In the evening yesterday, we got chatting to a lovely couple of girl German backpackers that were staying in the other room of our Casa and they mentioned that they were going to catch the steam train up to Ignazu Manaca, which was an old Sugar farm, which still had the large tower for looking out over the fields to keep an eye on the slaves.
We thought this sounded like a great idea and decided to do it. We were going to catch the train with them, however they ended up having a massive night out, and were so hungover that they couldn't do it - we decided to carry on without them.
The train was due to leave at 9:30, and we didn't leave our Casa until about 9:15 - we were sure we were going to miss it, however we got the station on time as it was only a short way away from the Casa - and then realised that this was Cuba and everything runs on Cuban time anyway.
The train eventually left after much kerfuffle at around 10am. It was a beautiful ride out through the countryside, and very relaxing. Once we got to Ignazu, we went and climbed the slave tower, which stands at 44.5 metres high, and has 7 different viewing platforms. It looks out over the sugar cane fields and certainly offers a pretty spectacular view for quite a distance.
After this we had a bit of a wander around the very small settlement, and waited for the train to come back - we didn't really know what the story was, and thought that this was pretty much it for the day. The train came, and then took us down the track in reverse for about another few kilometres, then stopped. We had stopped at a ranch, where we had the ability to ride a horse through the sugar cane fields and what not. Nik and I were both knackered, so we decided not to and just sat around having a cold drink and lazing on the colonial balcony of this old farm house. It was a very relaxing and tranquil afternoon.
We finally jumped back on the train for the journey back into Trinidad. After we got back, we went to the Casa for a sleep, only to be woken up initially by absolutely hammering rain, the first rain we'd seen in Cuba, and then about 15 minutes later the house we were in was struck by lightning! Never have I heard anything so loud and bizarre - a buzz, followed by the loudest crack you've ever heard. It was even weirder as there hadn't really been any lightning before or after this one strike. According to the Casa owner, it blew one of the light fittings clean off the ceiling downstairs, and smoke came out from her phone.
In the afternoon, we decided to go for a walk to try and get our car rental voucher printed off. We should have realised that in Cuba it wouldn't be that easy. We could get access to the Internet, but it didn't have a printer connected. We could get access to a printer, but that printer's computer couldn't access the Internet.
We ended up taking photos of the screen, and decided that would have to do for the car rental mob.
We went for a bit more of a wander around Trinidad, and eventually went to a place called Sol y Son for dinner. The food was really quite average, and the service was terrible despite it being reasonably ranked on Trip Advisor.
Making our way home from here quite late in the evening, and in Parque Central, there is loud music playing and we decided to stop and have a listen to work out what was going on.
After waiting around listening to ear-splitting metal for an hour or so, some Death Metal bands came on at about midnight and started playing so loud it was just crazy. We listened for a short while, realised that we're not into Death Metal, and headed home. It was so loud though, that it was certainly going to mean that sleep was going to be an issue. And so it was.
Of all the things I never thought I'd ever do in my life, I can certainly count watching a live death-metal concert in Cuba right up there.
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