February 4, La Boca (Trinidad de Cuba)

The distance from Sancti Spiritus to La Boca, outside Trinidad, was again about 50 miles. It was a wonderful ride yesterday (Friday, Feb. 3), with long rolling hills and the Sierra Escambray on our right. Below right, landscape near the beginning of this ride, with the Sierra Escambray in the distance.
 

We stopped briefly at Torre de Iznaga, a popular tourist spot (below). In the 19th century the owners of one of the large sugar estates in this valley built a a 40-meter high tower (torre) from which to survey their domain or monitor their slaves, not sure which. Now it offers spectacular views. Stopping here also gave us our first taste of the intense jiniterismo (hustling) that we will be sure to encounter in Trinidad.

Even though we had told Hector in Sancti Spiritus that we probably would not want a room in Trinidad, he called someone anyway. When we were still on the outskirts of town, a young man on a spiffy electric scooter waved us down, told us Hector had called, and more-or-less insisted on showing us his casa before we went to La Boca, our intended destination. To be fair, the young man's casa in town was an excellent place — high stone walls, gardens, large, attractive rooms and so on. But we really did not want to stay in Trinidad proper, not with the peace and quiet of La Boca calling. (La Boca is a very small village on the waterfront, seven kilometers but several light-years away from the hustle of Trinidad.)

The place we remembered well in La Boca was Hostal Sol y Mar, directly across the street from the bay. The owners, Joaquin and Olga, are a kind, unusually soft-spoken couple (especially for Cuba) whom we looked forward to seeing again. When Odalys in Remedios tried to track them down for us, she learned that Olga's mother had just died, so we weren't certain if they would be home, or if they could host us. Luckily business was going on as usual, and they were expecting us.

  Hostal Sol y Mar                              Joaquin, Olga, and friend

Evening view from the porch of Hostal Sol y Mar, showing why we prefer staying in La Boca to busy Trinidad

Beautiful Trinidad, one of the oldest cities in Cuba, is a UNESCO World Heritage sight. It has ancient, pastel-colored buildings, cobbled streets — and hordes of tourists. It tends to be more crowded during the day, when tour buses from outlying hotels bring their guests to town, and it quiets down a little in the evenings.

 
Today, Saturday, we plan to hang out in this area, perhaps going to the beach in a little while, then into Trinidad in late afternoon. We encountered the nice Alaskan cyclists — Rocky and Gail — whom we first met in Vinales. They are now staying just down the street here in La Boca, so we may have dinner together tonight. We shall see how the day unfolds.

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