Trinidad, Cuba is a very well trodden destination in Cuba, but for good reason. It may well be the most commonly visited city in Cuba outside of Havana. The reason for its popularity is obvious. Trinidad is a colorful, colonial city with mountainous jungle in its backyard and beaches in its front. It’s easy to spend a full day exploring the city, the food and it’s notorious happy hours (if you pay more than $1 for a drink, keep searching!).
I spent my first day doing just that. As a professional cheap ass though, I spent a considerable amount of time searching for budget food options. In that sense, Trinidad was a bit of a disappointment. I just came from Bay of Pigs, where I had great accommodation and food, all for $20 per day. Bay of Pigs was also a nice escape from the tourist trail. Now in Trinidad, I found myself struggling to find meals for much less than $5-6, and saw more tourists than Cubans. $5-6 per meal may not seem like a lot, but it is pretty significant on a longer travel budget. For the mornings, I found a good omelette place where I could have a full breakfast for just $1. But for my other meals, it was looking like I’d have to splurge a bit more or eat a bit less. My first night, still hungry after eating a disappointingly small plate of $4 chicken and rice, I sought out some advice on what to do the next day. I quickly came across pictures of a nice national park with lots of waterfalls. The only budget way to get anywhere outside of town in Trinidad, beaches or hikes, is to find yourself a colectivo, and then haggle the hell out of them!
So I headed to the center park in town, adorned with a proud colonial cathedral as its figurehead, and started asking around. Eventually I got to Pedro, who told me that for $45, I could go to the best waterfall trailhead. What a freaking deal Pedro, gee thanks a lot! Come on man I’m not looking for a private taxi, don’t you have other people wanting to hike to the waterfall tomorrow too? He told me to come check back in an hour.
An hour later, he had 3 people and room for one more. That last spot could be mine for the oh so generous price of only $25. I walked away without saying anything.
“Ok wait, how much you wanna pay?”
“Ten.”
“Twenty.”
I waved my hand goodbye and kept walking.
“Okay okay okay I’ll give it to you for ten, but you can’t tell the other guys how much you’re paying.”
And that’s how time and time again I paid the lowest price for colectivos (collective rides- some have fixed prices, some do not). Don’t be afraid to just walk away!
After a quick half hour off of my ten-hour Cuban internet card (in Cuba you have to buy internet access. I bought 10 hours for my 23 days and it cost me $15), I headed uphill to catch a better view of the colonial ton nicely lit up. That’s where I met Felipe, who was keeping a look out at the construction site where the best views are. He let me in, although he wasn’t supposed to, and we wound up talking for an hour while I took a few photos. His life story is pretty amazing. When he was in his teens, he came home from work late one day to find that all of his siblings and many other family members had gotten on a fishing boat and left for Miami without him. He was supposed to be on that boat, but his work would not let him leave in time.
Felipe told me all about the Cuban education system and how almost everyone gets a college education because it is a universal guarantee. I told him all about student debt and the wealth gap in the United States, and how the rich continue to get richer and the poor poorer. But in his country, most people make very little money. They are able to live, but not much more. There are certainly things that each of our countries can learn from each other, we agreed. After an hour, I felt like I had known Felipe for years, as we shared a lot in that short time. But having read that my next day’s hike would be difficult, I shook his hand and wished him luck, then headed downhill, back to my casa to prep for an early day.
The next morning, after a cheap omelette, I hopped in the taxi and met Randy, our driver. Randy was a great guy but apparently was not too experienced yet, as we drove around for half an hour searching for the address of the three guys who were also headed to the waterfall. Finally, three guys from Holland stepped into the car and we were off. We hit it off right away and they invited me to join them for the hike.
Our “difficult” hike to La Vega Grande waterfall was only about 45 minutes. It was a bit steep, but certainly not too difficult. It was extremely hot though. So as soon as we got to the waterfall, we jumped into the cool water and swam around. There’s a rock right under the falls that makes for nice refreshing jump into the small lake La Vega Grande feeds into.
We ended the short hike and the Hollanders mentioned that Pedro had promised them two hikes for the taxi price. I knew this wasn’t going to go over well with Randy, but as the only Spanish speaker, I had to moderate between him and the Europeans.
In the end, Randy took us back to town without another hike but allowed us to talk to Pedro, who I convinced to give the Europeans the same price that I paid.
That night, they invited me to a “rave in a cave” as they put it. I was unsure about going, but then I ran into some friends I had met scuba diving in Bay of Pigs. After a couple drinks with them while listening to a great live salsa band, I was feeling a bit more up for it. This part of Cuba has a great local drink called “chanchánchara, which I suspect had something to do with my all-of-a-sudden willingness to go party.
I headed once again uphill from the town center, this time passing the lookout point. Walking through a very dark, poorer neighborhood, it was strange to see small “happy hour” mojito stands lining the dirt road. Eventually I got to the mouth of a cave, where a bouncer was standing. He charged me five dollars and gave me a drink ticket and before I knew it I was many mojitos into rave dancing with a bunch of crazy Europeans among incredible stalactite and stalagmite formations.
After about four hours of sleep I was on yet another bus, this time with a few hours’ stopover in a small town followed by an overnight bus to the less traveled but immensely awesome Baracoa, Cuba.
Here are a few more shots from Trinidad:
One response to “Doing something different in Trinidad, Cuba”
I enjoy hearing about your experiences among the people of Cuba. I agree with your observation that Cuba and the US have much they could learn from one another.