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Published: June 23rd 2017
Geo: 22.1495, -80.4436
Cienfuegos looks like the kind of town that most in Cuba will turn into when even a degree of prosperity returns to this island nation. The colonial town of Cienfuegos was founded in 1819 in the Spanish territory but was initially settled by immigrants of French origin and does show French flavour in the architecture- and apparently the only natural blondes in Cuba come from this area as a result.
In addition to wandering blondes there are a number of spectacular buildings all through the town and it gives the place an almost un-Cuban feel. Marinas, palaces, casinos, etc don't see to fit with the rest of communist Cuba but they have been carefully restored giving the town a splash of plush (the Marina is already hosting a number of traveling yachters- the first time in Cuba we've seen tea drinkers with their pinkies properly pointed outward).
That said, communist propaganda is more prevalent here than in other towns we've been in. Che Guevara and Jose Marti are well recognized, and the Cuban Five are featured everywhere (the Cuban Five are five Cuban men who the Cubans believe are unjustly imprisoned in the United States
after being arrested by the FBI on Sept. 12, 1998- the gov't readily admits that the men were sent to spy on Cuban communities in South Florida but they were not spying on the U.S. government. Castro has effectively used to arrests to keep the anti-American fires burning).
Another slightly ominous feature of the Cienfuegos landscape is an unfinished nuclear power plant that the Russians are talking about finishing for the Cubans. If the Iranian nuclear program has driven some in the U.S. to distraction (with good cause), I can only imagine what a similar program right on their doorstep might do.
I'm sure the tall foreheads in Washington will come up with a number of new sanctions to tank the morale within Cuba but, as a piece of free advice, I wouldn't spend a lot of time trying to damage the countries cuisine- it can't possibly get much worse. I'm not sure what the meat was in my ham and cheese sandwich, but if I was an Iguana in Cuba, I'd be very worried any time ham was on the menu.
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Marlene S.
non-member comment
That reminds me of Malta!