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Published: January 18th 2009
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Statue of Antonio Maceo
Plaza de la Revolucion,
Santiago de Cuba Paco’s dad took us to the station to meet the 0900 Viazul bus to Bayamo. Jo and I managed to pass the two hours thanks to NOFX on the iPod. It seems that the Cuban bus authorities think that their patrons enjoy CubaPop music at extreme volumes for the duration of the trip in addition to sub zero air conditioning. With an earphone each and earplugs in the other ear we got through the trip - just. We met Gino and Isabella - a Belgian couple - as we disembarked and they were in Bayamo for the same reason as us - to visit Commandancia La Plata, Fidel’s jungle hideout in the Sierra Maestra during the revolution. We went our separate ways and agreed to meet in the Plaza de Revolution in Bayamo at 1230.
The bloke that was holding up our name at the station was not who we were expecting and spoke little English. I was unconvinced until he mentioned Paco’s name and we figured he was legit. As there are very few car taxis in Bayamo Jo, myself and our luggage were piled onto a tuktuk style bici-taxi and delivered to the door of our casa for
CUC3. No-one else in the casa really spoke any English but as per usual in Cuba there was plenty of sign language and smiles. The son from our casa spoke to the guy across the road about taking his car to Commandancia La Plata early the following morning and the price of CUC50 seemed in line with Lonely Planet’s recommendations.
We caught up with Gino and Isabella at 1230 as arranged and chatted for an hour or so about travelling and also made plans to pick them up at 0530. We briefly looked for a place for lunch but all the cafes and restaurants around the square were closed - all the employees had gone to lunch. I finally found a pizza at El Rapido CUC1.50.
We took a quick look around Bayamo (all that was required in the very small town) and started to walk back to the casa via various banks to check their opening times so we could try to get money out the next day. We were walking by Hotel Escuela Telegrafo when we heard a Canadian accent call out “are you from New Zealand?” Jo turned and the lady that had called out
The Bus Terminal
Santiago de Cuba was having lunch in the hotel. The Canadian couple have been based in Wellington for 15 years playing for the NZSO and had recognised Jo’s T-shirt. We sat with them and had a couple of Bucaneros along with a large plate of delicious minestrone soup for me and a shrimp cocktail for Jo CUC12. We spent over an hour just chatting about New Zealand and our travels around the world.
When I got back to the casa around 1530 I was absolutely stuffed and slept until dinner at 1800. We were served a delicious 1/4 chicken each in a honey soy sauce along with the standard condiments of banana chips and black bean rice. The mashed spuds were a reminder of home cooked food in New Zealand. After dinner we walked back to Plaza de Revolution to buy water for our expedition to Commandancia La Plata and went to bed early in anticipation of an early morning. I just caught the weather report before I dozed off - 31oC and heavy rain. There was an excellent chance that the track to Commandancia La Plata would be closed. It rained most of the night.
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