Built in 1716, the baroque façade of the Shrine of the Virgen of Candelaria and its location at the top of a hill overlooking the ancient town of Trinidad de Cuba bears witness to its once majestic past. Permanently closed in the 1980s due to the danger of collapse, the church once adjoined a hospital in the heyday of the slave-sugar boom that offered care to the poor and destitute, many of whom were injured, or elderly slaves abandoned by their masters. In the early 2000s, curious visitors like myself delighted in the shards of ancient porcelain, handmade horn buttons, and the occasional old silver fork or spoon. In the summer, examples of what locals described as “colonial trash” surfaced spontaneously at the conclusion of every tropical rain. June 2001, Trinidad de Cuba.
