Blogs from Centro, Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 2

Saturday 7 July Day 2: Cienfuegos via Santa Clara The next morning, we met David and after breakfast we took our bags to a taxi van which we to be our transport to Cienfuegos and Trinidad. This was where we would change drivers and vehicles. As we were only a group of 4, they didn’t need a large bus. We drove about 3 hours on the excellent National Highway 1 to Santa Clara. Upon entering Santa Clara, we encounter a huge statue of Ernesto Ché Guevara. We then took some time to visit the museum that is directly under the statue, and which told the story of Ché’s fascinating life. We could not take our cameras in the museum. There is also a mausoleum with an eternal flame that commemorates his death and that of ... read more

Today was another long travel day. We bade farewell to Trinidad early in the morning. I felt sad to leave this vibrant, colorful town as I would have liked to explore it in more depth. Today was the final day of our tour, and we were to drive back to Havana, with two stops en route - The Valley of the Sugar Mills and Che Guevara's memorial in Santa Clara. The Valley of the Sugar Mills is located just outside Trinidad. There, we visited Manaca Iznaga plantation. The former plantation owner's house was relatively intact, as was a tower on the premises, and some former slave quarters (now used as residences). This tower was used to view the operations of the plantation, which was staffed by slaves. I thought of the tower as an evil panopticon ... read more

Well we found internet, but still no cameras. However, I have a strategy - when we see obvious tourists, we ask them to take our photo and to email it to us when they return to their respective homes... we will see how that pans out. Stats to date: -approximately 400 KM covered -approximately 10 pizzas/each consumed -lots of local music under the night skies -lots of soda (super weird because I hate soda at home) -score on flats 4(Alyssa):0(Andrew) -score of crib games 4(Andrew):0(Alyssa) - so wrong! That's about it. It's hot, the food is edible, the towns and rolling countryside spectacular and the people incredibly friendly and welcoming. Oh and sorry Janna - happy birthday yesterday! Alyssa and Andrew... read more

The fear of expensive Cuban prices, the fear of expensive near-future European prices, the fear of getting ripped off by Cubans and my personal financial situation, all combined to make me try to do everything as cheaply as possible – to save money at any opportunity. Basically, I was petrified to spend money here. I’m not normally a scrooge abroad but needs must. Which was why I found myself waiting at my hostel in Havana for the four Dutch guys I’d been drinking with the previous night. They could possibly give me a free ride to Vinales, but it depended on the kind of rental car they could get and how big it was. Mindful of wanting to catch the last bus to Vinales however, I could wait no more and I shared a taxi to ... read more

Since I only have 6 days in this lovely country I really had to blast around if I wanted to see anything more than a huge city for the entire time…and you know how I feel about big cities. Even though I did enjoy my time in Habana I decided to catch a bus at 7am to Trinidad 7 hours away. Well there was an option to ride in a classic car all the way for the same price so I decided to do that. At 7:10 I asked if there was a specific time we were leaving or if just when full. Twas the latter and we curmudgeonly rolled out at 10 something finally arriving after the stupid bus would have been there but whatever. Adventure. Lol. Trinidad is even more of an old tyme ... read more