In the morning, we take a short bus ride to our next destination -
Trinidad Cuba. Along the way we pass a modern
Cuban sports complex and more billboards, but these appeal more to tourists rather than political sentiments. Jon explains the farther we travel from Havana the less obvious is the government's influence.
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Cuban sports center |
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Billboard for Trinidad's tourist attractions |
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Trinidad is a fascinating time capsule heralding from the heyday of the sugar trade around the Caribbean. The town was founded in 1514 (a year before Havana) by
Diego Velazquez de Cuellar. In 1988
UNESCO declared Trinidad a
World Heritage site. Immediately upon arriving, we're struck by it's ancient charm and narrow cobble-stoned streets.
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Two tour buses barely pass on these narrow streets |
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We pass so close to German tourists, I can almost touch them. |
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Jon warns us to be careful exiting the bus as this part of Trinidad is teeming with all kinds of traffic. I meet an older man with his horse and wagon. Several of our group take photos of him and thrust coins in his hands. He looks a bit bewildered with his 15 minutes of fame. Still we are all glad to give him extra spending money.
Jon and Meylin lead us to the pedestrian part of the old town encircling the
Plaza Mayor (central plaza) where the buildings date from the 18th and 19th centuries. In the plaza we come across another
quinceaƱera girl getting photographed. With the fancy dresses, photo shoots, plus large parties, these affairs must be rather costly for the girl's families. It's odd we keep running into these photo shoots in what we consider to be a poor country. Maybe there's more wealth in Cuba than first meets the eye, or families are willing to go to great lengths to get their daughters married off well ... or both.
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Plaza Mayor Trinidad Cuba |
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Right across from the plaza is an art gallery that we all visit.
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Sales girl waiting for crazy gringa (Eli) to make up her mind |
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We like this one |
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View from upstairs |
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Young man courts his sweetheart |
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Lori carries her new treasure over the cobble-stoned street |
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Jon strikes a pose |
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Rooftop view from art gallery 2nd floor |
Our next stop is the
Placaio Cantero, the private home of one of Trinidad's richest sugar barons. It was originally built by Don Jose Mariano Borrell y Padron in 1828. It has been lovingly restored.
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Entry into inner courtyard |
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Such a sassy fellow - quite the dandy |
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Main dining hall |
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Since the climate of Trinidad is quite warm and humid, the house was built to maximize air ventilation with the passing breezes - doors have slatted sections to let air through, the roof allows air in around the edges, and windows are almost always left open. Quite a clever design for the days before air conditioning.
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Slated door |
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Ceiling with air vents |
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Open windows |
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Daily life was labor intensive before such modern conveniences as plumbing, electricity, and cooking with gas. For example, to take a bath water had to be heated in the kitchen and hand carried up to fill the tub. Then afterwards all the water had to be scooped out and hand carried back out of the house. Servants/slaves had busy days in making this household run properly.
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Nice tub, but no plumbing |
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Wood/charcoal stove |
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Getting ready to leave |
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Meylin and Jon lead us back through the Plaza Major towards our lunch stop at
Restaurante Museo.
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School kids on lunch break |
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A helpful tourist tries to push a dead Russian Lada |
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Wow - Restaurante Museo really knows how to put out the welcome mat |
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The owner greets us with shots of aged rum |
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The owner welcomes us inside and points out our seats |
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John gives a Texas-sized toast |
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Angela returns with her rum daiquiri |
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Seafood lunch |
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Towards the end of lunch, the musicians move inside and start playing again as Diva Girl dances and pulls us out on the floor to join her.
Still smarting from my shoulder, I wander back to explore the kitchen and back patio.
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It's amazing the meal they cooked for us in this kitchen |
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Love the fridge |
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The patio would be wonderful in sunny weather |
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After exploring Trinidad a little more, we board the bus for a short ride to our hotel the
Las Brisas Trinidad del Mar, a Cuban beach resort popular with vacationing Europeans and Canadians.
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The driveway into the hotel |
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Nice lobby |
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Waiting in line for our rooms |
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We get settled in our room and then we're off to explore the beach. Too bad the weather's not cooperating, it really does look like a fun-in-the-sun type of beach.
Instead of hanging out on the soggy beach, we content ourselves to exploring the grounds.
By late afternoon, we all end up in the bar. After the
fantastico lunch we had in a privately owned
paladar, the government owned and run hotel bar drinks and dining room food pale in comparison.
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Hotel bar before the Happy Hour crowd arrives |
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I hope we can do a nice booklet with your wonderful photos, background info and perhaps comments from the group. Thank you for this. What a lovely treasure!
ReplyDeleteSure - would love to help with a booklet. Will post one more page on Cuba + wrap-up. Just let me know which photos you'd like to usr.
DeleteThank you for putting so many details of our trip in this blog! So enjoyed it!!! I've already forgotten many of the names of the places we went!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting that the paladars are preferable to the hotels and government run restaurants. Hope your shoulder is better by now.
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