We welcomed 2016 in Cuba, and spent New Year’s Eve prowling the streets of Havana. There was fun in the barrio and festivity in the air. The sound of pigs dripping onto hot coals as they rotated on creaky spits indicated that a big party was just warming up.
Wandering the streets of Trinidad at night offers a steady stream of memories. Just observing people living well with almost nothing — like this guy karaoke-singing his heart out all alone — it occurred to me that in Cuba, people don’t have a lot…but they act like they do.
In Trinidad, local guide Julio Muñoz is a huge personality. He has his fingers in many pots, everyone in town seems to know him, and he’s written up in all the guidebooks. I’m sure he could be mayor if he wanted. He spent a morning walking with us around Trinidad and was a font of information and personal philosophy.
Julio has two passports (Spanish and Cuban) and could easily move to the USA, where much of his family lives. But his joy is in Trinidad. Julio explained that the treasure of Cuba is its people and its relaxed way of life, where being lazy is an art: “In life, you need a compromise between being happy and earning money.”
Julio visits Florida a lot. When asked to list his three favorite things about Florida, he said: “Jet-skis, The Home Depot, and Disney.” Disney!?! He shared an emotional story of how later, as an adult, he gained a love of American cartoons. He said, “I started to cry when Mickey put his arms around me… me, a macho, 49-year-old Cuban man.”
In Cuba, everyone visits Havana. The next most popular city is Trinidad — a much different place.
Photo: The Travelphile
Trinidad is a centuries-old cobbled town snuggling up to a big church, with barely a building higher than two stories.
Trinidad’s streets are endlessly entertaining: pastel facades, open windows revealing delightful domestic scenes, and almost no cars.
With so much tourism, there are plenty of rooms for rent in private homes, delightful restaurants, and lots of live music.
Photo: The Travelphile
Our B&B, in the old center, was a big and breezy house with a huge living room, run by a delightful family.
While Cuba has decent public bus service, I found it confusing and time-consuming. Tickets can be sold out long in advance, bus station staff can be laughably unhelpful, and if you don’t arrive at the bus station very early (and know what you’re doing), you can lose your seat. While there are very cheap buses for locals, tourists (and locals with more money) opt for the premium service.
Considering the cost, a taxi shared by four can be more efficient and nearly as economical as getting bus tickets. Big, classic American cars can fit a driver plus five. Bucket seats had yet to be conceived of. Trunks are huge.
We had four different guidebooks. While all were helpful, we found even the most up-to-date guidebook to be out of date. Things in Cuba just don’t work in a predictable way. It’s my bet that even if you used the information a month after it was gathered, things would not work out.