Home » Cuba » Cuba Independently? Es Posible! The Road to Trinidad

We needed to change some travellers cheques and had no accommodation booked for the next week or so, and as it was now a Sunday we found that the only place that we could do this was at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, therefore we enquired about where else we could head off to. After discussions with our ground agent (Captivating Cuba) we decided that we would have to visit central Havana to obtain some cash before heading off to the southern city of Trinidad.

Cuba Independently? Es Posible! The Road to Trinidad

Derek.gruar
2005-11-17 18:27:06

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We needed to change some travellers cheques and had no accommodation booked for the next week or so, and as it was now a Sunday we found that the only place that we could do this was at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, therefore we enquired about where else we could head off to. After discussions with our ground agent (Captivating Cuba) we decided that we would have to visit central Havana to obtain some cash before heading off to the southern city of Trinidad.

The city is a UNESCO world heritage site, and we were given the address of Martha the local dentist, as she would be able to find us some accommodation (tenuous, but we agreed that it would be quite an adventure just turning up to a place with just a name and address scrawled on a piece of paper). This did mean that we had the longest drive of the trip of around 500km from Las terrazas to Trinidad via Havana. Whilst in Havana we also reserved accommodation in Moron (to gain access to the Northern Keys) and at Playa Larga (for the Zapata peninsula).

Exiting Havana is troublesome due to the lack of signposting and we missed the autopista junction without any trouble whatsoever... once on the autopista traffic is very light and the major hazards are the odd fume belching truck that transports Cubans around the country as well as many people who congregate around the junctions either prospecting for lifts or offering goods for sale. These goods vary from the typical cigars and natural produce to the worrying sight of Parrots being sold. Beware of rail crossings that are raised above the level of the road surface as there are is very little warning usually just a sign "Peligroso" a few metres before the crossing.

Off the autopista we take what is described in many guides as the most dangerous drive in Cuba as this is the mountain pass road through the Sierra Escambrey, a little visited area which I wish we had extra time to have stopped and explored. The densely forested ...