Trinidad, a World Heritage

Written by Nadine Zangerle on 06 January 2014. Posted in Cuba

With our Cuban Taxi we arrived quite late at our Casa Particular. Carlos and Rebecca, our nice landlords, showed us a very cheap and good restaurant around the corner. At the roof top we listened to great live music and since it was more or less a private show, we even received a Cuban cigar from the owner. Together with 7 years old rum we started into Trinidad’s style.

The accent here makes it much harder to understand the Spanish but our landlords are patient and really helpful. They have a little puppy which is a bit loco (crazy) since he doesn’t stop playing and biting.

We checked out the neat Plaza Mayor with its old Mansions and in the Museum we got a very good view over the city and all the way to the ocean. Around the ruins of St. Ana it gets a lot quieter and we enjoyed the place away from all the tourists. In the evening, when all the day tourist left, Trinidad is a nice and relaxed place.

Nici, Michael and me took a quick Salsa course and had a lot of fun with the uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis steps.

We arrived just in time to witness the 500 years festival of Trinidad. At the Plaza Mayor and Cespedes they performed with music, dance and shows. Especially the slow motion show of the history of Troja was spectacular.

On one of the occasions we got invited by Luis, who had been living for 6 years in Dresden (in DDR time) and spoke a very good German. This lovely family prepared us real Cuban food and where so warming, they really made our Cuba trip very special.

Thank you so much Family >>>>>

Accommodation: Casa Colonial (Sr. Carlos Albalat), José Martí No. 330 e/
Simón Bolivar y Fco. J. Zerquera, Trinidad

Price: Double room, own bathroom $25
Triple room, own bathroom $35

Comment: not the cleanest but a great place to stay. Close to the center,
really nice hosts, Spanish a bit hard to understand

Camagüey

Written by Nadine Zangerle on 04 January 2014. Posted in Cuba

Ivan, our new landlord, picked us up from the bus station. It was quite a long trip and after 8 hours we were happy to move our legs. The Casa war really beautiful and the garden with rocking chairs invited to relax.

But with the triple room for $ 45 it was pretty expansive. For the laundry we paid a ridiculous high price of $ 15 (should have asked in advance) and for the taxi trip they charged more than the locals.

The city itself had great plazas and beautiful houses. We listened to some Salsa at the Casa de la Trova and tasted real Cuban ice cream. We met a Cuban man in a bar and started chatting. His English was really good and his clothes and watch seemed to be expensive.

He claimed that he was working in Canada and was on home vacation. He even spoke some German since he claimed that he had been there. After one hour he talked about Cuban cigars since he was selling them in Canada. When he wanted to sell us cigars our gut feeling gave us the right signal and we left.

Stupid wise we had told him before that we were leaving tomorrow so after Ivan dropped us off at the bus station, this guy showed up again. Our nice landlord left us at the bus station with the comment that there wouldn’t be a bus at 2 pm but at 2 am.

Well, unfortunately while reading you can’t hear my sarcasm. We have told our landlords from day one that we would take the bus to Trinidad at 2 pm on January the 6^th. They knew there is no bus at 2 pm why not telling us earlier. But thanks for dropping us off. We cannot recommend this place since the help we got and the money we paid doesn’t fit.

After arranging a ’52 Chevy with a Mercedes engine and a Toyota transmission we packed some of our bags on the roof railing. We had a great ride and with Mom, Dad and Nici in the back seat it was 4 ½ hours fun ride. So welcome to Trinidad and thanks to the driver.

Accommodation: Hostal Ivan y Lucy, Calle Alegría (Cap. Pacheco) No. 23,
Camagüey

Price: Double room, own bathroom $25
Triple room, own bathroom $45

Comment: very nice garden and clean but too expensive (laundry, drinks) and very unpersonal. Read the last three columns of this report and you will know. Cannot recommend to stay there.

Arrival Family

Written by Nadine Zangerle on 01 January 2014. Posted in Cuba

Sitting in front of the house – the Cuban style - we waited for my family’s arrival. They arrived quite late because of the delayed flight. They couldn’t complain since they got upgraded to First Class.

After a typical Cuban dinner we sent them off to bed to be fresh and relaxed for their first day in Santiago de Cuba. We showed them the city and in the evening we had great seafood and violin music on a roof top restaurant.

Since we liked Santiago de Cuba so much we extended for one night even if this meant to move one time into a different Casa. Gretl, from my parents first Casa helped to book us a Casa Particular in Camagüye and Trinidad. With five people it is not always easy to get one Casa since most of them have only two rooms.

One day we took an old, American Buick and drove to El Morro Fort with a beautiful view over the landscape. The last day we ran into a street Carnival and enjoyed the music.

Than it was time to move on. We couldn’t by bus tickets in advance since half Cuba was travelling because of New Year. But with Gretl’s great advice we got 5 tickets. Just be at the bus station 1 ½ hours before the bus leave and get the “special” tickets for the same price out of a box. So off we went to Camagüey.

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