Trinidad, a UNESCO City

It’s only a 1.5-hour drive from Cienfuegos to Trinidad—6 CUC per ticket. The Viazul bus leaves several times a day, and it’s a good idea to buy your ticket in advance since it fills up quickly. Cuba is full of well-preserved towns and houses, each with an amazing history. Trinidad boasts beautiful buildings and narrow, labyrinthine cobblestone streets that were designed to confuse pirates. There aren’t many cars in this town; once again, the preferred mode of transport is... a horse-drawn carriage. The town center is focused around Plaza Mayor, where pretty much all the roads lead. It’s an incredibly beautiful and cozy place. If you climb up a tower at Plaza Mayor, you can get a great view of the town and see that the beach is just a (long) stone’s throw away. You can find pizza being sold at various spots for 5 pesos—a way for locals to earn a little extra cash. The pizzas come out steaming hot with cheese and are really delicious. When we arrived in town on the Viazul bus, we were greeted by a large crowd of eager Cubans, all offering rooms for rent. We’re now staying in a small Casa Particular, which truly feels like living with a family. You can definitely find cheaper places—down to 10 CUC for a room. But you shouldn’t just take any offer; sometimes, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is... It can be tough to judge whether a Casa and the food are good just by looking. It’s easy to see if the room—especially the beds—and the bathroom are clean and well-maintained. But it’s much harder to assess how well they cook. Of course, they’ll tell you the food is amazing and there’s plenty of it. You can choose from fish, lobster, chicken, pork, or beef. Our hosts are very nice people, but they really can’t cook. We made excuses about having a stomach ache so we wouldn’t have to finish our meals. For the first time, we’re staying somewhere that serves bad food. Cuba isn’t exactly known for its culinary scene, but until now, we’d only had great meals. When they washed the dishes, we noticed they didn’t use soap; they just rinsed everything off. This often leads to vacation tummy, which we’ve seen a lot of tourists experience. You can get mojitos everywhere. They taste just as good whether served at a small local bar or a five-star hotel—thankfully! We’ve sampled both places :o) Wow, it’s hot here. We really need the fan in our room to cool off. Trinidad has rainforests, beautiful beaches, and stunning islands nearby, which will be lovely in this heat.