At night we ate at the El Romero eco-restaurant, one of the best meals we had in Cuba during our entire trip.
Pinar del Rio to Las Terrassas
Maria la Gorda to Pinar del Rio
After some sun bathing and a final swim in the Caribbean sea time had come to go to Pinar del Rio, one of the larger cities in Cuba with about 150.000 inhabitants. It was Saturday night and the center was filled with young people and we had fun talking about Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley with the local youth.
Maria la Gorda
The resort turned out perfect to relax for a couple of days, go for long walks, do some snorkeling or– in the case of Severin – join a tour to explore the underwater world off the coast. The underwater flora and fauna was (according to Severin) really impressive, but unfortunately the quality of the diving equipment wasn’t.
The property was fenced of left and right, but we managed bypass the barbwire and set up a bonfire for a little beach party with a Norwegian couple on our last night in this peaceful paradise.
Vinales Valley
After a supreme Mojito on the rooftop of a very fancy and expensive hotel we once again boarded one of the comfortable Tourist busses (Tourists are not allowed on local busses and vice versa) and headed towards Vinales in the Pinar del Rio Province, famous for its tobacco farms and magnificent landscape.
Severin’s sister had been to Cuba just a few months earlier. She got to know a very nice farmer family during her stay there and had given me a few presents for them (some chocolate, shoes for the boy and toothpaste for grandma). So upon our arrival we started to search for the family, which took quite a while as they literally lived off the beat track.
The entire family was indeed extreme friendly and open towards us. Offering fresh tasty coffee and hand rolled cigars (which were really strong).
May 9th, 2007, Viñales Valley
The Viñales Valley is yet another Unesco world heritage. We spent most of the second day exploring the area and hiking around. In the late afternoon we visited the farmer family once again to get some coffee roasted on open fire and smoke a few more cigars.
A little outside of Vinales are the caves of Santo Thomas which we had picked as our main event for our third day. The guided tour took about 2 hours and after that we hiked up one of the surrounding mountains to get a better view of the valley. By sheer luck we bumped into a guy who offered us a pack of excellent cigars for a very reasonable price. Usually we declined offers to buy illegal cigars because of the poor quality, but these cigars where in perfect condition and must have been straight out of a factory.
On our last day in Vinales we decided to explore the valley on the back of a horse. My horse went by the name of Palomo and was easy going, Sev’s horse on the other hand was a fiery black stallion called Negro. A funny incident was a short break at the very interesting holiday camp called “Dos hermanos”. “Dos Hermanos” means “two brothers” in Spanish and in the case of the holiday camp refers to two giant rocks (Mogotes called in Vinales)that are left and right of the camp. The real fun part was that the camp by name “two brothers” was full with Homosexuals from Havana on a holiday break. We bumped into larger groups of Homosexual men in Cuba twice, and every time it was hilarious how stereotypical they acted – female-like tone, even lipstick and makeup, pink belly free T-shirts.
Trinidad, Playa ancón
Before we left Santa Clare to go to Trinidad we went to the place where Che and his comrades derailed a train which ultimately led to the victory of the Revolutionaries.
Trinidad offers fantastic Spanish colonial architecture and was rightfully declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. The cobblestone streets can be a bit hard to walk on, but we got used to it after some time. As we were exhausted after the past few days of hectic travelling we decided to take it easy, enjoyed a lovely sunset above Trinidad and spent the evening smoking cigars and drinking.
4th of Mai, Trinidad, Beach day!
After all the sightseeing we decided it was time for another day on the beach. We rented two bikes and went to playa ancón which is about 45 minutes away from Trinidad. Unfortunately, on our way back to Trinidad it started to rain heavily and when we took shelter at a bus station outside a little village we “donated” our soaking wet T-shirts to a local when we took them off. First he arranged his bike so he could jump on it easily and then he grabbed our T-Shirts and took off. Luckily we did not leave our backpacks unattended! But we did curse the local and vowed to come back in a couple of years and burn down his entire village. As the name of the village was “La Boca” we would randomly shout out “Burn la Boca, Burn!” if something went wrong for the rest of the trip.
May 5, Travelling from Trinidad to Havana
To get back to the Havana we decided to try a different type of transportation and shared a taxi with two English girls. To be honest, it was a bit tight to sit in a Peugeot 303 with three other tourists and the driver for a couple of hours without air condition, but as it was only half price compared to the bus, it was worth it. Unfortunately I forgot my hat, which I had bought in Australia in 2001 and which had travelled with me on many adventures on the cab.
Back in Havana we went down to the Malecon once again and walked to the Hotel Nacional for a late night “Club Sandwich” I had been dreaming of for a while. Hotel Nacional is an impressive building from the early 20th century, which has seen such famous people as , Errol Flynn, Marlon Brando and Ernest Hemingway and the equally famous but less likable Al Capone.
Santa Clara, visiting Che
May 3, 2007, Santa Clara to Trinidad,
Before we left Santa Clare to go to Trinidad we went to the place where Che and his comrades derailed a train which ultimately led to the victory of the Revolutionaries. Feels great to experience the place first hand where such an important event took place.
Trinidad offers fantastic Spanish colonial architecture and was rightfully declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. The cobblestone streets can be a bit hard to walk on, but we got used to it after some time. As we were exhausted after the past few days of hectic travelling we decided to take it easy, enjoyed a lovely sunset above Trinidad and spent the evening smoking cigars and drinking.
Camagüey, Viva la Revolution…
The celebrations took place around the Plaza of the Revolution. Cuban Flags everywhere, people singing “The Internationale”, fiery speeches and – most of the people apathetically marching along to the exclamatory chanting of the presenters on the stage in front of the monument
”Viva Videl” – Viva Raul, Viva la revolution etc. !
After the celebrations where over, all the people disappeared quickly and we were all by ourselves on the giant square . Camagüey also offers a Zoo, but most of its inhabitants (even tigers!) are in a very poor condition paying the entrance fee means you keep those poor animals trapped in their misery.
Bayamo
So, if you ever get to the city I strongly recommend it – unfortunately our tight schedule did not permit staying longer in this lovely place and we once again boarded a bus for our next destination, this time in the later afternoon.
Baracoa, Playa Maguan & Boca de Miel
The initial plan was to go to the Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt, but as it turned out it was quiet expensive to get there and the outlook of hiking for hours in hot and humid weather did not seem like a very good choice. So instead we settled for a day on Playa Maguan, a beautiful beach with white sand. It’s about 30 minutes away from Baracoa by car. We arranged a ride in a dodgy car, driven by two dodgy looking Cubans. On the beach, people and pigs alike roast in the sun and bottles of rum are emptied throughout the day.
At night we went to Boca de Miel again, for a nice meal of fish and rice with the local family. Usually the food is not very good in Cuba, but those locals knew hot to cook. The experience at the Casa de la Trova was a bit different from the day before as the band had changed and old guys where running the show.
April 29th, 2007. Baracoa to Bayamo by bus
On our last day in Baracoa we went to the Casa de la Trova one more time. The band usually starts around 10 or 11 am and performs throughout the day until late night. I also took a closer look to the local church, home to the only remaining cross of the twenty nine that Christopher Columbus brought to the “New World”.
We spent our last hour around the Bus Station to take pictures of an shipwreck just off the coast before boarding the bus that would take us to Bayamo, with a short stop in Santiago de Cuba and Holguin.
Santiago de Cuba – Celebration of Baseball Championship
One thing we learned the hard way in Cuba was to always ask for a price before doing business with the locals, such as taxi drivers, landlords etc. . A short distance from the train station to our accommodation turned out to be a pricy one as we were charged 12 Cucs. The bicitaxy driver even asked for more in the beginning but Severin managed to haggle him down. Well, lesson learned!
The center of Santiago is really nice and we enjoyed another Mojito and a cigar at a restaurant right next to the church. A Cuban dressed up like a Super-Pimp and a fancy cane posed for tourists to take pictures.
As Santiago also won the follow up game to the one we saw in Havana there was a big celebration in town. Huge crowds where roaming the streets, lots of grilled pigs where offered on the street and you could buy beer in plastic cups for just a few national pesos. The players were greeted and cheered by the crowd and everybody danced to music. Not bad for a nation considers “Third World”.
April, 27th 2007: Santiago de Cuba to Baracoa by Bus
As we were trying to keep moving we decided to leave Santiago de Cuba after just one night and take a bus to Baracoa, a little town at the very south end of Cuba. Baracoa was the first Spanish settlement and first Capital of Cuba and was not reachable by land until 1960. The road from Santiago to Baracao is magnificent, winding through an amazing mountain range- It took us about 5 hours to get there, with a short stop at the infamous Guantanamo Bay. Luckily, we also got to know Merete, a Norwegian Salsa Teacher whom we would meet up throughout our trip.
After our arrival around lunch time we visited the center of the city, home of the monument of “Hatuey”, Cuba’s First National Hero. This Che Guevara of the 16th century leaded a group of natives in a fight against the invading Spanish conquistadores. As we all know, today Spanish is the first language in Cuba, which means Hatuey was unsuccessful. Actually, he was captured and burned rejecting the offer to go to catholic heaven because there where to many Spaniards up there.
Later during the day we decided to go to Boca de Miel, a little village about 30 minutes from Baracoa and spend some time Playa Blanco. A nice little beach , only about 5 meters broad, surrounded by sharp rocks. On our way back to Baracoa a family in Boca de Miel invited us to dinner the following night (of course to earn a few Peso Convertible). Like for most of the Cubans, it would have been against the law for the family to invite us for dinner to their home, so they where cautions to not be seen talking too much to us.
At night we joined Merete, and Laoise, a girl from Ireland on a night out of dancing and drinking at the local Casa de la Trova and a few beers at a club called “El Rancho” after the group of young men stopped playing at the Casa de la Trova. The club is just a bit outside of Baracoa on top of the hill ”. El Rancho turned out to be “hot spot” for locals and tourists alike, but the Casa de La Trova became one of my favorites locations on the trip.