Cienfuegos - The Pearl of the South

Wednesday, February 01, 2017
Cienfuegos, Cuba
Having confirmed our return to Fidel's later in our trip, we set off early to catch our bus ... but buses here obviously run on Cuban time so we waited a while. The bus was comfortable and we stopped at 104km from Havana at a rest stop for a lovely cup of cafe con leche, served with a short length of sugar cane ... to stir or to suck, we weren't sure, but we did both! 

The roads were generally pretty good, but there were a couple of rough areas we had to slow down to negotiate. At a place called Australia, we passed the turn off to the Bay of Pigs, which was the site of a failed military invasion of Cuba by a CIA-sponsored paramilitary force in 1961, attempting to overthrow Fidel Castro. Some tourists visit to see the bay and the beach or to bird-watch in the nature reserve or scuba dive the coral reefs, but we decided to give this a miss.

Cienfuegos, often called The Pearl of the South because of the impressive beauty of its bay, was founded by French settlers who brought elegance to its architecture. The city became wealthy trading sugar, coffee and tobacco grown all around and is still doing well today thanks to its shipyard, thermoelectric plant and petrochemical hub.

There wasn't much traffic so we made good time and were met in Cienfuegos by Olga, with our name on a board ... to ensure we reached her casa safely and were not sidetracked by tricking jineteros into staying elsewhere! The casa is lovely, and typical of many of the houses here. We guess it's originally C19 with plenty of original features as an estate agent would say! The front room is kept as a kind of front parlour, with several tea sets from the USSR and other china proudly displayed. Then there is a passage running down one side, open to the sky, beside what are now 3 B&B rooms, but would probably have been living rooms originally, running back to the kitchen and an outside courtyard. Above there are more rooms where the family live and then the roof space with tables and chairs. Our room has AC but it's not that hot and the room is ventilated with high windows with bars for security.

 

 


Olga's English is far better than our Spanish, which was great as she managed to organise all we wanted to see and do without resort to a tour operator and we are all for local enterprise! We spent the afternoon exploring in town. First stop, to buy a wifi card CUC$2 for an hour and try and get online ... well the telephone company had no cards and said to try Hotel La Union opposite ... the hotel suggested the telephone company ... the hotel doorman said there was a local chico in the bar opposite who would probably sell us a card for CUC$3 ... which he did and we thought it a result ... until we visited the public wifi spot in Parque Marti, logged on with the card and spent 30 minutes hanging and getting nowhere ... not the chico's fault I hasten to add, just the system is so overloaded ... maybe tomorrow! There is no private wifi in Cuban homes, just a system of public access wifi in selected places in each town, so demand is high. We walked down El Boulevard, a bustling pedestrianised street with shops aplenty, but not a huge amount for sale, round the square taking pictures then along a street with a craft market that took us to the bay.

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
More exercise followed with the 2km walk along the Malecon to Punta Gorda, a peninsular jutting into Cienfuegos bay, and we then sat in the roof bar of the Palacio de Valle, a Neo-Moorish confection of cupolas and arches, listening to salsa and son from the band, Perla del Sur, drinking mojitos and watching the sun go down!

 
 
 
 
 
 


We took a cranky old blue Chevy back to the casa were we were served a delicious dinner of bean soup, then stuffed eggs for Chris and grilled swordfish for me with rice and salad and flan de huevos which is similar to creme caramel for dessert. After winning several games of uno it was time for bed.



We took several trips out of town over the next few days, firstly by local ferry across the bay to a C17 Spanish fortress called Castillo de Jagua. Olga said we should get there early to ensure a seat for the hour crossing, so we followed her advice, paid a CUC$ each and got the last couple of seats on a boat that ended up packed to the gunnels! We chatted to the Portuguese girl sitting beside us as the ferry made its way across the bay and passed several small cays to the fort. All the information in the fort was in Spanish, but we took some great snaps of the fort, the view and also the surroundings, then found a little cafe called the Pelican where we had beer and sandwiches before catching the ferry back. Our return was more comfortable as there was plenty of space and we were able to enjoy the views on the way.

 
 
 
 
 


Another trip was to the Jardin Botanicio, about 15km away. We had organised the taxi through Olga and we were delighted when a battered blue Cadillac turned up to take us out! The drive through the outskirts of the city and then the countryside to the garden was interesting. As we moved out of the old town the Spanish colonial architecture was replaced by concrete blocks of flats from the Communist era. It became obvious that the picturesque horse-drawn carts that take tourists down the Malecon are actually essential transportation for local people who need to get home from the bus stop on the main road. We saw livestock grazing, crops growing and men riding horses checking out the fields. Many people were hanging about junctions, hoping to hitch a lift to their destination. We arrived at the garden, paid our entrance and drove up to the cafe, then followed the rough tracks round for 90 minutes or so. So it certainly isn't Kew or Wisley and we don't know how the garden was started but apparently it has the largest collection of tropical plants in Cuba spread over 11 acres, but obviously has had minimal maintenance for some years. We saw huge bamboo, loads of palms and quite a few exotic flowers and these are the best.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 


While out and about, we've come across quite a lot of revolution propaganda which is unlikely to be around for much longer ... but what we haven't seen is any product advertising for anything, which is quite refreshing.

 


Finally, we spent a day at Playa Rancho Luna, just 20 minutes away. We aren't quite sure how the taxi lottery works but today we won a souped up Kia which had a speedo that remained on zero ... whatever the speed! The beach wasn't huge and we began by being concerned that it was a bit overcast, but the sun was so hot when it was out, it was probably a good thing! We had a walk, lay on the beach watching the people going by and the children playing, had a swim and a beer and it was time to go!

 
 
 

We didn't have time to visit is Santa Clara an hour away, the final resting place of Che Guevara, a much-loved hero of the 1958 revolution. It was a toss up between all we have seen here and a memorial and museum ... and El Che didn't win!

Just to let you know we have tried to log on to the wifi in the plaza several times, using up a whole hour of credit with nothing to show for it, so will wait and see if we have more joy in Trinidad. Would be nice to let Joanna know we are here and Chris is itching to know how by many goals Liverpool beat Chelsea ...!

Must also mention the food as we had another great meal at the casa and also had dinner at a couple of paladars, the first called Las Mamparas, located in house just like Olga's, where we both had fabulous paella and beer for CUC$15. On our last evening we returned, by horse-drawn cart, to the roof bar of the Palacio de Valle for sunset and a mojito, then went on to the Finca del Mar for dinner, which was actually more like a regular restaurant than a paladar. We had stuffed peppers, a chickpea dish, some fried fish for me, rice, beans in a soup and salad with a bottle of Chilean Merlot which was all very lovely, together with twinkly lights in a courtyard and a fountain! All in all a lovely end to our time in Cienfuegos, as tomorrow we move on.
 
 

Comments

Yoka
2017-02-09

Ha ha, don't think you really want to see the Chelsea-Liverpool score!!!

2025-02-15

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank