Cuba – 4 – Back to the 19th century & amazing nature – Trinidad & area

If Havana – and the rest of Cuba – often feel like a 1950s time capsule, in Trinidad time seems to have stopped a century earlier, before the car era. From the central Plaza Mayor …

… to the hilly streets …

Trinidad feels like a village.

Here, horse drawn carriages are not for tourists.

The small town has a distinctive architecture of low, gridded-window colonial houses …

… and wildly uneven cobblestone streets.

The grids enable the windows to stay open and air to flow through, (somewhat) cooling down the interior. It’s convenient for security, but not so great for privacy, although this doesn’t seem to be a top concern.

Interiors range from dinstinguishly colonial to… slightly strange?

Unsurprisingly, Trinidad is one of the most touristy towns in Cuba.

In the evening, tourists congregate on Plaza Mayor to listen to live music of varying quality levels.

Music is everywhere, from the bars to the streets.

The few Cubans who manage to fully benefit from the tourism industry often proudly adopt Western style codes …

… sometimes adapted to the colorful local life.

A large part of the communication is distinctly low-tech 😊 …

… and the amazing American cars are not quite as pristinely maintained as in La Havana.

For the vast majority of the population, the traditional lifestyle prevails …

… and in state-run stores, food is rationed like in the rest of the country: no bread or eggs without the “booklet” / “libretto”.

Yet, especially outside of the touristy areas, Cubans are super friendly.

Amazing Caribbean islands are a couple hour catamaran ride away from Trinidad, making wonderful day trip excursions …

… like Cayo Macho, with its fine white sand beach …

… a.k.a. Cayo Iguana, named after the a large colony of very friendly prehistoric looking animals!

The shallow waters around the island make for interesting discoveries.

To get back to Trinidad, rather cool taxis await 😊

Just North West of Trinidad, the Escambray mountains offer some of the most stunning wild natural environments of Cuba: a jungle where bamboo grows thick and ferns appear to be levitating.

The Guayanara park also hosts stunning waterfalls, like El Rocio …

… and superb, irresistible natural swimming pools.

Cienfuegos, quiet colonial town just 80km West of Trinidad, proposes a very different vibe from other Cuban cities thanks to its French designed layout.

Here too, striking palaces have been updated in vibrant colors…

… and some scenes seem to come straight out of a 1950s movie set.

The central plaza is the focal point of the animation…

… but that’s still very relative – overall Cienfuegos remains a rather sleepy town,

and the overall pace of life seems to match the vintage of the cars.

Everything seems to move a bit more slowly there.

Traffic control had to adjust to the local realities…

… and horse carriages are not just for tourists.

In this context, smartphones, routinely used to make video calls, seem even more anachronistic than in the rest of Cuba…

Cuban’s faith seems to mostly express itself privately, although it sometimes manifests itself in… glowing ways, like with this statue in my guest house.

As usual, the standard ideological / revolutionary propaganda dominates the public space communication.

To the East of Trinidad, the Valley de los Ingenios offers a testimony of the early 19th century sugar cane based local economy…

… and the “steam” train which runs through it looks like a toy.

Remnants of the once grand plantations, can still be visited, giving an idea of the lives people had here, whether they were slaves crammed into cramped quarters …

… or rich owners coming from Trinidad to live on the plantation each year for the duration of the crop.

Their mansions enabled them to maintain their fancy lifestyles.

One, Alejo Maria del Carmen Iznaga, even build a seven story tower …

…  to watch his 231 slaves. (Another story suggests that he built it to lock his unfaithful wife on the top floor…)

Now, the area is also a prime tourist destination, some of whom travel in style 😊…

… and more cigars are sold than sugar!

On the roads, we are constantly reminded of the country’s values.

You liked reading this article? Please share it! Thank you! – and comments are always welcome.

And if you liked it, you will probably also enjoy my other articles on Cuba:

Stay tuned, more to come!
Didier.