Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Greetings from Trinidad!
This place is so utterly different to Mantanzas that we could be in another country altogether. Named as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1988 the town is full of cobbled streets, beautiful Spanish colonial buildings, horses and music. The main activity to take place here appears to be sitting and watching the world go by.
We spent one night at a beautiful Casa Particular (a private house that is licensed to rent rooms) in a colonial building, complete with original tiled floor. In the evening we sat on the steps of the Plaza Mayor listening to a live band playing Salsa music and watching people dancing.
The next day we headed out to the Playa Ancon to dip our toe in the Carribean and spend some time at the beach. As we couldn't stay in the Casa another night we stayed at the all inclusive resort at the beach. Apart from getting some decent food (and plenty of it) and a spectacular view from our balcony it was actually not as nice as the Casa we had stayed in the night before.
Heading back into Trinidad was a perfect example of the journeys we have taken in Cuba. We had arranged a Coco-Taxi - a kind of motor-trike with an egg-like (or maybe coconut-like) shell on the back where the passengers sit - to take us back to Trinidad. Half way there, in the middle of absolutely no where it splutters to a halt and we're thinking 'here we go'. The guys shouts some spanish at us (nobody simply speaks here) and then shows us that a bit has fallen off the bottom. Oh, and he has no signal on his phone. Well, car broken down in the middle of nowhere and no phone = disaster to us Brits. Not in Cuba. Out comes the bag of spanners for him to do some botch job on the taxi with. Next he is flagging down another car to take us back and hey presto! problem sorted. And he still get's his 5 pesos for taking us about a km. All of our journeys have been a bit like that - we have not had one uninterrupted journey yet. But somehow we get where we want to go in the end.
We've spent another day in Trinidad today, mainly soaking up the atmoshphere, doing a bit of shopping at the market and dropping in for impromptu Rumba sessions. This is definitely our favourite place so far - the incredibly slow pace of life seems to suit Joe down to the ground. Off to Santa Clara tomorrow for some Che Guevara sight-seeing.
No photos still we're afraid. The combination of a fast internet connection, the ability to access said connection, a fast computer and a usb port still elude us. Maybe Havana will bring us better luck.
- comments
Nadia Iqbal Hello!! So glad to hear your guys are safe and sound and having an amazing time. so temped to give up work and join you guys :D lol!
Annie Oohhh you lucky things - the Carribean is soooo lovely. Hope you had a fantastic anniversary! Love to both - enjoy. x
Alex Firrell Hey you two! Glad you're there safely and hope you had a wonderful Anniversary. It sounds like absolute bliss, I could quite happily watch the world go by and soak up the atmosphere. The journeys you are having sound like quite an adventure, I would love to have seen that guy get out his spanners and fix up his Coco-Taxi!! Love to you both. I look forward to the next update.xxx