Casa Particular in Cienfuegos:

EL COLONIAL, Seniora Julia Milanes Fernandes, Prado, Calle 37 # 5608 e/. 56 y 58, Cienfuegos, Cuba

Old American car under a palm tree, children playing on the gate to their house, pet turtle on Seniora Julia's patio, columns of colonial houses in Paseo del Prado, central band stand in Parque Marti, Jose Marti, Palaco Ferrer in Parque Marti, Arc de Triumph in Parque Marti, street scene

DAY 6, Tuesday: I manage to get a proper walk around the Parque Marti before breakfast, it is a National Treasure with it’s Palacio Ferrer,  Theatro Thomas Terry and the only Arco de Triumfo ( Arch of Triumph ) in Cuba. At the center of the Parque Marti is ‘Kilometer zero’- the central point of Cienfuegos. There is also a monument of Jose Marti who was a national hero and a very important figure in Cuban literature. I notice that his  monuments seem to be scattered over Cuba in a wild profusion, he is also the face of the 1 CUP note. Cienfuegos is small enough to be seen is a day, but if you are into ecotourism, there is plenty to do close by.  When seniora Julia serves us breakfast, she reminds us that she suggested we ate seafood in her house last night, an offer we bitterly regret with hindsight… I blame my friend who speaks Spanish for this misunderstanding and berate myself for my ignorance of the language. Note to self: must learn Spanish… but in the meantime we resolve to let any future owners of Casas Particulars not only provide breakfast for us but cook supper too (and in the case of Don Bernardo from Trinidad, to serve us endless Mojitos). By 3pm we finally get to TRINIDAD and what a change of pace! In the past, sugar plantations and the slave trade made the city very rich. The houses and uneven, cobbled streets date back to the C16th and look unchanged since Colonial times. This amazing conservation is mainly due to the the Isolation Period between the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries when there was no modern influence. It is small wonder that UNESCO awarded the town World Heritage Sight status in 1988. It looks like the bastard offspring of Gold Street in Prague and Hoi An in Vietnam. I just know we will want to stay here for a while… Before the day is over we have a little stroll on the Plaza Mayor which due to 10 minutes of heavy rain is now empty ( this doesn’t happen very often ).We go a little deeper into the cobbled streets until we reach houses that were clearly denied funding for renovation. There is a striking difference between people who live in the pretty parts and the rest. Unfortunately spoiled by tourists visiting so often, many women dressed in the most well-known Western labels emerge from their freshly painted houses asking for soap, clothes and creams, all-the-while pointing at their children. When we give them some pens and crayons they don’t seem very impressed. Still, most of the people seem to be busy with their everyday life which is fun to observe. We have a little rest in Canchanchara, which is a typical “casa infusiones” famous for it’s eponymous cocktail made from rum, water, honey and lemon. Needless to say, there is live band and great ambience. However nothing could beat the place we visit in the evening- no way! There are many great places to party in Trinidad- but little more about that later. We spend the evening on the steps in front of Casa de la Musica in Plaza Mayor where people are dancing salsa to live music, tourists talk to the locals, waiters take orders for Mojitos… a true night-life landmark of Cuba.

Plaza Major, Cuban musicians performing on the street, examples of colonial windows, Old Chevrolet outside Cancanchara, portraits of Cuban girls

DAY 7, Wednesday: Don Bernardo has organized bicycles for us ( $5 per day ) and we are off to visit all the beautiful beaches surrounding this part of Cuba. Finally! After about half an hour of pedalling we get to the first beach called La Boca, have a long swim ( Hello sea!!! ) and then continue our journey south in search for another beach en route. We discover a tiny little beach just right for snorkeling, it happens there is a little group with a dive guide, so they do it properly while we just swim on the surface avoiding the tens of thousands of jelly fish. Our backs, exposed to the punishing sun, are savagely burnt while the only message our brain is getting is “Wow! Beautiful fish!”. Great fun but there is one more beach on our way and it is proves to be far-and-away the most beautiful: Playa Ancon. The way back was exactly as Senior Bernard said it would be: ‘ On the way there the saints will be lending you a hand but on the way back you are on your own…’  If you decide to give it a try, just keep your back , neck, face and legs slathered with sun lotion and keep your t-shirt on all the time, especially if you are into snorkelling… sunburn notwithstanding, I rate this day 10 out of 10.

little beach between Playa La Boca and Playa Ancon ( perfect for snorkelling ), umbrella shelters on Playa Ancon, trees on Playa Ancon, sunset

DAY 8, Thursday: One can organize a lot of different trips from Trinidad, but our buttocks are aching from the bicycle trip yesterday: riding a horse to the mountains is not sounding like a viable option. An beautiful, old, lime-green chevrolet with white leather seats sounds like a more appropriate form of transport! Senior Bernard’s friend, the owner of the car, is taking us to see Valle de los Ingenios, particularly Manaca Iznaga, an old sugar plantation with a tower from which the rich plantation owner could check on his slaves. Afterwards we go to the Nature Reserve Park in Escambray Mountains called Topes de Collantes where, after an hour of walking, we reach a stunning waterfall under the cold water of which we cool off. Great day out- plus, back to playa Ancon to watch the sunset and a fond goodbye to Trinidad. However there is one thing left to do here- we can’t leave without visiting the Cave Nightclub. It is 5 minute’s walk up the hill from Plaza Mayor which we do with the locals we met during our stay here and some Spanish girlfriends, Monica and Olivia, whom we met during our Waterfall visit. The place is in a real cave, absolutely vast, with unimaginably loud music coming out of the speakers, everyone is dancing salsa, we have very little choice…

Valle de los Ingenios ( view from Mirador de la Loma ), Manacaz Iznaga Tower, Waterfall Salto del Caburni in Topes de Collantes, Valle de los Ingenios, sugar cane press

I don’t know if Don Bernardo will ever be able to access the internet to read this, but we had such a lovely time in his house, especially during supper  starting with cheese soup followed by lobster and ice cream pudding and the most delicious Mojitos in Cuba! Thank you.

Casa Particular of Don Bernardo: Camilo Cienfuego 265, Entre Maceo y Francisco Cadahia, Trinidad, Cuba

DAY 1, Thursday : Plane lands in SANTA CLARA…unbelievable heat and overpriced cab to the centre ( no point getting even slightly upset ), we check in to our hotel ( we had booked our first night in advance, but it was the only night we spent in an hotel, afterwards we stayed in private houses, called Casas Particulars) and go off to see the one thing everybody comes to Santa Clara to see: The monument and mausoleum of Che Guevara on the grounds of  last battle in the Cuban Revolution in 1958. It is a little walk away from the Parque Vidal which is at the centre of Santa Clara and also the location of the biggest building and only hotel unsurprisingly called: Hotel Santa Clara Libre. We buy some fruit from a street vendor ( thank to Magda’s spanish language knowledge ) and we successfully pay in Cuban pesos, the price for few bananas reaches an equivalent of roughly 5p. As good as it was, we will not often be able to pay as little as this in Cuba. Before the day is over we are able to hear through our hotel window live music being played on the central band stand of Parque Vidal as well as modern Cuban music on the roof terrace of our hotel..

Hint: when you change your money, get:

1. Cuban dollars aka CUC ( used by tourists ) ,
2. Cuban pesos aka CUP ( used by Cubans, especially useful in rural areas of Cuba and simply to buy fruit of street vendor). To tell the truth, there are still no rules on when exactly a tourist would be allowed to buy with Cuban pesos, but it is worth a try, just for a thrill of it..

Monument of Che Guevara, Silhouette of Che, Magda ( my friend ) bargaining for some fruit, little girl in an ice cream shop, one of many images of Che on the wall, areal view of Santa Clara and Santa Clara Libre Hotel

DAY 2, Friday : At around midday we have already organised a taxi to take us to HAVANA ( I was slightly suspicious about the price  of 20 Cuban dollars for 280km drive, but it all appeared to be true). We get to our destination in less then 3 hours, mainly thanks to the empty motorway that goes from central to western Cuba. In Havana we are staying in a Casa Particular in the quietest of all three areas of Havana, Vedado. This is where we also take an introductory walk, discovering the names of the streets- or should I say numbers and letters, before eating a delicious supper ( by Cuban standards ) in Union Francesca- probably just what we need, being jet-lagged and stunned by the heat. The restaurant is set in a nineteenth-century mansion and it has 3 floors with different food on each level. It overlooks Park Lennon, which took it’s  name from the famous Beatle, whose statue stands there in bronze. Very nice quiet evening, just to take it all in before Havana will blow our minds up…

DAY3, Saturday: the full-on Cuba experience definitely starts now, we take a Coco taxi to the old Havana ( Havana Vieja ), our female driver gives us a tour of Malecon on the way and takes us to the old town. Very quickly, we realise just how big it is and that the 2 days we planned to stay in Havana is not going to be enough, we get off outside the Capitol and- drained by the heat- make our way to the first cafe we see, we sit outside and watch The old American cars- they are just so beautiful, some of them immaculate and some look very old, with dents and mismatched shades of paint …

Chevrolets, Plymouths, some other beautiful old American Cars, young Cuban man trying to make his car work by jumping on it and more cars...

We have lots to see  and we already know where Capitol is so we decide that getting deliberately lost will be the most adventurous way to do things, to our surprise, the first place we find is El Floridita. After all, it is after midday and evoking the spirit of Ernest Hemingway, we have a daiquiri. I am ashamed to admit mine was a strawberry-flavoured confection but never-the-less perfect for the weather. We find out that Ernest liked his Mojitos in La Bodequita del Medio, so we make a plan to pay this place a visit the next day.

It is impossible to put into words the vividness of Havana’s architecture, as it is impossible to see it in 2 days, but we do what we can. Oddly, every way seems to take us to Plaza De San Francisco or the street market where we pick up some souvenirs- I am especially proud of a colourful,  papier-mache money box shaped like Cuban lady smoking a cigar, with the coin-slot in her bottom. There are other things like jewellery, sandals, magnets with Che and T-shirts. Probably not the best idea to buy the souvenirs at the beginning of the trip, but it is definitely wise to do it in Havana.

After many hours of running up and down the streets of Old Havana, we pick a restaurant to eat, strangely called Hanoi, but we have a feast: amazing fish and seafood dishes, live band and friendly waiter. We meet a single girl who was eating there too, it turns out it is her last night in Cuba. She gives us all sorts of advice as well as informing us we can expect to be dancing salsa any time now, adding that it happens to everyone who visits Cuba. As it is a weekend and the night is young she is going out to dance salsa in a local bar. We catch our first old Chevrolet cab home, shower, change and go out in our local Vedado, just off plaza de la Revolution. The guide book couldn’t recommend the place enough, different dj’s, great music and so on, but there is one problem apart from the guidebook being few months out of date. We should have sensed it when queuing to get in…lots of transvestites are interesting to look at, but there are hardly any girls inside, it takes a long while before we discover we are in a gay club, Havana surprises us again, we have a great time feeling very privileged and expecting police to enter the premisses any minute and arrest everyone, but they never do. Next day I read in my Rough Guide to Havana that the daughter of President Raul, Mariela Castro emerged as a champion for gay rights in Cuba in recent years and Havana has become a relatively gay friendly city.

The Capitol, Plaza de San Francisco, Tobacco Factory ( placed behind the Capitol and bordering with Central Havana), variety of architectural styles, coco taxi outside La Bodeguita Del Medio, chatty barman in La Bodeguita Del Medio, sign outside El Floridita, bronze statue of Ernest Hemingway in El Floridita, Magda in an artist's studio, handcrafted wooden fish and T-shirts at the market.

DAY 4, Sunday: Our last day in Havana, early lunch in China Town, with it’s gate in a random location away from the actual place. Although we know there aren’t that many Chinese people in Havana anymore, we give it a try… Noodles are replaced with spaghetti, so it isn’t very authentic, but after all we not here for the food…we here to get full. The pressure rises as we argue what to see and again get lost, but this time in a much poorer and slightly dangerous area somewhere in Central Havana. It might not be the usual tourist literature, but my book for the trip is Cuba Libre by Yoani Sanchez, and I am trying to see more than  the tourists Yoani described in her blog ( the beautiful architecture from the seats of the first floor of an air conditioned first class coach).. It is heart breaking to think that most Cuban people have never been abroad and never will, instead they get to see crowds of tourists exploring their own country… Everyone seems very happy with what they have, people are smiling and waving to us. I have a pocket full of pens and crayons, we were told to bring, but surprisingly  there aren’t many requests from anyone, we later find out that parents get punished if their child gets caught begging or bothering tourists.

Our last important, must-do thing in Havana is a long walk along Malacon- this couldn’t be more beautiful. Half-way through the sun starts to set, I spot some Cuban men fishing, I imagine their silhouettes against the beautiful sky and start running to get closer to my perfect picture, suddenly a storm breaks, I take the picture and ran to hide, the men stay there fishing.

Young Cuban men from run down part of Central Havana, Band playing in Hanoi Restaurant, young boy running on the road, run down colonial houses in old Havana, Flower girls in Plaza de la Catedral, Cuban men fishing on Malecon

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If you haven’t yet, but would also like to enter the competition, visit imedeen20.com