Blogs from Centro, Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 10

Jo must have been up early but I slept through until breakfast at 0800. We sorted out our bill with Elizabet and by 0900 we headed out to get information about a tourist train to Valle de los Ingenios (Valley of the Sugar Mills), only to find the train was out of service. Lonely Planet recommended the local train as an alternative but it too was broken - as was one of the bridges on the way to the valley - a result of the recent hurricanes. We found a travel agency that did half day CUC9 tours by van and signed up. We were collected 30 minutes later and headed northeast to Mirador de la Loma del Puerto, a lookout over the valley. The hurricane had destroyed alot of the vegetation but it was still ... read more

Jo was up early but even after my early night I slept through until breakfast at 0800. Elizabet and her mother continued with the great food with a breakfast of eggs, bread, fruits, gingerbread, coffee and orange juice. We left the house at 0900 and headed towards the market with a wallet full of CUCs - it was shopping day. There wasn’t a lot open at the ungodly early hour of 0900 but slowly stalls were set up and we did our first pass - getting an idea of what we wanted and some starting prices. The previous day we had found one of the few galleries in town that was owned by the artist (Gino and Isabella had recommended him) so we went back by his gallery but he was only just setting up. We ... read more

The road from Santa Clara to Trinidad is apparently the worst we would need to experince for the whole trip. This is good, because the road was seriously bad. I don´t think there are a lot of roadworks that go on. Perhaps it´s because there aren´t that many cars on the road? It is quite funny to see wide, major highways with no cars, or just one or two. It was quite a scenic drive and we stopped on a moutaintop lookout to have lunch. The Cuban landscape is quite stunning... very lush and green. We arrived in Trinidad late in the afternoon and were welcomed by the ´main house´host with a fabulous rum-based cocktail. It was so good we all asked for seconds. Have I mentioned that drinks here are super cheap? I bought 3 ... read more

Ráno jsme vyrazili rozpadlým zigulem nějakýho známýho naší hostitelky do půjčovny. Na výběr máme ze dvou aut. Seat Cordoba a automat od Samsungu. Zkoušíme oboje, Tonda reklamuje, ze se mu v Seatu vzadu nesedí pohodlně. Nikdo jinej ale problémy nemá, navíc se zjistilo, ze sebou nemáme dost peněz na ten automat, takze beztak není co řešit. Vzali jsme teda Seat. Tonda ale prohlásil, ze vpravo vzadu sedět nebude. Zpátky na byt jsme uz v našem autě kupodivu nezabloudili ani jednou. Nalozili jsme bágly a holky a vyrazili. Neujeli jsme ani deset metrů a přišel hlad, takze první cíl byl náš oblíbenej cupáckej stánek s kuřetem. Tentokrát bylo napečeno vše čerstvě, takze to chutnalo moc dobře. Jsme rádi, ze konečně dostáváme pořádnej poměr cena/výkon a vyrázíme z města ven. Jedinej drobnej problém je, ze nikdo přesně neví ... read more

The more we travel onwards the smaller the provinces get, the land more vast , the grass more green, the trees taller and the mountains grew. The land is so beautiful i could hear myself saying it out loud. We crossed a bridge of water and my excitement rose. This heat can only be tamed with a long swim in the ocean. We pulled in at the station in the hottest part of the day and thawed our frozen popsicle air conditioned bodies immediately. Lots of cubans waiting , holding casa particular placards and screaming low prices. I hadnt seen this since cambodia. Head down and beggining to wade through the boisterios crowd we were surprised to see a piece of paper with our names in bold letters not uncommen at the arrivals gate at the ... read more