La Boca II

La Boca is slowly working its rhythm into our days and it seems likely that we will spend the next 5 days here. It's a 10 minute 5CUC taxi ride into the town and when we tire of Trinidad we can retreat to our balcony with a book, a diary, or just sit and take in the view and watch the world go by.

We've also hired bikes and started to explore the coast out towards Ancon.

It's similar to Playa Giron but almost completely undeveloped with clear water and great snorkelling just off the road that follows the coast. There is rarely sand to the water's edge so to swim you have to launch off the rocks which isn't a big problem, but probably puts people off.

There are small pull-ins where cars can park and a local Cuban oversees a few palm branch beach umbrellas and keeps an eye on everything for a couple of CUCs. Some of these spots are beautifully cared for with coral borders to the paths, the beached raked clean and little stone circles around the trees and shrubs.

On one of these the man who looks after it had created sand gardens with coral sculptures of fish as wall as a few abstract pieces. He'd also found some polystyrene and used small pieces to cover all the spines on the  spiky plants so no one would get a nasty puncture or scratch. It was so simple - just requiring imagination, care and lot of hard work.

As the road nears the big beach complex at Ancon there is more sand, more easy access to the water, a big hotel in the Soviet style, more facilities and a lot more people. It's still beautiful, with palm trees and a long sweeping Caribbean bay bordering the turquoise sea, but a lot busier - and a lot further on the bikes!