What Oxford is to England...
Trip Start
Jun 25, 2009
1
7
10
Trip End
Jul 15, 2009
Trinidad, Cuba
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Trinidad was another overnight bus journey away, which incidentally was awful since four of the scummiest European late-twenty-something tourists decided to drink themselves to death on the bus, with much partner-swapping lap dancing involved - the decline and fall of European society, right there.
But, I think Trinidad was worth the journey. As usual on arrival there was the usual casa reservation problems. Word of advice - don't waste a moment reserving casas on the internet, since not once did one of these reservations get recognised. Just find one casa you might like to say in, head there and then if it is full they will recommend another. If you don't like it, ask for another. Only once did I turn down a casa, I think because I didn't like the street it was on, in Trinidad this was.
In the end I stayed in a perfectly nice and hospitable casa just two doors down from the main square, Plaza Mayor. As you can see from my photos, Trinidad is a well-preserved, twee, tourist-orientated sort of town, I think of it as Cuba's Oxford, if you will. There were a lot of street traders looking for a quick dollar, selling suitably cheap souvenirs which I admittedly did purchase.
The central square, Plaza Mayor, had the main church as its focal point. Religion seems to be somewhat of a mute point in Cuban society. Repressed outright prior to 1991, the change in constitutional values since the fall of the Soviet Union and the Pope's subsequent visit to the island has made religiosity acceptable once more. Catholicism is the main strand of belief, though it is not prominent.
One thing I did do whilst in Trinidad other than the usual strolling is head up a nearly...hill, to be fair, though it took an age due to the heat, to survey the town. I also headed to a local military museum, which was extremely informative so I recall.
