Side Trips in Trinidad

Evocative of India

Visiting the little town of Chaguanas -- located south of Port-of-Spain and the Parco International Airport -- is like taking a shopping trip to India. To get there, drive out Uriah Butler Highway and look for the turn-off sign to Chaguanas. This was the birthplace of the Nobel Prize-winning novelist V. S. Naipaul.

As you come in on Main Road, you'll think you've miraculously arrived in Calcutta. A hodgepodge of shops sell Indian clothing, jars of spicy chutney, and Bollywood music. The gem of shops is Radika's Pottery, 183 Edinburgh Village (tel. 868/665-4267), run for three generations by the Pickal family, which is acclaimed around the world for its exquisite pottery -- jugs, pots, candle holders, and more. Even Naipaul is a fan of this pottery, which is exhibited at international art fairs.

If you're in town for lunch, head for the very simple but good Indo-Chinese Vegetarian Restaurant on Main Road (tel. 868/665-6928).