500 years ago during the Spanish colonization of Cuba, flush with the wealth of the sugar trade, the town of Trinidad was formed along the southern Caribbean coast. The anniversary party was just getting ramped up as we rolled into town, a celebration of food and music that would last an entire week. A week long food and music festival in Cuba? Yes please
One of the advertising slogans for Cuba tourism effectively translates as “Where the past and present live together.” This is definitely true of Trinidad, a quaint little town laid out around a main church and public square in Spanish colonial fashion. The narrow dirt and cobblestone streets are shared by a few cars, many bicycles, and horse drawn carriages. 1959 is part of the present, right?
The town center is very well preserved, as tourism is Trinidad’s main source of income. Waking across town takes just a few moments, and you can see the walls and roadways steadily return closer to nature as you approach the adjacent trees and farmland that spread out towards the surrounding mountains
Greenery stretches as far as the eye can see in all directions toward the striking blue of the Caribbean as we descend towards the runway below. Small stone and wire fences cross the landscape until they reach the few narrow roadways. We’d arrived at what appeared to be an idyllic little farming village
We are greeted at immigration by stern faces and raised eyebrows. Winnie passes through without issue, while I get the rubber glove treatment. 3 interviews later we step out into the morning sun and humidity. The first interviewer was very friendly, even complimenting me on my Spanish. The other two were obviously just going through the motions
There are 3 different money exchange booths. We enter the one without a line, and the staff of 4 informs us that they aren’t open for business. Another money exchange booth ignores us completely. We go to the back of the line of 30 people and wait for the 2 cashiers to do us the honor of converting our funds into the local tourist currency, in between cleaning their fingernails and extended conversations with their friends.
2008 was a great year. A lot of incredible things happened, paving the way for a better and brighter future for all. SpaceX launched the first commercial spacecraft into orbit, leading the way to the future of space exploration. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN powered up, leading to the discovery of the Higgs boson. Doctors grew an organ from a patient’s own stem cells and sequenced the entire genome of a cancer patient, both early steps in the revolution of medicine. We lost nearly $400,000 in the stock market.
Indeed, 2008 was a great year, a year of breakthroughs and triumphs. The future looks bright
“Hey, wait! You lost $400k! How is that a great year?! You think that looks promising?”
It is that time of year, when people look back and remember what was and look forward, planning what will be. It is also a time of giving and loving and sharing, of world peace and gratitude.
We are grateful for the opportunity we have had to share our story and to meet a lot of great people, including other travelers, writers, and bloggers. We are also grateful for the expanding presence Go Curry Cracker is having on the web
It has been a very big couple of months for us here at Go Curry Cracker with records set for number of page views, number of Facebook and Twitter likes and follows, and number of comments.
We’ve been featured and interviewed by some great reporters and bloggers, and had the honor of writing a couple guest posts for some of our favorite sites.
For the Mandarin speakers out there, Winnie’s post on how we retired early and now travel the world went mini-viral, getting over 200,000 views in just 3 days, which has led to her article being shared on a few big time sites with more to come.
Our post about how we plan to Never Pay Taxes Again was shared, liked, cross-linked, and shared again, setting a record for views and comments.
Thank you everybody for a great 2013. Thank you for reading, for sharing, for commenting, and caring.
All the best in 2014
Jeremy & Winnie, Go Curry Cracker!
PS: As you get ready for 2014, please check out these great writers and the fiscal advice and opportunities they share
“Wow, that place smells great! Let’s go check it out!”, growled my stomach.
The lunch hour was well behind us and the smells of slow-cooked meat were wafting out the door, carried on waves of loud Latin beats. Hidden in the faded paint on the wall we could barely make out the word Barbacoa and a picture of a sheep. My stomach growled again
The place was packed, with rows upon rows of well-worn wooden tables filled to capacity with older men in dirty flannel. A waiter cleared off a small table covered in empty beer bottles and soiled napkins, seating us with an easy view of 3 different soccer matches on the wall-mounted flat screens.
This place was seriously local. My skin color was the palest by several shades, and through the dim light and smoky haze I stood out like a sore thumb. Our neighbors to our right immediately engaged us in conversation in a broken mix of Spanish, Tsotsil, and Tseltal (the 2 most common local Mayan languages) that was truly dizzying. “Where are you from?” “Welcome to Mexico!” “You like it here?”
We sipped our warm stale beer from Dixie cups as we waited for our order of tacos, and did our best to participate in the verbal barrage coming our way. Two of our new friends didn’t speak Spanish any better than we did, and the 3rd as self-appointed ambassador did his best to share their questions, difficult as it might be with alcohol hindered enunciation. For 2:00 pm on a Sunday, he was sauced. Hell, for 2 am on a Friday he was sauced
