Cuba - Day 7, January 9th

We got up early in order to catch the bus to Cienfuegos. Bob went for breakfast but I did not as I am still not feeling well enough to eat. Even with the benefit of several doses of Imodium, the four hour bus ride to Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba felt like a risky business given the continuation of my illness. Fortunately, six Imodiums held the problem at bay and we arrived at our Casa Particulare in Cienfuegos without any embarrassing events.

The bus, according to the Lonely Planet guide, is the most punctual and reliable form of transportation in Cuba so we were very careful to arrive at the hotel pick up location at the recommended 30 minutes prior to scheduled departure.  So, we were very surprised, and annoyed, that it was almost 1 1/2 hours late! Which means we had been waiting for 2 hours during which time my anxiety about the effectiveness of the Imodium over an additional 4 hours of travel, continued to mount. The fellow who came to the waiting area to announce the arrival of the bus greeted us as cheerfully as if things were right on schedule.

Thankfully, the Chinese manufactured bus was quite comfortable with good air-conditioning (not excessive as the Lonely Planet folks warned). It would have been reassuring if it had had a "baño" (a toilet - euphemistically referred to on buses that have one, as the WC) but, unfortunately, this bus did not.

I took photos during the bus ride  some of which turned out surprisingly well considering they were taken from a vehicle moving at about 60 or 70 Km/hour or faster.


Hopefully, these photos will provide some impression of the Cuban countryside in this area.

The landscape is very variable, in places quite flat reminiscent of the Canadian prairies, except for the sugar cane growing there, but mixed with some wetland areas as we moved southerly.


In some areas the soil is distinctly red, likely due to the content of iron, while in others it is rather just brown dirt. One of the things we learned on this trip that was a bit surprising is that a major agricultural crop in Cuba is rice, and we saw several rice fields along the way (photo above)

Some of the farms had a couple of cows (often brahmas but in a couple of fields we saw several Holsteins - a breed which Canada apparently had some role in introducing to Cuba), a horse or two and in some places there were a few goats.

Several homes had quite lovely flowering bushes near the house, like this one above. I'm not sure what these flowers are but I think they could be Bougainvillaea.

As you might appreciate from the photos, the houses appear to be made of concrete, concrete blocks or stone - there appears to be very little wood in house construction in this part of Cuba.

We passed through several small villages, like this one where the homes are very closely situated, possibly even attached.











At the Hotel Union where the bus left us Bob found a Cuban fellow who offered to lead us to our Casa Particulare, Casa Ines Isabel.  We walked about 6 blocks on this extremely hot afternoon, towing our bags over cobblestone streets under the watchful eyes of folks on the street, and, as I was feeling quite weak from fluid loss and limited food intake, I found the walk very tiring.

After arriving at the casa and meeting our host, Amed (about whom, much more later), we learned that things are not to be as planned. Amed's wife's sister is about to have surgery for breast cancer and for that they need to go to Santa Clara which is about 60 Km from Cienfuegos. Since Amed's wife will join her sister and Amed will accompany them, we will not be able to stay here past Sunday, January 12. Amed will find another place for us to stay, but it does mean that we cannot settle in here for the remainder of our stay in Cuba.

More about our Casa and our hosts later, but as you no doubt appreciate from these photos, it is a beautiful place and it turned out to be much more than a bed and breakfast. For example, not only did Amed prepare the meals (tonight, for me, he made a tasty soup and for Bob, who is feeling better, he prepared fresh fish with rice, potatoes and salad, beer and café followed by a dessert. All for a price, of course, albeit quite inexpensive) but he was a wellspring of information about Cuban history, things that we should try to see around Cienfuegos and much more.

I missed most of the latter part of the dinner as I was feeling very tired and unwell so went to our room. And, for me, that was the end of day 7.