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Published: January 18th 2009
I woke at 0500 and started coughing - a cold had been brewing for a few days, the result I suspect of frequent rainfall and 30 degree plus temperatures. I managed a few patches of sleep until breakfast at 0800. Anneris cooked us a up an omelette with a pancake and fruit along with grapefruit juice and some great coffee. We only had one full day in Santa Clara so we headed out early to make the most of it.
Parque Vidal is the centre of town but it lacked the charm of Trinidad’s two main squares but as it was Saturday there were alot of people walking around creating some atmosphere. We were approached by a guy on the street claiming to be the quality controller at the local cigar factory. His timing was not too bad as the skies opened the moment he started his spiel so we accepted his offer to go back to his house to “learn” about cigars. Once there, he went through what to look for in a cigar - shape, softness and draw. He produced several types of cigars - all made at the local factory - and offered us one to light
Derailed Carriage
Monumento a la Toma del Blindadoas a test. As we grew more interested he could see the possibility of a sale and even offered us the chance to take one of his “genuine” cigars to the factory’s shop to compare quality with the authentic ones there - he even said we could take the whole box and pay for it later! He had all the right stickers and paperwork for export and I figured that at the worst they were good fakes or seconds so we bought a box of 25 Cohiba Esplenditos for CUC50. Time only would tell…
Our second to last stop on our 18 day Tour de Revolution was Monumento a la Toma del Blindado - the site where Che Guevara and eighteen of his men successfully derailed one of Batista’s logistics trains, taking 350 troops and weaponry from Havana to Santiago de Cuba . The derailment and ensuing battle effectively marked the beginning of the end for Batista. Two of the five carriages on display contained photos and memorabilia from the 90 minute battle including weaponry and uniforms.
On the way back from the trains we stopped by Fabrica de Tabacos Constantino Perez Carrodegua, the cigar factory - but
Revolutionary Bulletin
Monumento a la Toma del Blindado the windows were covered by mesh and the lady at reception told us that there was a tour at 1300 but tickets had to be purchased from the CubaTur office in Parque Vidal. The shop across the road had a book explaining what to look for in authentic Cuban cigars and ours ticked all the right boxes - increasing the chances that they were legit to 10% or more!
The next 90 minutes were spent finding and waiting at a bank to withdraw CUC300 for the remainder of our time in Cuba. Nothing happens fast in Cuba - something that was the subject of humour earlier in the trip but had quickly become annoying.
We found the CubaTur office in Parque Vidal and were immediately informed that there was no tour at the cigar factory on Saturdays (no surprise really - despite what we had been told at the factory). We figured it would be a good idea to book our bus to Havana for 0800 the following morning, only to discover that due to the impending hurricane, Viazul were not calling at Santa Clara for a day or more. We were fortunate enough to be in the
office with two London based Aussies, Greg and Dani, who were similarly stuck and had planned on bussing to Trinidad the following morning. We ended up booking a minibus to get the four of us back to Cienfuegos (1 hour - CUC50). The most helpful lady at CubaTur also managed to secure Jo and I tickets on the 1630 bus from Cienfuegos to Havana. Greg and Dani’s chances of getting to Trinidad from Cienfuegos were also better than their chances from Santa Clara.
The next stop for Jo and I was Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - where Che’s remains were returned from Bolivia in 1997. The square is dominated by a huge statue of Che along with columns of tributes. I took plenty of photos from the outside before we headed to the museum below. The museum itself only covered a small area but displays of Che’s passport, medical school degree, uniforms and weaponry well worth spending significant time pondering. Finally, we entered the mausoleum where Che’s remains and those of sixteen of his men are laid to rest behind bronze portraits. An eternal flame at one end gave the room an eerie ambience.
As we walked away
we drew to a close our revolutionary adventure. It had been everything and more than I had hoped it would be.
The next few hours were spent over a beers at a roadside tent and wandering aimlessly around the plaza prior to returning to our casa at 1645. Dinner was lobster (CUC10 each) and we got a huge plate each - enough to fill us both before we even started on the side salad, chips, rice and fruit.
As agreed earlier we met up with Greg and Dani at Parque Vidal and found a bar where we chatted for hours over far too many Bucaneros to count. Greg added two hipflasks of rum to the mix and by 0130 Jo needed a technicolour yawn and it was clearly time to leave.
I left Jo asleep at the casa, grabbed my camera and walked back towards Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - it wasn’t the best time to be out but it was my only chance to get night photos. The fifteen minute walk was broken up by several encounters with drunk locals but all were friendly and most seemed curious as to what a tourist was doing wandering
the streets alone at that time of the morning. Once at the monument I was snapping away when a girl approached me demanding money to take photos of Che. I ignored her but when she stood in front of the camera and then took a swipe at it I got to thinking that this was too gutsy a move for a female on her own. Erring on the side of safety I yelled “Polizia” - hoping that was something close to the Spanish word for Police. It must have been close enough as five of them appeared from behind the monument and the girl took off. The police took up the chase but she had too much of a head start. I finished my photos and arranged a bici-taxi back to the casa - arriving around 0230. The hurricane was due to hit but at that time there was only light winds and persistent misty showers.
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