2015 Jan 30-Feb 8
Nota: publicado en Inglés: vamos a
editar e incluir versión en español pronto.
Marce has an amazing ability to create surprise birthday
celebrations; for Alan’s birthday this year he was told to be ready to travel,
with passport, and nothing more was communicated. Alan didn't know where we
were going until onboard the flight: the airport staff, immigration, and
customs people conspired happily to avoid communicating our destination,
however once on board hearing the pilot’s address to passengers was
unavoidable.
So, we arrived in Havana, a destination long-foretold, and
began exploring; Cuba proved to be a wonderful destination for friendly people,
great music, good food, and the outdoors.
We travelled around on foot, by “cocotaxis”, and in a 1948 Chevrolet. The latter was not initially
planned, however when our cocotaxi
from the town centre to the hotel one evening proved unequal to the task our
driver stopped this old car to take us to the hotel. Our radar was lighting up
with concern lest this be a set-up, however our initially taciturn driver and
co-driver proved friendly and dropped us off with no drama, demonstrating (as
we found throughout our trip) the friendliness of the Cubans, and the fact that
the country is generally very safe. We wandered around the Plaza de la Revolución, the Museo
Bellas Artes Cubanos, the Plaza Vieja,
and the Museo de la Revolución, among
other sights.
Our musical needs were (more than) fulfilled with visits
to the fabled Bodeguita de Medio on
our first evening, a Buena Vista Social Club concert at Hotel Nacional, and on
our third evening we visited Dos
Gardenias, to find that we were far too early (at 2130h), the Benny Moré
Club (just too late), and the Tropicana.
The latter had not been in our plans, since we thought that it would be rather
“touristy”, however it turned out to be excellent.
We then picked up a rental car to travel further afield than
the city. The wait was lengthy, although it seemed that others, perhaps more
demanding than us, waited a lot longer.
In the end we took possession of a relatively recent model Renault, complete
with several accessories, such as air-conditioning, which didn't work, but
which took us around the eastern and central parts of the country with no
problems.
We headed west, to Viñales, staying in a hotel, which was
fine, however our later experience was that staying in casas particulares was a much better option than in the hotels.
That evening we were entertained at dinner by Yamila and Elier, and after
dinner we got into conversation with them, seeking places where we could find
more live music and they took us into the village, to El Patio de la Decimista, where we enjoyed music and dancing until
late. During the following day we went to the Parque Nacional Viñales, where we
met Jasmilo, who told us about the opportunity to go riding on horseback into
the hills.
We spent 5 hours exploring the park with him, then headed back to
Viñales, where we enjoyed the first of our stays at casas particulares, at Los
Moros, the home of Dania & Oziel (Jasmilo’s uncle), whose hospitality was
warm and welcoming; we really enjoyed our stay with them. This gave us the
opportunity, which we took, to return to El
Patio de la Decimista that evening.
The following day we headed east again, stopping at La Joya, a tobacco plantation, where we
learned about making cigars, although we raised eyebrows with the fact that
neither of us was interested in smoking them, less taking some home. We then
headed for Cienfuegos (La Perla del Sur):
The early colonial settlement of Cienfuegos was by the French, and the city
retains French influences, in its street names and architecture.
We found accommodation at another casa particular, asking
initially at one recommended in the guide books, where Waldo told us that the
places were full, but sorted out a room at his son Hernán’s house. This turned
out to be the best means of finding accommodation; while places recommended
were usually fully booked, the owners always had family or friends with a place
to stay.
The following day (Alan’s birthday) after strolling around
town some more, we continued to Trinidad, founded in 1514 CE, and a UNESCO
world heritage site. The town is a jewel of colonial architecture, and also
proved to be a few place where music formed a backdrop to our entire day: live
music being prepsent at lunchtime, during the afternoon while enjoying a drink,
and both in the early evening, at the Casa
de la Musica in the Plaza, and later, at the Palengue de los Congos and the Casa
de Trova.
On the following morning we visited the Mirador del Valle de los Ingenios, then Spiriti Sanctus, on our way
to Camagüey, founded around 1515 CE, then moved inland 1528 CE.
Camagüey is
another UNESCO site, with narrow winding streets, allegedly to confuse invaders
(including tourists, although it’s not clear whether this was part of the
original alleged plan). In our wandering around we found several places
exhibiting art, including some beautiful pieces created from wood saved from
the old wooden beams in the old homes; one of these pieces captivated us so we
bought it, returning in the morning to collect it, before heading back to
Havana via the main highway.
We marveled (again) at the fact that the main highway in
Cuba, passing along the spine of the island, is a major four lane road, capable
of carrying something like a hundred times more traffic than actually uses it.
On arrival in Havana we dropped off the car, then took a 1914 Ford taxi to our
hotel, before heading out to the Bodeguita
del Medio one more time. The following day, after visiting the Museo de la Ciudad and the Museo de Ceramica, we left for the
airport to return home.
We had enjoyed our stay in Cuba immensely, fulfilling a
long-held wish to visit this fascinating island, learning more about its
colonial and revolutionary history, encountering friendly people, exploring fascinating
historical towns, and above all, enjoying wonderful music throughout.
Photos may be used for
non-commercial purposes with credit to alanymarce@gmail.com
