We depart the Casa right on time at 10am on Friday 29 March. Cienfuegos you have been lovely, for now it’s off to Trinidad (Cuba, not Trinidad and Tobacco) we go. No seat belts in this car nor the ability to wind down our windows. What a shame.
It’s an easy one hour 45 minute drive on the back roads go Trinidad. Often we are hugging the Caribbean. Amazing!
When we arrive the fun begins trying to locate our Casa. It’s a slow drive up and down the cobblestone streets.
Our driver asks a few people for directions before we finally locate our Casa. All we need now is someone to open the door and let us in.
Once we are in we are shown to our room. Passports are handled over. Everything moves slowly here :) The views from the room are amazing!
We have a guided tour at 2pm so decide to wander the streets near the Casa.
Our guide is there to meet us at 2pm. We have a good couple of hours with him wandering the streets of Trinidad. On some streets we are the only people, others there are soooo many people around.
As we pass a school we ask if we can go in, si. Great. It’s a primary school and they are having an English lesson right now.
We wander a little further up the street to Museo Nacional de la Lucha Contra Bandidos (bell tower). The trusty lonely planet book informs us it’s the most recognizable building in Trinidad. It’s not a museum but in the past was the site of the convent of San Francisco de Asis.
We climbed up the bell tower and was rewarded with amazing views of the city.
Back to the cobblestone streets we head. Always something to look at!
Thankfully it had clouded over towards the end of the walk, made wandering on the cobblestone streets more bearable.
We sit on the steps at Casa de la Musica overlooking Pizza Mayo having a lemonade. Great for people watching and listening to music.
Back at the casa we take a beer and Pringle’s onto the roof to enjoy. A couple of Casa’s over there are a group of guys exercising.....we’ll continue with our beers thanks :)
Prior to coming to Cuba I’d done some researching on places to go / eat / drink so we decide to go to one of them (which is also in the trusty lonely planet) - Taberna La Botija. It’s already basically full when we walk in at 6.50pm.
We end up sharing a table with two ladies from France.
Beers and banana chips are ordered. The beers come out with cold terra-cotta mugs. Perfect for this weather.
As we walk out of Taberna La Botija we get asked if we want to go hiking tomorrow. No thanks, we are off to the beach instead. Manda then asks him for a recommendation for dinner where there are no / limited tourists. Off we go up a small hill to his friend’s restaurant. Looking at the menu we decide we’ll stay. We are then taken up to the terrace. Amazing views of Trinidad.
We are the only ones up here so have the musician to ourselves. He teaches us to salsa....seems a lot easier than it is! One, two, three (backwards) then four, five, six (forwards). Would have been handy to know this before we went out with Darian in La Habana.
We wander to Plaza Mayor after dinner. The stairs where we had sat at earlier at Casa de la Musica are all blocked off for what seems like cover charge only. As we can’t access the internet we head back to the Casa.
Saturday 30 March we wake to my alarm (at 7.30am); on opening the windows we hear the rosters.
We enjoy breakfast on the terrace.
Our taxi driver is waiting for us just before 9.30am. Definitely no Cuban time here. Today we are off to Playa Arcon (the beach). We had arranged the taxi with our tour guide yesterday.
We walk to where he is parked then have a bumpy few streets on the cobblestones before hitting normal roads.
Before he drives away we confirm 2pm to come and collect us - we think 4 hours in the sun will be enough.
Beach! WOW WOW WOW.
We wander along the beach towards the hotels and choose an umbrella at the end of a section. Sun chairs collected. Queue relax.
The receptionist is very helpful and informs me on the cost of the rooms, then advises it’s cheaper to book through an agency. Good to know.
Our driver waves to us as we get to the car park - the sea breeze basically disappears too which makes it unbearably hot. We wouldn’t have been able to survive on the beach if it was like this the whole time.
Lunch is our first stop when we get back to Trinidad.
I decide to do the photographic walk out of the lonely planet. Man alive it’s hot! On most of the streets I wander along I’m the only foreigner. A few people try to chat to me once I’ve said hola - “sorry sole English” is said more than once.
Back at the Casa we have a cross breeze which is lovely.
Feeling clean and cool I head off to the local store to get some water. Along my wanderings earlier I had seen lots of people sitting outside their Casa’s. I decide to do the same. The two ladies next to me want to chat, not possible when I don’t understand any Spanish. Time to go and get my phone to do google translate.
I will write something in English and give them the Spanish to read. They then answer in Spanish. Aaah this doesn’t help. We try numerous times then it gets too much.
We had seen lots of people hanging out their windows so of course we need to do the same. Good fun!
Once our washing finally finishes (and is hanged outside) we wander down the street. Basically immediately we run into Danny, who I’d met earlier when “chatting” with the ladies. He was very excited to see us!! He wants to take us salsa dancing, too early for that so we let him show us where to go then we continue without him.
We had planned on going back to Casa de la Musica but the sound of music takes us somewhere else.
No Cuban beer, only Heineken. Yeah no! Mojito, grazie.
We wander the streets away from Plaza Mayor; it seems all residential and no music playing (other than from peoples private houses). So we head to the bar Danny suggested. The band is having a break so we head back to the bar we had been at before. The staff are all welcoming.
After sitting here for a while with music, but no live band, I ask what time the next band is coming on. Finished for the night. Right oh that’s our queue to leave.
On entering the bar Danny recommended the band is at least playing but its tourist central. Time to call it a night.
The rosters wake me on Sunday 31 March before 6.30am. Today we are off on a boat trip.
Breakfast is enjoyed on the terrace. It’s so nice and peaceful at this time of the morning.
Our taxi is waiting for us as we head downstairs at 8.20am. Unlike yesterday we are straight into the taxi, it’s a bumpy ride on the cobblestone streets.
We have a short wait at the Marina before getting on the boat. Thank goodness there aren’t 58 others here! We are about 20. Perfect.
Being out on the water again is lovely!
We cruise for about two hours before stopping to go snorkelling - the water is so cool. Unfortunately the mask isn’t fabulous so I don’t stay out as long as I could.
We cruise around the other side of the island where we get off. Our own private island (well for 20 of us) - Cayo Inguanas. It’s so picturesque.
We have two hours on the private island before getting back on the boat for Trinidad.
On arrival back to the Marina there are at least 10 cars sitting waiting. I don’t recall the car but do remember our drive. It’s a quick 20 minute trip back to Trinidad. The security man won’t allow the taxi through the gates; no issue at all. We’ll get out and walk.
Within seconds of paying our driver Manda spies a local market to look at. A few purchases later (Manda) we escape back to our Casa. Everything is so close.
Within seconds of paying our driver Manda spies a local market to look at. A few purchases later (Manda) we escape back to our Casa. Everything is so close.
When we leave the Casa it’s still warm but the heat has gone - perfect temperature. A drink on a rooftop bar is called for. Manda spots one; as we get close we realize it’s packed. Time for a new location.
We hear music in one place so decide to head in. Drinks ordered. The food is pricey (well pricey for Cuba) so we decide to go elsewhere for dinner.
We have a few false starts for somewhere for dinner......it’s our last night in Trinidad and we want to eat while listening to live music. In the end we decide to head towards the “new” area to try to find somewhere. We literally walk 50 steps and hear “don’t you remember me?”. We both turn around and are clueless; clearly not! He then informs us he helped us the other night with a restaurant. Aah yes we totally remember. Kisses all around (like we are long lost friends except we don’t know this name). He’s working at a restaurant so after telling him what we are after (Musica and food) he advises he’s restaurant has that. Bingo, we are in.
Drinks ordered followed swiftly by food - paella for us both (which could serve a family).
Our friendly guy contacts his tattoo artist friend to see if he can do a tattoo tonight for Manda. Unfortunately not, it’s too late.
Monday 1 April I wake to the sound of the rosters. Out on the terrace it’s another stunning morning! We have a chilled breakfast before the final pack.
As we walk to the car I capture our environment one more time.
Trinidad you have been amazing! Thankfully not as touristy as I had expected. Grazie.
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