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Published: March 25th 2007
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hhhhhmmmmmmm, now this is the Cuba we have been looking for. After taking a taxi from Trinidad to Piñar del Rio with a British couple, we spent the night in this small provincial capital waiting to transfer to Maria la Gorda the next morning. This town, Piñar del Rio seemed to be as close to reality in Cuba as we could get. Buildings were in varrying states of disrepair while 1950 chevy´s plied the streets alongside throngs of bicycles. People carried live chickens from coop to dinner table and lines formed for all sorts of regular civic activities.
Hearing about the wonderful ice cream available at the state run ice cream parlour, Coppelia we decided to join the line of people and wait our turn for 10 cents a scoop ice cream. Waiting nearly an hour and reaching the front of the the line disaster struck as the man guarding the entrance stepped onto a chair to announce terrible news. ¨People, the Ice cream is in bad condition (sighs and groans, even shrieks emerge from the crowd), there will be no more ice cream only milkshakes¨! The crowd bewildered begins asking questions. It turns out that the ice cream
was too hard and could not be scooped, it needed to be blended if it was to be served. Ahh, just another bizarre eccentricity of Cuba. We waited and drank our 10 cent milkshake wondering if the wait had been worth it but chalking up the experience as a good Cuban story.
The next morning we left early with our packs filled with 15 litres of water, some rum and other provisions to wait at the Hotel Piñar del Rio where our transfer was scheduled to pick-us up. The scheduled time for pick-up was 7:30 and by 8:30 we knew something had gone horribly wrong. By 9:30 Laurence and I were combing the streets of town looking for a taxi to take us to our hotel, a difficult feat on a Sunday morning in Cuba. Finding a taxi, associated with the tour company who had arranged our transfer we were offered a ride to Maria la Gorda for the agreed price of the bus we had spent over three hours waiting for. This was great as a private cab would have cost us a bushel of money.
Driving through numerous small towns and adjacent magnificent tabacco fields, we
really felt as if we were now experiencing truly rural Cuba. It was wonderful and our driver told us a lot about life in Cuba. Making only 17 CUC a month as a taxi driver his main way of getting ahead was from tips which could easily and quickly double his monthly earnings. He also described how Hugo Chavez had helped rebuild much of the towns we passed through after they had been destroyed by numerous strong hurricanes in the past years. There were billboards and signs everywhere thanking Chavez and Venezuela for the help a testament of the intimate relationship developing between Cuba and Venezuela.
As we neared the coast and our hotel, it beacame clear that this was in fact Cuba´s most remote hotel and that we would be in for an amazing 7 nights.
Passing through the gates we caught of first glimpse of this incredible quasi-resort. Bungalows set back from the beach, and small rooms set on the beach made for excellent accomdation options and we were lucky in securing a private bungalow set away from the beach, the newest of the accomadations and a definite step above the other options. Geez, air-con, satellite
TV, big comfortable beds and a palm fringed beach only meters away, not too mention world class dive sites only minutes from the wharf. We had indeed arrived at Maria la Gorda and were ready to bask in the warm glow of the Carribean sun.
Our first day was something of a template for the rest. We would awake, eat breakfast at the buffet with the other guests, secure some chairs on the beach and enjoy the sun and surf. The snorkeling off-shore was incredible and Laurence was able to see dozens of different fish species. We would then finish the day with cold beers or mojots in the bar, or maybe a Cuban cigar on the porch of our bungalow sipping good dark Cuban rum waiting for the stars to appear overhead and the heat of the day to subside, if only slightly.
While Laurence snorkelled, I was able to dive after a three year hiatus, something I was keen to do. Getting back into the water was great and on my first dive I saw a medium sized green turtle, my first and a definite thrill. My remaining 4 dives I made my way down to
32 meters and explored amazing coral walls that descended below me for hundreds of meters while the visibility was endless. The sensation of swimming over coral walls with seemingly endless abyss below you and miles of open ocean ahead of you is quite the feeling and one that I will dream about again and again. Saw Barricudas, one other turtle, puffer fish, cow fish and numerous other fish in addition to countless gorgeous coral. The diving, beach, people and accomadations were spectacular and were just what we had envisioned when we booked our week from a tour agency in Havana.
Other mentionables was that the resort was filled with Danes, who seemed to make up the majority of guests every single day. It seems as though the Danish have lots of holidays and earn enough money to travel the world all the time. It was a pleasure speaking with them about Denmark, my own connections to the country and about how beautiful Cuba was.
Unfortunately our week at Maria la Gorda had to come to an end sooner or later- On April 1, we packed our things and headed to the quiet and supposedly beautiful town of Viñales, set amongst limestone cliffs and green tabacco fields.
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Mom
non-member comment
Yes you are a lucky man is so many ways... sounds wonderful and a place to visit for Scott and I. Keep the blogs coming. Love Mom xo