Blogs from Santiago de Cuba, Este, Cuba, Central America Caribbean

3.5.2012 We arrived Santiago de Cuba, no problems, flight was about one and half hours, though the plane wasn't great got here safely. It is quite hot here 3-4 degrees hotter than Havana and a bit more humid, countryside quite hilly around Santiago de Cuba. Hotel is very clean and comfortable, all built I reckon in the 50's then JUST maintained from there, all hotels are state run and most of the restaurants are too! Very hard to find decent restaurants down here. Spent arvo visiting museums etc all very interesting. After dinner watched a baseball game with our guide JJ, a few rums later retired for the night. 4.5.2012 Went to visit very museum to do with revolution, also had a tour of a cigar factory, no bags, cameras etc allowed in the factory. Santiago ... read more

Santiago De Cuba Monday 4th April I’m trying to squeeze a tour of the rest of Cuba into two weeks. I would really liked to have spent more than two nights in Santiago De Cuba. Santiago is Cuba’s second city and was once the capital of the island so there’s probably a lot more to see than I could squeeze in to my brief stay. url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/whereissteve/6046417326/" title="Moncada Barracks and Bullet Holes by WhereIsSteve, on Flickr"img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6207/6046417326_db07ff769c.jpg" width="450" height="284" alt="Moncada Barracks and Bullet Holes" align = right Our first stopping off point is the Moncada Barracks. This was the scene of Fidel’s first unsuccessful attempt to start a revolution in Cuba when Fidel and a number of students attacked the barracks. The bullet ... read more

this morning at 2:30am we arrived to santiago de cuba, the last 100 miles we had to motor because of no winds but the first 100 miles from cayo cuervo were beautifull ailing with max speed of 8.3 knots. now the sun is just rising and the little bay of punta gorda where the marina is and where we are anchored is beginning to wake up and we are waiting to get get a spot at the pier so we can dock and rceive the officials for clearance.... read more

Hello all, we komen aan in Santiago de Cuba, de 2de grootste stad van Cuba in het Oosten van het eiland. Hier zijn de jineteros (sjacheraars, eigenaars van casas, ...) echt wel enorm toegeweid! De mensen van het viazul busstation moeten letterlijk de deuren van het gebouw dichthouden zodat ze niet zouden binnenstormen. We volgen een taxi chauffeur (in oranje marcelleke) naar zn 51-chevy en onderweg krijgen we de meest fantastische aanbiedingen: een van de jineteros begint op 15 CUC voor een overnachting en daalt tot 1.5 CUC waarbij zelfs de taxi chauffeur en zn handlanger (die vaak meerijdt en halverwege uitstapt) in de lach schieten! en wij ook :) De taxi chauffeur zet ons zon 5 straten te ver af, want het is een eenrichtingsstraat en hij mag er langs hier niet in, schitterend! omrijden ... read more

If you want a real history lesson, Santiago de Cuba is definitely the place to visit. Our tour leader Natalia (who bears a striking resemblance to Shakira), gets great pleasure from randomly quizzing us for the names of certain buildings, walkways, parks, or monuments when we are at our most hung-over. We quickly catch on that while in Cuba....when in doubt...the correct answer is always Jose Marti. Natalia loves her Cuba, and now so do we. Symbolism is huge in Santiago de Cuba. You immediately realize it while visiting their large cemetery on the outskirts of town. Santa Ifigenia is well preserved, overcrowded yet orderly, and boasts quite the guest list. The mausoleum for Jose Marti has a small honour guard that goose-steps on the hour. ...and if you don't know who Jose Marti is, you ... read more

¿Qué bola amigos. We are in Cuba! Yes! Now, I know it has been a week since the last blog, but as you can imagine internet is not the easiest to come by, and since I had a chance I thought I would enter a short little entry to give you all a taste of our experiences thus far. We left Miami on a charter flight. The ticket said be there by 10.30 am even though our flight didn´t leave until 2.30. We thought this might be a little excessive, but we needed to exchange money and figure out where the terminal was, so we decided to go along with it. No joke, you NEED to be there 4 hours early. There are at least 3 different lines you have to wait in to check in ... read more

Santiago de Cuba was a 3 1/2 hour drive from Guardalavaca, but well worth the long trip. The city is rich in history and colorful architecture. What the city lacked was product advertising. Surprisingly, I found it refreshing not to be bombarded with product adverts or Coke/Pepsi/Frito-Lays advertisements in the smallest rural of tienda stores or gas stations. Instead, your eyes were drawn to the over abundance of socialist signage on billboards, and other visible public spaces. While the larger signage containing striking black and white block print images of Fidel or Guevara was likely sponsored by the Communist party, smaller slogans and homemade posters were put up by citizens themselves on storefronts and house windows. Cubans were ready to celebrate the the 50th year anniversary of the Revolution. The list of my favourite socialist slogans ... read more