Trinidad; Pathetic Fallacy & Good Luck

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The Quiet Charm of Trinidad

There is nothing better than exploring. There is nothing similar to the feeling of being taken by surprise. There is nothing more special than a place which challenges your expectations, puts you completely out of your comfort zone, and then finally hands you your rewards on a silver platter. I had been in Cuba for 4 days and was yet to experience a major culture shock. The country was amazing, the people were friendly enough and the food had far outweighed all my expectations. I had been in Varadero, which as anyone who has been to Cuba knows, is not the real Cuba. Cushy and relatively rich it could almost be mistaken for a part of Spain. This was not something that I knew.

Rental Car picked up, we left the undeniably beautiful beaches and set off on a new adventure. Little did I know this was where the culture shock would begin. The journey to Trinidad was a whole story in itself, suicidal crabs and horses with machetes aside, it took much longer than expected.

It was down pouring, we were two hours later than expected, we were tired, hungry but still in high spirits and then we arrived in Trinidad. I observed the wreckage as my friends panicked and cried “slum, it’s a slum!” and “we absolutely cannot stay here”. I was scared, I cannot deny it. The streets were narrow, and cobbled. There were a million potholes. The potholes were filled with rubbish. Rubbish was being washed down the street by the torrential rain. The streets were deserted but for people on bicycles. Faces peered out of doorways with no doors, and windows with no glass. It was a shock. We were meant to be staying in the town centre, but this looked less like the middle of civilisation, and more like the middle of a horror movie, either that or The Hangover.

It took a cool head and an even cooler voice to calm everyone down. Yes it was not what we were expecting but we owed it to our adventurous instincts to at least find where we were meant to be staying. We locked ourselves in the car as we carried on down the street. We parked up on the road outside of the building we were meant to be staying in, and a man tapped on our window. “You stay here” he asked. “Yes, yes” we all cried in relief, we had found what we were looking for. “There no room here” he announced, “you follow me”. My heart sunk, I had thought that maybe luck was on our side, perhaps he was off helping someone needier. We started up the car and followed him on his bike. All of us felt uneasy. This wasn’t right; he was getting us lost in the city. The doors were locked again. We rang the house we were meant to be staying in. They were still expecting us, and they weren’t full. We’d been had. We didn’t talk to that man again, just turned around and drove back through the slums as best we could. Finally, as we were about to give up and ring mummy and daddy, we found our way, a second time, to the Casa El Tulipan.

This is where the nightmare begins to fade, although we still felt unsafe and uneasy we were introduced to the real family, and to their house, which was lovely. They introduced us to their neighbours and told us that Trinidad was really very safe. The longer I spent in this town the more comfortable I felt. And as the rain stopped the pathetic fallacy lifted. The people were open and friendly; they gave us jewellery and greeted us in the street. They talked to us and smiled at us, and despite the language barrier, we communicated with them. It was truly my favourite town in all of Cuba; it was colourful and vibrant not just aesthetically but in character as well.

Trinidad was not what I anticipated, in the rain and at night it scared me, but when I got to know it, it astounded me with its friendliness and charm, and I felt the safest that I felt anywhere in Cuba. I’m so glad we decided to stay. It is tough when something is not what you expect, but its better when it exceeds presumptions. When I think about it now, Luck never deserted me. He just realised that I needed a wakeup call. I needed to be surprised by something, not to expect too much and to not be too comfortable and content. Everyone needs to be a little on edge sometimes, because if I wasn’t, a town like Trinidad might not have charmed me in quite the same way. And for this little adventure, I consider myself the lucky one. Trinidad was special for me because it exceeded my expectations; it challenged how I thought and what I thought. It surprised me, and for that reason, I consider it to be one of the most amazing places in the world, and I cannot stop singing its praises.

Things to do in Trinidad will follow in my next blog post....

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