What Was New in Varadero?

Cuba 2012 – What Was New in Varadero?

I was happy to see that the ladies’ side of the shower building at Marina Darsena was newly reopened. If you remembered to turn the breaker on ahead of time you could possibly even have hot water. The year before, the roof top tanks had only one possible heat source – the sun.

 Also new in the showers were these reptilian companions to share one’s personal space with.

Ismaili, the dock master, was sorry to have to tell us that the marina had a new rate schedule for 2012

Prices were up by 10 cents per foot for the first two months (now 50 cents per foot per day fpr the first month and 40 cents per foot per day for the second month) and did not drop down to their lowest rate of 30 cents per foot per day until the third month. Water was up to 10 cents per gallon from 6 cents and electricity increased from 25 cents per kwh to 35 cents per kwh. The higher rates would help to pay for the new power and water service pedestals.

On the walk in to Varadero to use the internet we noticed this tent set up on the outskirts of Santa Marta. It looked like the circus was in town. We later found out that it is a new nightclub.

The bread cart was now making the marina a regular stop on its late afternoon rounds. 

The driver was not allowed to come down to the dock but would ring a bell to inform us that he was out front. The Table of Too Much Knowledge was a good vantage point to listen from with pesos in hand, ready to scurry up to the lobby for fresh buns or bread for dinner.

Varadero was a new location for me to celebrate a birthday and the new, privately owned Tio Pepe restaurant hidden away in a residential area across the highway from the marina was the venue of choice for the celebration.

This well presented, delicious spread was way too much food for four people. Lobster, fish, shrimp, chicken, pork, salads, rice and beans, plantain chips, beer and mojitos, and desserts; about $50 including tip. The service was excellent considering the underequipped kitchen they had to work with.

Pat and Addison from Threepenny Opera joined the celebration. 

Ken and Christine off of Sail Away showed in time for dessert. 

Listening to the other cruisers talking about the Sunday Market in Santa Marta it sounded like there had been many changes since the previous year. Sunday market had been primarily concentrated around the truckloads of lower priced and often poorer quality goods brought in from the government farms. With an ice pack in our insulated shopping bag and a few plastic bags for fruit and veggies, we headed across the highway, over the abandoned air strip and through the vacant land on the north side of the village. As we turned the corner onto the narrow street that leads to the market we saw numerous vendors with cart loads of produce and heard the singsong lists of products being offered for sale. Mixed into a string of words that I didn’t understand I heard “mangoes”. It was early in the season so did not expect them to be top quality. The black bean and mango salad we had for dinner that night was perfect.

Mango and Black Bean Salad

1 can black beans

1 can kernel corn

½ diced yellow pepper

3 sliced green onions

1 ripe mango, diced

¼ cup chopped, fresh coriander

½ cup spicy BBQ sauce

Juice of 1 lime

Mix ingredients in a bowl. Omit or substitute as necessary.

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The next cart was selling corn on the cob. The husked cob on display was pale yellow and filled with neat rows of perfectly formed kernels. They were being sold by the dozen but I only wanted four cobs. For 8 national pesos (about 34 cents) I looked forward to a treat of fresh corn on the cob with butter and salt. Looks can be deceiving. The kernels were very hard and ripe. Pat thought they were meant for drying and grinding. I think she was right!

There were definitely more vendors on the streets – evidence of Cuba’s move to more private enterprise, a theme that carried over to the main market area as well.

A trip to the market in Santa Marta is an adventure any day of the week. You never know what you will come home with for sure.

Freshly shredded coconut, albeit with song me bits of shell picked up by the rudimentary shredder, was available to purchase at the Santa Marta market. Another new business venture.

Another new offering at the market was these delicious pickled tomatillos, “canned” in recycled water bottles.

Radishes like this don’t happen very often.

4280 Cleaning market vegetables on the dock.

Just down the street from the herb garden in Santa Marta is El Cadiz, a new pelequeria (beauty salon)that was recommended to me by Pat who was pleased with the hair cut that she had received there. I was badly in need of a trim and had some specific requirements. The hairdresser spoke no English. Armed with a few corte de pelo (haircut) words from my Spanish-English dictionary (I had not yet covered that topic in my new Rosetta Stone language learning program.) I explained what I wanted and was impressed with the results considering our limited ability to communicate. It was one of the better haircuts that I have ever had.

New home construction has not slowed down in the ‘burbs’ of Santa Marta.

Out for a walk late on afternoon we met a young construction worker who was happy to be employed in the busy home building industry. Within minutes of our meeting, Eduardo had invited us to his home for coffee. He lives on the property with his aunt and a collection of cousins with their various significant others, most of whom speak no English.With a nine year old girl as translator we were able to carry on a very basic conversation. We learned that one of the cousins was pregnant with twins. The house was sparsely furnished with a new-ish refrigerator and fluorescent light bulbs being the only evidence of modern technology until a copy of an ultrasound was presented for our perusal.

Government sanctioning of a religious celebration was definitely something new. On Good Friday we made the trek in to Varadero to get some cash from the bank only to find the doors locked up tight. We don’t know if this will be an ongoing plan or if it was only in honour of the pope’s visit but for the first time in 50 years Good Friday had been declared a government holiday.

May Day festivities were a noisy, well attended event.

One of several musical entries in the workers’ parade.

A sea of red, white and blue when the procession emptied into the park.

Relaxed and practicing in the shade.

 “Busses” waiting to take the celebrators home.

One of our final “new” experiences in Varadero was fine dining at the very newly opened paladar Nonna Tina serving authentic Italian food.

We joined Debbie, Serge and Madoli for dinner.

The focaccia appetizer that I ordered was different than anything I had eaten before but was very tasty and the lasagne was as good as I have ever had. The service was quick and professional and the atmosphere cozy with only three tables tucked away in the backyard of a home. Not an easy place to find if you don’t already know that it is there.