Page 157 - slovenia

“I think the real energy comes from our people.
We enjoy everything to the last drop.”

“We Trinis like to boast about our herit-
age,” one tour guide told me. “We’re
like callaloo,” a multi-ingredient soup.
I was pleased to find a strong Indian
influence in the regional cuisine, and
happily devoured doubles (curried
chick peas in a flour shell) and roti (a
flour wrap with curried veggies and/
or meat) from roadside stands. Thanks
to the Indian influence, Hinduism is
the second-largest religion practiced
on the islands (after Roman Catholi-
cism), and temples dot the landscape.
One even sits on the sea. The circular
Waterloo Temple was the dream pro-
ject of indentured laborer and devoted
Hindu Seedas Sadhu, who began his
construction in 1947. Unfortunately,
he chose a state-owned island for his
temple, which was destroyed by the
government five years later.

Sadhu spent the following 25 years
creating his new temple in the shal-
low sea, building a base from stones
and earth he transported to the site by
bicycle. In 1994, the government helped
complete the temple and a garden-
edged pier lined with prayer flags, and
it’s now both a Hindu sacred site and

Statue of the Hindu god Ganesh at the
Waterloo Temple.

WINEDINEANDTRAVEL.COM 157