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Published: January 18th 2009
Just as Nicolas had told us, his mate Paco was amongst the mob of touts as our bus rolled in at 0630. His father had a Peugeot waiting for us and we headed off to our casa, located 8 blocks south of Casco Historico - the old town. We signed in and had a couple of hours sleep to recover from the overnighter and had walked up to the focal point of Casco Historico - Parque Cespedes - by 1000.
The main square is dominated by Cathedral de Nuestra Senora de la Asunction almost as much as it is dominated by touts for taxis and cigars. We headed away from the hustle (and hustlers) towards Plaza Dolores - or so we thought - finally finding refuge in a small cafe. As is customary in Cuban restaurants we were handed a four page menu full of interesting looking morsels of which almost none were available. We settled on the shrimp fried rice (CUC2.75 each) - well, we had to - that was all that was available. As per usual we washed it down with a Bucanero.
Our next stop was Museo Municipal Emelio Bacardi Moreau - Cuba’s oldest museum -
but it was closed for lunch - it had opened at 1000 and shut again less than two hours later. Bacardi, of course, is the white rum we can get at home but after the revolution Mr Bacardi lost his factory to the state and buggered off overseas in protest - you can’t buy a drop nowadays in Cuba.
The Museo del Ron was next on Lonely Planet’s walking tour (CUC1 each including guide) and was small but fascinating. We were taken through the rum making process and shown hundreds of expensive variations from Cuba and around the world. The free shot was a bonus.
The walking tour finished back at Parque Cespedes where we decided to walk the 3km to Cemetario Santa Ifigenia. Even the suburbs were packed with taxi touts but they were joined by bicycle taxis and horse and carriage drivers - all offering rides to the cemetery. We declined all the way and arrived at the entrance gates a little weary but ready for the English tour (CUC1 each + CUC1 camera). We had timed our arrival at Jose Marti’s tomb to perfection for the changing of the guards. From 7am to 5pm daily
Jose Marti Mausoleum
Cemetario Santa Ifigeniaand every half hour the two guards at the entrance get changed with music and ceremony. Other stops at the cemetery included the wall of remembrance for revolutionary martyrs, Cuban independence hero Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and most members of the Bacardi family. Our guide saw my interest in the revolution and went out of her way to show us the Pais brothers graves (two of the leaders of the revolution that were based in Cuba while Castro was planning from Mexico) and this route also took us past Compay Segundo’s tomb from Buena Vista Social Club.
We splashed out on a CUC3 cab back to Parque Cespedes and an additional CUC6 on an hours internet. Mum had (once again) bailed us out by loaning us NZ$2000 so that we only needed one withdrawal for the rest of the Cuban leg of our trip - eliminating the need for internet access (often impossible to find and impossibly slow) and also eliminating the need to queue for hours at banks - another Cuban custom. We also finally found a shop that could put my photos from memory card onto our USB stick although I waited for 20 minutes at the
counter to get served then at least another hour while they completed the job. Jo got talking to a nice old guy who was also patiently waiting for his photos and the bloke who eventually served me spoke a little English also and was most helpful.
Night was falling so we grabbed a coffee then headed back to our cafe on Plaza Dolores where our lady was still on duty. They must have had a shipment in during the day as we were able to order fried shrimp and sweet and sour pork along with a mojito each (CUC17). The lady locked us in the cafe - keeping the ever present touts at bay - almost. One enterprising older guy saw us light up and must have stolen an ashtray from somewhere and came in through the kitchen entrance to give it to us - he was paid CUC0.50 for his efforts and disappeared off to the Plaza. We walked 8 blocks back to the casa and were home at 1930. I spent the rest of the night updating the diary and got to bed early.
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