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Published: November 23rd 2014
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Yacht Club
From the sailboat's deck across to the yacht club. (Kathryn MacDonald©) Travel Notebook Learning Adventure
Photography: capture the essence of people and place
Writing: transform experience into story
(and have fun too)
Cuba Dreaming – Cienfuegos Icy rain splatters on snow. The air, even inside, feels damp and sends shivers along the length of my arms. Light fades. In the dank dusk, James and I are Cuba dreaming.
Three months have passed since we sped from Cienfuegos in one of the old cars of Cuba to the airport at Santa Clara for the flight home. After a summer sailing the Caribbean Sea and a few pleasurable weeks exploring Cuba’s oriente (eastern regions) followed by a too-short stay docked at the marina on Bahia Jagua, we needed to return home to Canada.
The autumn here has rushed into winter while our hearts and minds flitter off to Cuba like butterflies. Far from the sub-zero numbers on the thermometer outside the window, in Cienfuegos the January average high is a comfortable 26°C. I look forward to shedding my cocoon of a coat. In the meantime, I shut my eyes and imagine the sun on my skin, listen to waves lap gently against
Fisherman pulling net
At first we thought this man was struggling against the water in Bahia Jagua, but then we realized he was pulling in a fishing net. (James Archbold©) the malecón, and walk along Paseo el Parado toward Parque Marti and the city centre.
This took us past the yacht club where, in the early evenings, laughter drifted across the water as we sipped sundowners on deck. We strolled through the prestigious Porta Gorda neighbourhood that borders the malecón. One afternoon, walking along the seawall that stretches from the marina to the city’s vibrant centre, we watched a man chest-deep in the bay as he pulled fishing nets toward shore.
Another day we sauntered up the walk of exquisite Palacio Azul, a mansion built by a tobacco baron in 1920. Now Palacio Azul is a boutique hotel, which has captured my imagination. It overlooks Porta Gorda like a blue fairy-tale castle, its turrets rising into the sky.
Unlike comfortable winter temperatures, August is hot and sultry with the temperature rising to 40°C. One day, as we walked through the grounds of a small resort, a waiter beckoned us over for a drink. Who could refuse! Just as we left the water’s edge, we spotted an egret perched on a pile of rocks. In Cienfuegos, photos call from every direction.
One of our strangest tours into
La Reina Cemetary
Clouds rolled in off the Caribbean Sea and Bahia Jagua providing a provocative skyline for the many marble statures. (Kathryn MacDonald©) town took us to La Reina, a cemetery founded in 1837 that memorializes fallen soldiers with evocative marble statues. Above-ground and in-wall tombs are crumbling but that only adds to the mystery of this recently-designated national monument. That afternoon storm clouds gathered, setting the mood like one of Agatha Christie’s Poirot movies.
When the heat of August bore down, we often hailed a bicitaxi. Drivers dropped us at shady Parque Marti. From there we photographed Teatro Tomas Terry where Caruso sang, the mirador tower rising above Palacio Ferrer, the Catedral de la Purisima Concepcion, and Che Guevara’s image. We asked a passerby on the street where we could find Internet services and were directed to the Hotel la Unión. When thoughts of overnight visits descend, the crème a la crème is the la Unión. Views from its spectacular rooftop café stretch across the park to the azure waters of the bay. I imagine slipping into the snow-white pool for a refreshing dip before dinner.
For those lucky enough to join us for the Cienfuegos writing-photography workshop, there will be much more to enjoy than
Egret
Egret (Kathryn MacDonald©) this snapshot presents. I hope to see you at Cuba in January. (For more information about this and other workshops, please visit
www.travelnotebook.ca and my other blogs.)
Mass tourism has robbed travel of its adventure. If you yearn to escape tourism and become a traveller,
Travel Notebook Learning Adventure will show you how.
Through writing – which encourages you to experience and to transform that experience into words – and photography –
which encourages you to see and to frame a subject – we go beyond casual observation.
Join writer Kate and photographer James, along with local guides and friends for 10 days in Cuba.
Web:
www.travelnotebook.ca Email:
travel_notebook@hotmail.com
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