WELCOME

America is no longer a "person of Special Interest" in Cuba.  Its Embassy has reopened in Havana and the American flag flies on Cuban soil.  There is a motorway that runs across the spine of Cuba, by Cuban standards an impressive three lanes of dual carriageway in each direction.  East of Havana the traffic is light, the road is potholed and the way is likely to be used by a farmer driving his goats in the wrong direction or by children walking to school.  Metaphorically Cubans have turned their attention to building a new road: the Road to Capitalism.  Whilst its generals stand at the crossroads and contemplate how to proceed, most of the Cuban population has already set off.  With the news in February 2016 that President Obama is to visit Havana and up to 110 US charter flights a day are to commence, it is no longer a question of will Cuba change, but one of how quickly can its people adapt?  The Cuba we visited, photographed and wrote about in this blog is rapidly disappearing.  If you want to see Castro's Cuba go now.  Go quickly before it is lost forever.

WELCOME

You have just landed on the home page of my blog recording our travels across Cuba as part of a small group tour in January 2016.

Politically and economically Cuba stands at the crossroads.  Fidel and Raul Castro have been in power for more than half a century.  Dictatorship has given way to Communism.  Communism has morphed into Socialism and has been refined into Fidelism.  Meanwhile tourism has taken hold.    On street corners and town squares at wifi hotspots the youth surf the internet, private enterprise is springing up fuelled by an insatiable demand to earn the convertible peso, a tradable currency that is usurping the Cuban peso.  The outside world is exerting its influence over the hopes and aspirations of Cuba's citizens, and the time bubble is beginning to burst.  Change is inevitable and the imminent lifting of the American embargo will surely hasten it along.

If all this intrigues you, read on!  The list of posts to the right will guide you through our travels day by day.  And if you have a thirst for more, the links will take you to our other travels in South and Central America, Australasia, and at home in England walking the long-distance footpath, the Cotswolds Way.

La Plaza Vieja, Havana

Havana

Havana skyline from across the harbour

Rooftop view from atop the Gomez Vila building, La Plaza Vieja

And so to Havana, capital of Cuba and home to 2m of Cuba's

12.5m population.  By day the city resounds to the sound of hammers, chisels and drills; by night it reverberates to the beat of the drum, rattle of the maracas, and melody of the guitar.  The 500th anniversary of the founding of the city occurs in 2019, and

proud of the UNESCO status conferred upon the old town, Havana's inhabitants are striving to restore this fine colonial city to its former glory.

 

There is a lot still to be done.  Decaying apartments rub shoulders with beautifully restored mansions. Pedestrianised areas give way to potholed roads, and queues outside the city's pharmacies and bakeries spill over onto the forecourt of the many private restaurants springing up to meet the burgeoning demand. Havana is no longer a city caught

Restored

 

Restoring

 


Awaiting Restoration

in a 1950's time warp.  Progress is evident everywhere and Fidelism is giving way to capitalism in an apparently seamless transition. And all this is happening as a result of tourism despite the American embargo still being in place.  We felt that in another 5 years the city will have lost its decaying charm and, perhaps with it, that special ingredient that makes Havana so unique.

 

La Plaza Vieja....at ground level



........and from above

 We made a walking tour of the four major squares in Old Havana, admiring the restored merchants houses, many now converted into museums or hotels, sampling the best coffee in Cuba, visiting the

Cathedral

Cathedral, and drinking daiquiris at Hemingway's favourite watering hole.  One night we enjoyed a flamenco show, the next a traditional Cuban three piece band in a quiet restaurant set back from the main tourist trail.

 

Cars.  Oh the cars! Cadillacs that would stop the traffic and turn heads in the UK are two-a-penny in Havana. Most taxis are relics from the 1950's, refurbished with Lada engines, but with original upholstery and interior fittings.   Outside the Capitolo building, the former seat

of parliament, a line of beautifully restored old American cars gleams in the sunlight, the drivers ready to take you on an open top tour of the city.  Of course we couldn't resist!  We were whisked through the harbour tunnel to the suburb of Casablanca on the far side of the bay where stands a huge statue of Christ and where the San Carlos de la Cabana fort dominates the narrow entrance to

The Capitolo Building

the harbour.  This impregnable structure with walls 700m high and a ditch 12m deep was  used as a base by Che on his triumphant return to Havana after Batista fled the country.

 

We visited the Plaza de la Revolucion, the venue for some of Castro's most rousing speeches, and the scene of wild celebrations in 1998 to welcome the Pope. The plaza is overlooked by a huge statue of the national hero, Jose Marti, and it is here where Castro stood to address the people following the revolution.

....and decaying

Decayed...

 

 On our final day we visited the Museum of the Revolution, housed in the former Presidential Palace.  It was a fitting conclusion to our tour of Cuba to see and read the documentary evidence of the main battle sites of the Revolution, most of which we had visited on our tour around the country.

 

Vinales

 

 

Having started our tour in the Eastern most Province of Guantanamo, almost 2 weeks later, and some 1500km to the West we reached the Westernmost Province of Pinar del Rio and the town of Vinales.  The West feels considerably more humid than the East, everything is damp, tropical downpours are frequent and the roads never completely dry.  This is perfect tobacco growing country.

Vinales is a popular resort, particularly with backpackers, and casas particulares (private guest houses) have sprung up everywhere to cater for the demand.  We stayed in one, although with the constant smell of freshly drying concrete, and the spartan furnishings, it felt more like we had been provided with a bed in someone's garage. Still, the landlady did make the best Pina Colades we had tasted in Cuba for a mere 2 CUC a time!

Vinales is situated in a dramatic valley with steep-sided limestone mottoes rising from fertile flat-floored valleys where farmers cultivate the soil for tobacco, fruit and vegetables.  We enjoyed a two hour walking tour across the fields and received an informative demonstration of the process of hand rolling Cuban cigars, unfortunately not on the thigh of a beautiful woman, but nevertheless several members of our party enjoyed the finished product!

Tobacco drying



Cars!

 

 

 

 

Santa Clara and Che Guevara's Mausoleum.

 

In February 2015 as I flew over Cuba en route to Nicaragua on an American Airlines flight the on board wifi informed me I was picking up a signal from Che Guevara's Mausoleum.  Little did I know that less than 12 months later I would be there!

 

Che Guevara's Mausoleum

The town of Santa Clara is significant for being the site of the last battle of the Castro revolution.  Here Fidel, Che and their followers spied upon a troop train from the nearby hills as it made its way into the town.  They stole a bulldozer, blocked the line, captured the troop train and subsequently took the city.  Batiste, now fearfully aware of the revolutionaries rapid advance from East to West, fled Havana in his private plane, and three days later the war was over. 

Recreation of the battle site- storming the troop train

 

Che spent some time as a minister in the new regime, but dissatisfied with this life, eventually went to fight oppression in Bolivia, where he was captured and murdered.  His body was returned to Santa Clara, the site of his final victory in Cuba, and is interred here.  His mausoleum is a major visitor attraction and the battle site has been recreated nearby wth several of the original troop train carriages scattered across the landscape.

 

Trinidad

Another long drive westwards of nearly 300km took us to Trinidad, a UNESCO world heritage site, and perhaps the most celebrated place in Cuba.

 

Sugar Cane Harvesting

En route we stopped briefly for lunch in the town of Sancti Spiritus and later at the Valley of the Sugar Mills.  This was a slaving area where slaves were forced to work long hours in the sugar cane

The lookout tower in the Valley of the Sugar Mills

plantations and the sugar mills.  A tower 7 floors high was built as a lookout to watch the slaves working in the valley. The tower housed two bells: one was rung when it was time for the slaves to stop work and take a meal in the communal eating house; the other when an escape was discovered.

 

Trinidad rightly deserves its UNESCO World Heritage site status.  From the vantage point of the top of the tower in the museum of Municipal History the town is a rich patchwork of cobbled streets, brightly coloured houses and red tiled roofs. Music washes around you: every roof top terrace bar has its own band and every restaurant its own group of troubadours.  At night on the broad steps beside the cathedral a salsa band beats out its rhythm as couples sway to their sound.

Panoramic view over Trinidad from the tower in the Museum of Municipal History

 

Many of the families who live in the old houses rent out rooms, and our accommodation was at the home of Vivian and Pablo, close to the centre.  The rooms were impeccably clean, the attention to detail outstanding, although the colour scheme of the room a garish green which along with its cornices and mouldings reminded one somewhat of a Mr Kiplings fancy cake!