Trinidad: May 2016
The drive to Trinidad was unlike any other we’ve taken for one reason specifically…there were no cars on the road.
On the A1 highway. No traffic.
We were on a 2-3 lane highway, and for miles, we didn’t see another car, truck, lorry, nothing. Mind you, this road is the major thoroughfare to the rest of the country, and there was no one. The landscape was uneventful- small hills, very green, very few structures. We drove through an area of farms and there were people on the side of the highway selling something. Javier asked our driver and he said it was the farmers selling milk. I guess it must be warm milk?? Oh, I didn’t mention, we had a friend with us. The three of us sat in the back, so that the fourth traveler, an older Japanese gentleman, who we were told paid more than us, and therefore we were not allowed to talk about the price of the trip with him. Although now that I think of it, they probably told him the same thing about us. We tried, and somewhat failed, to talk with him. He answered our questions politely, but clearly wasn’t interested in speaking with us…until, he asked Tiff about the price of the trip. She deflected the question quite nicely, and after that, we stopped talking to him for the most part.
About 15 minutes from Trinidad, our driver stopped at a tower, The Manaca Iznaga Tower.
The Manaca Iznaga Tower.
The tower is in the middle of nowhere, and there are many stories about why it was constructed. One includes a story of two brothers who were in love with the same woman. She didn’t choose either of them, and tried to run away. They caught her, took her to an upper level of the tower and removed the stairs. They left her there to starve as punishment for not choosing them. Nice, huh? The real story, or so we were told, was that a farmer had the tower built by his slaves to keep an eye on them. From this vantage point, the farmer could see all his land, and keep an eye to make sure people were working and not running away.
The tower was used to take oversee the field workers AKA slaves,
The tower has a bell at the top which was used to communicate with the slaves. Today, there are stairs that go all the way to the top. In the end, Javier was the only one to go up. I stayed down and took pictures of him, while Tiff did a little shopping and our Japanese friend kept reminding me that we were running late. 🙂
When we arrived in Trinidad, we were pleasantly surprised. It is a small town, with narrow, stone streets that are really pretty to look at but a pain to walk on.
Trinidad, Cuba
The buildings are low, connected to one another, and colorful. The center of town has two areas, one is the church with a little grass plaza in front. The other is a very wide set of steps that go up the hill. The steps are always covered with people, especially at night. Locals and tourists alike, sit on the steps, drink, smoke, chat, and listen to the sounds of live music from a small stage a little further up. The stage comes to life in the evenings.
La Casa de la Musica. LIve Performance. Salsa!!!
While we were there, we heard everything from traditional Cuban music to American oldies. They even had a Cuban dance performance, with the ladies dancing around in thongs. Interesting…
Our driver took us to our guesthouse, which was the friend of our hosts in Havana. The house was nice, with a small courtyard in the middle and rooms around. Our room was at the back, upstairs. From here, we could see the rooftops of Trinidad and the mountains behind. It was all very picturesque.
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Our Guest House. We were served Breakfast and Dinner.
Our hostess was going over some information with us, including possible tours, when her friend, Yuder, showed up. Yuder is a former history teacher, who has quit his government job to be a private tour guide. He spoke English, albeit not so great, but good enough for us. After speaking with him, we agreed on a tour of the Valle de los Ingenios for the following morning. We asked our hostess for a recommendation for dinner, and she recommended a spot close to the steps I mentioned earlier. She said that she used to recommend other places to people, but after several guests becoming sick, this was the only place she could safely recommend. Yikes!!
Dinner was good. To date, the best we had in Cuba. It was so good that Javier insisted we return the following day, which we did. After dinner, and some lovely live music, we walked around groups of people scattered all over the steps to get to the stage. This is where we watched the thong-clad dancers gyrating about. It was very entertaining. It had been a long day for us, and we had another long day ahead of us, so after the show, we headed home. Side note: we were rather surprised that the live music in Cuba ends so early. By 10-10:30pm, the live music stops, and therefore so does life. It feels like such a party place with the music and dancing, but at 10pm, the music ends and the people slowly disappear, and this isn’t just in the restaurants, but the bars as well! So at around 10pm, we walked back home, and hit the hay.
A classic american.
Yuder was right on time! He picked us up in his old American classic that rattled as we drove over the stony street. We didn’t go far, maybe only four blocks or so, before we arrived at our starting point. We waited for a few minutes and the horses showed up. Now, when Yuder explained the tour to us, he showed us pictures of all the sights we would see, and there was one picture of a person on a horse. He insisted that it wasn’t a horse-riding tour. The horses were, “Just for transport.” I don’t know why this didn’t click for ANY of us, but we were under the impression that we would be on horseback for a short ride to get from one point to another. We didn’t realize that for the next 5 hours, we would be traveling to all our different sights via horse. Had I known, I probably would have declined. I have only gone horseback riding a few times in my life, and I’m clearly doing something wrong because the last time I went, my back was sore for a week. My back was still very sore from diving, and I really didn’t want to injure it more. At this point though, we still didn’t realize how long we were going to be on horseback. I don’t know what we were thinking.
Getting ready to Ride. Jackie and Mora. Tiff and Paloma.
We climbed on our horses: Javier was with Juan, Tiff with Paloma, and I with Mora. We quickly learned who was the alpha…Mora. Mora refused to let anyone pass her. The few times Juan passed her while we were stopped and listening to Yuder explain, she would get antsy, and the moment I let her go, she would race to get in front of Juan. Paloma is the youngest, but couldn’t be bothered. Yuder was constantly calling out, “Paloooooma!” to try and get her to move it. We decided Juan liked Mora. He wouldn’t let Paloma get in between the two of them and purposefully cut her off every time. Funny little creatures. We stopped at an old farm house, where he explained about the sugarcane fields, the slaves, how they lived, and how they were treated. I’m not sure his stance on slavery, but he would say things like, “He was a good slave owner. He allowed the slaves to marry, have children, and live together as a family.” And for others, “He was a bad slave owner. He kept the men and women separate, and wouldn’t let them marry.” We made our remarks about how it’s difficult to put words like “good” and “slave-owner” together. He seemed to agree with us, which was a little comforting. We thought our horses looked tired. So, we decided to walk with them for the next 20 minutes instead of riding them. Turned out they were okay, with even Paloma coming to life at the end and trying to overtake the others. Maybe they were just having a lazy morning?? We walked to a small restaurant where we took a break, picked fruit off the trees to eat, and saw a brightly colored blue and green lizard who comes out of the trees and down to the earth every day at noon to “kiss” the ground before returning to the tree- or so the story goes.
Why Not?
We climbed on the horses and made our way to the next stop. The pictures of this place looked amazing. There is a waterfall with a small pool at the base to swim in. Well, I’m sure the place would look incredible…if there was water. Seems Cuba has gone through a drought or something because there was no waterfall, just small trickles of water, with a little pool at the base. Neither Javier nor I wore our swimsuits, only Tiff. So, we sat on the sides with our feet in, meeting a Kiwi girl while Tiff swam around and cooled off.
So Colorful
On the way home, our horses came alive. They were eager. We made one final stop to have a snack, and took advantage of our guide’s knowledge. We asked him many many questions- about the history of Cuba, the current ideals of the Cubans, and his opinion about the whole thing. We didn’t hold back, and he answered as best he could. In the end, he dare not speak against the regime, whether by choice or not, but he did say that he hopes for change for his children. He would like to see a more democratic Cuba in the future.
We had talked about a town tour of Trinidad when we returned, but none of us were up to it, plus, Yoder had given us most of the information already. Javier and I were tired and hungry. Tiff really wanted to go to the beach. In the end, Tiff took a cab to the beach where she waded in the water and walked around, while Javier and I showered, rested and went back to our restaurant. We met Tiff a little later and finished our evening on the steps where we drank the local beer and cocktail and smoked our last Montecristo.
At the bottom of the steps to the La Casa de la Musica. Trinidad, Cuba.
The next morning, it was back to Havana. Our car wasn’t as nice, our driver, not as careful, and we had a new friend. A young Cuban girl studying the flute. Our drive back was shorter than our drive there, and we arrived back in Havana early enough to do a little souvenir shopping and visit La Florida, which is famous for its Daquiris thanks again to Earnest Hemingway.
To See more pictures of Cuba, click HERE.
Floridita