Trinidad

Second only to Habana, Trinidad was touted as the best place to see well kept architecture in Cuba. It was, but there was something else more important.....MUSIC!

Rush Hour....?

We arrived into Trinidad after a long 9 hour bus journey. Not that the roads were busy in anyway, more the opposite and quite funny. There is a main motorway (3-lanes each way) running through spine of Cuba, but there are just no cars on it.

We were staying at another Casa, this time the home of Nilda and Rolando, a lovely older couple who made us feel very welcome. We would spend a total of 4 nights in Trinidad and the aim here was just to relax and soak up the atmosphere. Each night we would just walk the local cobbled streets and listen out for small venues playing traditional Cuban music. Sometimes there are guys just playing in the afternoon on the street, great to just "be" and take it all in.

Whilst in Trinidad we also took some lessons. One was a drum lesson for me and the next was a salsa dancing lesson. I am not sure which I am worst at, but lucky the video evidence of both has been destroyed ! So with our new found moves (ahem) we headed out to a club situated high up on the hills above Trinidad but tucked underground in a cave. A very cool club and a locals hangout.


There is something about the Cuban Anatomy that means that they are all born with a natural ability to dance, sing and drink neat rum. What a great skill set!! It was good to be out and see the locals enjoy the local music and show off their dance moves.

So after a late night at the club, what better way to recover then a lie down on the beach. The more famed caribbean beaches are on the north coast, but the best of the south is only 11Km from Trinidad, in a place called Ancón. So after a short taxi ride we were on a deserted beach and soaking up some rays (apparently it helps get rid of the rum left in the body!).


After soaking up enough sun to make us feel brother we headed back to town and managed to avoid an absolute deluge of a tropical afternoon rain shower. So much so that the streets in Trinidad had been turned in to mass streams running from up in the hills down to the low lands. If the cars failed in this weather the other favored method of transport (the horse and cart) would get you through.

After a good rest and a lovely time in Trinidad it was time to move on, so we packed our stuff and headed back north to a town called Cienfuegos.




































On leaving Trinidad we had a very weird experience. The road from Trinidad to Cienfugos (our nextr stop) ran along side the coast. Because of this there were lots of crabs nearby and by the side of the road. What we didnt expect to see is that the crabs were ALL over the road and didn't move when our coach drove through. Yep, that's right, we must have driven over a good few hundred crabs along this 10 Km stretch of road, it was weird and awful at the same time. 

Crab Alley.....!