Santa Clara and Trinidad

"Until Victory Always," Che's 'catch-line.'

Church in Santa Clara.

Your choice, as long as Che's on it.

My time in Santiago had been relaxing, exciting and very worth while - a good alternative to the capital and with nowhere near as many tourists or tourist traps. I think it remains as the most authentic city in the country, but something that may not last for too long considering how Cuba's tourist industry is starting to boom and cruise ships from the States are now starting to arrive. Let me say here that I don't think the arrivals of the Americans will ruin Cuba as everyone I've met have been saying - "Get to Cuba before the Americans ruin it!" Tourism can 'ruin' any country or city, and it's not dependant on where the visitors come from. Cuba has changed and will continue to change in the coming years - trade restrictions will be lifted, companies will move in, people will have modern phones and access to the internet and information like the rest of the World. Will this be a bad thing? It depends how the Government control the foreign investment and trade agreements. I know people want the 'authentic' Cuba where there are still old cars, no internet and propaganda posters everywhere to make great selfies to show your friends, but would you want to drive a car from the 50s, not be able to buy a new flatscreen TV or a cool digital camera or smartphone or even have a choice of more than 1 kind of cheese? No, of course not, so don't think that these people will stay the same, but that's a good thing as many people here are poor and just want to be like everyone else - to have consumer choice as well as modern conveniences. What I want to stay the same is the Cuban culture, free health care (it's better than the States!), music and traditional way of life to some degree (like Bolivia in South America compared to Chile for example), but on the other hand I want the people to have better lives too. Tourism can be a wonderful source of income for good change, but it's a double-edged blade and you have to be careful how you handle it.

The Battle of Santa Clara monument - The Armoured Train (El Tren Blindado).

The statue of Che at his memorial.

"Glory to the Heroes."

Laurel and I got a 'gringo' bus this time to Santa Clara, dreading another truck ride and willing to pay the price of 33 CUC price for a 12 hour bus journey with air-con and comfy seats. We found a room in the city for 15 CUC a night, much cheaper than anywhere else we'd found in Cuba so far. The city itself is quite small and quiet and not many tourists either. There isn't much to see, but we had breakfast in the plaza and noticed that you could still see scars from the war - a big green building in the centre still had bullet holes in it's facade. I knew that this was the city in which Che fought an important battle of the war, so we headed to see the war memorial. This battle, which took place in December of 1958, was in fact so decisive that within 12 hours after the defeat of the army and capture of the city, Batista fled Cuba and Fidel's forces took Havana and control of Cuba. The battle is also depicted on the 3 CUC note and Che on the 3 CUP note - which got me thinking, where have you ever seen a 3 anything note? 1, 2 5 and 10 yes, but 3? Ok so the Euro goes to €500, which is crazy, but at least it's a nice round number. Anyway, the War Memorial there was interesting and only 1 CUC to see it - it was in an open park and could probably get away without paying but that's just rude. There is the armoured train that the rebels took out, a few weapons that they stole, along with loads of propaganda about how Che was a military genius and how well the battle went. There wasn't a lot of fighting really, Guevara used the bulldozers from the local university to pull up the rails, resulting in a derailed train and shaken up troops tumbling out asking for a truce. An announcement on Radio Rebelde signalled the surrender of the Santa Clara troops, and basically the end of the war.

The placa near Che's monument, and the storm coming in.

The Battle of Santa Clara on the 3 CUC note.

Ernest Guevara on the 3 CUP note.

The last thing we saw in Santa Clara before jumping on a bus, as we had decided to move on to Trinidad, was the Che Guevara Monument. You wonder where the tourists are, and this is your answer - getting selfies with a 10m statue of the man. A big stone wall depicts the battles and victories of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, a now larger-than-life character and the most recognised face in the World - people know the name, but most of the time not his real name Ernesto, nor that he was actually Argentine and not Cuban. Someone did a great marketing job on this one. To enter you must leave your bag, camera and even mobiles in a locker - strictly no photos. Inside you see the plaques of 7 combatants who fought in the revolution, including Che. There wasn't anything that I read that said his real body was here so I did a little research when I had an internet connection again. After his death in Bolivia in 1967, after all the photos and parading him to the press. a military doctor amputated his hands and his body moved to an undisclosed location and. The hands were preserved in formaldehyde to be sent to Buenos Aires for fingerprint identification and then later sent to Cuba. In 1995 a retired Bolivian general revealed to author Jon Lee Anderson, author of "Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life" (a great book to read if you want to learn about the man), that his Guevara's remains were buried near an airstrip in a small town called Vallegrande in Bolivia. On October 17 1997, Guevara's remains, with those of six of his fellow combatants, were moved and laid to rest with military honours in this Mausoleum here in Santa Clara. Che really is buried here.

The Che Guevara Monument.

The local cafe.

Goodbye Santa Clara!

We left Santa Clara for Trinidad, 8 CUC and 3.5 hours away, but we knew it would be far more touristy. Trinidad de Cuba is a World UNESCO listed city, mainly for it's colourful houses and beautiful town centre and church. We found a house outside the centre but only 10 minutes walk away and chilled out for the rest of the day, deciding to hit the city (and crowds) tomorrow. Although very touristic it is still a beautiful city - colourful, colonial houses around Plaza Mayor and the Iglesia Parroquial de la Santisima Trinidad. There is still the small stores that I love here in Cuba, but they are out out of the city, closer to where we were staying - the closer you get to the centre the more tourists there are and the higher the prices go. Finding dinner was a little difficult, as we both wanted a cheap and traditional meal, not some restaurant for Westerns charging far more than they should. A guy approached us on the street, begging, or maybe it was his birthday I can't remember, but we refused him and then immediately asked for a nice and cheap place to eat - in true Cuban style, he helped us find a little restaurant (in reality it was a woman's living room) that served 3 courses for 3 CUC - far more than we could eat! After dinner we thanked the guy and 'tipped' him for the find. Walking home we noticed that there was a shop selling art and souvenirs nearly every second building - I had a look in some, and although it was always the same, there was some nice artwork. If only my backpack wasn't already overweight and full to the point of bursting. Next time.

Cuban art in Trinidad.

People watching.

A Santería priest.

Bright and (fairly) early the next day, we headed out to really see the city - aiming for the suburbs in the hills. It didn't take long before we'd left behind the tourists, bars selling mojitos and stores selling production art and entered the real part of the city. The houses were still colourful but less restored, some with a horse out the front (local taxi) and just people living their lives for themselves rather than for the hordes of Europeans in town. It was far quieter up here and more relaxed too. We still found a small cafe for a coffee and a cold drink, we also found some curious locals wanting a chat - no many people came up this far it seemed. You get a good view of the city from this vantage point, the church, buildings and plazas, but also of the hills around the city too, green with trees and almost a jungle.

The view from the bell tower on top of the convent.

Very realistic street art in the suburbs of Trinidad.

Remember these?

We came back from the tranquil suburbs back into the 'real World' of Trinidad, but to avoid the crowds a little we visited the Convent of San Francisco, which was also the National Museum of the Struggle against Bandits.  In here you can see photographs, documents and equipment, such as weapons and vehicles, showing the battles of the 'bandits' or counter-revolutionary forces against the new Cuban government. Although interesting, it didn't take me too long to lose interest, but that could have been the heat too, which had already put two of the museum attendants to find a comfy chair for a siesta. Next thing to do was climb the stairs and see the view from the bell tower - not a hard climb but a very rewarding one - the whole city of Trinidad stretches before your eyes. From this vantage point we saw a storm rolling in and felt the wind pick up - it was time to head home for the afternoon. We didn't quite make it and got soaked on the way home, even though we ran like crazy people through the streets to get home. The sun came back out immediately after we'd got home (of course) but now we were cool and ready for a nap, hitting the town later on.

That storm came in really quickly and caught us off-guard.

2 girls showing off for the tourists.

A man and his dog.

The town is beautiful and most of the streets are cobbled too. There are restaurants and cool bars, music happening in the squares and more expensive restaurants, but the most interesting thing we found here was a small 'museum' about the revolution and Cuban history. Finding it by accident (I had stopped for a photo), we went inside and had the history of the country explained to us by a lovely elderly man who was very hard to understand. He was part of a group of retired guys that take care of the museum - and sit around all day playing cards to calling each other names. He must have spent nearly an hour talking to us, showing us around and pointing out memorabilia, never asking for a cent, but well deserving of a tip, which he got. My opinion of Trinidad had started to change and I was a little sad to leave, but the time had come. I had 3 days left here, 1 of which was needed to get back to Havana, 1 to relax and see a few things I'd missed in the capital, and the last one for making my way to the airport. Having already caught a truck to Santiago and a bus to Santa Clara and here, I thought it was time to mix it up a little - we hired a private taxi to Havana. This sounds expensive but turned out cheaper than the bus - we were sharing the trip with 2 Israeli girls, so there were 4 of us in the car, and I also haggled it down a little. 3 and a half hours later we were in Havana, back to our old casa privada for the next 2 nights. My time in Cuba was up, there was no changing that, no extended the time, I had to leave and go back to real life. My flight was from Havana to Moscow, changing there for a flight to Barcelona - my new home for this year.

Beer and a sunset in Havana from a rooftop bar on my last night - thanks Cuba!

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MyUncleTravellingMatt. May 2016.