The Road to Trinidad
We needed to change some travellers cheques and had no accommodation booked for the next week or so, and as it was now a Sunday we found that the only place that we could do this was at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, therefore we enquired about where else we could head off to. After discussions with our ground agent (Captivating Cuba) we decided that we would have to visit central Havana to obtain some cash before heading off to the southern city of Trinidad.
The city is a UNESCO world heritage site, and we were given the address of Martha the local dentist, as she would be able to find us some accommodation (tenuous, but we agreed that it would be quite an adventure just turning up to a place with just a name and address scrawled on a piece of paper). This did mean that we had the longest drive of the trip of around 500km from Las terrazas to Trinidad via Havana. Whilst in Havana we also reserved accommodation in Moron (to gain access to the Northern Keys) and at Playa Larga (for the Zapata peninsula).
Exiting Havana is troublesome due to the lack of signposting and we missed the autopista junction without any trouble whatsoever… once on the autopista traffic is very light and the major hazards are the odd fume belching truck that transports Cubans around the country as well as many people who congregate around the junctions either prospecting for lifts or offering goods for sale. These goods vary from the typical cigars and natural produce to the worrying sight of Parrots being sold. Beware of rail crossings that are raised above the level of the road surface as there are is very little warning usually just a sign “Peligroso” a few metres before the crossing.
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Sierra Escambrey |
Off the autopista we take what is described in many guides as the most dangerous drive in Cuba as this is the mountain pass road through the Sierra Escambrey, a little visited area which I wish we had extra time to have stopped and explored. The densely forested hills looked like prime birding and hiking habitat as well as offering a stupendous array of vistas. Red-legged thrushes seemed to be particularly abundant on the grassy verges.
The road is very bumpy in places and the surface disappears occasionally and more than once we had to take hairpin bends on the wrong side of the road. This isn’t the risk it sounds like due to the lack of traffic – we saw one other car in over 80km. Local kids all waved and shouted Hola whenever we passed through any small villages. Maybe they thought we were pretty foolhardy taking this road as there were many signs recording the number of both accidents and fatalities that had occurred in recent years.
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Victor’s House, Trinidad |
The view of Trinidad from the crest of the Sierra Escambray, in the clear blue sky of late evening allowed the whole coastal plain to be seen. Once down from the hills we had to find Martha’s house, which surprisingly was easy. As promised we were found some accommodation in a house owned by Victor, the local doctor. The formidable looking double door entry gave way to a cool marble floored apartment with a sizable courtyard at the rear where our rooms bordered.
The courtyard has a rainwater supply and this allowed us to get some hand-washing done and provided somewhere for us to have quiet moments writing trip reports or catching up on some reading.
When Martha heard how far we had actually travelled that day that she managed to secure us a table at the best palador in town, a place listed in both the Rough Guide and Lonely Planet (Sol y Son). Food here was of the standard we expected in casas with a whole array of dishes available, vegetarians again would have found eating a little difficult as meat (particularly chicken and pork) is the staple food here…fine mojitos here too.
Trinidad
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World Heritage Trinidad |
The old colonial town has none of the tourist based building (as with other Cuban cities), a result of the UNESCO world heritage status. At night the city is very quiet as most tourists are bussed in from resorts such as Varadero and therefore only stay for a day. Again, the lack of light is surprising. We find that there are a number of museums detailing local history and Cuban musical tradition. Around the small Plaza mayor, there are a number of galleries selling locally produced prints and paintings as well as other craftworks such as jewellery. Indeed there is a whole network of small market style shops in the streets leading off from the Plaza mayor. In one house, its proprietor produces only Che Guevara prints on canvas, in all colours and sizes.
After a hard morning purchasing souvenirs for friends and family back home, we stumble upon the Canchanchara bar that Victor has recommended to us earlier in the day and we decide to get some bottled water on what is a scorcher of a day. The urge to try one of the house cocktails “The Chanchara” takes over. This consists of rum, lime/lemon juice, soda and a generous amount of honey. These are fantastic and as we sipped away we noted that groups of tourists were being shepherded onto the terrace of the bar and treated to a single drink while the band play a few tunes before being herded out again. There were very few smiles to be seen from this clientele and we found out that several of these cocktails in the shade was a far more conducive way to spend the afternoon.
Trinidad has signs of the “Jockey” culture of Havana where an increasing number of Cubans seek out affluent (often lone) western foreign men who are looking to find chicas. One particular scam we hear of is that Cuban men will approach lone or pairs of western male tourists to determine if they would like some female company for the evening. If the answer is yes then the tourists are taken to suitable locations where their host thinks that they could meet up with a young lady. From tales we were told this appears to be the 3rd or 4th bar and the cuabano (and usually a few friends) have had a night on the town paid for by the westerners…quite a cute scheme really.
