Road Trip Havana to Cienfuegos

---

---

I went on a solo trip to Cuba for a few days in spring 2016. After spending a couple of days in Havana I thought I should see some other places of the island as well. My plan was to take the bus to Cienfuegos, but didn't seem as easy as it sounded. I was usually relying on the internet to find places, but here I was not able to find any Wifi so I had to rely on a simple map the hotel staff gave me to find the bus station.

Since I am pretty bad at directions it took me absolutely forever to find the bus station. By the time I managed to find the it there were not really any busses leaving and the schedule did not make sense to me at all. Also my Spanish was intermediate I was not able to find out if there were any busses leaving that day. However I managed to chat to a couple of locals who offered me a ride to my destination. The driver was was living Miami and visiting family, since he was very nice I accepted the offer and jumped into the car.

Cramped into the back seat with 3 other people we set of on a 6 hour drive to the south coast of Cuba. At this point I was debating if this was actually a good idea, but the thought went away quickly and the drive was actually very interesting. The guys told me stories about their lives in Cuba and a little bit a out the history of the country. We drove through the countryside were slowly cars were replaces by horse carriages. There were people working on fields with almost no machinery, but only with donkeys and cows for their assistance.

We even stopped at small restaurant, which was more like a small shed. They served some local beers and rum and the meet was very fresh, so fresh that when I ask for chicken they pointed at the roasters that were running around the back yard asking me which one I wanted. In the end I only ordered rice and beans.

The atmosphere was very relaxed and everyone was very friendly. After a long ride through the country side we finally reached Cienfuegos. The guys dropped me of at the accommodation I had pre booked and made sure I got in save. They even offered me a ride back to Havana the week after.

I know these days you should be more aware and lot of my friends think I am a bit crazy when I tell them that I just hopped into a car with strangers, but this was a fantastic experience and I feel I have learned quiet a lot about the country and the people within this very short visit.

---