Our drive out of Havana took us through what looked like poorer areas of dismal apartments but no tin shacks or squatters. Soon we were passing through agricultural areas with huge state owned sugar cane farms. Here the road narrowed and it was a slow, harrowing drive passing tractors and farm vehicles.
It was a 3 hour trip to Cienfuegos, another beautifully restored town, as it is a UNESCO world heritage site. The buildings around the town square have a neoclassical French feel. We wondered around the square park area with its fountains and a big band stand. We then went into the Palacio de Valle Building, an impressively restored three story mansion, with a tower. We spent time on the roof taking pics and climbing to the top of the tower and taking in the breath taking views of the town and harbor.
This is a harbor town predominantly for oil imports, which Cuba then sells onto other Caribbean Islands for a handsome profit – Communism at its best. We then wandered through the town, here was the first evidence of shops ‘as we know them’. It is also an arty area and they are proud of their statue of Benny Moreno in the main road. After an extremely hot walk along the waterfront back to our taxi we had a pleasant 2 hour scenic drive into Trinidad, with views of the Sierra del Escambray, Cuba’s second largest mountain range, on the left the Caribbean Sea on the right.
We arrived at La Jorre Padron, our home stay for the next 3 nights, where we met Anna, our hostess, a delightful young lady, who thankfully spoke English and gave us tips about the town. The accommodation is basic, very clean clean and most importantly the rooms are air conditioned.
In the early evening, the heavens opened as we were setting off to the town centre, the Playor Mayor. So we caught tricycle taxis, this turned out to be the scariest experience of the trip so far, a scrawny young chap cycling uphill on wet cobbled stones with around 250kg of Mel & Panda on the back. One cycle forward and three slips back and sideways. Imagine telling the kids we had been injured because our tricycle had toppled over.
Five minutes later the rain had stopped and we ambled around the square, admiring the large Church and surroundings. From there we found La Cancanchara Bar, where we drank the local drink after which the bar is named. Our first two sips were pure Havana Rum. Then we discovered the stick was for stirring the cocktail and once mixed the rum, honey, lime & lemon drink on ice was rather delicious.
Jean got her second proposal in two days, after dancing to the local band with the town Don Juan. Looks like Wayne needs to up his game.
We found a great little restaurant, called Real, for dinner, the lobster is highly recommended. We got horribly lost on the way home, trying to negotiate the myriad of stone streets and painted houses.
Pandas in Africa 