Buenas from Bayamo, Cuba. We got here day before yesterday from Santiago de Cuba and we´re on our way tomorrow. I don´t have a lot of time to right, so let me recap some of the things we´ve done recently.
Back in Santiago, we went on an oppressively hot walking tour of the city. Not a ton to report, but we saw a cool view of the bay from a balcony and the Bacardi building (aka ¨Bacardi Rum¨), which is now a museum. I guess at least one of the Bacardi family was sympathetic to the Cuban Revolution, much to the dismay of his family. We a took a day trip while we were there to see La Virgen de la Cobre (or Caridad), which is a black Virgin and patron saint of the Cuban people I believe. Hemminway even gave one of his literary awards (Nobel, me thinks) as an offering. Apart from that, we drove by but couldn´t enter, because of fumigation (happening everywhere), the farm where Fidel an Co. planned there attack on the Moncada barracks back in 1952. (They got caught, Fidel went to jail, was later pardoned, exiled to Mexico and returned to successfully restart the revolution.) We also got to check out some great beaches here too. Too much sun and rum for me.
Here in Bayamo, we´ll be taking a walking tour tonight at 7 (we learned our lesson), but the town´s small, so it shouldn´t last long. Yesterday, we got to hike up into the Sierra Maestra to see Fidel´s old headquarters. At the base, most people wait for taxis that take you up the 5km road, but as it was Mother´s Day, many of them had come out yet. A group of us decided to start walking (we´ve been anxious to get some exercise) and we got a few strange looks as we started the trek. Turns out this 5km path holds Cuba´s steepest road. It was incredibly exhausting, especially as we had another 3km of hiking to do at the top. I still think it was worth it though, even as I sit here with an aching back and tight knees.
Almost out of time, so I´ve got to run and get some food. Anything but ham and cheese sandwiches.
Definitely more to come.
Hasta,
The Dutch Corissary
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Well, I’ve made it to Havana! Coming to you live from the Hotel Inglaterra. It’s interesting and very exciting to be back; this place is still a country of contradictions. Internet access is hard to come by, but at least the system seems standardized. You buy these cards for 6 CUC (about $6.50) for an hour of internet use that you have to use within 30 days, but at your leisure. Let’s see, as to where we’re staying, it’s at the Convento de Santa Clara de Asis in Habana Vieja (old Havana), which was a former convent, but now a quasi-hostel/academic-dormatory. It’s a simple, but nice place. The paint is chipping from the wall, the electricity turns off in the middle of the night, and there’s no toilet seat or shower head (or hot water for that matter), but I like it. It’s unassuming and disconnects us from the other tourists.
