Days 18 - 19 Cienfuegos

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Early alarm to catch bus to Cienfuegos but nearly 1 hr late. This is Cuba so, Manyana, don't worry. Leaving Havana the scene quickly turned to sparsely populated rural country. Completely flat grassland or dense scrubby trees & all very green due to the end of the wet season. Some sugarcane plantations & scattered banana & coconut trees & occasional simple farms were the only changes to the outlook.

Driving into Cienfuegos the thought passed through our minds, how do we get outa here! Decaying Russian ghetto style apartment blocks blighted the outlook. Once we got to the bus stop the pre revolution mix of rundown colonial buildings with some early signs of restoration by enterprising b& b style apartments.

After rejecting our prebooked apartment the host kindly found another suitable place within walking distance. Far fewer American cars were here & instead many horse & cart & two person push bike carts are more the normal taxi options while lumbering trucks are also used as transport vehicles.

Venturing out over the next few days we walked for hours each day up & down all the main streets & sights. The impressive Prado (pedestrian mall) led to the usual central plaza surrounded by mostly restored heritage buildings.

Each day has its challenges & if you don't adjust to manyana early, Cuba could drive you nuts. One of the sights we planned to see was an old walled castle, an hour's ferry ride across the bay. When we first arrived we were told the ferry was broken & next day after being told it was not broken we made the long walk to the terminal only to find that the gates were shut in our face & we were too late yet it was clearly before schedule & had not left. We suspect both were excuses not to sail as there were insufficient passengers to make it worthwhile.

Supermarkets as we know it don't exist. Very small businesses may hold a few grocery lines, especially rows & rows of cooking oils & tin tomatoes or odd single items like you see in a surplus shop but not much else. Limited fruit &vegetables are sold from mobile carts. Not sure where else they get their food supplies from. So called guide book recommendations for resturants are anything but gourmet.

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