Beautiful Tucker Valley
An aerial view of Tucker Valley Main Road, home of the Bamboo Cathedral
As promised, today, I am going to show you guys the Bamboo Cathedral, a natural bamboo forest with a paved pathway that takes you through breathtaking bamboo stalk arches and lush Caribbean forestry not seen in any other parts of the country. It is a frequented hiking spot for us Trinidadians and a lot of photographers take their clients there as the lighting is amazing. Most people including us, take their morning walks there and we Trinidadians are so lucky to have this beauty in our back yards! The Bamboo Cathedral is located in Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas, west Trinidad.
Port of Spain as seen from the elevated road we used while heading west to Tucker Valley
We start off in the capital city of Port of Spain and headed westwards. The skies were clear and it was such a beautiful day for hiking and starting the day off with a great workout in nature. It was quite early in the morning and the sleepiness had not quite worn off as of yet.
To combat the drowsy pangs of sleep, we decided to stop off for a quick coffee! I got coffee frappuccino with those weird little popping boba pearls or what starbucks "calls" boba. Its not but its still fun! My wife got a white chocolate mocha. I know what you're saying! This was a lot of sugar and you are right but we weren't really being physically healthy here, more like nature hike for the mental health, sugary caffeine also helps with that!
We finally got to Tucker Valley where there were lush verdant hills on either side of the roadway and the air just felt different. There were many farms on the way that we passed as well as bamboo trees here and there but nothing like the forest as you will see.
We put on our hiking shoes in the car and left our heavy phones and wallets in the vehicles as it usually gets very cumbersome at times swinging around in our pockets. Here we are looking all excited full of vigor and energy.
We were immediately taken aback by the beauty that surrounded us all around. There was as nice miz of lush forest palms beautiful shrubs, ferns and large towering bamboo stalks. All that paired with a moody campy overhead that let a little sunlight in was so magical. The paved pathway was also aesthetically pleasing covered in orange dried leaves.
As we walked on, it felt like the trail got more and more beautiful. We were not as yet in the proper bamboo cathedral area and so there were so many sounds to take in such as monkeys, YES monkeys that were jumping around in the canopies above, swinging from branch to branch making their noises. They were quite accustomed with humans, though still shy so they would not interact with us as in some other countries. They were quite hard to photograph and so I do not have any great photos of them that I would feel comfortable sharing.
We finally got to area where there were just mainly the breathtaking bamboo forest. I quickly understood why it was called the Bamboo Cathedral as the babmboo stalks are so tall that they bend towards the each other at the centre of the paved walkway to create beautiful natural arches that basically look like the interior of British cathedrals we have here in Trinidad.
The amount of orange leaves on the pathway had intensified in this area and they beautifully decorated both edges of the pathway. There were some people who had been on the trail much earlier and were already on the way back. As they passed us by on the trail, they seemed to be quite exhausted. Then I remembered that there was an instagram challenge for this location where you try to finish the hardest part that starts lower down the hike where the uphill climb starts and takes you up the mountain side. There are numbers along the way on the pathway and you have to take photos of the either the end of the trail and win the challenge or post the number you got up to and how unfit you were of you weren't able to finish.
It was not long of a walk again until we could see that the bamboo forest had abruptly stopped just before we got to the start of the climb to the top of the mountain. We decided to try the challenge and see how fit we were!
And then, there it was, right in front of us, the START line of the challenge! We had already walked so long along the Bamboo Cathedral and were already tired, I wondered how far we would be able to get before heading back! Mind you, this was the start of the uphill climb that would never end until the finality of the challenge, would we be able to cope?
WE climbed and climbed, our hamstrings and calves burning more and more with each step. Finally we saw marker Number 1, then after what seemed like eternity, Number 2 and so on. This is what it looked like at number 5! At this point we were done admiring nature's beauty, we were trying to SURVIVE! It was still extremely beautiful though I cannot lie.
Finally we got to number 15 where our legs were on fire! The lactic acid buildup was just too much to bear and we quickly concluded amongst each other that we definitely needed to buck up on our fitness and cardio levels!
We stopped for a while to let that lactic acid build up dissipate a little bit to give our bodies a chance to catch up on oxygen supply. We saw infront of us a really old abandoned building that beckoned us forward. We were quite ready to quit and so decided to check that out first then head back.
When we got up to the rusted building that we saw, we realised that it was just a rusted container of sorts but what really caught out eye was what was behind it! There was an opeining in the tree line and a steep bend that continued up the mountain. On this corner of sorts was a clear viewing point that was just an opening that allowed you to go up to the edge of the cliff of the mountain we were on to see the ocean.
WE could see the Caribbean sea as well as some of the coastline down below. We were quite high up as we had been climbing for quite a while up the mountainside. The waters were calm and we could hear the waves crashing upon the shoreline so far down below.
There was this boat that gave a great scale of things and let us know how high up we actually were. Zooming in even more, It seemed to be piloting itself!
Maybe it was just the pixels but the engine was one but I could not see anyone at the helm! Boat get away from people all the time so I would not be surprised
Heres a wider angle view of the scene. This was just so relaxing to sit and stare while cooling down. We knew the walk back would have been easier down hill and after a well deserved rest, we headed back to the car past all beautiful nature we had just struggled through. What a way to end the walk! We did not finish the challenge but getting to end the hike with such a beautiful view was more than enough! We did solemnly pledge to get in shape to complete the challenge before year's end though.
The Bamboo Cathedral never fails to please the eyes with its magnificent tall stalks and wonderful sounds that it makes in the calming and serene breezes of Tucker Valley. There are many more amazing places to discover in Chaguaramas which we will be covering soon! Thanks for coming along, cheers!