Page 187 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2020 South Africa

vorite watering holes. Open doorways afforded a displayed various facets of this syncretic religion
glimpse of daily life: students learning the samba, which combines elements of Yoruba and Catholic
a cobbler bent over his iron last next to a mountain practices. Inside the foyer, an array of offerings lay
of shoes, a barber plying his trade inside a studio at the feet of a black virgin attired in royal cape
lined with his own paintings. We ran into a number and crown, and cradling a white skinned baby Je-
of these informal art galleries, as well as one ex- sus.
hibiting internationally-known Lazaro Niebla’s Trinidad abounds in souvenir shops where for-
stunning bas-relief portraits carved out of wood eigners can spend convertible pesos or CUCs.
(www.lazaroniebla.com). Cubans, however, must use local Cuban pesos.
The late morning temperature was turning op- Their limited purchasing power was apparent
pressive and we sought the air-conditioned con- when we stood before a counter dispensing stacks
fines of Bar Frio. There, the jovial bartender of “la libreta”, government-subsidized ration
revealed the secret of making canchanchara, a books. The monthly allotment coupons detailed
drink introduced by African slaves in the late the amount of rice, pasta, eggs, coffee, salt, sugar,
1800s. The bartender went to great length to oil, beans, matches, and of course, cigars, for each
blend the sugar cane juice, honey, lemon and rum. family. Rations usually last about 10 days out of
A different legacy of Afro-Cuban origin is santería, every month. The rest of the time, most Cubans
a religious practice introduced during the influx of resort to bartering or purchasing necessities on
Lucumí slaves from Nigeria. In Trinidad, the Tem- the black market.
plo Yemalla, site of regular santería ceremonies,

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