I loved Trinidad!

I mean, I can go on and talk about everything I did, but I just wanted to confirm that.

Isn’t this gorgeous?

Trinidad was the city we were considering after Vinales. In fact, Jack had wanted to come here instead of Vinales. I am so happy we came here when we did, and the outcome of the trip.

I am not going to lie, we had a hard time getting here. But hey, practising my Monopoly Deal skills wasn’t that much of a time waster. Except I still suck. And according to a certain Brit, it’s because I let my emotions get in the way of winning.

I mean, come on. Just stunning. Cobblestone streets. Ocean. Valley. Mountains. Waterfall. It has everything.

The Portuguese couple we had met had told us they were hoping to make it it to Trinidad on the day we got there. We had decided to message them on our arrival to meet up. Shockingly, as we drove into Trinidad, they crossed in front of our taxi. I made him stopped. He was none too pleased. After a quick greeting, we arranged to meet up later that night and headed out to find ourselves a casa.

We secured a casa and decided to follow the photo map from the Lonely Planet guidebook with Jack as our tour leader.

Our tour guide took us here…

I think Holly and I were quite amusing. I think Jack thought we were annoying. The tour took us in random spots, kind of like the ghetto part of Trinidad. But the best part (for me anyways) was at the end of the street where we could look upon the Valley. Stunning. A little smelly, seeing as we were standing on a garbage pile but stunning.

The tour.

After having the best dinner we had had so far, we wandered down to Casa de la Musica and listened to the music playing, the bands singing, strangers dancing, drinking mojitos and playing the game of “guess where the tourist is from.” The Portuguese couple joined us and we talked and laughed and walked around the town. I’m not even sure what else we did. There was another concert in the main square. There was more food to be eaten. There were plans to be made. So, Jack and I made plans with the Portuguese to meet them at 11:00 a.m. in the main square (and yes, we picked an exact spot) the next morning to go to the waterfall!

Panorama view of Trinidad

The negotiation of taxis always goes much better when you have someone who speaks the language. Thankfully, John did. Our taxi was pretty sick.

This was our taxi!

In case you were wondering, you should take a picture here.

Just a terrifying bridge to cross. In which the boys ran back and jumped on it .**

Once we entered the park and paid our fee, we headed towards the waterfall. Ana and I were quite adamant that we did not want to hike further. Ok, I was more vocal about this. Mostly to do with the fact that my calves had finally stopped being so tight! It was, thankfully, a short painless hike. It was actually quite lovely and it felt like we had the park to ourselves. Well, us and the giant swarm of wasps.

SO MANY WASPS NEST!

I don’t speak Spanish very well but I’m pretty sure this says run for your lives.

And then the waterfall. We changed into bathing suits and the boys, without any hesitation jumped in. There was a jump off point of about 4 metres. I am a little bit ashamed to say it took almost 5 minutes for me to jump in. I was so anxious! The water was amazing. We could swim through the waterfall and into the caves behind it. After we got out, Ana and I continued to climb higher and got to the jump spot that 9 metres high. We called the boys over. Big mistake #1. Ana said if the boys jumped, she would. Which I responded, if you jump, I’ll jump. Big mistake #2. John jumped. Then Jack. Then Ana. Thennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn (still waiting at the top, freaking out) nnnnnnnnnnn (ok John counts me down, I slip on a rock and sit back down) nnnnnnn (he counts down again) Isabelle!

Yap, this is how high we jumped. (Ana and John took this photo on their Go Pro)

It was incredible. The Portuguese had a go pro and the video is amazing. Mostly just me screaming. Unbeknownst to me, there was a tour group that was situated at the lookout spot (that I couldn’t see through the trees) and they took pictures of me as I jumped. You’re welcome, mostly Canadian and British tourists.

You jump, I jump right?

We headed back, and made plans to meet up for dinner. Turns out it was Trinidad Culture Week and there was a whole street with food trucks. Big mistake #3. It was delicious. And so, so cheap. We obviously tried a bunch of different places that were serving pina coladas. The favourite was the one that kept adding rum to our drinks. Priorities people.

We settled on one of the food trucks and it was delicious. OR SO WE THOUGHT.

The culprit. It’s a little ironic that we have a picture of us PAYING for this.

We decided to end our night the only way we knew how. We headed back to our casa, picked up some rum and coke on the way, lit a few cigars on the roof of our casa and played Monopoly Deal. We said goodbye, promised to speak soon and wished each other a good trip. Holly and I were almost on our way home, Jack to Central America and they had a few more stops in Cuba before returning to England via Jamaica.

A photo shoot took place here… And I was not the subject.

The next day was awful. What do you think happens when three people share a bathroom and they get food poisoning? I’ll spare you the details.

We spent our last day in Trinidad climbing up the stairs of the cathedral, having a photo shoot in the main square, chasing down souvenirs, taking a tour of a cigar factory (it was closed, so we saw the office, NBD) and grabbing water. We then proceeded to find a cab to take us to Havana. Also noting that at this point, the three of us were still suffering from food poisoning. When we finally got to Havana, well, we were so hungry. In just two short days, I would be heading back to Canada, Holly having already left for Mexico and Jack getting ready to leave for his trip. So, our last night, we spent grabbing food at the restaurant next to the hostel and playing Monopoly Deal. AND I FINALLY WON A GAME! WOOT WOOT!

Trinidad valley. Our tour guide brought us here. It was alright.

Playing with snakes

Nice and flat. These are the kind of hikes I like.

Me and these guys had matching hats.

*** When I was younger, my family and I went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. It is a very popular tourist attraction that is 700 metres above the river and is 140 metres long and leads to a treetop adventure, connecting bridges that are located in the trees. My mother had to promise me a pound of fudge for me to come across. I cried the whole way. I wish I could say I was really young. I was 15.