Day 7 – Trinidad

    Yesterday we docked in Casilda, Cuba which is a tiny village and a place where they farm shrimp for the tourists to eat. Remember most Cubans do not eat fish or shrimp. The Caribbean is known for its beautiful reef fish and individual fish such as sword fish and grouper, but none that swims in schools where one can catch hundreds of pounds of fish at one time to feed people.

   We then took a ten minute bus ride into Trinidad founded in 1519 built on the high ground so they could see the pirates coming. This is a city built during the time of the great Sugar barons. We visited the house of Cantero, a rich sugar baron in 1800’s who owned 58 different sugar plantations. His house was enormous and now a museum. Amazing, they have original painting still hanging on the walls. Of course there is no air-conditioning to protect the paintings. Also priceless porcelain statues sit out in the open. He fell into poverty when slavery was abolished because he could no longer operate his mills. Due to the loss of monies from Cuba’s friendly countries and our trade embargo there is definitely no money to protect precious artifacts.

   The streets of Trinidad were designed in all sorts of crisscross fashion to confuse the pirates when trying to come into the city or trying to escape. The streets are paved with rocks which were the ballasts on ships. It is definitely a very poor city. The stray dogs are everywhere and in terrible condition. Of course the people don’t really look much better.

   We visited Lazaro Niebla’s wood carving studio. Lazaro Niebla was a painter but when the Soviet Union collapsed he was left with no paints or canvas on which to paint. Many of the houses were in ruins so being an enterprising young fellow; he would take the shutters and doors being left in heaps and started to carve them. He takes a photo of a person, draws a grid like pattern on the photo, and then draws a matching grid on the wood. He then starts to carve and knows how deep to carve each grid. The results are amazing. I will go on line and insert some images of his work. He is one of the very few, very very few Cubans allowed to take his work to America. He is only allowed to travel because he is considered an ambassador. His work will be displayed in New York and some other major cities. The cost starts for one of his pieces starts at about $5000 per piece. We didn’t buy any.

    We also visited a local pottery making shop. We did visit the church and it was amazing. Again, it is such a shame that there is little money for restoration. However they do try best they can. The alters, of which there are at least ten, are all made of mahogany. They are gorgeous! The wood was originally cut from Cuba, taken to Spain, carved in Spain and brought back to Cuba. There is a very unusual statue of Jesus after he was scourged sitting down. It appears if he is contemplating his plight and the plight of the world. It is said to be the only statue of Jesus sitting. There is another statue of Jesus on the cross; made from wood from Cuba, carved in Spain, that was supposed to go to Mexico. The ship carrying the finished statue stopped in Cuba for supplies, but each time it tried to leave, a storm would come up and it could not leave. After the third attempt to sail to Cuba they decided that the statue wanted to stay in Cuba.

   We ate lunch at a beautiful hotel.  For a brief period American tourists were able to stay and eat at hotels but recently we are not allowed. However, the ship already had a contract with this hotel so we were allowed. Americans are not allowed to stay in Cuban hotels or go to the beach. Visiting Cuba, this trade embargo we have seems ridiculous because we trade with China, Vietnam and all other countries but not Cuba. After being here it is so obvious the only people we are hurting are the Cuban people.

“As you grow older, you’ll find that the only things you regret are the things you didn’t do.”  – Zachary Scott

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Tom and Holly