A glimpse of Cuba (3)

Day 5: Santa Clara & Trinidad

Santa Clara's Che Monument and Mausoleum > Manaca Iznaga > Trinidad > Playa Ancon

We headed out early in the morning as this 2 days 1 night trip was even further than going to Havana. Originally I planned this trip to visit the city of Trinidad (don't get this mixed up with Trinidad & Tobago, I was surprised at first there was a city called Trinidad in Cuba). From Varadero to Trinidad it's supposed to take about 4 hours, but we wanted to make a stop in Santa Clara because it's the city of Che Guevara.

On the way, we saw lots of truck on the road that I guess function like buses/shared transportation for the people, there were also lots of horse and carts on the roads and even some highways. Lastly, on some of the roads you'll see people standing in the middle of the road blocking some of the lanes so that it forces all the cars to squish into one lane and the people are holding up merchandise like cured meat, garlic braids and other whatnots.

 above: at a rest stop, the shop sells car parts

below: vendors standing on the highway

 

We also saw lots of hitch hikers on the road in the city and also on the highways. Especially during rush hour there would be large groups of them. We even saw a group of people running along the road at some point and our guide explained that hitch hiking is actually illegal in Cuba, and so people will hide their large bags and parcels in the bushes or behind trees and they will walk/stand along the road like they would normally. And when they get picked up, other people hiding will rush out with the large bags.....

On our way to Santa Clara, our guide also told us that Santa Clara is not only know as Che's city (he liberated Cuba from Batista's rule by taking this city first), it's also the new LGBT capital in Cuba. There's a huge beauty pageant for transvestites every year. It also has the best annual rock music festival in Cuba.

Our stop in Santa Clara was only at the Che Monument and Mausoleum because my mom specifically asked if we would go there for Che. In Cuba, you will see images of Che every where. He is held in very high reverence. In front of the Monument is a huge square that can be used for demonstrations. On top of the Monument is a huge statue of Che and some murals. If you walk around the back, you will find the entrance to a small museum about the life and work of Che - again all the information is in Spanish! But it's still interesting to see the photos, and if you understand French or Italian, you'll probably be able to guess some of the Spanish words. A few steps from the museum is the Mausoleum, where Che's body is buried (after being retrieved from Bolivia where he was murdered and buried), an eternal flame was lit by Fidel Castro after his body was buried. (No cameras or picture taking allowed in the museum and mausoleum)

Our guide also gave us some secret information. He said that everyone in Cuba loves Che, but they are actually unhappy with the revolution and how it turned out afterwards. All the people in Cuba actually wanted Che to be the President after the revolution, but Che didn't want to be president, he just wanted to go and revolutionize other countries.

He also told us that on average, Cubans earn about 30cuc from the government each month, that is not enough to live on at all. Even food rations are not enough - it's actually just enough for a week of food. So that's why many Cubans do business on their own too - like renting out rooms in their house or selling things, or working in tourism. The tips they earn is a lot more - On Average we gave them about 10-20cucs a day (cucs are Cuban Convertible Pesos and they are the same value as American Dollars! so things are not cheap in Cuba), so if they worked 15-20 days a month they could earn a lot more just from tips.

After our quick stop in Santa Clara, we made our way to Trinidad, stopping at Manaca Iznaga on the way. We drove through the Sierra del Escambray - a mountain range in the middle of Cuba. Our driver told us this is not a way that people usually take and it's his first time driving from Santa Clara to Trinidad through the mountains. It did save us some time, but the roads here are not like the wide, flat highways. We were going up and down and it was quite awesome - I think, glad our mini-van made it through the trip.

Manaca Ignaza mansion, we drove through the mountain range in the background of this photo

At first, we were going to take a steam train from Trinidad to Manaca Iznaga, but decided not to do that as I found another place that I wanted to visit and didn't want to waste 1.5 hours on a steam train when the car ride is actually just 20 mins.... but if you're ever in Trinidad and have time to kill, then every morning there's a train that leaves Trinidad for Manaca Iznaga at 9:30am, and the train will take you back to Trinidad at 1:30pm.

 below: the Iznaga Station

Manaca Iznaga is located in the Valle de los Ingenios (Valley of the Sugar Mills) as this area used to be full of Sugar Cane Plantations. Iznaga was a Sugar Cane baron and he built a 40 foot tower on his land so that he could see far into his fields to watch over his slaves' work.

above photos: climbing the tower's steep stairs, my thighs were aching the next few days

Sierra del Escambray in the background

Now the land is no longer a sugar cane plantation as it was over worked, but it's become a tourist site that is related to Trinidad because the city of Trinidad used to be a very wealthy city because they exported large amounts of sugar. The houses that you find in Trinidad are all protected by UNESCO because they are all like little museums. The outside of the houses you will see all the windows have some casing surrounding it to protect them from being pillaged by pirates - those with wooden casing at from the 17th Century and those with metal casing are from the 18th Century.

Blue casing (right) are from 17th Century, while the white casing (left) are from 18th Century

Looking inside the house, you will find that the ceilings are very high with decorated beams that run across the ceiling. We had lunch at one of the home-run restaurants known as Paladres in Cuba. Actually, whenever we ate (other than at the resort buffet), our typical meal consisted of lobster, shrimp, pork, chicken, rice, black beans sauce and a simple salad. This place also served us some traditional Trinidad biscuits that were really light and crunchy - my aunt really enjoyed them and even wanted the recipe! :D We were also served mango juice and coffee - which doesn't happen elsewhere. The cost was 17 cuc per person. That's the typical price range for a meal for tourists. Cubans eat much more cheaply, but to tourists, 17 dollars for all that food (and especially a lobster) is very good! But eating the same thing every day was getting a little boring. If I ever go back to Cuba again and do trips I would definitely ask my guide to add some variety and bring us to different places.

 above: you wouldn't imagine that the houses have high vaulted ceilings like this when you look at the house from outside

below: the grandma of the house crochets and knits table cloths, serviettes and tops for sale from the big window to passerbyers

 

After lunch, we walked around Trinidad some more - the city itself is very small, and in particular most of the sights to see are in the centre where cars are not allowed, but it's really just a square (Plaza Mayor) and some of the surrounding streets. During my research I already knew it wasn't going to be big, but it was a lot smaller than I imagined.

Plaza Mayor

Stairs to Casa de la Musica - at night there's live jazz here and lots of people surfing the wifi

The houses here are not as tall as the ones you find in Havana, they're a different style, but when you go inside the house, you'll be surprised that they usually are quite spacious and have lots of room. It's strange how the front looks very simple - a door and a window or two, but once inside you'll find an interior garden, large rooms with high ceilings and even a second floor.

While the houses in Havana are actually very dreary, here all the houses are painted colourfully and there are always people walking around on the street making it easy to capture them in front of their rainbow coloured buildings.

 above & below: La Canchanchara is a Trinidadian drink made of rum from sugar cane, lemon and honey

We also stopped by a shop where an old lady makes artisan cigars - I don't really know what that means, but she was rolling the cigars in front of us and she said that she makes cigars that are just like the well-known brands but they just don't have a brand wrapped around them..... she had Monte Cristo, Cohiba, Romeo & Juliet and some other ones that I can't remember the name of..... Actually I don't know what's the difference even after watching her do it. Is it the quality of the leaf? The way it's rolled? The smell?

Then our guide took us to the top of a small hill to look back on the city, however, it's not really a path made for tourists, there was no road, and it was strewn with garbage. After walking through parts of Trinidad that are where the locals live (not the part that is protected by UNESCO), you see the difference, many of the houses are not as brightly coloured or washed clean, we also saw slabs of raw meat left out in the open for sale.

 

above right: apparently they are building a hotel at the top of this small hill.....

the white structure next to the facade of the church is the new hotel in the works

 

In Trinidad, many of the children that we passed by would directly ask us for candy and hold out their hands. I did bring some snacks and stuff to Cuba with the intention of giving them away, however, I didn't know I would need them here and when the children asked for it, I was sorry that I didn't have anything to give them. If you're ever in Cuba, keep some stuff in your bag that you can give away to children. Some of them actually looked nicely dressed in school uniform, but I think they ask because they just like to eat candy! :D

After spending the day walking around we went to the beach - Playa Ancon which is about 20 mins drive from Trinidad. The beach isn't spectacular and actually our beach at the resort looks better, but at least we can say we've swam in the Caribbean Sea now...... and this beach is good when it's so hot out. The water was warm and you have to swim out quite a bit to get some cold currents.... but usually it's not deep even far out, and I even had a fish swimming around me the entire time I was in the water, it was a bit scary how it kept circling me.... :D

Our guide also told us that there are two main beers in Cuba - Cristal and Bucanero, he says Bucanero is better.... so we tried it here, because we had already tried Cristal in Havana and at our resort. I think beer in Cuba is actually not as bitter and it's quite easy to drink.... Bucanero, to me, tastes a bit like Black Beer but not very bitter...

We also treated our driver and guide to beers and while our guide has had 6-7 years of experience and met a lot of foreigners, our driver was only on his second trip and he was surprised that we bought him a beer. We found out that he used to be a professor of Mathematics and Physics at a military high school before, but working in tourism lets him make more money so that's why he changed. His English was actually better than our guide's (but that's because our guide usually shows Spanish or French tourists around).

People surfing on the wifi around the Stairs to Casa de la Musica while Jazz music plays

We floated around for about 1-2 hours and then went back to Trinidad for dinner. We had dinner at the House of Conspirators (Casa de los Conspiradores) which is next to the steps up to the Casa de la Musica. There is live jazz playing and we had a dinner/meal that was not lobsters and rice and beans. We ordered pasta!!!!! We were so excited to have it, and actually all the other tables also ordered pasta as well. I think mainly foreigners ate there and I guess we were all craving for something different.

The meal was delicious!!!!!

 

above left to right: lobster spaghetti in tomato sauce, tomato bruchettas (this was free!),

fruit salad with sweet mango and papaya 

Day 6: Trinidad & El Nicho

Trinidad's Museum of Architecture > El Nicho > Cienfuegos > Varadero

Panoramic view from our casa particular's rooftop

The next morning we woke up, and I went up to the roof of our casa particular and took some photos. In Trinidad it's very common for the houses to have a roof and many guests will have breakfast there.

above left to right: roof tops of Trinidad's houses, the second floor landing outside our bedroom, stairs leading up to the rooftop

below: Rooftop with table and chairs for a meal

About casa particulars, the one in Havana was pretty good, but the walls and windows in Cuba seem to not have any noise canceling function at all. In Trinidad the rooms were very simple, bed, small bathroom with shower, and they have air conditioning.... but it was horribly loud! and not that cool either..... I eventually fell asleep from exhaustion, but my cousin told me that she really had trouble sleeping because of the air conditioning. I am guessing it will be similar at any casa particular, but if you really must have quietness, then maybe try finding a casa particular that has newer types of air conditioning units - like the split air conditioners rather than the old styles. In terms of cleanliness I think it's acceptable. Everywhere we've stayed it's always been cleaned (as far as my eyes can see).

We went to the Museum of Architecture, which is just next to the main square - Plaza Mayor. Again when we arrived the museum wasn't opened yet, and it looked like they almost weren't planning to open, until our tour guide somehow talked the man into opening the doors. Our guide also told us that there's an entry fee of 1cuc per person, so I took out 4cucs and he quickly swiped them off the table. This was the beginning of a strange feeling......

above left: front door of the Museum of Architecture, it used to be the house of a wealthy man in Trinidad

below: living room, you can see the beautiful chandelier and painted fresco walls

 

The man introduced to us, in broken English, about the house - which is very sparsely furnished. The main room just had a dining table and some frescos, crystal chandelier and some photos. He then took us out back to the garden and led us to the far end where the bathrooms are located. These are the bathrooms that the wealthy family that lived here used. There was a separate one for the man and one for his wife.

The thing that this museum guide is most proud to show us is the 1890 American shower cubicle that has been preserved. It does look quite advance, there's a shower head above and also two more on the sides.

above left: the 1890 shower; above right: the row of bathroom doors - a super luxury household

The garden and house was built from materials from all around the world. They have tiles, bricks and hand-painted frescos from Italy, chandeliers and porcelain from France, plants from Europe etc. etc. This house shows why Trinidad was also given the name "Florence of the Caribbean" during the 19th Century.

In a corner of this house, there's also a wooden board with round holes (below photo) - this was one of the boards used to transport slaves from African to Cuba to work the sugar cane fields. The slaves where chained to the board and the holes were for the oars that were used to row the boats across the great ocean.

After we finished our quick tour of the museum, we got into our mini-van and started the long journey to El Nicho. When we started the journey, we asked our guide how long it would take and he said a bit more than an hour - I take that to mean 1.5-2 hours..... but in reality it took more like 2-2.5 hours. I didn't mind it though because we drove through small towns and also through the Parque Natural Topes de Collantes (a National Park) so it was nice to see more of the lush greenery of Cuba.

Although Cuba is a tourist destination, I must say their natural scenery is very well maintained and it seems very natural, like it's not purposely groomed or anything.

El Nicho was actually not originally part of my plan for this 2 days trip, but I found out about it just before leaving Canada and so I asked our guide if we can go there. He said we would need to pay an extra 50cuc because it was difficult to get to, but actually when we were traveling there I thought the roads were actually pretty good. At least they were paved. Yes there are some parts that are very steep, but that's a given as we were going into the mountains. This is another thing that I think they cheated us on and tried to get a bit more money....

My cousin also told me later that when the guide took the 4cuc that morning for the Museum of Architecture, it looked like he only gave the man who opened the door for us 2cucs and he might have kept the other 2cucs for himself..... Actually by the end of the this 2 days trip, I felt quite uncomfortable because I felt like I was being cheated but didn't know for sure if I was.... :D My research about Cuba had already told me that guides and some Cubans will try to make extra money off of tourists, but it still feels strange. I understand they have to make a living, but if just felt like he wasn't really giving us enough guide service - almost none at all.... he didn't really talk or provide us with information unless we asked questions and he always left us and told us to make our own way back to the car.

Anyways, not to let this spoil my memory of El Nicho!..... I found out about this waterfall called El Nicho and really wanted to go. It looked amazing in photos and I hoped we would be able to see it in person. The entry fee is 10cucs per person. A bit expensive, but whatever, we already made the trip there and they give you a ticket that tells you the ticket fee goes towards conservation and maintenance.... so ok, at least it's going to something good (I hope).

I read that we would have to walk a little, but actually we walked into the park and saw several waterfalls and natural swimming pools but it wasn't difficult to walk at all - which I am thankful for because I had my mom with me and she would have really complained if it was too hard.

And the waterfalls were amazing!!!!!! There are three waterfalls that people usually go to see, and our driver actually walked with us and said there were more but people didn't go further usually. We walked to see all three waterfalls, and the 1st and 3rd are not as amazing, but the 2nd one is really quite spectacular.

We quickly jumped into the cold/freezing water, and although we were hot from walking, but it's still freezing! There are always tourists walking around trying to take photos, but after we stayed there for a while it died down and we had the place almost to ourselves.

After our swim, we had lunch at the restaurant near the entrance and the grilled chicken was pretty good - it was seasoned with more salt than usual (usually it's quite bland without any seasoning, but still edible).

Then we made our way to Cienfuegos - but there's not much to see in this city so I didn't even take a single photo....... we just made a stop because it was on the way back to Varadero, but it was SUPER hot there and even when you get back in the car with the air conditioning on, your skin is still radiating heat.....