Americas

[Visited: July 2001]

After visiting the house where author V.S. Naipaul was raised in Chagaunas, we wanted to visit the temple in the sea at Waterloo. We found a taxi driver willing to drive us there, and liked the area so much that we ended up having him take us on a tour of the region. Seemingly endless sugar cane fields, the mountain ranges in a distance, and the proud taxi driver talking about his region made this a memorable afternoon.
Originally, we wanted to see Waterloo temple because of its story of persistance. An Indian labourer, Seedas Sadhu, had constructed a first temple on the seashore in 1947, after which is was bulldozered and Sadhu sent to prison, because built on the lands of Caroni, the state sugar cane monopolist.That's when Sadhu decided to built the temple IN the sea, and it took him 25 years to build the temple, all by himself and his bicycle with which he transported the building materials.
In 1994, the temple was finished and a pier built, connecting the temple to the shore. When we arrived, we witnessed a cremation on the shore. The temple itself is small, and stands out in the shore. At this point, the driver pointed out how bad maintenance was and appeared a concerned Hindu, stepping out of his role as a taxi driver altogether.The groups of multicoloured flags, the rasta fishermen at a short distance, the view of the surrounding landscape and the shore make this place a unique one.

Around the World in 80 Clicks

Personal travel impressions both in words and images from Waterloo Trinidad (Trinidad & Tobago). Clicking on the pictures enlarges them and enables you to send the picture as a free e-card or download it for personal use, for instance, on your weblog. Or click on the map above to visit more places close to Waterloo Trinidad.
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