CUBA (Part III). Cienfuegos and Trinidad. 67 032 Km

The third part of this adventure continues along to the city of Cienfuegos and onto to Trinidad. Both exist along the southern boarder of Cuba, not too far from Havana. But the cities themselves are very different.

Cienfuegos

Often referred to as the Paris of Cuba or simply the Parisian city (though also called the pearl of the south), it's easy to arrive here and wonder how on earth it could be likened to Paris. With around a little over 150,000 people, Cienfuegos sits at the north end of a massive bay, which has just a very small inlet heading out to the ocean.

It turns out the city was originally settled by French immigrants, and with its advantageous geographical location between sugar areas and the capital, as well as being a prime port for trade with Jamaica and South America, it grew into a large city. Many of the buildings were modeled on French buildings with particular emphasis on the use of columns. Most importantly however, the city planners created a very structured series of streets not previously used earning it a place in the UNESCO world heritage list for its place in 19th century urban planning.

The Historic city itself is quite small compared to the growing town with most of the impressive buildings located within 2-3 blocks of the main plaza. From the city centre however, there is a stretch of land projecting into the bay known as La Punta (the point) where there are a string of impressive houses, mansions, and yacht clubs.

Carrying on with the tradition of being crazy hot during the middle of the day, we headed out from our Casa Particular early enough to see some of the buildings in the morning with plans for a swim somewhere in the afternoon. Along our way of wandering along the Malecon and La Punta, we came across Club Cienfuegos, once one of the most exclusive clubs in Cienfuegos. Now however, it is mostly a place for boats to dock, an upmarket dinner place, and a buffet lunch stop for the tourists coming down on Day trips from Havana and Veradero.

The town itself was probably not really our cup of tea. What I loved though was the little quirks like the banks of public telephone booths, the numbers of types of transport (push bike taxi, motorbike taxi, horse and cart, motorbike ute taxi, normal taxi, vintage car taxi - you get the idea), and of course the cars and the old coloured houses.

In the afternoon we walked out to the end of La Punta where we heard there was a small beach to go for a swim in the bay. The park turned out to be more a drinking spot for locals but given the heat we had a quick swim and then headed back home for dinner. We would find a better beach nearby the following day (see Cuba part I).

Trinidad

A couple of hours east of Cienfuegos lies the small town of Trinidad. The city blossomed under the sugar trade in the 19th and early 20th century creating a beautiful colonial town. At some point, the sugar growing areas shifted, along with the methods of transport, and Trinidad was almost forgotten.

From the bell tower of a disused Church that is now a military museum.

It's kind of what you picture when you think colonial - big wooden doors, large archways, and grand buildings. But it also retains the horses, the tractors, and the very feel of another time. The following photos don't really do it justice but you can start to get a sense of the place.

A man takes a rest on a canon at a monument.

Whilst we were in Trinidad, we took a street photography course with a local resident. He was able to walk us around places we may otherwise be a bit nervous to go into but more importantly introduced us to some people along the way.

The man below is repairing a vintage car from scratch. He spends most of his time doing jobs like this one.

The biggest problem we were to have in Trinidad was the impending cyclone. Hurricane Matthew, which caused significant damage and death in Haiti, was due to pass along the eastern half of Cuba until about the limits of Trinidad. It wasn't looking like we'd be seeing too much of town but we were very lucky and only received one decent storm. And thankfully we found a little bar to sit in and wait it out.

After not too long though, the sun was back out and the streets were once again busy with life.

From Trinidad we returned to Havana for our last couple of nights in Cuba before heading to Colombia where we plan to be for the remainder of our gap year.

67 032 Km (35440Km Flights, 9126Km Sailing, 22 018Km Bus, 250km Hiking, 36Km Horse riding, 150Km Train, 12Km Bike)