Trinidad

Trinidad is a small city on the south coast of Cuba that got settled by Spanish Conquistadores in 1514. In the 17^th century the city was full of pirates and smugglers that were participating in the illegal slave trade.  In the 1800’s French refugees came and set up sugar mills. Soon sugar became the number one industry in the region. During the Independence Wars that started in the 1870’s the sugar plantations got destroyed and Trinidad started to go downhill. In 1950 President Batista passed a preservation law that recognized the historical importance. Today tourism is the number one industry.

Main Plaza of Trinidad

During our stay in Trinidad we rented bikes and went to a beach called Playa Ancon. I brought my snorkeling mask to the beach. The water was warm and clear, and I could see lots of fish—there were black, white, and yellow striped ones and some that were all blue and lots more. When we got out of the water, we had a thatched umbrella to protect us from the blazing sun. On the bike ride back to our apartment we stopped at a little juice stand for some jugos naturales.

 

One night we went to the Casa De La Musica (house of music) to listen to some live music and dancing. When we got there we sat down and ordered some drinks, I ordered a non-alcoholic pina colada and it came with rum in it, but my parents noticed and took it away from me and ordered a new one. This was funny to me because in the United States I would never be able to order an alcoholic beverage let alone be allowed into a bar. After we sorted out our drink order we enjoyed some Rumba dancing and singing

On our second to last day in Trinidad we walked to a pottery studio. At the pottery studio there were shelves and shelves of pottery. I got a mask with cool designs on it. The guy who made all the stuff came out to do a little demonstration about how he makes the pottery. He was very fast at it because he has been doing it for over 50 years.