74. Trinidad and Cienfuegos
14 March 2013
The approach to Marina Cayo Blanco from Bahia de Casilda is extremely shallow and unmarked, but luckily the British yacht "Tana Vika", with a similar draft to "Egret", had arrived a few days beforehand. Tony & Angela had found a route across the mud by intuition, trial and error, and kindly gave us their co-ordinates during the morning radio net. At half tide - the range is only about 0.6m - we got through with just 0.2m under our keel. The marina is not quite what we are used to back home. It only has one jetty with a few fingers, but is currently in the throes of expanding its facilities. Most of the space is taken up by three catamarans that take tourists on day-trips to the nearby islands, and a few charter yachts belonging to an Italian company. We normally prefer to anchor anyway, not only for the cost saving but also because the boat tends to stay cleaner and is less likely to be invaded by cockroaches or rats. We rowed ashore to check in with the friendly harbourmaster and Customs. Later, we were invited on board the French yacht "Coccinelle" by Gilles and Armelle, whom we'd first met in Santiago, for a Ti Punch - the French Caribbean cocktail made with white rum, fresh lime juice and sugar.
Trinidad is one of Cuba's oldest towns, founded by the conquistador Diego Velazquez in 1514. After a long decline its fortunes were revived in the early 19th century with profits from the production of sugar. Most of the grander buildings seen today were built during this period, and it looks as if nothing much has happened since. We caught the 8 o'clock bus which took us past scruffy blocks of flats on the outskirts of the port of Casilda through to the residential suburbs of Trinidad, with one- and two- storey homes built tight alongside narrow, unmade streets. Drab stone buildings line the streets as you get closer in, but at the centre is a pretty cobbled square surrounded by pastel coloured buildings with red pantile roofs. Unfortunately it wasn't a very good day for sightseeing as it bucketed down with rain the entire time. However, there is plenty to see indoors. First we visited the Museo Historico Municipal, located in what was once the colonial home of a wealthy sugar planter and slave owner. The elegant rooms, set around a central courtyard, are furnished with fine European antiques. There are great views across the town from the eyrie in the tower at the top of several flights of steep stairs.
The Museo de Arquitectura makes a nice change from the run-of-the mill museums as it has a specific theme. Also housed in what was once the home of a wealthy family, it has displays of different Cuban architectural design styles such as doors, windows, and ceilings etc. Around the courtyard are annexes containing early 20th C. "modern" conveniences such as a water closet, a shower with a maze of pipe- work, valves and jets squirting in all directions including upwards, and an acetylene gas plant. Our English speaking guide was - as often the case in Cuba - extremely knowledgeable. We stopped for lunch at a café where we were entertained by an excellent group of musicians playing "son". Afterwards we went to the 19th C. Palazio Ortiz, which is now home to the Galeria de Arts. A lot of good local arts and crafts are on display in various mediums including pictures, ceramics and embroidery. The rain cleared up enough to wander around some of the streets before taking a taxi back to Casilda, where we were invited on board Tana Vika for a very welcome cup of tea and fruit cake.
One can't go to Cuba and not see Havana. But as it is on the north coast and we only had time to cruise the south, we would have to get there overland. We found a travel agent in the Hotel Ancon who booked us seats in a mini-bus that runs to Havana from Trinidad daily. The hotel is a large soviet-style concrete building, brightly painted, which is located behind a splendid beach near the marina. We were allowed to use some of their facilities such as their bank for changing money and their wi-fi - or at least we could have done if it was working! We moved "Egret" into a marina berth and packed our bags for a few days away. (Our trip to Havana will be described in the next blog.)
On our return, we went into Trinidad again for another look round - this time on a gloriously sunny day. The good weather also brought out the coach-loads of tourists, so we were glad to have done the more popular museums already. The locals were ready to capitalise on the visitors: three old men sat on a step smoking big cigars, one sat on a cart behind a donkey and another leant nonchalantly against his big American car - all ready to accept a Cuk or two in return for a photograph. We visited a picturesque old building with a bell tower mainly to capture the views across the roof-tops towards the Escambray mountain range which rises up behind the town and the coastline stretching out in front. The building used to be a convent but now houses the Museo de la Lucha Contra Bandidos, with displays commemorating the local struggle against counter-revolutionary forces. After lunch we shopped for fresh supplies. We joined the queue at the bakery: the procedure is to ask "quien ultimo?" ("who is last?") as you walk in, then you can hover around without standing in line, just keeping an eye on the person in front of you to know when it's your turn next - a very civilised system. We then bought fruit and vegetables at various small shops and stalls. It was a delight to be able to buy blemished and misshapen produce that was picked just a few hours ago that tasted wonderful and would keep well. Such a contrast to the immaculate but bland and over-chilled specimens sold in American supermarkets. Paying in local pesos, two shopping bags full cost only a couple of pounds. We arranged to share a taxi with Tony and Angela to go back into Trinidad in the evening to listen to the street music for which Trinidad is renowned. Unbeknown to us, however, it was the day of President Chavez of Venezuela's funeral, and public music had been forbidden for the evening by official diktat. We spent the evening instead drinking cocktails in a deserted hotel bar.
Our original plan was to move on to Cienfuegos and spend a few days there before departing Cuba. However the weather forecast was warning of a prolonged northerly gale which meant that, if we didn't get away within the next couple of days, we might be stuck for another week. This would threaten a planned rendezvous down the line. We still had to call at Cienfuegos though, as Casilda is not a port of departure. It was a good day's sail along the coast and we anchored off the marina at Punta Gorda late in the afternoon. We checked in and went for a walk along the peninsular, passing a number of early 20th century mansions that had been turned into smart restaurants and clubs for the tourist market. It is a shame that we didn't have time to see the city centre as it is supposed to be very elegant, but que sera, sera. Later that evening a cacophony of international pop music reverberated around the anchorage from a number of venues - how very Spanish! We went alongside in the morning and spent the remainder of our Cuban currency on diesel, cleared Customs and headed out to sea.