TRINIDAD

TRINIDAD - Vinales Cienfuegos Havana

A nine hour bus ride finally got us to this World Heritage listed city. First settled in 1514 by Diego de Velazquez it became the sugarcane growing centre when French farmers fled Haiti after a slave revolt and settled here in Cuba. The homes of the wealthy merchants of yesteryear surround the main square and adjoining streets, most of which been turned into museums. Almost all of the streets in the old section are cobble stoned which makes its very interesting but difficult to walk on. I don’t think many have been repaired since the 1700’s! And like everywhere in Cuba there is music – in every café and restaurant, on the streets or coming from houses. It’s a magical background sound wherever you happen to be.
 * [[image:tower.jpg]] || [[image:street3.jpg]] ||
 * [[image:street2.jpg]] || [[image:street1.jpg]] ||

Gail and I, still a bit seedy, spent the day wandering the streets and exploring some of the museums and the street markets. In the evening we all went out to an outdoor musical “event” – basically a band playing great music near a bar. A large crowd of tourists and local gathered – the locals to dance as only they can! Later we spent an hour or so at a musical show displaying the African roots of Cuban dance and music – pretty good too! The streets were fairly quiet to what we had become accustomed to but our guide explained that “Cubans don’t go out much in the cold” – it was around 20C !!!
 * [[image:rationsStore.jpg caption="Rations store - as can be seen there is not a lot to buy from the rations shops - sugar, salt, and other basics"]] || [[image:PalmsTower.jpg]] ||
 * [[image:Muscos.jpg]] || [[image:ManandRooster.jpg]] ||
 * [[image:street5.jpg]] || [[image:BlueTaxi.jpg]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_8634.jpg caption="Afro-Cuban music and dance show - Great!"]] || [[image:IMG_8609.jpg caption="The locals show us how to really do it at an outdoor salsa music venue"]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_8591.jpg]] || [[image:beach.jpg caption="we hit the beach for our last morning in Trinidad"]] ||