Martin um die Welt: 3) Trinidad and Sancti Spiritus

Montag, 21. April 2014

3) Trinidad and Sancti Spiritus

From Playa Ancon we drove to Trinidad. A colorful and cute city with scenic cobblestone streets. The sun was burning and so we first went for a drink to the local La Bodeguita del medio - probably a branch from the famous one in Havana, where we also listened to some life salsa music. From there, we walked to the beautiful Plaza Mayor with the Church of the holy Trinity, which is Trinidad's landmark together with the nearby Convento de San Francisco de Asis. We bought postcards, enjoyed lunch in one of the restaurants around the small streets and walked through some shopping vendors. Although the city is very touristic, we were lucky to have it almost for us. From Trinidad we drove to Sancti Spiritus and stopped a few times on the way because of the nice scenery.

Trinidad's landmark: Church of the holy Trinity
(left, behind, the second landmark: Convento de San Francisco de Asís)

Trinidad's colorful Plaza Mayor
(left behind again: Convento de San Francisco de Asís)

I with an old American car that is so typical for Cuba in Trinidad's cobblestone streets
La Bodeguita del medio is found in the background (yellow sign)

great landscape when leaving Trinidad towards Sancti Spiritus

In Sancti Spiritus it took us a while to find a place to stay. There are less than 10 casa particulares in town as it is not on many tourist routes. We were lucky to walk in the Hostal Santa Elena. Although the hostal was fully booked, the very friendly German speaking owners invited us for a coffee and had a chat with us while they phoned other hostals whether they had rooms available. So we ended up in Hostal Paraiso, which was very pleasant as well. Especially as we were allowed to park our car in front of Hotel Rijo opposite of a church. Not that there are any unsafe places in Cuba, but that one appeared super safe :P At the evening we walked through the city center and recognized many people moving together in the same direction. So we simply followed. On the way we saw funny horse cars that were pimped with sound blasters and neon lights! We then came to a plaza/park filled with people and recognized that they were having a concert. They even mimicked Lady Gaga^^ During this fest we also learned the differences between the tourist money (CUC - the cuban convertible peso) and the local money (CUP - the cuban peso). Easy to be mistaken although you better do not fall into this trap considering an exchange value of 1:25... still, many Cubans love to cheat tourist in this issue. But Sancti Spiritus was different... off the tourist track people are not used to scam and explained us that they have to give us a lot of exchange for our money. So we enjoyed the music, the people, some cocktails and burger like sandwiches for dinner :)
The next morning (21.04.) we explored this lovely city. It is probably the most real Cuban life to see on our trip. Franzi tried to get some medicine against sunburn in the local pharmacy... most cashiers didn't want to serve us until the last explained us rather unfriendly that they do not have anything like this. This is socialistic life... sellers are unfriendly as customers only cause them work... they are paid to be there... anything they do for a customer is only because the seller is willing to help. No wonder that this perverted thinking paralyzes the economy. But other then the sellers at the pharmacy, the people in Sancti Spiritus were very friendly. After exploring the city center we drove towards Cayo Coco - beach time :)