The lazy man area was impossible to fall asleep in as it was right next to the noisy sheds. I could still hear the bar's music on the main road when I was leaving. I would be a disgruntled neighbour if I had to stay in the surrounding houses.
At the top of the bigger water slides these was a young man who looked like he was barely out of his teens. He brought up a bottle of vodka and plastic glasses. One of the drinks he poured was for the slide attendant. The others were for kids around him. I was concerned about the glass bottle being broken and seriously hurting any of the barefooted patrons. The same attendant said that Harry's is not for relaxing and that is a marketing lie. He was letting whoever wanted to, run and dive onto the slide, as long as it was not head first. The first step onto the 'fast' slide was onto a flexing material, not the best thing to be diving on if you ask me. Next we have minors drinking alcohol and being encouraged to do so by their older peers, they were not hiding and doing it. The (young!) girls were wining when they heard their favourite songs, wherever they were.. so if they were walking up a step in front of you, you had to wait for their favourite line to finish before you could proceed. The behaviour of the crowd in general had room for improvement. At the entrance to the big pool and big slides were foot wash pools with dirty stagnant water. There were feathers and other debris floating in the cloudy water. The whole of the large pool was very rough on the bottom. The landing spots at the bottom of the pool for the bigger slides were very rough, I would not be surprised if someone got scraped on their back or arms and legs. The walkway back to the tops of the slides was very course so some people needed slippers which they did not have as they were at the tops of the hills. You would be better off having a full wetsuit and shoes on for your own protection.
Just when the pools were closed around 6pm a few of the lifeguards decided it was fun time and dragged and pulled one of the chubbier co-workers and eventually threw him into the pool, very much against his will. During my walk out, a mother was making her daughter changer her panties in the middle of the walkway, the change room was less than a minute walk away. The crowd at the bar was growing by the minute around 6 o'clock with people who had just came in, the water park patrons were heading out.
There were a few police officers walking around the compound and enjoying the many simultaneous big chunes being pumped out, they had to be enjoying it because they were unconcerned by the volume. If you want a very calm, relaxing day in a great atmosphere and exotic wildlife in the bushes, serene and pristine lands, do not go to Harry's water park.
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