Saint Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

St. Augustine, a town in the "East-West Corridor" of Trinidad and Tobago, is the site of one of the three main campuses of the University of the West Indies. It is located east of Curepe and west of Tunapuna.

Houses in the general area have been converted to students' accommodation, but due to poor regulation of fees, they are generally more than double the cost of University housing. Three of the four halls of residence provided by the University are located here, namely Milner Hall, Canada Hall, and Trinity Hall.

St John Road in St. Augustine is the main access road for Mount St Benedict, one of the more notable places in this area. On the mount you can find a Catholic Church along with a nunnery and a factory where yogurt is made. Also on this road is St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, the smaller of the latter but is frequented more by the people of this area because of its accessibility.

The church is opposite to the Community Center which is now undergoing renovation where it will have a new field for the people of the area to engage in football, one of the more popular sports of this area. Also on this stretch of St. John Road, next to the Community Center is a convenience store formerly owned by a man referred to as "zirt", but the store was sold to new people and has retained its name and is still referred to as zirt though there are new owners, none of whom are named zirt.

Another convenience store in this area is Balmatee, a store not unlike other stores in the area, which is named after the owners of the store. Balmatee is located on the "Happy Block", a name given to the area of the road where Balmatee's store is located, by the guys that "lime" there frequently.

Also on St. John Road a notable pub frequented by most people of the region is the Flamingo Pub, run by Andrew and his son Andre Timothy. Next to this pub you can regularly see the Flamingo Steel Orchestra formerly called the Lever Brothers Gay Flamingos, run by Ian "Cacka Head" Timothy.

On Eastern Main Road you can find the popular Exodus Steel Orchestra, from their inaugural outing in Trinidad and Tobago's annual national competition, Exodus was able to gain a place in the finals, fighting against overwhelming odds (including the fact that the band is not from the capital city of Port of Spain) and with instruments loaned by the internationally acclaimed WITCO Desperadoes Steel Orchestra.

In the nineties, Exodus has made the leap to the top and has remained within the top three consistently since copping the national title in 1992. Last year’s victory makes it four in a row for the band from St. Augustine and chalks up nine notches overall as East Zone Champs. On four other occasions, they have come in second in the eastern region.

Founded by Amin Mohammed, Exodus has not only honed itself into a winning machine, but has brought to the steel band movement one of its most prestigious competitions, the Pan Ramajay competition, a free-form jazz event, which revolutionized the entertainment options available to steel bands. Not content to be just a band that operates at Carnival time, Exodus has adopted a deliberate policy of maximum participation; attending every pan event for which the band is eligible.

While other bands may just be playing pan, Exodus has organized itself into a winning machine and an orchestra that delivers a quality of sound that is distinctive and rich in entertainment value.

The Band’s international engagements took them to Europe, U.S.A., Korea, Canada and several Caribbean islands.

St. Augustine is administered by the Tunapuna-Piarco Regional Corporation. There are a number of schools in this area of Trinidad. St. Benedict's R.C Primary School, Lakshmi Girls Hindu College,St. Augustine Senior Comprehensive and St. Augustine Girls High School.

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