We leave Cienfuegos, trailing a fine old hunk of Detroit iron that could be a 1957 Buick Road Master – or ‘road monster,’ as they were sometimes affectionately called. Reliable (and fuel-efficient) horse-drawn carriages serve for drayage and as taxis. And it’s laundry day as we pass an apartment building, with lots of clothes getting a fresh-up in the island breeze.
In the distance we see the green vista of nearby mountains and we’re never far from the bounty of banana trees.
Soon we’re into the deep beauty of the Sierra del Escambray. With a quick glance out the window of our bus it is easy to see why so many people throughout history have coveted the verdant mountains and fertile lands of Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean.
People in a small town are waiting for a bus. Small homes are framed in flowers. A garden pathway leads through an old gate.
We stop for a delicious lunch, fresh from a handmade oven and with lots of good vegetables, in a quiet place that’s embraced by jungle. And later we stop at an overlook above a beautiful reservoir below. Cloud patterns dapple the hillsides beyond.
We follow the winding road upward through the forest, and Willie, our calm and capable bus driver, pauses while frantic piglets scamper over the asphalt to catch up with their mother.
At El Alfarero an expert potter is more than happy to showcase his considerable skills with slinging the mud. The walls are lined with fabulous pitchers and other fine objects, and we have no way of carting them off safely. But I still wish I’d stashed one of those tall beauties carefully in my big rolling bag, and just tried my luck. Purchases were made while I marveled over yet another fine piece of ancient rolling iron that was stashed in the warehouse.
Very soon we’re into the warren of cobblestone streets that is old Trinidad. While the town was founded back in 1514, it remained a tiny backwater until the 19th century when French refugees fleeing slave rebellions in Haiti established the lucrative sugar industry and built the mansions that still give the city its unique culture.
We get checked in to our accommodations and find that we’ll be bedding in what our friends soon call ‘the Barbie Room.’ Ah well, it’s comfortable and the hosts are very fine people. Plus there’s a nice courtyard with a view to the evening sky, and a veranda for having breakfast in the morning.
We’ll take an evening stroll through town as a golden light softens over the Plaza Mayor. And we’ll pause to watch local boys play an alleyway game of fútbol as the evening life of Trinidad comes alive.
And what’s for dinner? Yaneth knows a good spot that’s close-by and he has that all figured out for us. Besides generous platters of fine food and Spanish wine, there’s a good band on hand. And any wild dancing that may ensue is up to the individual. A lively young crowd at the next table helps add to the mayhem.
When morning comes we crawl forth from the Barbie Room for a fine breakfast, and rich Cuban coffee, on the veranda. And then we’re ready for the day ahead, of long wanders afoot through these old stoney streets.
I’m actually sorry we won’t be riding in what Yaneth calls a “Russian bus,” a heavy old truck that’s waiting for just one or two more fares before departing on its loud and bumpy way.
The streets of Trinidad have much to see and experience. There are gorgeous old cars (imagine that!), a hard-working horse earning his pay (or hay!), and an enticing bar-coffee house, that I hope we’ll get back to later (we don’t).
And before long we’re museum-ing our way around the Plaza Mayor. Just a few years ago Trinidad celebrated its 500th anniversary, so the Architectural museum has a great variety of local antiquities. One of our tour group is a Mechanical Engineer and she was transfixed by the elaborate water and steam controls on an old showering system. There’s a quiet courtyard to visit, and artistic handicrafts (and a pretty smile) to find at the Museo Romántico.
The artful old buildings of Trinidad offer countless photo opportunities for the so-inclined. A bright young woman leads us through an intensive short course in historical design trends. She’s careful to note the ornate, and once useful, spittoon that’s nestled conveniently beside one leg of the sofa. And she exposes the secret cigar cache that’s hidden inside an elaborately carved globe.
Cuba itself is a museum of fine handicrafts that we encounter often as the women produce some of the nicest stitchery you’ll find anywhere. And they do a variety of handsome Guayaberas as well – essential dinner attire for any well-dressed gentlemen to wear on a steamy tropical evening. I will buy one later, with local seeds as buttons, as a distinctively Cuban edition to my collection of Guayaberas.
After all that, we’re thirsty. We’ll accept almost any good reason to enjoy an icy splash down the gullet. And there happens to be another good band playing at La Canchánchara, while we enjoy a cold mojito or daiquiri or the house special – your choice – under the long portal. (Lucky for us, Cuba is filled with good bands! And cold drinks!)
After we’re properly refreshed we have a free afternoon to explore further on our own. So we pioneer our way onward over the stoney grounds and find the Casa de la Música at the top of a long stairway. There’s currently nothing on the playbill but it’s a nice facility that could be worth checking on a later visit.
The stony streets of Trinidad have much more to offer, besides their charming and ankle-twisting cobblestones. Just past every corner there’s another adventure, another opportunity, to better understand the quotidian life of Cuba.
And in the evening, there’s another fine dinner to share before we depart in the morning. We’ll be heading back to Havana for another day or so.
But wait! There’s more!
In the morning we pull away from the colorful streets of Trinidad, heading for the beautiful mountains and valleys beyond. And along the way to Havana we’ll make another couple of stops, as Intrepid Travel makes sure we get the maximum experience out of nine days on the island.
First up will be the 1795 mansion of Pedro Iznaga, a notorious slave trader who later became far wealthier as part of the sugar boom in the Valle de los Ingenios. A huge sugar boiling pot, with an old bolted-together repair, sits in front of the casa. A local gentleman shares his colorful hawk friend with me – for a small fee, of course. And a good combo serenades the day from a shady spot in the Sala of the old casa.
And then again we’re off to another important stop – a memorial to recent Cuban history. We’ll be passing waterways, small homes, sylvan mountains, an ancient Oldsmobile tucked beside a home along the way, and other scenes of daily life in Cuba. And a town that sports a number of oddly spiky street decorations on poles.
Soon our bus is parked and we enter the grounds of the monumental Che Memorial at Santa Clara. The entry to the building, honoring Che and the others who died in Bolivia in 1967, is down a shady pathway, but pictures are not allowed in the exhibit area. Yet the monumental sculpture just behind the building has plenty of photo opportunities. And there’s more text to read than we have time for. But it’s a peaceful spot for a few moments to gaze over the large ceremonial grounds to messages on the billboards beyond.
The stone-engraved message on the monument above reads:
“I feel myself such a patriot of Latin America, for every country of Latin America, like anyone else, and, who, at any moment, if needed, would be disposed to offer my life for the liberation of any of the countries of Latin America, without asking anything, of anyone, without demanding anything, without exploiting anyone.”
— Che Guevara
From the Che Memorial at Santa Clara, we’re heading next back to Havana for another evening in those fabled streets. Along with an excellent energy-filled evening featuring stars of the Buena Vista Social Club, and a visit to a small local bookstore. Please join us there for “Cuba Dispatch #5; Return to Havana,” coming soon!
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So what’s the real economic situation in Cuba these days?
Is this an island filled with poor people and only a tiny elite class, as we’ve been led to believe? If so, the extremes would probably be obvious.
Maybe we’ve been carefully steered away from the worst that Cuba has to offer; but we had not signed onto ‘The Bummer Trip to Cuba’ in the first place, and I only expected an honest general overview of the country. And I feel that we’ve seen that. We’ve seen the crumbling buildings of Havana Vieja, and the nice - yet modest - so-called ‘mansions’ of the Vedado District. But I’ve personally seen no rambling homeless encampments of ragged tents and cardboard, such as I’ve encountered in several US cities – and that are probably now a fixture in your own home town, dear reader.
At the other end of the scale there are only a few shiny newish cars, of various European brands, cruising the streets (if that´s some indicator of ´progress´), and certainly no grand new McMansions in large gated communities. I realize the ruling class probably has some of that lifestyle and I only saw middle class type housing in the Vedado District. But I didn’t see evidence of extremes of the massive wealth and grinding poverty that are common in many US cities these days. Obesity was generally not a thing, but there were no emaciated people in rags.
After we left the urban problems that Havana shares with most urban areas around the world, we saw modest homes and friendly people that seemed to be doing OK.
Critics might say, ‘Sure, you saw no extremes because everybody is poor’ – a one-liner that plays to a certain mindset. But I saw modest homes that probably cope well with a tropical environment. And while we’ve only visited the western half of the island, I haven’t seen the abject poverty in Cuba that I’ve seen in many other Latin American countries – literally, barefoot people living in tar paper shacks.
There’s no way we could know all the answers to so many questions after only 9 days in the country, but what does the data say? How is Cuba actually doing these days, econometrically speaking?
According to the UN Development Programme (https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2023-24reporten.pdf), Cuba has a Human Development Index (HDI) in 2023-24 of 0.764. That number puts it in the ‘High’ ranking on a world-wide basis, and on par with Latin America and most of the World. (World Average: 0.739; Lt Amer: 0.763)
(The ‘Very High’ ranking includes most of Europe, the US, and other developed countries)
Cuba’s much-touted social programs have delivered decent results overall that are on par with, or slightly above, Latin America and the World:
Expected Lifespan: 78.2 yrs (World: 72.0 yrs; Lat Amer: 73.7 yrs)
Expected Schooling: 14.5 yrs (World: 13.0 yrs; Lt Amer: 14.8 yrs)
Mean yrs of Schooling: 10.5 yrs (World: 8.7 yrs; Lt Amer: 9.0 yrs)
But Cuba’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (PPP*) stands at only $7953, and is well below the income averages for Latin America ($15,109) and the World ($17,254).
(* Purchasing Power Parity – refers to the price of a basket of similar goods in each country, adjusted to local conditions and local currency.)
Yet Cuba’s lower average income figure is comparable to the Latin American countries of Bolivia ($7988), El Salvador ($8886) and Guatemala ($8996) – all of which have received massive US aid over many decades.
On the UN’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Cuba has a rating of 0.003, giving it one of the lowest rates of poverty in Latin America, and well lower than such global powerhouses as China (0.016) and India (0.069)
Compared to other Latin American countries, Cuba’s low poverty rate puts it close to Costa Rica (0.002), and Argentina (0.001). And lower than Ecuador (.008), Dom. Republic (0.009), Jamaica (0.011), Brazil (0.016), Honduras (0.051 and Guatemala (0.134).
The recent protests in Cuba over energy outages and the lack of food clearly deserve attention. And this is probably a good time for a partial opening of trade with the US, which could be beneficial to both countries. But the currently dysfunctional US Congress will likely continue to play the political games of the most extremist Members, instead of taking responsible action.
Despite my best efforts at ignoring the most clearly dubious propaganda available, I had frankly gone to Cuba expecting to find crippling poverty, etc. And when I had been there a while I had to question if maybe ‘they’ or ‘somebody’ may be hiding the worst from me. Maybe they actually were. Maybe I was duped. But the research tells me I can believe what I saw. And I saw far more good than bad while on the ground in Cuba.
—PRW