After more than 300 kms and around 6 or 7 hours bus ride, I finally arrived to Trinidad. This place is usually among the top 3 destinations in Cuba according to the research I did online. I was excited to finally be here. At the bus terminal there were many taxis offering rides but Trinidad is quite small so using my map it was easy to find the Casa Particular I had booked through airbnb.
My host turned out to be really cool. He gave me really cool information about the town and told me about a Club which is inside a Cave. It is called Ayala. He told had just come back from his german girlfriend in Germany but unfortunately he got pneumonia because of the cold and had to come back.
Since it was already a bit late I had planned to have dinner with a friend I made in the bus. We walked a bit in the town and chose a place for food. The place was good but was a slow. We had to wait a lot for the food. After that we went for some mojitos in the plaza in front of the Casa de Música. This place seems to be the gathering place for chilling, trying cocktails and listening to the music.
After some mojitos we went to La Cueva, it was just like 10 mins walk. On the way there you realize there are people there also sell mojitos for just 1 USD but I think they are not as good. In La Cueva we had to wait in line for around 20 mins but was worth. I personally liked it a lot. It is really natural cave. It was super crowded but the music was good and varied.
Next day we decided we wanted to go the the beach. The best one is supposed to be Ancón Beach. It is just like 12 kms away and the scenery in the way is pretty. There we just chilled and did a snorkeling tour of 1 hours for just 12 USD.
This night we found a better place to eat. It was small and had a more relaxed environment. It was good food and even cheaper. It was in front of a small plaza with a map of the city.
We found out they had what we call patacones in Costa Rica but they call it Tostones like other countries like Nicaragua. The special thing with this patacones is that the put mayonnaise and garlic on them. I had never seen that before. In Costa Rica we usually eat them with mashed beans or guacamole. During dinner we planned to go to a waterfall next day. We read El Nicho was the best one but complicated to reach. We confirmed this when we asked taxi drivers to get there. It was up to 100 USD. Thankfully next day my friend asked and found a driver that would take us to a waterfall called Salto del Caburní. It was not El Nicho but we was more affordable taxi to get there.
We got on the taxi and went to a gas station but it had ran out of petrol so we looked for another one. The driver was a bit embarrassed but we didn't care. We talked a bit with him and he told us El Comandante had given his taxi to him as gift for working so hard in the Sugarcane fields. He was proud of him. I remember the driver saying that there will never be a human being like him. Some cuban are really proud of their leaders while others are a bit more exceptical.
On the way to the waterfall we saw the it was getting greener. We were going up the montains and we could see really nice views from Trinidad town and the beach.
Once we reached or destination we saw it was some kind of park. We paid 10 USD to get in and then hiked like for 45 mins down hill to reach first a small waterfall with crystal clear water to swim and just like after 5 more mins of walk we found a bigger waterfall. I liked the waterfall but my self being from Costa Rica didn't get so impressed since I have been to so many waterfalls in my country way bigger that this one. I still enjoyed the physical activity. Something funny I remember is that the driver told me there used to be monkeys in this area but their meat was appreciated by the locals who hunted them down for eating. This is also really different from Costa Rica since we don't really eat our monkeys.
This night we also went for some mojitos, also to Casa de Musica and the La Cueva again. Next morning we just found a collective who took us back to Havana for just 30 USD each.