Trinidad Day 4 (Architecture Museum, Car Rental)

Interesting times were assured today as we were due to pick up the rental car. It was never going to be straightforward in Cuba, and so it proved to be.

Initially our biggest problem was that we were not going to be able to pick up the car without the internet voucher. This was a problem because on the Internet Access Point computers, you don't have the ability to print. We went and saw a chap called Ronnee at one of the fanciest hotels in town, and he said we could email it to him to print. We tried this, however the access points also don't allow you to download documents. We tried screen capturing and emailing the screen caps to Ronnee, but unfortunately this didn't work as his computer didn't have access to the internet to be able to download the attachments on the email. We ended up taking photos of the screen with my phone and hoped we could just show that.

In the afternoon we went for a walk through the Architecture Museum which was pretty much an old colonial house on the main square, that was restored to be how it was from about 300 years ago. This was a fantastic experience as we had the loveliest old lady who was our guide through the museum - she didn't speak a single word of English, but through a lot of hand gestures and reading and trying to understand her we pretty much got the gist of everything that she was telling us about the interesting architecture of the building. Very cooly, the ceramic tiles for the roof are actually formed from laying the raw clay over the maker's thigh, and this gives it a unique half-moon funnel shape so that when they are placed together on top of each other and upside down they are very effective roofing tiles.

Later, when we were due to pick the car up, we walked up to the office, and it was closed - inexplicably. We had a contact number on the reservation form, so we bought a phone card, and after another hour of stuffing around working out how to dial correctly (it's very complicated in Cuba, even when you know how), I managed to get through to a lady who spoke great English and she told me she'd find out what was happening and I had to call her back in 10 mins. I did this, and she said that we were going to have to go to the other office, which was about a 15 minute walk away. No problem. Off we set, get to the office, and there's no one there either. Then after a few minutes, some guy comes screeching up behind us in a slightly beaten up Geely GS 1.5 CK, and asked us to get in. OK.... He assured us he was from the rental car company and that we would now have to go back to the original office. He would drive us there.

We get to the original office and there is a chap inside now, and we go in there, sort out all the paperwork, and leave with the car we have just arrived in.

We went for a drive to the Beach to just have a look, but it turned out that we were running out of light by this point, and we had been told that it was not a good idea to be on the roads in the dark in Cuba. After seeing the quality of the bitumen and the size of the potholes, we can understand why! Some of the roads in the UK are pretty bad, but they've got nothing on Cuba.

We got back to Trinidad, tucked the car away for the night and went for a walk out into town. We went to a bar called "La Canchanchara" named for the famous drink of the area. Strangely their version of what we had the other night at Davimart was no where near as good. 

We had a wander around the town again, and ended up back at San Jose for dinner.

Trinidad Day 3 (Steam Trains, Sugar Cane Farms and Death Metal in Cuba)

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.

Trinidad Day 2

Today we got up and rented a couple of bikes and rode down to Playa Ancon near Trinidad. It's about 14km away from Trinidad, and we thought it would be nice to go for a ride in the sunshine and get some air and then go for a swim.

Boy, we are glad we did - what a beautiful day.

As per usual, we were told initially that the bikes were going to cost $3CUC per person per day, but when we turned up they tried to charge us $4CUC - I told them I'd just get a bus, as it would be the same cost, and that they should not be charging so much - they reduced it back to the $3CUC, but I got the impression that they weren't happy about it.

The ride down to the beach was fantastic, however we had been warned about the fact that it would take us about 3 times as long to get back, as it is uphill the entire way back.

We stopped for a number of photos along the way, helped out a German couple who were wondering where they could go for a swim (they were staying at La Boca, which doesn't really have any beaches, and we told them that they'd probably need to rent a bike and ride to Playa Ancon which was about 9 km away), and we also got bailed up by bulls on the side of the road. I tried to suggest to Nikki that they were probably used to people going past all the time, but as Nikki was wearing a red shirt, she was quite a bit less keen to make her way past them. Luckily we had another couple come through, and we tagged on the back of them and made our way through as we figured with 4 of us we'd stand more of a chance. They didn't even look at us twice! :-)

Once we got to the beach, we had the joy of having to pay to park the bicycles. $1CUC per bike per day - it's not much money (about £0.60), but it really is a bit annoying to keep having to dig into your pocket every 5 minutes, and as we're on a backpackers budget, it's still money coming out of more important things.

Either way though, none of this should be read as a complaint - not at all - it's just hard getting used to different ways of doing things, and the fact that the locals see us as a walking dollar bill, and seeing the way that the vast majority of them live, you can definitely understand why.

The beach itself was absolutely stunning, and we set ourselves up with a nice spot under a shady tree, got our towels out, and set about doing not much for many hours. It was pure bliss. We eventually got bored and made our way into the water for a dip and to cool off and the water was the most amazing crystal clear colour near the edge, and progressed to a dark azure. With the coconut trees on the beach, the pure white sand and the water as clear as this, it must be one of the nicest beaches we've ever seen.

Absolutely amazing.

We made our way back to Trinidad after this, and after a long sweaty ride back, we got back quite late, had a shower and got ready to go out for dinner.

We walked down to a restaurant we had seen on Tripadvisor that was called Davimart - we weren't sure what to expect, as it was in a bit of a dodgy part of town, and there was a flashing LED "Open" sign out the front - going inside revealed that it looked like it was a complete and utter tourist trap and that it was  bit expensive, and there was an American tour group in there - Nikki and I were both keen to leave, and were about to walk out however they had already placed a welcome cocktail on our table, so as we got up to leave I explained to them that we were backpackers and we couldn't afford the prices - the lovely waitress told us to wait a moment and then came back with the head chef / owner "Davi" who explained that the tour group were there honouring him tonight, and that he would be happy to do dinner for us for $6CUC each, so long as we had pork. We were very thankful and agreed (particularly as this was a great price for a nice restaurant), and what a miraculous find this place turned out to be - it's funny how you can't always trust first impressions - for what appeared to be a tourist trap, the food was absolutely top notch - incredible even - and the service was impeccable. We ended up with a 5 course meal and a local cocktail called a "La Canchanchera" and followed up by a Ron Havana Gran Reserva for $6CUC each. At any rate, this meal should have been only $10CUC each anyway at full price - an absolute bargain. We ended up paying them much more than $6CUC as it was worth it - their food was to die for.

Davi's story was incredible too, and it was great to get the opportunity to chat with the man about his background and dealing with the workings of socialism.

All in all, it was a sensational day.

Havana to Trinidad

Today we caught the bus from Havana to Trinidad. This meant we had to get up around 5:30 so that we could get a taxi to the bus station to get our tickets an hour before the 8am departure, and the bus station was the other side of the city.

The bus station didn't open until 7am, but we made sure we were there by around 6:30 to be sure to get a good spot in the queue so we could ensure we got on the bus.

Luckily we did this, as the bus certainly appeared to be full. It was a crazy morning, but we are now safely tucked up in our Casa Particulare in Trinidad called Casa Arecelys. We had arranged for this to be booked from Havana with our previous hosts, so when we got off the bus, there was someone waiting for us with a sign and a bici-taxi. It is quite nice and has a beautiful terrace for breakfast and for chilling out in.

The drive on the bus down from Havana was beautiful, and awesomely we passed through an area there called Central Australia (which actually has it's own interesting history within Cuba as being crucial to some of the aerial assaults during the Bay of Pigs invasion).

We passed along the coastal area near Australia and it was absolutely stunning - we were on the Caribbean side of the island now, and even though the Atlantic side is a.mazing, the Caribbean side looked fantastic too.

After we arrived in Trinidad, got sorted with the place, we went for a wander through the town to check it out. The location of our Casa was brilliant, being only about a block away from Parque Central, the main square in Trinidad (there are 2 - there is the 'touristy' main square, and then there is the one that is 1 block from us that the locals hang out at....)

We went on to the touristy square, and got some great photos of the sun setting on the square. Trinidad is certainly a beautiful place - it's celebrating it's 500 year birthday as a city in 2014 so it was cool to be there for it. The main part of the town is also a UNESCO world heritage site - the colonial buildings in the town certainly give it a different feel to Havana, but it is beautiful albeit in a different way to Havana - Havana's beauty I think is from it's rustic-ness and the fact that it IS run down - there is a main square in Havana where they have done it up, and it feels very unauthentic. 

Tonight we went to a restaurant called San Jose and it was really quite nice - we've been struggling a bit with decent food in Havana, but we found a great place in this restaurant.