Day 194 - Empty shops

Cienfuegos to Trinidad

Another classic car for our shared taxi to Trinidad, but this time it was more comfortable with only two in the front. This journey followed the coastline for part of the way so had some great views, and a couple of times we even saw crabs crossing the road ahead of us with their pincers in the air, a bit strange as we were at least a few hundred metres from the ocean, and the crabs were moving away from the ocean - so where were they headed? We arrived into hot and humid Trinidad before midday and checked into our nice casa.

We wandered into town for some lunch and to check out the general area. Figuring out where we could buy water or soft drink wasn't easy, there was no obvious signage, so we had to ask locals where to go, it can be hard to identify what shops are selling and there is also no advertising in Cuba.

Vampires beware!

When we did finally locate a shop there was plenty of beer, some water, and no soft drink in the fridges. There was a stack of soft drink on the floor, so M grabbed a couple of cans and took them up to the counter, where he was told that they weren't for sale. The shops are very hit and miss as to what you will find, it seems that most basic household goods are sold door to door by people on bikes, for example there is the onion/garlic seller, the fish seller, the toilet paper seller, the fruit seller etc. This makes it a bit difficult for gringos like us to buy things that we can't find in the half-empty shops.

We explored the old city area for a while, checked out the souvenir stalls (mainly Havana Club rum, Che Guevara and classic car related merchandise - pretty much the same stuff that we'd seen in the other cities), then wandered up to Santa Ana plaza and on to visit a ceramic factory we had read about, where an old man who'd worked there since he was a kid unlocked the gate and gave us a private tour of the place, showing us where the pottery is made by hand on the wheel, and how the clay is sourced locally.

That evening as the sun went down we headed to Plaza Mayor, which was busy by now with a crowd of people enjoying a drink while listening to the local Cuban musicians.