Guest Report

[Phil & Caroline Evans]

Castara is about 12 miles from Pigeon Point if you drive too fast you can do it in under an hour, but you wont want to. I had to pinch myself to believe I was really here!
Hidden Cottage is half way up a really steep track and we always used low ratio and 4x4 for the track, the house is great and I won’t bore you with the same great things others have said.
Some nights sat on the veranda we jumped out of our skins to some loud explosions coming from the village……. Cracking bamboo! To see this is frightening, the local kids get some bamboo and drill a hole in it, pour in some kerosene heat it up until it vaporises then ignite it with a loud explosion, quite a few loose eyebrows’!

Whilst Tobago IS paradise and if you can you must visit, do not visit for the cuisine alone as you could be disappointed (first night large prawns in a butter sauce with steamed rice and steamed vegetables… delicious but after a night or two you realise that the same stuff is the mainstay of all menus and cannot be served without the sauce as it comes frozen together and is to Tobago what the steak and ale pie is to pub grub, not local and like the beef in the pie from some other country) , especially during the rainy season when the weather is a bit more humid. even the most expensive places on the island the Seahorse, where the menu is a little more London than Tobago, battered things go soggy immediately, but the surroundings are bliss and service fantastic. If you get your Roti from the right place there is nothing like it and it is perfect for lunch. We had a fantastic Chinese on the way to Crown Point in a lay-by on the right next to a Chinese store, it was one of the best we have had the world over.

After our great Chinese we headed back to Castara and Hidden Cottage, as the journey is a long one, especially at night, we both wanted a wee when we got back to the cottage, Caroline said "me first" as we went through the door, she went through to the bedroom and to the bathroom, from the bedroom came a blood curdling scream? I ran to the bedroom shouting “I’m coming” as I passed Caroline in the doorway she cried out there’s a man in the bathroom, as I entered the bedroom the man was bursting out through the French windows, I chased but when he jumped about 15 feet to the floor I decided my new knee would not enjoy the flight. I shouted things like ‘stop thief’ and other stupid things. Within two minutes the first neighbour turned up complete with machete, within five minutes there were upwards of 15 very tall young men all with a machete, they set about looking for footprints and went off to find the poor crook, police turned up and so did most of the older men women and children from the village, as there now seemed to be a quorum for a party I asked if anybody would like a drink? They looked mildly interested so I said RUM and they all started to look down at their feet and mumble, then I said Whiskey!!! Talk about opening the flood gates! They sank two litre’s and then demolished the rum and all the wine, the party went on for a while and we eventually went to sleep with a small gang of locals sitting up under the house encase “he turned up again”, no chance of that poor sod is probably still running.
Whilst it was a bit un-nerving the experience on the whole was not a bad one and it could have happened in any house on any island and probably less likely on Tobago and especialy Hidden Cottage than on any island in the Caribbean.

The rain forest is unbelievably beautiful and we drove over many times one day I gave an old lady a lift up to the ranger station at the top, where she was going to sell Christmas cake to the tourists, the waterfalls are spectacular and there are a lot of them. Nightlife is mainly situated in the main towns, but local restaurants (a clean shed with a few plastic chairs and a table or two) are wonderful but do try and stick to the local food which whilst a little boring, is fresh and good.

We had a little 4x4 from Sheppy and it was the easiest car hire I have ever done, he met us at the Airport and took us back to his yard as the car had been cleaned and sent to fill up, the car was in perfect condition and quite new,Sheppy told us that he had been to England and "it was 18 degrees C.i couldnt breath it was so cold" we took the car back and Sheppy took us back to the Airport, no fuss no mess.

Look out for Kenneth who will find you on the beach and show you how to play the steel drums, we drove down to King Peters bay, a long steep rough road, thinking that we would be the only ones down there, after moving cows out of the way to get there. We were wrong there was Kenneth sitting with his machete smoking and watching the seahe he got out his drums and plaed chritmas carols for us as the sun went down.

If you get to the view point overlooking Castara, and the little dog is still living there he really enjoys anything you give him, and loves people, that’s how he survives.

Sorry this has been so long but I have left out so much, it IS paradise, Hidden Cottage is wonderful and I’m going back someday.

Cheers
Phil