TRINIDAD, CUBA

                                             A Charming City

Trinidad (1514), in the lee of the Escambray, is maintained as a living museum, as it is pretty much as the Spanish left it. It seems as though time has stood and it was a bit surreal to feel like I was in a time warp.  Cuba’s crown jewel of its colonial cities reached its peak in the mid 19^th century during the sugar boom.

Ballast stones from sailing ships of days gone by pave the streets. These cobbled streets are paved with a slight V in the center. Logic says this would be for drainage, but legend says the first governor had one leg longer than the other. When he walked down the middle of the street he was level and was able to walk without a limp. The cobbled, narrow, slightly hilly streets are lined with pastel painted homes with tile roofs. Fancy wrought iron rails. decorated balconies. The entire city is a national monument, which disallows any architectural changes to buildings.

Situated on a low hill, the city catches the ocean breezes, and the doors of homes reflect that with postigos, small wooden louvered windows in the center of doors to allow the breezes to flow through.

We saw many mule-drawn two wheeled carts. A couple of us walked down a side street where some construction was going on, and the mule-carts were hauling sand. Vaqueros (cowboys) rode horseback in Plaza Mayor around the white iron fence that surrounded the small park in the center of the square. We even saw a fellow walking a pig on a leash. I suspect it was going to be someone’s dinner.

The soil is very red and a terra cotta pottery business is alive and well. At the museum we learned that the roof tiles were formed and rounded on the thigh of workers.

A mild climate, fertile soil, and easy access to the Caribbean favored Trinidad’s agricultural (sugar) and commercial growth. Plaza Mayor was the heart of the original settlement. It is ringed by a cathedral (1892) and four museums, once mansions of wealthy colonialists. Holy Trinity Church is the largest in the country and houses the most valuable icons. It took 200 craftsmen three years to carve the wooden altar (1812). Seven saints decorate the altar and St. Francis is 400 years old.

By the 19^th century Cienfuegos with a better harbor surpassed Trinidad, which started a slow steady decline for the city. In the 1950s Bastista declared the city a jewel and tourism started to be promoted. The town was named a national monument in 1965, and in 1988 named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Cameras were not allowed inside the Museo Romantico. The foyer was filled with plants and potted palms. The museum had a gorgeous carved cedar ceiling dating to 1770. The tall walls did not go all the way to the ceiling leaving an air space between the wall top and the arches of the rooms.  The upper level of the building was added in 1804. Italian marble floors were throughout. The spectacular wainscoting in the rooms was all hand painted. The detail was unbelievable. I have never seen such a stunning wrought-iron bed! I also was intrigued with the kitchen. Baccarat crystal chandeliers and Meisen porcelain were gorgeous. It was truly a treasure of exquisite antiques. 

The family had 12 children and 20 slaves, so basically 34 people lived in this gorgeous house.

We were led down a cobbled alley where we stopped in a courtyard to hear some music and enjoy another local drink, which I didn't get the name of. It was served in small clay pot/cups. We lunched at Eljigve, the oldest home in Trinidad (1614). I spied a palm I’d not seen before in the lovely courtyard of a small museum. The girl I talked to said it was a ciska palm.

Trinidad, Cuba is a fascinating quaint city which was a delight to visit.

PERU AND LAKE TITICACA

PUNO  and LAKE TITICACA

 When my son and I decided to hike into Machu Picchu he said, "If we're going to be that close I'd like to continue on to Lake Titicaca." At the time I could find no American company that included Puno on their itineraries, so I booked through a Canadian company. Today, a decade later, I know of at least three American companies that include that area.
Puno in southeastern Peru is the jumping off point for Lake Titicaca, especially for the Uros people. Although quite small it is the largest city in the Puno Region. It is located at 12,421 feet above sea level at the southern end of Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake. It also is the largest lake in South America. It is an important agricultural and livestock area  especially for llamas and alpacas that graze the large plateaus and plains of the Peru Altiplano. The areas around the lake have been inhabited since 1300 BC. Puno was established in 1668, near the site of the now-defunct colonial silver mine of Laykakota. Few colonial buildings remain.

       The city is small and there is not a whole lot to do. There is the inevitable Plaza, a few decent restaurants, plenty of local shopping, the Church of San Pedro, often called  the Sistine Chapel of the Americas and a boardwalk at the edge of the lake. Out of town there is  the Sillustani Burial Towers where hundreds of years ago, the ancient people from the Altiplano, built a series of funeral towers to bury their kings and other important people of their regions.  The Sillustani towers are perhaps the finest and most perfect cylindrical constructions of ancient Peru, and cannot be found anywhere else in South America. There also are several archeological sites  around,  for those who interested in getting ‘out of town’ for a bit.

Both men and women knit and practice textile arts as they have done for thousands of years. This is well demonstrated on the Isla Taquile in the middle of Lake Titicaca.

We boarded a small boat for a cruise on the lake eventually reaching Taquile, 36 kilometers away. The boat had 8 life jackets, and there were 12 of us. That didn’t seem to be of any concern to the crew who just gave out the 8 jackets and then quit! On the return trip we never even saw a lifejacket.

We slowly motored through a lot of bright green algae, and through a cut in the reeds on the calm mirror-like lake to the pickup point for the guide who told us, “Titi means puma, and caca means stone.” The Incas thought the lake was shaped somewhat like a puma. Looking at the map I thought it took a bit of imagination to see that.

The lake covers over 3200 square miles, and The depth ranges from 15-20 feet deep to 900-feet deep in the northern part of the lake. The lake is a bit over 100 miles long, and. 22 rivers feed the lake. There is a tremendous amount of evaporation that takes place because of the altitude and the hot sun.

Those arriving here from sea level stand a good chance of experiencing soroche, known to us non-natives as altitude sickness.  We didn’t have any problems breathing in Puno, as I guess the trek into Machu Picchu and a visit to Cuszo had acclimatized us a bit.