Cuba - Day 15- January 17th Rancho Luna

Today we are set to go to Rancho Luna - a tourist place on the beach about 45 minutes from Cienfuegos by taxi. Fabio had kindly arranged for one of his "taxi" friends to drive us there. And, for 15 CUC's (about 15 Canadian dollars) he would not only drive us there, but wait for us for however long we wanted to stay and drive us back home! Can't beat that.

Our understanding was that we would leave around noon, so we had some time to do a couple of things. Bob went to the internet cafe early, then to Cubanacan to get our partial refund from the abbreviated trip around the bay a couple of days ago.

After another failed trip to the hat store, we set out for our Casa and as we neared home a cab driver approached us with "Taxi?" as they incessantly do, but we rejected him saying that we already had a taxi arranged. It turned out that he was our driver arranged by Fabio and, because of a misunderstanding about departure time, we were late!

We were instructed by Aglaes to go to the corner and wait for the orange taxi. So, we got our stuff together and hurried to the corner where the fellow we had just brushed off met us and told us to wait. He went up the street to get his vehicle and a couple of minutes later, the orange "taxi" (another ancient Lada we think and no outward sign that it was a taxi) pulled up in front of us on the fairly busy street corner.  We piled in and with Bob in the front, me in the back and the doors secured by our driver's skillful manipulation of the door handles, we were off. Of course, this being a regular Cuban vehicle, leather seats and upholstery were not included and we were treated to the usual gas and oil odours as well as the unsettling grinding sounds from somewhere in the drive train. But while this vehicle lacked some interior comforts and a quietly functioning engine and drive train, it had a couple of unique features which I noticed after a few minutes. Where there was once a radio was now a figure of a heart with an arrow through it on which were the words "I love you". And the whole icon was dotted with tiny red lights which went on whenever the brakes were applied! Neat. And, below the heart was a tiny "TV" screen which was showing a music video, and the sound system was doing its best to convey the music while competing with the engine and drive train noises and the wind whipping in the open windows. This fellow had installed in his vehicle the creature comforts that were important to him! As it should be! Unfortunately, no photos of the car.

We arrived at Rancho Luna without incident and found our way to the beach which was surprisingly underpopulated on a beautiful hot and sunny day. We had no trouble finding our own thatched beach umbrella where, after clearing away a bit of broken glass, we established camp. Note the Canadian flag in front of Rancho Luna above. I think a lot of Canadians come here.

Bob was keen to swim so he checked for a place to put on his bathing suit. Finding none, he resorted to the out in the open but behind the towel method the contortions of which were interesting to observe and he did manage it without any embarrassing exposure.

He swam, I relaxed and took a few photos.

After Bob's swim, we had a nice outdoor restaurant lunch, except for the tasteless watery beer. Then a walk along the beach.

At the eastern end of the beach - the mountains that we visited a couple of days ago, visible in the distance.

 I know - you have seen this photo before, but I include it again to show the extent of the beach and the row of thatched umbrellas along most of it, still with many vacancies. See the red bit near the centre of the photo? I think it's a bunch of red Canadian flag chairs.

After another swim for Bob it was nearing 4 pm - our agreed departure time - so we made our way to the parking lot, where we found our limo and driver waiting for us. Home please "James".

Cuba - Day 14- January 16th

Today is our day to join Fabio at the baseball game which is at 1 pm. So, we had a relatively unplanned morning - some time to work on my badly neglected blog but I'm still not up to date.

Bob's foot was quite sore this morning but as he was determined to get to the internet cafe and the CubanaTour place, we slowly walked the few blocks only to find both of them closed. So we went onto the Plaza de José Marti and sat on a bench in the shade and watched the tourists go by.

Here we were approached by a couple of women asking for money and one fellow tried to sell us a pair of shoes - one shoe in his hand for show and the mate in a plastic bag. This had been a frequently recurring phenomenon in Havana, some wanting to sell something (such as cheap cigars or Che nacional coins) or some, like the women mentioned above, just considering us to be wealthy North Americans, asked directly for money.


Having tired of that we did a quick check of the shops around the plaza (I keep thinking I will buy a Cuban straw hat but can't find one I like that fits) then headed home.

This shop is not at the plaza - it is off the boulevard, but I like this photo.

Just after noon Fabio came by the room ready to leave for the ball game. We originally intended to walk but Bob's foot was too uncomfortable to walk that far, so Fabio recruited one of his friends to take us in his "taxi" (I never did see a taxi with a meter) to the stadium which, as you can see in the photos, houses a very professional looking baseball field. I neglected to bring my camera, so the photos from the game are Bob's.

The "taxi" that took us to the stadium was likely an ancient Soviet Lada but as it has been so modified over time, it is not really clear what it was originally. There was no upholstery or covering of any kind on the inside of the doors and the driver had to reach the doors from his location behind the wheel in order to employ the required special maneuver that would ensure that the door was actually closed. The ride was fast and not as rough as the truck but the cab was permeated by gas and oil fumes and the creaking and grinding of aged and worn body and drive train parts led us to hope that the brakes were in better shape than the visible parts of the vehicle and whatever parts were creating the metal on metal grinding emanating from under the floor boards.  In a couple of instances sudden braking was required to successfully avoid rear enders, so the brakes worked, and, in the end, we arrived intact.

At the ticket window Fabio paid one peso nacional and we were required to pay one CUC peso each. I gave the ticket person a 5 CUC note and she instantly informed me that she had no change. In this instance we were able to cobble together the required amount, but in most situations you need to be sure that you have small bills or coins - preferably exact change - or it may cost you extra.

You may recall that the CUC's are about 25 times the value of a peso national. While the price of Fabio's ticket is extremely small compared the cost for us, I think it is very fair - especially when you think about it for a minute - the equivalent of $1 Canadian is certainly a bargain price for attending a professional level baseball game!

It's hard to compare Cuban baseball (Cuba's national sport) to the North American professional leagues, but my guess is that the level of play in these teams is similar at least to AA or AAA baseball. I did notice that the batting averages tend to be a bit high compared to the North American professional leagues, which may be due, in part, to differences in pitching.  For example, I don't recall, while watching one game on TV with Fabio, seeing a single pitch over 85 mph.

I heard but don't recall clearly the nature of the players' participation in baseball, but my understanding is that they are amateurs so work at other jobs and are given the time away from those jobs that is necessary for them to participate fully in baseball, which seems to be taken very seriously.  They apparently receive some compensation for their role as baseball players, but I think that compensation is quite small. If interested you can learn more about Cuban baseball at Cuban baseball.

We found seats in a very good location on the left field line close to home plate,  though on an extremely hard concrete bench!  There was lots of energy and enthusiasm in the crowd and the first 3 innings were very good baseball but, unfortunately, in the 4th inning the Cienfuegos team made a couple of very costly errors and the visitors began to hit. While the remainder of the game was very good baseball, in the end, much to Fabio's distress, Cienfuegos lost 7 - 2.  Later, Fabio was pleased to tell us that  Cienfuegos won the next 2 games handily!

If there was beer there, I didn't see it and no hot dogs either. The things I recall seeing for sale were peanuts in the small paper cones we saw in Havana, sandwiches of some sort, ice cream bars and something that looked like a very large potato chip sprinkled with sea salt. And no store selling paraphernalia like t shirts, caps or #1 foam hands! But there were police with guns and dogs. :-(

Something that we had noticed previously in public settings, which was more obvious at the game, is what appears to be genuine comradery and sense of solidarity generally, but especially among men, suggested by the enthusiasm of vocal greetings, hand slapping and clasping and hugging. For men greeting women acquaintances or women greeting women, almost always a kiss on the cheek plus or minus an embrace. One cannot know the extent to which these displays reflect the depth of the  relationships, but it is is a very positive feeling to see this public expression of warmth and friendship between individuals, and especially between men.

A different taxi on the way home, but the vehicle and the ride were essentially the same and, once again, we arrived intact.

Cuba - Day 13 - January 15th

An early breakfast today so that we can be at the Hotel la Union where we are to depart for our trip to the Sierra del Escambray and the Parque Nacional El Nicho. When we arrived at the Hotel there were 3 or 4 people in front including two official looking fellows. We asked about the tour to the park and they informed us that we were in the right place and we should go to the multicoloured TRUCK a few meters away. So our CubanaTour person was wrong about the duration of the Bay tour but not about the truck! In the end, it made for a rough but interesting trip into the mountains.

Remember to click on any photo to see a larger image.

En-route we stopped at a small town before reaching the mountain roads for our guide (she was called to duty this morning because the regular guide was ill) to change from her city clothes and shoes to "hiking" attire. We stopped in front of a school with images of Che and Camilo Cienfuegos on the school "banner" (for want of a better word) above the school door.

Oh yes, note the bust of José Marti on the right just in front of the school - as I said, he is everywhere!

Children were in the yard in front of the school having a snack and some were having a good time and a good laugh at our expense, it seemed - one boy kept making a particular hand gesture toward us, so, not realizing, until later, that these were considered slightly obscene, I returned the gesture, much to his delight.

A brief word about Cienfuegos whose image appears frequently, like this, in prominent places - you may recall that it, along with Che's, was prominent on a building at the Plaza de la Revolución. Cienfuegos apparently became the second most popular man in the revolution after Fidel Castro, though he was later overshadowed by Che. He died early in the revolution in a mysterious plane mishap though, it seems, neither the plane wreckage nor his body was ever found.

After a very bumpy, gear grinding and wind blown ride along narrow pitted roads we arrived at a small town, Cumanayagua, at a high point where we stopped briefly for us to look around, take photos and visit the baño.

It was definitely worth the stop as there were some nice vistas and other good photo opportunities including the flowers in these photos. Unfortunately, we neglected to ask the type of the orange flowers covering the roof and elsewhere, so I can't say what kind of flower it is.

Local folks sitting on benches in the small plaza and a couple of donkeys resting, one in the middle of the road here and another tethered to the tree in the photo below.

After about 10 or 15 minutes here we were off again until, after a total of about 2 hours of more bone chattering driving (I'm glad that my bone density is up to it), we arrived at the Parque el Nicho.





The red tree top flowers seen in this photo are prevalent along the mountain road - their common name is African Tulip.






Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the entry to the park but "understated" would be a fair description. It consisted of a couple of vertical wooden posts spanned by another which displayed the name Parque Nacional El Nicho behind which was a relatively small dirt parking lot. To the right was a similar smaller structure marking the entry to the walking trail.

Here we acquired a local guide (quiet spoken but excellent) who led us on a 1 1/2 to 2 hour hike to a couple of small but beautiful water falls with swimming areas below the falls.

Along the way he identified some interesting plants, including flowers of a ginger plant (right), anise leaves and flowers, coffee plant, african tulips and a loofa plant. I have wondered where loofa items came from but had no idea that basic loofa material grew as a pod on a relatively small tree.

And, he told us that this is a major coffee growing area and many of the folks living around here make their living producing coffee. - at least the  beans - we didn't learn where it is processed.

Several places on this walk were quite challenging for both endurance and balance as you might be able to discern from a couple of accompanying photos. For example, while the bridge pictured here proved to be very solid, at first glance I was not convinced.

Below is a particularly steep descent and the log in the bottom right was the rather unstable "bridge" across the small stream.

And we were not through with vistas - this one appeared shortly after we emerged from the wooded areas above.

And there were more but quite different waterfalls.

Some members of the group (about 10 or 12 people) went swimming in one of the quiet ponds but Bob and I demurred.

You can see that they took care to provide a Red Cross life guard in the swimming areas.

After the walk we had a less than delicious lunch, included in the price of the tour and were entertained by 3 fellows who gave it their best. Following lunch we boarded our vehicle for the ride home where we arrived just before 5 pm. Someone along the way said that our truck was built in 1935 - if so, it is 77 years old!

We were both quite tired and Bob, who had been struggling all day with a sore foot, was now in quite a lot of discomfort, so it was a relief to get to our room and the anticipation of another very acceptable Fabio meal.

Tomorrow we are to join Fabio and his friend, who was apparently a professional baseball player, at a baseball game at the Cienfuegos stadium - apparently, if we understand correctly, this game is an early stages playoff game in pursuit of the championship of the Cuban National baseball league.

Cuba - Day 12 - January 14th

More "housekeeping" today. Aglaes, our host, volunteered to go with us to the bus station to get our tickets to Varadero. So, after breakfast we went to the bus station where, thankfully, she guided us through the process of getting our tickets much more easily and quickly than we could have done on our own (the place is bereft of signage - a little like the Toronto airport).

Off to the bank for money exchange, which also went smoothly.

At the tourist place we booked a 2 hour boat tour of the Bay for this afternoon and a trip to the Parque el Nicho for tomorrow. The latter, which all of our Cuban contacts say is a beautiful nature experience, is a full day outing so we are scheduled depart from Hotel La Union at 8 am.

Remember the truck transport vehicles, los camions, I mentioned in an earlier blog? It was these that came to mind when the woman at the tourist place mentioned, casually, that, at the pick up area, we would be getting on the "truck" for the trip to El Nicho. Of course, we concluded, she mis-translated truck for bus.

With those bits out of the way we thought we would have a sip of something at an outdoor bar and we both thought the waiter's suggestion of sangria sounded perfect. After our first sip we both realized that, in view of the persistent low grade symptoms we were both experiencing, this drink was not the best choice so we abandoned the sangria for water.

We did a quick tour of the small handicraft store on the plaza then went back to our casa to pick up some sun screen for the boat tour of the bay after lunch. We calculated that we could walk to La Aché, have lunch and easily arrive for the tour precisely on time. Which we did.

We had been told that the tour would be 2 hour and it would take us all around the bay, neither of which proved accurate. It lasted just under an hour and covered about a quarter of the bay shoreline - in short, it was a complete flop (well, almost complete) . Bob was determined to visit the tour ticket place to inform the woman of our dissatisfaction and to request a partial refund which he did later, resulting in a 5 CUC (25%) refund!

Cienfuegos Club

The reason they gave for the brevity of the outing was that the bulk of folks on that particular bay tour were members of group of German tourists who had only an hour available. So they abbreviated the tour for them and slipped us into that group presumably thinking we would just accept it - but they didn't count on the tenacity of Bob James to call them to account!

After the boat tour disappointment we walked down to the southern part of the Punta Gorda isthmus to check out the area past the hotel we had visited a day or so ago.

On the way we discovered an interesting little park with several large whimsical sculptures that we were happy to have found and speculated that the sculptors must have had fun creating these. You can't tell from this photo, but the meat grinder is about 12 feet tall!

Punta Gorda

The walk to the end of the isthmus took us to a small park and a gazebo like structure we had seen from the ferry (far right in this photo) and from this location there was a nice view of the bay with the mountains, where we are going tomorrow, in the distance (below).

An hour after starting for home we arrived at our casa both pretty tired and ready for some rest and another tasty meal by Fabio - and he did not disappoint.

That evening Bob's toe was quite sore - a problem that not only persisted but became more uncomfortable in the coming days. 

Cuba - Day 11 - January 13th

Today is our moving day so time to say our au revoir to Amed and Ines and pay our bill, which, it turns out, was amazingly low! Our host, Amed, was kind enough to walk us to our new place on the Prado.

Casa 1935 - Fabio y Guilda is spacious (in some places the ceilings go up forever!), very clean and our hosts seem welcoming and friendly. Who is that guy in our doorway?

We have an ample bedroom, a kind of sitting room and a patio just outside our room and we have already been promised soup and fresh fish for dinner so we are well situated.

This photo is the "sitting room" just outside our bedroom. I don't know if the height of the ceiling can be appreciated, but it is at least 12 feet high, possibly 14! And note the slightly incongruous fluorescent light hanging a bit precariously from the ceiling fixture by electrical wires and a chain.

And, while on the subject of things like electrical wires - can I add plumbing? Except for the hotel, there is a conspicuous absence of sink and shower hot water taps in bathrooms here, including both the casas in which we have lived.  There is hot water in the showers provided by a rather large shower head device which is also a hot water heater - a mechanism for heating the water on demand, which, in principle, is a very good idea. What is a bit unsettling, however, is the visible electrical wiring at the top of this unit which, along with one's imagining of the potential consequences if water and electrical current came in contact with each other while one is showering, gives one pause.  This arrangement provides a reasonable shower albeit with somewhat unpredictable temperature and pressure (the pressure is only as great as the height of the building can provide since, as I mentioned in an earlier post, it appears that water has to be pumped up to a tank on the roof to provide the pressure) and a slight concern about the potential for an electricity-water mixture.

To give a bit more info about our new place, this is the "patio" area just outside our room which is through the closest set of louvered doors to the right along the walkway. As you can see, it is roofless (well not totally) and at the far end above is a spiral staircase to where?  We have no idea what is up on the second floor or the floor - if there is one - to which the spiral staircase leads.  The kitchen and dining area are through the far doorway and there is more to this dwelling that we never did see.

After resting (even napping) we decided to go out for some lunch and to check out the bank location and to find the bus station.

We found the bank (closed because it is Sunday) that the Lonely Planet book says provides the best exchange value and duly noted its location.

A check on the internet locations but they have no cards (for User ID and password) so we are out of luck - a problem we have encountered before. So, we went to the restaurant in the hotel for some lunch.

After lunch we went to check out the bus station from which we will leave for Varadero on the 21st to catch our flight to Toronto on the 22nd.  We found the bus station about 6 or 7 blocks from the plaza and, I confess that I was more distressed at the conditions than I was expecting. It is rather run down, darkish and quite unkempt and the bus schedule, a chalk board in the basement departure area, gave extremely little information and none at all about buses to Varadero. Quite depressing. So, tomorrow we will have to go back to the tourist information kiosk to try to get some clarification about the bus. It's Cuba - nothing seems to be completely straight forward, at least by our standards.

Back at our new home we sat in the patio area for a very pleasant, getting to know you kind of visit, with our hosts, Aglaes, who speaks English quite well, and her husband, Fabio whose English is like my Spanish - close to zero. Fabio's father, Fabio senior, shares the place with them. They also have a delightfully engaging nearly 4 year old daughter, Fabiaglaes (I think - a combination of their names). She quickly became very friendly, especially with Bob, regaling us with conversation - in Spanish, of course, and though we didn't understand the words it didn't really seem to matter to her. In time, Bob began to understand bits and these moments gave the appearance, at least, of two way conversations.
 
Fabio, we were told, is a chef so the meals, once again, promise to be very good and, generally, they were, though much more food than I was able to eat - yet.  And all meals were accompanied by music and served proudly with a smile and, a bit later, the question - "Good?".  Fabio diligently started the CD player at the beginning of each dinner providing a range of music, no doubt carefully selected. It was a very friendly family ambience made more so by Fabiaglase frequently passing through the dining room and pausing to share her stream of thoughts with us until Fabio noticed her and encouraged her to leave us.

Cuba - Day 9 and 10 - January 11th and 12th

January 11,  was a day for some "housekeeping" including getting Bob's glasses fixed and picking up our concert tickets at the Teatro.

From the theatre we walked down to the water front on our way to lunch at the paladar La Aché, which was highly recommended by the Lonely Planet folks.

On the way we passed this amazing tree which we have still not identified.



The photo to the right looks across the bay to an area which we plan to visit in the next few days, a trip which proved to be quite interesting.

At the paladar Aché the ambience was pleasant  and both the service and the food were very good, though I say that about the food without much basis as I am still being very careful about what and how much I eat. Bob is feeling much improved so he had a more complete meal and pronounced it very good.

After lunch we went home hoping Amed had found us a new place to check out but he hadn't. He did, however, have some good suggestions of places we might like to explore in the coming days.

January 12th.  Today is our last day at our current Casa and, in the morning, we still do not know where we will go next. After breakfast, we went with Amed to a possible new place quite nearby. This place was certainly acceptable but the owner, unfortunately, speaks virtually no English so we had to look further.

Amed went off on his own errands and we went to the internet cafe for Bob to check his email as he was waiting for something important, then to a restaurant for some fluids and, as neither of us is completely well yet, we are off beer and into juices and water.

Then back to our casa for a bit of a rest before checking out the next possible place for us to stay. This one, which is on the Prado nearer to the central Plaza de José Marti, turned out to be acceptable to both of us so we now had our digs and it was a relief to know where we were going to be for the rest of our time here. More about our new hosts and the accommodation later.

With that settled, we decided to walk down to the water and along the malécon to La Punta Gorda (punta means "point") which is on an isthmus  that extends into the bay area in the southern part of Cienfuegos, a walk of about 1 to 1.5 kilometres.

This area is definitely more middle class with a lot of new and well maintained houses, many Casa Particulares and at least a couple of very upscale hotel, as well as the rather exclusive looking Cienfuegos Club (below).

We stopped for some juice at one of the hotels and sat where we could look out over the bay and harbour.

If you click on the photo to the left and look carefully you should be able to make out a dome like structure on the horizon. This is part of the joint Soviet and Cuban nuclear village and power plant project which, near completion, was halted and "mothballed" under pressure from the US (and likely other countries). It is not accessible, even for us.

Next to the hotel where we drank our juice, there is a building, originally an ostentatious home, now a restaurant. It was built by an extremely rich fellow who apparently died a year or two after the building was completed. It appears to me that it was designed with the Alhambra in mind.

This is not the first Moorish architecture we have seen in Cuba - remember images from Havana with Moorish arches in the Plaza de Catedral as well as the tile work in both the Hotel Sevilla and the Hotel Parque Central - but it is definitely the most spectacular.

During our walk home a lovely sunset was developing, so we stopped a couple of times for pictures.

We were pretty tired after the walk so rested a bit before dinner after which we left, with our host, Amed, for the Teatro for a concert. This was a special event as the string orchestra, The Northwest Sinfonietta Orquesta de camera, was comprised of a group from Seattle with other players from Cuba and a conductor from France. And it was an excellent program with a mix from Carmen to Vivaldi ending with Beethoven's fourth piano concerto with string accompaniment. Both soloists, a woman violinist from Seattle, and the pianist, Joel Fan, were extremely good.