Cuba Diary #5: Trinidad

Trinidad is often called the second biggest tourist trap in Cuba, after the seaside resort of Varadero. While that doesn’t sound very positive, it is also easy to see why tourists flock here. It has a little bit of everything – colorful colonial buildings, beaches, mountains, waterfalls, and lush farmlands. It is like a miniature Cuba, all packed in a small town. And just because it’s a tourist trap doesn’t mean that you should skip it either.

Our drive from Cienfuegos to Trinidad was the shortest – only 1.5 hours – but for once I wish it was longer, because it was breathtaking. The shared taxi took us through wide pastures with a blue mountain range in the distance, and the sea peeking in every once in a while in a series of pretty little coves. I’m still kicking myself for not asking the driver to stop the car for a photo, but then again, if we stopped whenever there was a photo op along the way, the drive would take twice as long.

We checked into our casa, Casa El Ceramista, so called because the host, Alexey, is a ceramic artist. Be warned: the family has a super cute dog and you may spend so much time playing with him that you forget to see the town.

His name is Scooby-Doo and he totally knows how cute he is

As it was still early, we decided to go on an excursion to the Topes de Collantes National Park for some hiking. The host got us a taxi to the park (50 CUC round-trip). The drive was insane – all up and down and crazy curves – and the driver never slowed down, but thankfully, we got to stop at a viewpoint and see all the way down the valley to the sea, so the near-death experience was worth it. Just don’t go with a full stomach.

We then hiked to Salto del Caburni, one of the most famous waterfalls of the area (it costs 10 CUC/person to get in). The hike isn’t that difficult, but very steep, so it’s murder on your knees. Bring water and some snacks, you’ll need it.

Me on the way back

The waterfall itself is beautiful – a white cascade tumbling down into a jade-green pool, surrounded by towering trees. You can swim there, but the water was too cold for us, so I contented myself with just dipping my toes in.

After we got back into town, we walked to the Old Town for a bite to eat. It was crawling with tourists, so we ducked around the side street until we came to Plaza Mayor. We went up the bell tower of the Convento de San Francisco to watch the sunset, before retreating to a restaurant nearby. Trinidad supposedly has a hopping nightlife, but we were wiped out after our hike, so we just had dinner and went back to the casa to sleep.

Trinidad in the sunset

The next morning, we went into town early to avoid the crowd, turning down any alley that caught our eyes. It is literally impossible to take a bad photo here – the houses look like a box of Crayola, and there is something worth photographing around every corner. When the crowd started building up and the sun became hotter, we went into the various museums and galleries around Plaza Mayor, including Palacio Cantero, which is a mansion-turned-museum on the ground floor and offers the best view from its tower.

View of Trinidad from Palacio Cantero

The abandoned Church of Santa Ana

In the afternoon, we continued to wander away from the Old Town and saw more of the “real” side of Trinidad, such as…

High school students lining up before class

A newspaper seller and a vegetable seller

The onion man – a common sight in every Cuban town

A ration store

The list of monthly rations

A primary school

Then, in an attempt to escape the crowd, we walk 3 km out of town to a “Welcome to Trinidad” sign with a replica of the Manaca Iznaga tower (a tower in the nearby Valley of the Sugar Mills, originally built to observe and control the slaves working in the fields.) We had to walk along the highway, but the road wasn’t busy, and clearly we had the right idea, because after we took photos of the sign, several cars stopped for photos as well!

Cuba-styled power lines  – yeah, that looks safe…

Laundry day!

We went back into town for dinner, and spent the rest of the evening wandering around Plaza Mayor enjoying the atmosphere. You can go into one of the restaurants/pubs for drinks, but we opted for the cheaper version from one of the many stalls lining the street (it tasted fine to me, but what do I know?) There is also Disco Ayala, a nightclub inside a cave just outside of town, but the thought of hiking up a hill at 11 PM didn’t sound very appealing to us. It is the one thing on my “to do” list that I didn’t regret skipping. I guess we are old ladies after all.

Plaza Mayor at night

And then, it was another 5-hour drive back to Havana, one more day in a flurry of souvenir shopping and packing, and, all too soon, our trip was over. Adiós Cuba! It has been absolutely wonderful, and I hope I can return one day.

As usual, I’m ending this travel post with a cat photo

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