Senior Multimedia Reporter
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
High in Trinidad’s Central Range, the village of Los Atajos—Spanish for “shortcut” — sits serenely along Brasso Tamana Road, near Flanagin Town.
It’s a community where laden mango trees line the roadsides, wild yams flourish, villagers gather for community cookouts, and youths practise cricket on the road on weekends.
Speaking to Guardian Media, resident Michael Chandree said Los Atajos developed more than a century ago around cocoa cultivation. It remains home to descendants of cocoa panyols—families of mixed Spanish, Venezuelan Amerindian and African heritage whose labour helped establish and sustain Trinidad’s cocoa industry.
Chandree said Los Atajos remains a close-knit village where children still play freely, untouched by crime, while parents continue to uphold traditions of camaraderie, respect and care for the environment passed down through generations.
The route into Los Atajos cuts through dense greenery with aged trees, opening intermittently to reveal expansive views of the Central Range, with the Northern Range also visible on the horizon.
Once a cocoa farmer, Chandree said cocoa is no longer viable, so he now plants a variety of short-term crops on 15 acres of land. He said he rarely leaves his scenic village, where more than 500 acres of land were under cocoa cultivation at the height of the industry. Chandree pointed to the surrounding hills as he described former estates.
“The Lee Cam Estate alone was about 200 acres and the Saney Estate about 100 acres,” he said.
Today, however, many of the former cocoa estates lie abandoned. Chandree said the decline in cocoa farming has been gradual but steady, with fewer residents willing or able to take up cultivation.
Among the remaining cocoa farmers is Leslie Cole, 65, who was born and raised in Los Atajos and continues to work the land. Cole agreed that although he still maintains cocoa alongside other crops, the number of active farmers has dwindled significantly.
“There are a lot of abandoned cocoa estates right now because of the lack of workforce,” he said. “The young generation is not into cocoa.”
Cole said his own children have pursued other careers outside agriculture, a trend he sees across the community.
“When we pass on, who going to work cocoa?” he asked.
It is why Cole has begun to explore ways of sharing the agricultural lifestyle with visitors. From a small ranch overlooking the valley, he guides guests along trails lined with cocoa, citrus, avocado, banana, breadfruit, dragon fruit, guava, soursop and mango trees. Visitors are often invited to sample fruit and observe cocoa cultivation practices still in use.
“They get mangoes, they take a little walk and they see how nice the place is kept,” he said. “This is country life.”
Meanwhile, Henry Awong, vice chairman of the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation, who grew up in the village, said many residents are related through extended kinship networks.
“Everybody here connected some way or the other,” he said.
He recalled a time when cocoa farming shaped daily routines and traditional food preparation was central to household life. Cassava bread, locally known as bambam, was commonly prepared in the village.
“Decades ago, by 6 o’clock in the evening, everybody had a routine to grate cassava and corn to make bread and flour,” he recalled.
Awong added that corn flour, pot bake, hunting and subsistence farming were once integral parts of everyday living. Transport, too, was different, with donkeys commonly used to move produce.
“Now, all those things are gone but we are trying to bring back a bit of community tourism,” he said.
He said residents have begun discussing proposals centred on cocoa heritage, traditional foods, folklore and agricultural practices.
“We want to share the story,” Awong said. “People could come and see how things were done.”
These stories also include local folklore traditions such as the Douen and Lagahoo, along with demonstrations of crafts and practices once associated with cocoa estates.
Awong’s brother, Sheldon Awong, said the village’s agricultural richness remains one of its defining features.
“Here any place you dig, you can get yams. There is always manicou so nobody in Los Atajos can ever starve. We can always have a block cook and bubble a pot,” he said.
During mango season, he said, the village’s many trees become informal gathering points.
“You could eat mangoes until your belly buss,” he said with a laugh.
He added that children in Los Atajos continue to grow up in an environment that encourages respect for nature. They play outdoors and are not lured by online devices.
Seven-year-old Genesis Villafana was observed cartwheeling and swinging from a tyre swing beneath a mango tree while other children played nearby. Stingless bees swarmed around the trees, but villagers said they were not worried.
“Those harmless, the most it will do is get tangled in your hair,” Sheldon explained.
He noted that cricket remains a central part of village culture. As president of the Countryside Cricket Club, Sheldon leads a 22-member team that competes in the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board’s Central Zone Division One competition, despite the absence of a formal recreation ground.
Training takes place twice weekly along Brasso Tamana Road.
“When cars pass, we stop,” he said.
He also reflected on his childhood in Los Atajos, recalling a time before electricity reached the community in the mid-1980s.
“Before electricity, we used to play among fruit trees, hunt squirrels, make bamboo pop guns and explore the forests,” he said.
While many residents now pursue livelihoods outside the village, Sheldon said Los Atajos has retained much of its rural identity and close-knit way of life.
Although the cocoa industry has largely declined, he said residents continue to reflect the village’s spirit of humility, kindness and hospitality, with friendship and neighbourliness still central to daily living.
Visitors interested in experiencing Los Atajos and its cocoa heritage can arrange guided tours with Cole at 780-2603. There is also the Cocoa Panyol Museum, owned by Clive Teemul, which displays artefacts from the cocoa industry.
