In June of this year, my husband, daughter, her boyfriend and I drove down to the pitch lake in La Brea, Trinidad. La Brea is situated in the southern part of the island - past San Fernando.
The roads in La Brea as basically impossible to repair. As the pitch continues to grow, it unlevels the roads in the area. Whenever I travel to La Brea, I always know when I have arrived in the area. The roads are like a roller coaster. There is one house that is basically destroyed by the ever growing pitch in the owners yard and would you believe, the owner still lives in the house!
I noticed this beautiful patch of lilies as we approached the heart of the pitch lake.
We were guided into the pitch lake by our tour guide. He told us about the history the lake etc, he was very thorough, informative and answered all our questions.
The tour took about 30 - 45 minutes to go around the lake. As we were standing in the center of the Pitch Lake, our guide stuck a piece of stick into the ground and then pulled it out. A black liquid, sticky thing was on the stick - pitch in its liquid form.
Eventhough we walked on the Pitch Lake it was a little soft. Some spots were in its liquid form. We were unable to walk without our shoes as the lake was a bit to hot to bear without foot wear.
A wide view of the pitch lake (this is just part of it). It was a beautiful day! You can see the processing plant in the horizon.
I just imaged the growing pitch eating the road and houses.. sounds thrilling. The stick with a liquid pitch is an impressive sight. This place might be dangerous, but it does not look so. Nice pictures and a good story! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and commenting and Selena!!!
ReplyDeleteI goofed, I should have taken a picture of the bad roads in La Brea. I guess as I was driving, I did not think of that. Tour of the Pitch Lake was very interesting. There are pools of water where people bath and these pools are reported to have healing properties!