Home UpTrinidad 3, What Oil Money Buys

The pictures in this folder were taken early in 2008, a decade later than those in the previous two folders, and they record some aspects of Trinidad's recent economic development.

Downtown Port-of-Spain. There's always somebody with a pocket full of cash.

On the outskirts of town, an overpass is under construction.

The overpass itself suggests a role for foreign assistance. It comes from Europe with a smile. If it came from the U.S. it would have no smile. Trust me.

The Trincity Mall.

Pretty fancy, no?

This should settle the matter: super-premium ice cream by the pint, quart, and half-gallon at the Trincity SuperValu. Have you ever seen half-gallons of this stuff in God's country?

Is housing a leading indicator?

Houses in that subdivision.

Close-up.

Under construction.

Roof detail.

Hollow-block walls.

Here's the runway at Waller Field, built in World War II so American planes could make their way to Africa. It's under conversion here to a college campus.

We've gone past Waller Field to Toco, at the northeastern corner of the island. A new police station.

Renovations?

Toco is at the island's economic periphery. Here we've returned to the junction of the Churchill Roosefelt Highway, running east-west, and the Uriah Butler Highway, running southe Chacuanas. Meet the Grand Bazaar, developed by AnsaMcAl, a company formed in 1986 but with roots back to 1881 and with interests in Trinidad plantations, exports, shipping, insurance, and more. Just another step to the Bazaar with its McDonald’s and Church’s Chicken, known here as Texas Chicken.

Here's the supermarket at Chaguanas.

Trinidad offers free primary care.

Old cane fields are being converted to residential subdivisions.

Here are some surviving canefields on the outskirts of San Fernando.

Boundary marker at Cedar Hill, near the fields shown in the previous picture.

House in the Cedar Hill Settlement. The homeowner was in the cement business.

More cane fields under conversion, this time in a government program.

Nearby, a branch of the RBTT, formerly the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. The bank is a descendant of the Royal Bank of Canada, which opened for business in Trinidad in 1910. Do the banks here offer mortgages? You bet.

Typical new housing nearby.

Satellite dishes in houses in the hamlet of Jacob Settlement, near Siparia, south of San Fernando.

Nearby convenience store.

Entertainment, near Jacob Settlement.