Cuba Chronicles About This Blog: Cuba 2006: General: Parenting: Pop Culture: Recipes: Videos:

Visits to Trinidad

On the Thursday, the second full day of our holiday in Cuba, we took an excursion into Trinidad, the first of several. This included a visit to a pottery factory owned and operated by a particular family for two or three generations and a stop at the famous bar La Canchanara for a sample of a typical Cuban drink called, surprisingly enough, canchanchara which is served in a heavy pottery cup and made with water, lemon juice, honey and rum, and tastes something like what you might take for a cold. After this we had a short walking tour of some of the most historic parts of the town. After a talk by our tour guide on the steps of the Museo Romantico, across from Plaza Mayor, we were taken into the Iglesia de Santisima Trinidad, a very old catherdral. (This church is visible in the background of the street scene in an earlier entry, below.)

Upon entering the church several of our fellow tourists crossed themselves at the font but as you can imagine Redman and I did no such thing. But, whatever floats your boat, I guess. I was somewhat interested to look at the various elaborate carved altars and their figures, including this rather macabre Jesus, who looks pretty dead. I?ve got nothing against Jesus, really, as a philosopher. But I can?t help thinking about that thing in the Ten Commandments about worshipping graven images. There are some pretty fancy dressed up dollies standing in for various saints in these altar pieces. The whole visit took far too long and was accompanied by far too long an explanation about the church?s historical role in Cuba, plus the story about the Virgin Del Cobre and Hemmingway?s offering of his Nobel prize to her. Please.

After the visit to the church we were given some free time to look around the market with the understanding we were to meet back at the steps of the museum to go in and have a tour. The group as a whole seemed really tired and negotiated 45 minutes rather than the full hour the guide wanted to give us. That seemed like plenty of time to us to go through the market and get hit up by beggars. Plus, in spite of my great walking shoes, those cobbled streets are really hard to walk on after a while.

I?ve already commented on my impressions of Cuba. Some of the positive attitudes I try to hold towards this country are not helped by the number of beggars and black market cigar sellers one encounters. For the most part, vendors calling out to you are just trying to be friendly and attract you to their wares, But while walking through the market area Redman and I encountered several individuals who were persistent to say the least. These are most often guys trying to sell you counterfeit cigars and people asking for money, soap and pens. Mothers will use small children to get sympathy to request items. I had one mother repeatedly ask me for the bandanna I was wearing ?for her child?, who was shirtless. If you set a precedent you would soon end up with no hat, shirt or shoes as well! So all you can do is smile, say no and walk away ? or try to!

Most working Cubans deplore this sort of activity. Though I can see why people would beg, and compared to most Cubans we are extremely wealthy (even when we?re not) one begins to feel like a money tree waiting to be plucked. I don?t mind giving gifts or money to people I know, or who do something for me. I don?t even mind mailing back requested items once I return home, if the person has made a real impact on me. But when one is constantly being pestered by strangers, it gets to be a nuisance.

At any rate, that got old fast and Redman and I ended up taking a seat on one of the very uncomfortable wrought iron benches in the Plaza Mayor. A troop of feral dogs came through and a couple of them got into a feeble sort of fight. Eventually, one of them came directly over to me, with a very meek look on his face. I reached out tentatively to pet him, and he allowed it with some uncertainty, then lay down next to my feet. I wished I had a scrap of food to give him, as he was so thin. But even so, I realized it was not my irresistible charms as a dog lover he was attracted to, but the patch of shade next to the bench. A while later we passed again and he was still lying there in the shade, though other tourists now occupied the bench.

Once we noticed our tour group gathering on the steps of the Museo, we joined them Apparently some discussion was in progress, and apparently most people wanted to skip the museum and just go back to the hotels. The tour guide was protesting, as she thought the museum was the highlight of the tour (which I have no doubt it would have been.) One young woman remarked that if the Museo was such an important place to visit that should perhaps have been done earlier, say, before the cathedral. (I tend to agree. The museum would have been much more interesting than the cathedral.) A vote was taken -we refrained from voting since the majority was for going ?home? and at that point I didn?t really care which way it went. It was decided to go back to the hotel. So, off we went to find the tour bus.

Once at the bus, we stood around a bit because the driver would not open the door. Something about the air conditioning. Lily (who we didn?t really know at that point) got the tour guide to open the door, but while she was trying to get on, the driver shut the door on her hand! She gave a great yelp of pain and pounded in the door with her free hand, someone else pounded on the front window, but it was several seconds before the driver opened the door. Yikes.

Finally we were all allowed onto the bus, but again it was a long wait. It seemed some members of our party were missing, a young couple with a small child. The father and child finally turned up (he?d been looking for his wife) and much later the tour guide returned with the wife in tow. This was the same young woman who made the remark ?if the museum was so important?? Someone said something later about her getting lost, and she said, ?Oh, I wasn?t lost.? So, I guess she had just decided to hold up the rest of the bus because she wasn?t finished with her tour.

We made three other trips into Trinidad in the coming week. Two were by CoCo taxi, (pictured at left) those little bubble cabs which is basically a scooter with a fibreglass shell over it and seats two plus the driver. They don?t go as fast as a real car but are a blast to ride in because they are open to the air and you can take pictures like mad, which is what we did.

Our third trip in was on our last day and was made by a ?real? cab, and we arranged with the driver to pick us up at an appointed time and place. Rob came in with us on that trip and almost as soon as we were out of the car a cigar guy accosted us. Redman and Rob decided to go for it and we ended up in someone?s house, where some Cuban men performed very important transactions involving (probably) fake cigars and stolen stickers, while the wife kept watch at the door. There were some very interesting paintings hanging in the front room, so I amused myself looking at those while this transaction was going on. Whether these cigars were real or floor sweepings I cannot say.

A swift trip through the market and we were thoroughly lost. Not so many beggars this day, so I actually stopped to buy some seed necklaces: 5 for a peso with a 6th one thrown in for a gift! Fortunately the driver had let us off near a street celebration so by finding our way back to that by the sound we arrived at the appointed place just as the driver appeared. A swift trip back to the hotel and that was the end of our Trinidad adventures.

Filed under Cuba 2006, Mar 2, 2006
 

bar

No comments yet

bar

Leave a comment

Comments will not be published until reviewed by the site owner. Some HTML is allowed - no more that TWO weblinks or the comment will be blocked.
Obvious link spamming comments will not be approved. So, to all you people who keep leaving comments with multiple links to casino websites, travel sites, ringtones and so forth, posting them here is a complete and utter waste of your time. Like, can you read English, even? Why do you keep leaving your stupid coments here?

Name
Email (will not be published)
Website (optional)

What I'm Reading
Middlemarch
by George Elliott

Where I Go wilwheaton dot net Big Pink Cookie cobolhacker.com Dooce flagrantdisregard flickr.com International Metropolis Internet Movie Database Marie Wise, Artist Marie's Art Journey PHP.net Presstube rotten dot com Scout's Swag The Sneeze Wil Wheaton In Exile Yarn Harlot

What I've Been Shooting

     
     

Blog Manager

NEXT ENTRY: Good Company - Added on Mar 07/2006