There are many museums and gift shops, as well as flea markets set up for visitors. And there is much to sell: this area makes fine embroidered cotton, as well as having a thriving art community, with both painters and carvers.
The tour took us a few hours, and the we all got back into the bus to drive to the old sugar mill we had not been able to train to. Here was more tourist material, which we looked at, before getting on the bikes to pedal back the 24 km to our hotel. the weather turned hot and windy, and the wind was in our face, unfortunately. so we were glad to get back to the hotel.
Lunch at the feeding trough/buffet, a coffee on the terraza, and then a snooze before supper. We have set up to eat at a "paladar" this evening, in Trinidad. the four of us, plus Jeremy and Ron. It should be better than the restaurants here.
We will then meet the group who are coming in for some outdoor music tonight. It will be good, albeit a bit later than I have gotten used to.
So we had agreed to meet for supper at about 7. All day long there had been taxis at the front walkway awaiting passengers, but of course when we wanted one, it was not to be found. We talked with one of the hotel employees, and they said that they would get a taxi for us. And after about fifteen minutes, a man came up to us and asked us if we were the ones looking for a ride to Trinidad. We said yes, he quoted us a price, and we agreed. He then told us that he had only one car, and we would have to fit into that.
And so began our evening adventure. The car turned out to be, likely, one of the tourist rental cars, and the guy was probably the rental agency rep. It was the size of a Toyota Corolla. And there were six of us, plus the driver. So Jeremy, the tallest of us, got the front seat, pulled up as far as it would go. Ron, Gary, and myself sat in the back seat. Barry sat on GFary's lap, inbetween the two front seats. And Brendan sat on top of Ron, with his head and upper body out thye back window. God know how many laws we were breaking, but I do know that it was cramped, none of us had belts on, and the driver took the long and dark way into town, to avoid the police.
We finally got into the centre of town, where we had been during the day. Barry knew the way to the paladar, and we were greeted there as friends (we had made a reservation before, on the recommndation of a shopkeeper Barry had talked to). this place was in a private home (the bedroom was off one part of the dining area). There was seating for about twenty, most ly in the courtyard of the house. It turned out the chef was in fact an ENT surgeon, who had trained as a Family Doctor initially, then went back to school to become an intensivist, and after being sent to Venezuela for a few years, came back and went into ENT. But he preferred to cook. And his wife was a nurse, when she wasn't serving tables.
Food was excellent: local snapper, rice, veggies, a salad, a cocktail (I had one made from a sugar cane lquor sweetened with honey, and served on ice: it was very good). We had a bottle of wine as well, and the overall price was 15 CUC's altogether (18 with tip). this is per person, but was I think a good deal.
By 9:30, we were ready to leave and go and meet the others from our group who had come into town for some music.
The town has nightly music on the large steps beside the main cathedral, this night a Cuban band playing salsa and cha-cha, mostly modern music. the place was hopping, literally in that many people were dancing. It was very good. But I was ready to go by 11, and we got home and to bed in fair time, given that we needed to get up the next morning early to begin riding.
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Location:Trinidad
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