Blogs from Santiago de Cuba, Este, Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 2

this morning at 2:30am we arrived to santiago de cuba, the last 100 miles we had to motor because of no winds but the first 100 miles from cayo cuervo were beautifull ailing with max speed of 8.3 knots. now the sun is just rising and the little bay of punta gorda where the marina is and where we are anchored is beginning to wake up and we are waiting to get get a spot at the pier so we can dock and rceive the officials for clearance.... read more

If you want a real history lesson, Santiago de Cuba is definitely the place to visit. Our tour leader Natalia (who bears a striking resemblance to Shakira), gets great pleasure from randomly quizzing us for the names of certain buildings, walkways, parks, or monuments when we are at our most hung-over. We quickly catch on that while in Cuba....when in doubt...the correct answer is always Jose Marti. Natalia loves her Cuba, and now so do we. Symbolism is huge in Santiago de Cuba. You immediately realize it while visiting their large cemetery on the outskirts of town. Santa Ifigenia is well preserved, overcrowded yet orderly, and boasts quite the guest list. The mausoleum for Jose Marti has a small honour guard that goose-steps on the hour. ...and if you don't know who Jose Marti is, you ... read more

We have had to hold here for another night but get on a long bus trip tomorow to the other end of Cuba. ) we hope as we need a connection in Havana but can´t prebook. James made use of the day and biked out over some hills to the beach Cargo Jutius ) a island connected to the mainland. He was going to stay but the only option was sleeping on the beach. Without a mossisto net or repellant that was looking a nightmare. He turnsup just as I was sipping rum drinks and getting dinner served after 6 hrs biking and 124k over the same hills twice in the heat. I´ve just been doing small trips around here into other valleys and did a cool 2 hr MTB offtrack that I guessed would lead ... read more

Santiago de Cuba was a 3 1/2 hour drive from Guardalavaca, but well worth the long trip. The city is rich in history and colorful architecture. What the city lacked was product advertising. Surprisingly, I found it refreshing not to be bombarded with product adverts or Coke/Pepsi/Frito-Lays advertisements in the smallest rural of tienda stores or gas stations. Instead, your eyes were drawn to the over abundance of socialist signage on billboards, and other visible public spaces. While the larger signage containing striking black and white block print images of Fidel or Guevara was likely sponsored by the Communist party, smaller slogans and homemade posters were put up by citizens themselves on storefronts and house windows. Cubans were ready to celebrate the the 50th year anniversary of the Revolution. The list of my favourite socialist slogans ... read more

This is the 2nd biggest city in Cuba. We had a long travel day to get here - about 8 hours. But 6 of us being on a private bus with 30 seats, it wasn´t too bad a ride. Well, apart from the roads... lots of shakin´going on. It´s also a lot hotter here. The city is surrounded by mountains so the weather basically gets trapped here. Very humid. Once we all settled into our guest houses and had dinner we met up for a walk into the city centre. Our guide told us that this place had seen some people robbed - walking alone at 3.00am, but it should be relatively safe. That theory got put to the test when some guy we had passed just sitting quietly on a footstep (which they all do ... read more