Trip of My Life - Cuba (Day 4)

By now we’ve everything we can see in my modest little birth town of Cabaiguan in central-most Cuba. In the province of Villa Clara, formerly known as Las Villas. I don’t recall when they changed the name but is the combination of Las Villas + Santa Clara, where the province adopted part of its largest city, Santa Clara. More on Santa Clara in
another post for another beautiful day in Cuba.

The adjacent province known as Sancti Spiritus has a town called Trinidad. We’re told this town has been practically preserved from its original Spanish colonial styling and architecture. According to Wikipedia, “Together with the nearby Valle de los Ingenios, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988.” We’re really looking forward to taking the whole family out and being tourists for the day. You know how the only times we get to see the touristy sites in the cities or towns we live in are when we’re showing friends or family around? This is that day for my family in Cuba. They’ve been to Trinidad before although we always see the sites differently through the eyes of the people we’re taking for their first time.

My cousins Yamila and Yalina arrange for a hired car to take us to Trinidad, but we’ll also be making a stop on the way in a nature sightseeing area called Valle de los Ingenios, or Valley of the Sugar Mills. Apparently they have ziplining there which we’re pretty excited about. Kristina and I have done ziplining in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Hawaii, and absolutely love the thrill!

The car arrives to take most of us - the rest are riding in Gregorio’s car - to Trinidad. Yet another 50s era beauty of a machine and this car is in absolutely amazing condition! It’s practically the Uber of Cuba, without the ease of the smartphone application and with 60-70 year old cars. But I will say that the suspensions of these cars combined with the variably OK to terrible condition of the roads. It’s only a 1-hour ride :)

We get to the Valle de los Ingenios site where there is an amazing viewpoint from the restaurant-cafeteria there of the Escambray Mountains! Gorgeous views, mojitos, beer, and empanadas made for an incredible experience. But wait, there’s one more thing - ziplining. My cousin Yamila’s son, Jose Javier (he goes by JJ), is super excited about ziplining for the first time. He AND I are like kids in candy stores, it’s such a fun time!! After some serious yelling across 4 different lines and a few great pictures with the scenery, we’re back in the cars for the final few minutest to enter Trinidad.

We spent a bit of time getting approval to drive into the historic area of Trinidad that apparently has limitations on cars and other motorized vehicles, but eventually we get the gate guard to let us through. The cobblestone streets, old colonial architecture and decor transport us back to the 1500s when Spain colonized Cuba…maybe the bit more modern than what was available back then. So many beautiful buildings, patio cafes, restaurants, shops, plazas, and picturesque streets. I highly encourage anyone who comes to Cuba to visit Trinidad and the beaches nearby.

One of the highlights after dinner (which was amazing) was a cafetaria-bar as everyone is looking for some Cuban coffee to get rid of the massive drowsiness from the meal. We walked inside and saw a really cool motif of so many currency bills from around the world tacked up on the ceiling of the bar. One of the more unusual features inside the bar was a bathtub. What do we do with that? Take pictures sitting inside it of course. Fun times!

The close of the day before driving back was a little dip in the Caribbean at the nearby beach. I can practically make the rest of my vacation on this beach having fruity drinks with little umbrellas (I didn’t actually see that) brought every hour on the hour. Nothing like a tropical paradise to firmly put one into a dreamy state of relaxation.