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Trinidad
Our visit to Trinidad was arranged when we were in Cienfuegos. There was a guy that we met on one of our first daily walks towards the town just along the roadway from the marina. His name was Dario and he ran a “taxi” to where ever you wished to visit. So we arranged to meet his driver in the morning at 9:00am in front of the marina. 9:00 came and went, John went looking for Dario when finally he arrived with our driver in an old 1947 red American Chevrolet and his pushbike strapped in the boot. He explained the late arrival with, “This is Cuba…”
So we were off, 1st we drove around to 2 hostels to pick up the other passengers. Heading out of Cienfuegos there were the driver, John and I in the front with a guy from Spain and a German couple in the back.
LAND CRABS
The drive started off just heading along a 2-lane roadway passing by countryside and farmland. We noticed that there were quite a few land crabs on the roadway. There were too many for the driver to avoid and so the car was crunch crunching the crabs.
I knew that land crabs migrate to the sea once a year on about the same days each year. It is a migration to breed in the sea, they then return to the land. We just happened to be travelling at the very time the land crabs were migrating to the coast.
As we continued so the numbers of crabs increased. Believe it or not but there were a few cars with flat tires due to the pinchers and the old worn tires being punctured, our driver even stopped to check one of the tires. The smell of squashed crabs was very unpleasant, the sound was just terrible.
Crabs, Rancheos and cattle
and then ahead we saw rancheros blocking the roadway. The rancheros were herding a large herd of cattle and required us to drive onto the verge and let them pass; we really did not need a herd of cattle stampeding towards us. The driver pulled off the side, squishing more and more crabs and we all alighted from the taxi, rather we fell out the doors as we were so packed inside. It gave us a chance to photograph the crabs and also watch the rancheros herd the cattle past. And then we were off again. The roads were still thick with crabs but as we drew closer to Trinidad, which is further inland, the crabs dwindled in numbers.
Trinidad
Trinidad is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being one of Cuba’s oldest, most complete towns. Its history dates back to 1494 when the Spanish settlement was first established. There is an air about the town that “time has frozen” with its narrow cobbled streets, red tiled roofs, mix of gaily painted pastel buildings with the older locals chatting and sit in doorways watching the passage of tourists.
We were dropped off on an outer street, as no vehicles drive into the main part of the town. From there we made our way to the:
Plaza Mayor
This is the heart of old Trinidad and is surrounded by the cathedral and old colonial mansions with balconies overlooking the square while in the center is a fenced garden. We chose to enter the:
Iglesia de la Santisima Trinidad
This is the town’s main church, which is quite typical of other Spanish churches with many altars, and shrines that are very ornate. A Dominican friar donated many of them in the 1900s that wanted to liven up the church.
Ermita de la Popa and the Loma de la Vigia
Was our next stop. This sits above the town and is really just a ruin, but in front there is a wonderful view looking out over the whole of Trinidad.
The walk there and back was interesting too as we passed through the local neighborhood where the locals seemed to spend much time greeting the tourists that wandered by.
We found a wonderful café type restaurant for lunch and enjoyed bite to eat before heading off again. The first stop was:
Museo de la Lucha Contra Bandidos.
This building has a yellow and white trimmed bell tower, which was part of the eighteenth – century church and convent known as Iglesia and Convento de San Francisco de Asis.
The building also houses the museum whose displays cover the history of the revolutionary conflict of the 1950s, the central theme is – post 1959 fight against counter revolutionary groups – the bandidos…..the Bay of Pigs era foreign funded rebels.
We both found this display very educational and the photos compelling.
We climbed the bell tower up and up old rickardy wooden stairs all the way to the bell tower at the top. There the view was wonderful with the town and countryside stretching away for miles into the distance.
The alleyways and byways
Were just charming. I believe John and I wandered every nook and cranny possible, just looking at the architecture, the locals or peeping into windows where the interiors were just as charming.
We wandered to the Plaza Santa Ana
Which is the plaza where many of the locals shop. It’s quite dreary compared to the rest of Trinidad, but there is the Carcel Royal, the old military prison – housing the shops and bars and Iglesia Santa Ana an old derelict church. Here John was also able to renew our cash supply at the Cadeca.
Ride back
Was fast and furious. We met our driver just after leaving the Plaza Santa Ana. He did not have any other fares so he set off and kept up a crazy speed all the way to Cienfuegos. Again the countryside was lovely, surprisingly the crab migration was down to just a trickle of crabs crossing the road, but the roads were covered in a thick layer of squashed crabs.
Trinidad was a wonderful place to visit and we had an excellent day.
The extraordinary is waiting quietly beneth the shin of all that is ordinary. – Mark Nepo
