Trinidad January 15-22
2015
What do you do in
Trinidad? How do I count the ways to be charmed?
Walk through the
still vibrant Colonial section of the city, now a Unesco World Heritage
site.
Visit the many
museums depicting life as it was during the Spanish Colonial era.
Browse through the
excellent art work and handicrafts for sale in street markets and shops.
I bought a crocheted sweater with a matching necklace which I have
already worn to raves several times.
Have lunch or
dinner at one of the excellent restaurants. Our favourites are
Restaurant Sol and Paladar Estrela, but there are lots more.
Don’t forget
dinners at your Casa Particulares. The dinners prepared by your host are
usually the same or better quality as the restaurants provide.
Listen to the
musicians who play in the restaurants while you enjoy your food.
Go to one of the
many clubs in the evening to listen to more music. The musicians in Casa
de la Trova, and on the stage, half way up the steps beside the Plaza
mayor, get everyone dancing.
Take in the Folk
dancing show at 10 PM at Palenque de los Congos, also next to Plaza
Mayor.
If that is not
enough reason to linger longer in Trinidad, there are excursions
accessible by taxi within 18 km of the city.
Playa Ancón is a
long white sand skinny peninsula just 16 km to the south of Trinidad.
There are just three hotels on beach, but there are no crowds. A taxi
driver is more than willing to take you to the beach and pick you up at
whatever time you specify. Day visitors can choose chairs under a
palapa, for a nominal day charge, by one of the restaurants on the
beach. There are even corals near the shore with more of those tropical
fish swimming around, seemingly for your enjoyment. We went to the beach
twice during our visit, which got extended from five nights to seven
nights, because there was so much to do.
If you like
walking, there are two trails worth exploring. One trail, starting from
Plaza Mayor, led to a communication tower from which the whole of
Trinidad and the surrounding mountains are visible.
If you are a more
experienced hiker, a trip to the Topes de Collantes is a must. A taxi,
or a tour, will bring you first to a viewing platform for more
spectacular views of the area. From there, it is on to the town of Topes
de Collantes. The taxi or tour bus will let you out and wait around for
your return, a minimum of two hours later. Bring lots of water and a
snack to sustain you on the way. The walk starts out steeply downhill,
past rock formations and into the forest, ending an hour later at
swimming hole beside a waterfall, Saltos de Caburni. There are no
facilities at the swimming hole, but if you have worn your bathing suit
under your clothes you are in for a treat. The cool waters will refresh
you after your walk and the rest, with a view, will be appreciated.
There is an extension of another half hour to see more of the forest and
small falls,that we completed three years ago. This year we were content
to end at the falls. The return takes 1 to 1 ½ hours, so a stop close to
the end to have a glass of natural fruit juice and a tasty snack from a
trail-side vendor is worth several stops along the way.
A day trip to the
Valle de los Ingenios, which refers to the machinery used for sugar
refinery, was a lot more interesting than we had expected. Once again we
hired a taxi driver to see old sugar cane plantations. There is a small
tourist train that slowly circles the valley, stopping in a least one
location for passengers to visit a plantation, but we preferred our taxi
trip, enabling us to make our own schedule. Our driver stopped first at
a viewpoint for more views of the mountains and valley we were to visit.
Plantation San
Isidro was a plantation that has been willed to the government a few
years ago. We had an excellent tour through the property with a very
pleasant, knowledgeable guide. Extensive archaeological research has
been completed and work has started to renovate the plantation house
into a museum. A bell and observation tower, in front of the plantation
house, has been renovated, but is not ready for tourists to climb. The
tower had two purposes, one to sound the beginning and the end of the
day for the slaves working on the plantation, and also to oversee the
work and ensure no slaves were attempting an escape. We were shown the
ruins of the slave quarters and the complicated system used for refining
the sugar cane and producing Rum for the use of the plantation owners.
It was nearing
lunch hour and another plantation, Manaca Iznaga, founded in 1750, was
nearby. The plantation house is now a restaurant, where we had a light
lunch and listened to an excellent musical group. Our lunch finished, we
climbed to the top of the bell tower for the view. At 44M high, it is
the tallest in the area. There is another plantation to visit in the
area, but we called it a day and returned to Trinidad.
We had returned to
Trinidad because we had enjoyed it so much three years ago. This year we
discovered much more to enjoy. Trinidad will always be on our list of
favourite Cuban locations.
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