Blogs from Trinidad, Centro, Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 3

May 2nd - May 7th 2013 We basically fell in love in Trinidad. It is the most fascinating, colorful, interesting, cultural and fun town, mostly because there are tons of things to do. Trinidad is one-of-a-kind, a perfectly preserved Spanish colonial settlement where the clocks stopped ticking in 1850. Built on huge sugar fortunes during the early 19th century, the riches of the town's pre–War of Independence peak are still very much in evidence; colonial-style mansions, Italian frescoes, Wedgewood china, Spanish furniture and French chandeliers. We couldn’t get enough of exploring the paved streets, soaking in the most beautiful light in early evenings, having great dinners at our favorite restaurant Taberna Ochun i Yemaya and dance the nights away in the company of live salsa and mojitos. All our travels were normally very active however since ... read more

Breakfast at Dady's was pretty good. The usual Cuban breakfast included an egg omlette and some meat or fruit. At Dady's we had omelette with plates of bread, cheese, ham, coffee and fresh juice. As majority of us wanted to go to Playa Ancon Tony arranged for Ricardo to drive us there on the bus and come back for us later that afternoon. We just paid a few $CUC each to cover it. My first time in the Caribbean Ocean – just a little bit excited. The beach was really pretty, the water a nice colour and my favourite part – warm enough for someone wimpy like me to swim in. We set ourselves up on the beach and spent the day swimming, reading, tanning, burning etc. There was a bar on the beach making cocktails ... read more

Exploring Trinidad, a stop over in Cammaguay and on to Santiago de Cuba Leaving behind a vibrant city like Havana was sad and inevitable, but nonetheless we picked up our little Kia rental car and made our way south and east. Driving in this island nation isn’t challenging from automobile traffic standpoint, but rather from keeping an eye on everything else, like horse carts, hitchhikers, pot holes and trying to find any kind of directional signs. We were off to see some more of this beautiful nation and chose to drive east in search of more sights and adventure. The road out of Havana had three lanes in each direction for a good portion of the voyage. One thing was missing however…..traffic. Seems that the Russians built this highway for the Cubans, but of course ... read more

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 ... read more

Cuba!! by Rachael Arriving in Havana!! We had visions of scary immigration control upon arriving in Cuba but as usual with most things on this trip it was a lot less daunting in reality. However we did have a bit of drama upon leaving the airport - we had booked into a hostel and were quite perturbed when none of the taxi drivers or any locals had heard of it...finally we were taken to a random house and discovered it was actually a casa particular -which is what we stayed in the entire time in Cuba, where you stay in a family´s home and they cook your meals for you, rather than staying in a touristy hotel. More complications followed as the owner Oscar unfortunately couldn´t have us to stay as his bathroom was broken or ... read more