Ask anyone from Port of Spain if they've been south beyond San Fernando and 9 times out of 10 the answer will be 'no', although the journey is less than 60 miles. This area appears to get along quite independently, with farming and fishing, a little light industry, and oil derricks off the southwest and southeast coast.
Its unstable geology yields some small-scale surprises, with several areas of 'mud volcanoes' blowing dollops of thick gloop from earthy pimples a few feet high, and the remarkable Pitch Lake - one of three asphalt lakes in the world. Its tar was used by Sir Walter Raleigh to caulk his ships and is still used on roads around the world. If you explore it with a guide you will be intrigued by the experience of walking on it, seeing how the tar is slowly moving, learning about its long history and how local wildlife has adapted to it. You may even see a fish eagle cooking its breakfast on the hot tar.
South Coast
Cedros and Icacos on Trinidad's remote South Coast are accessed by long empty palm-lined roads stretching away to the horizon. Time passes very slowly here. The waters of the Orinoco bring good fishing and the prospect of a little smuggling with Venezuela, but leave beaches and sea an unappetising shade of brown. Erin and Moruga have a similarly remote feel.