Blogs from Santiago de Cuba, Este, Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 5

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It was a 4am rise to catch my flight to Santiago de Cuba. The plane was so dodgy, I had to carry my hand luggage on my lap because there was no room in the overhead storage or under the seat in front of me. I arrived at my host family's house at 8am after two attempts at the address by the unofficial taxi driver. His passenger door flew open twice on the journey. Good thing I ride in the back. My casa is located near a hotel so I caught up on my emails in the afternoon. This week is Carnival time in SCU (Santiago de Cuba) to mark the anniversary of the Revolution. The streets are closed off with stalls and there are people everywhere. I hate crowds so I'll just have to suck ... read more


After a 16 hours long overnight bus ride we arrived in Santiago de Cuba today. Of course it looks a lot different than Varadero and I am very glad about it. We are staying at a 'casa particular' which is just renting a room at a private home or apartment. It is a very common and cheap way here to find a good accomodation. Often they also offer breakfast and other food if you pay a little more. So we just have a small room and a bathroom and that's about it, but we don't need more anyway. We haven't seen much of the city yet because we just got here and we don't know either how long we will be staying here. Who knows... :-) This week they have a Caribbean Festival here with ... read more

Central America Caribbean » Cuba » Este » Santiago de Cuba November 9th 2006

My promised “10-12” hour journey from Havana, to Santiago de Cuba in the South East of the country actually took 16 hours! Cuba is Long! It’s longer from tip to tail than the British mainland and my journey was similar to London to Aberdeen. Not much to say about the journey really. We travelled first along an empty motorway, stopping at a few places on the way, and then the roads got smaller and more confusing as there were no sign posts. From my bus window, I saw countryside and towns full of tiny, dirty houses with as much poverty as I’ve seen in India or in those parts of Latin America in the “US Empire”. I finally arrived at Sofía’s house at 1.30 am, four hours later than predicted. She seemed non-plussed. Had a lie ... read more
"Present yourself for voluntary work!"
The CDR
Casa de las Religiones Populares

Central America Caribbean » Cuba » Este » Santiago de Cuba September 28th 2006

Hi everyone, Well it has been tough trying to find an internet that works in this beautiful part of the world and as for loading photos onto CDs I am not sure that I will get to do that till I get to Mexico City in just over a week. I can´t use my hotmail at the moment as it keeps crashing the system so if you need to contact me please use my bigpond address simone.guild@bigpond.com My first day I spent wandering around Havana and felt a little like a fish out of water because of my under developed spanish language skills. I needed to buy a bag to leave some stuff behind at the hotel cos you all know how I can shop well my backpack is currently 20kg and rising. I went to ... read more


Le 22 juillet, 2006. Apres 4 heures d'avion, 6 heures d'attente a une station d'autobus et 852 km d'autobus (le trajet a dure 15h30, de nuit...assez penible), nous avons abouti a Santiago de Cuba! Chose plutot rare dans ce beau pays, toutes les reservations effetuees du Canada ont ete conservees et l'autobus est parti a l'heure! Nous sommes donc arrives a Santiago de Cuba pendant le grand carnaval qui dure une semaine et qui coincide avec les festivites du 26 juillet, journee de l'independance. Originalement, le carnaval symbolisait la fin de la zafra, la recolte de la canne a sucre, mais aujourd'hui c'est plutot une competition de congas, de costumes, et surtout une raison de faire la fete. On dit de ce carnaal qu'il est le plus important et le plus etincelant des Caraibes et qu'il ... read more


Well, Santiago was a little disappointing in some ways. For a city of half a million people, it felt surprisingly like a little village, complete with horses and carts in the streets, and roosters to wake me up nice and early. Also, there was a lot more attention from people who wanted to sell me things. The music wasn´t exactly spilling onto the streets in quite the way I´d been led to expect either. The coach journey there from Havana was good. I got the 13 hour express overnight service, so saved on a nights accomodation. Which all counts because at $25 a night, it´s not cheap here!! It was bloody cold though, air-con on full all the way!! Anyway, I´ll have more time to explore when I return in a few days, as this morning ... read more
El Yunque in background

Central America Caribbean » Cuba » Este » Santiago de Cuba January 22nd 2006

En un día pasemos por la ciudad, conocimos "Punta Gorda", tomamos una lancha y vistamos el Cayo Glanma y el Morro (donde está la fortaleza. Por la tarde recorrimos el centro (Plaza Céspedes, Catedral, Centro cultural y Casa de Trova).... read more
Dominó barrial
Puerto
El Fuerte


Thurs, June 30th Arrived 4hrs early @O’Hare STILL a traffic AND people jam! I'll never reveal what I paid for this cab to the airport. Nevertheless, time to walk NOT RUN to gate for boarding @6:24pm. Even had time to gain ‘cool points’ for wearing this cap I was able to purchase in the Loop. On plane @O'Hare-Poor kid seated behind my row never did stop fidgeting & crying......actually guessed this by passengers facial expressions beside me....... ....You know....BOSE® noise canceling headsets are worth pure gold!!....never in-the-air without em’! Thinking on my research at 30,000 feet, what I may be able to accomplish, what new videography I will have privilege to shoot.....what new source/contacts I’ll meet.......MOSTLY, where I’ll stay, as these individuals (outside of being friends of certain Cuban e-mail acquaintance/friends) are total strangers who are ... read more




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