Another Cuban Road Trip

Another Cuban Road Trip – May 13 – 15, 2011

Located in Varadero, we were in a good position for taking another road trip to visit the provinces of Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus.

After picking up a rental car, around sixty-five dollars per day, we headed east through the nearby village of Cardenas, home to many of the Cubans who make the daily commute to Varadero to work in the resorts.

Commuter central.

The autopistas (central highways) in Cuba run the length of the island with roads of varying levels criss-crossing them to join the many communities in the interior and on both coastlines. The rental car came with a good, if badly translated, highway guide that helped us make our way cross country to Trinidad on the south coast. 

 Breakfast at this roadside take out consisted of cheese pizza and a blended juice like drink that they call a batido which my dictionary translates as a milkshake. What we were served did not appear to contain any milk related product but was quite good.

We passed through many villages and areas of open country side with several terrain changes.

A freshly painted playground in a residential area.

 Large hills dotted with palm trees.

We stopped and asked if we could take some photos of a pineapple field and collection facility close to our route of travel. The lady who seemed to be in charge advised us “No. Es militaria.” Apparently this farming operation was a military operation and not a Kodak Moment. The harvested pineapples were sorted into two sets of large crates. The largest ones, destined for the tourist industry, in one set and the smaller ones, intended for local consumption, in the other set. We were allowed to have a look around without taking photos and were offered, as a parting gift, as many of the small pineapples as we wanted.

We were not prepared for transporting fresh produce and limited our gift taking to what we thought we could consume in a few days.

 This gentleman generously stopped his team of oxen when he saw that we were trying to take pictures of them.

We decided to splurge for lunch at the hotel Santa Clara Libre located on the west side of Parque Vidal in downtown Santa Clara. After showing our passports to the receptionist as proof that we were tourists we were allowed to take the elevator to the tenth floor where almost every table had a view looking over the rooftops of the city.

Items for sale in the general store that we parked next to. Prices are in national pesos. (Conversion approximately 25 to one dollar, c/u = each.) Most Cubans earn the equivalent of $20 per month or less.

From our table we could see the monument to Che Guevera in the distance. Finding our way by car was a little trickier.

The monument commemorates Ernesto Che Guevera for his role in the Revolution against dictator Fulgencia Batista. In 1958 Che led the Cuban rebels to victory in the Battle of Santa Clara by derailing n armoured train.

Che and I.

Baseball is undoubtedly one of the favourite sports in Cuba. As we passed through a small village a friendly game was just getting underway. We became the tourist attraction when we stopped for a few minutes to watch the action and share our military pineapples with the audience.

Where they lacked in modern equipment they made up for in enthusiasm.

By this time we were entering the Sierra del Escambray mountains and the Gran Parque Natural Topes de Collantes with its spectacular scenery.

One of many scenic views.

When we reached the outer edge of Trinidad we were approached by several young men who tried to get our business for a casa particular. Even after telling them that we intended to go to place for which we had the address they tried to dissuade us by saying that there was no electricity in that part of town. We stuck to our original plan and found the casa we were looking for complete with functioning electricity. With no other means of advertising we couldn’t really blame them for using what might be viewed as unorthodox tactics.

Our rooms were on the second floor with a rooftop patio for dining …

… and a view of the action on the street below. Note the black, lacy patterned panty hose. They are very popular.

The only way to get around the maze of cobblestoned streets in the old part of town (a UNESCO site) is on foot. It’s important to take your time as the streets are quite steep and you don’t want to wear yourself out too quickly. There is so much to see.

Elaborately decorated cakes are very popular and often displayed out on the street.

 Intricate designs in the haberdashery.

Daschunds are often the domestic dog of choice.

 Trinidad is home to several good museums with inexpensive entry fees of one or two dollars. We did not have time to see them all so we picked Museo de Historia Municipal to take a short tour and climb the very narrow spiral staircase to the tower with a wonderful view overlooking the city.

There are numerous venues for live music at night. All you need to do is listen and follow the sounds. Some are outdoors like the large staged performance we came across at the Casa de la Musica, part of the way up a wide set of stairs on the side of the impressive Iglesia de la Santisma Trinidad .

Our return to Polar Pacer was via the southern coast to the port of Cienfuegos, cross country through a couple of small villages, back to the northern coast at Matanzas and east again to Varadero.

We visited a Canadian boat at the Cienfuegos marina where we had unrestricted access the dock unlike the Varadero marina that does not allow visitors without prior arrangement and foreign identification.

 The Palacio de Valle is a distinctive example of the extensively restored architecture in Cienfuegos.

A brilliant display of roadside colour.

One small village was memorable for its wooden buildings decorated with intricate designs.

There was no detour route around the closed section of main road through the village of Calimete where a local festival was in progress. What better reason to join the party.

Calimete does not normally attract tourists. In fact, it is not even listed in the Rough Guide to Cuba.

Our stay at the Calimete festival was cut short by a rain shower that soon turned into a downpour.

 By the time we reached the next village the streets were flooded.

We were not the only ones caught by the short lived rain storm. This load of rice had to be emptied onto the pavement and dried in the heat of the sun.

 We arrived back at the the Table of Too Much Knowledge in time for cocktail hour.