Trinidad, Camaguey, Santiago the Cuba and All Inclusive fun

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Video

Check out the video of our Cuba trip..

Cuba in 27 seconds Click here for the video. Password is warta

Hurricane

In a previous blog I asked how intelligent it is to come to Cuba in the middle of the Hurricane season. Turns out it has less to do with intelligence and more with luck. Right now there is the biggest Hurricane in the last 10 years ripping through the southern part of Cuba. The same place we just left a week ago... With a slightly different schedule we could be in the midst of it. Luckily we left for Panama which is not affected.

Trinidad

Onwards to what is be the best preserved town from 1800 that I ever encountered. Time stood still in Trinidad since 1850. You expect a pirate screaming "argh me hearties" to come around the corner any minute. Quite fitting as the town was plundered by pirates a couple of times.
Trinidad was once a rich city (due to sugar plantations and a lot of slave labour) but fell out of favour early 1800 and nothing much happened since then. The upside is that all the old buildings are still there as no one had the money or the want to build anything new. The streets are narrow just wide enough for a horse and cart or a small car. the inner town is closed for traffic and luggage can be ferried around on wheelbarrows. The streets are made from cobblestone but not the nice ones like in Europe. Just rough stones to form something resembling a road. Rough ready and original. The houses are small with the doors straight onto the cobblestone streets painted in different pastel colours. This makes for a very pretty scene.

We had a nice room, up on the hill near the main square right under a rooftop restaurant with spectacular views of the town and sunset. A young, loud Cuban band played every night in the restaurant until 11pm. So sleeping was a bit of a challenge.

We explored the countryside with the help of an old train (think open carriage and wooden seats) that was previously used to connect Trinidad with the rest of the country but since a bridge collapsed it is now mainly used to ferry tourists around. A very scenic and slow ride but it had a bar (which I am ashamed to admit we didn't use).
We stopped at an old sugar farm complete with watchtower to climb. The view from the 44 meter tower was spectacular but the reason why it was build wasn't. Cuba used a lot of salve labour. The tower was for the overseers to keep an eye on the slaves working in the fields.
Another train stop was an old sugar mill which had been converted into an open air museum, if that is the right description for a factory ruin with a couple of signs. At least they served sugarcane juice for Dillon (just as good as the SC juice shop in Marrickville to D's delight) and juice with rum for Daddy. Rum is so cheap in this country that the juice and juice with rum cost exactly the same. Would be a shame to miss the opportunity.

Camagüey

Our next stop was Camagüey. No idea why they used a ü in that name. Thought that's a German thing to do.

Anyway the town was yet again an UNESCO world heritage site. It is notable for it’s irregular and confusing street layout which differs from the usual grid layout the other cities have. It was apparently done to confuse attacking pirates and later on tourists. A nice city to wander around in, with the usual pretty plazas, churches and old houses but the real highlights were our accommodation which had huge 6 meter ceiling and was previously a convent. We also discovered a bowling alley where we spent a couple of happy air conditioned hours .
The weather was like anywhere else in Cuba. The mornings were nice and then followed by thunderstorms in the afternoon. And they do have thunderstorms here. Haven't seen so much lightning and such loud thunder in a long time.
One night on our way home we decided to seek shelter when the lightning struck so close that the overhead electricity cables started to crackle. Luckily we found a government office close by where we had a chat with the night watch lady while the thunderstorm was rumbling over us.

Santiago de Cuba

Or last city in Cuba and yet again UNESCO protected. By this stage we were a bit over sightseeing so we only stayed a day. The city itself is nice and it's also important for the Cubans as the revolution "started" here. Well it also failed here as well. Fidel had a first jab at taking over in 1953 when he and 120 others wanted to take the army barracks. They spectacularly failed. Some of them got lost on the way there and the rest were overpowered or killed. Fidel was sent to exile just to return a couple of years later to finish the job. He claimed victory in 1959 in the main square of Santiago. It was then declared a hero city of Cuba. The only one they have.
The city hosts also the oldest surviving building of all of Cuba. It was the house of the first Governor of Cuba. These days its a museum (surprise) and is decked out in period furniture. The main square is quite interesting with a beautiful cathedral. Apparently the night time music scene here is very good although we didn’t get out to see it.

Guardalavaca

Wouldn't have thought that I ever go to an all inclusive beach resort but when curiosity got the better of me we jumped on the occasion to get a couple of swims and copious amounts of food and alcohol (it's free!) into us.
I don't think I would survive more than a couple of days in a resort like this and would certainly come back 10kg heavier but it was fun with its nightly entertainment program, pool bar (how good are they!) and a nice beach. All that while not paying a cent more than the 100 dollar we paid per night for all three of us. A nice ending to our Cuba tour.

Adios Cuba

Cuba will be a very different place to what it is now in 10 years time. The changes over the last 10 years have been huge compared to what happened since 1959 but the changes in the next 10 years I expect will likely be even greater. The Americans will invade shortly this time without guns but in the form of tourists. They and the other tourists will show what capitalism is good at. Making money. The Cubans will sometime in the near future want to trade their socialist achievements like universal health care, free schooling, free university education and a guaranteed job, for money and freedom. Go to Cuba before that happens it is a great country to visit. There are many interesting places to see and you feel as though you have stepped back in time. It is also a very pretty and scenic country, very green and beautiful beaches with crystal clear water. The people are truly friendly and hospitable. It is also one of the safest developing countries that I ever visited. We walked everywhere at any time of the day.

But please if you come don't just hide in an all inclusive resort (ok for a couple of days maybe) - that would be a sin.

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Photos

Dillon ordering a drink
He is a very confident little boy and nothing stands between him and a juice

All modes of transportation
On our way to the bus station

Movement of the 26 July
Name of the revolutionary forces under Fidel