Trinadad and its touts

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After Veredero, we headed to Cuba´s best preserved coonial town, Trinidad. I should have known not to expect much since I have now seen dozens of well preserved colonial towns but we decided to go nevertheless. travelling by bus in Cuba i soemthing else. There are two systems, one for locals and the other for tourists. Once upon a time the tourists buses provided extra luxury and air conditioning, however since the introduction of new chinese busus to the locals only system, there seems to be little difference between the two other than the price. This is just one example of the systems in place seperating tourists from everyday Cubans.

At the Trinidad bus station we were met by a sour looking women holding a sign bearing our names. In Havana, the owner of our accomadations arranged a reservation for us at her brothers hous in Trinidad. However, this was full and it was his daughter who met us and brought us to her house. The way accomadations work in cuba is that there are hotels and resorts and then something called Casas Particulares, private rooms in homes which the government allows to run something like a bed and breakfast. The owners pay large taxes, between 200 and 300 CUC a month for this business arrangement regardless of if they fill their rooms or not, leading to competitive comptition in some cities where supply far outstrips demand at times during the year.

Having come from a beautiful colonial house in Havana and a great room in Veradero, the 30CUC asked by this women for a dark closet-like room seemed exorbinant. In addition she was super unfriendly and pushy about us accepting the room and commiting to the 4 nights we expected to stay in Trinidad. Not wanting to search the streets in the 35 plus degree heat, we accepted the room for 20CUC a nicght with no commitments and searched for a better arrangement without the weight of our packs on our backs. Ended up finding a lovely room on the roof of a house with its own patio, lovely view of the ocean, which is about 10 km away and a great evening breeze to cool the stifling heat.

All in all, visiting a walking about Trinidad was somewhat dissapointing, given the amount of hustling and aggressive hastling that seemed to fill all the streets surrounding the historic plaza. It seemed as though everyone was selling cigars or tours to waterfalls or rides to the beach or just lunch and felt compelled to ask if I was interested in these services over and over again. Forgetting this, the small cafes filled with music at night did manage to redeem the unusual feeling caused by these hustlers.

On the second day we visited the incredible local beach, called Playa Ancon and soaked up some more sun and swam in the aquamarine waters. Nothing really beats sitting on wave swept beaches reading your book and enjoying the warmth of the sun.

For the rest of our days in Trinidad we remained very low key, spending hours on our private deck reading or napping in our comfortable room, only poking our heads onto the street to buy beer or water or the occasional peso pizza, so cheap and so good. Our if not these, take part in what seemed to be a local game of buying fresh cake as soon as it exited the bakery ovens. Very strange sight indeed to see dozens of people carrying cakes at random times of the day, en masse as if these cakes only blossomed from hidden trees for minutes at a time. Just another one of the bizarre yet wonderful occurences taking place in Cuba and making it such a unique experience.

With each passing day, we drew closer to March 25, the day we were scheduled to arrive in maria la Gorda, a secluded hotel on Cuba lonesome Western coast for a week of rest and relaxation and some of the country´s finest diving and snorkelling.

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Photos

Playa Ancon and a beautiful girl
It was too hot to sit under the sun and we found shade wherever we could

Kids playing Ball in the streets
Baseball is definetly Cuba´s sport