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Published: December 28th 2016
20161215_215355
Sculpture where we danced with Joan and MarkosAfter spending a couple more days exploring La Habana (especially the old part of the city), on the 15th of Dec, John and I got on the Via Azul (state run) bus and headed for Cienfuegos to have some down time. It was a four hour trip with one rest stop. We we arrived, we connected with Markos and Joan for dinner and dancing in a little place off the town square. They were coming from a beach near Trinidad where they'd stayed with Art and Dee.
John and I spent the next couple of days on the Punta Gorda (at a Casa Particular, The Casa Amarilla). We then took a cab to Playa Luna where we stayed in "Villa Busto," a casa right on the beach. Our hosts were Lu and her daughter Sandra, both musicians and writing a book about a particular Cuban musician. They were excellent cooks so we ate every meal there! The beach was almost deserted because it's winter and Cubans don't go to the beach in the winter... nonetheless, it was 85 degrees and the water was about 75. So it was heavenly!
One morning we rode in a horse drawn cart to
Guanaroca lagoon to see Flamingos. It is a protected area and you have to have a guide. We took a launch into the lagoon and then into the mangrove forest where we saw crab, oysters and many birds, including an Ibis and 3 different kinds of herons (white, grey and blue). Our launch driver was young and full of complaints about life in Cuba. He told us that all the shellfish is now reserved for tourists and it's illegal for Cubans to even fish for shrimp now. I asked Mario about this later and he said that it was part of a program to protect the environment and the fisheries, but that in fact it was true that Cubans can't access shellfish. They are lucky to be able to afford any kind of fish.
After our time at the beach, we returned to the city of Cienfuegos. We had booked an AirBnB, so we spent two more nights there and it was also a good experience. We stayed at the Hostal La Cascadia and our hosts were Yaquelin and Wilfredo. The food there was wonderful as well. They cooked us a full meal from soup to dessert with lobster
as a main course for $12. We are definitely seeing the two economies that are happening in Cuba right now. I wonder if our hosts ever get to eat lobster?
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