Mar 27, 2013 - Bay of Pigs and Cienfeugos

Today we drove back via Havana to the Bay of Pigs, passing Central Australia on the way. The area is named after a sugar mill built in 1904. During the 1961 Bay of Pigs American invasion Fidel moved his headquarters to the mill. Throughout Cuba the only billboards are propaganda ones and here is no different. There are huge billboards about Cuba's victory against the Yankee infidels. Our guide rushed us through the small museum dedicated to the battle before we were herded back on to the minivan. We continued on to Cienfuegos for the...

Mar 25, 2013 - Vinales - Cuba's tobacco belt

Today we left Havana bound for two nights in Vinales, a picturesque rural village in the Pinar del Rio provence. It is four hours west of Havana and the farmers all grow tobacco. Here we saw our first sombrero wearing cowboys and farmers using oxen driven ploughs to till the rich red fields. We read that this part of Cuba has its own Yosemite, with limestone monoliths called mogotes in the national park. We did a three hour hike with a park guide that included a visit to a tobacco farm to see the process from growing the leaves to rolling...

Feb 24, 2013 - Jibacoa etc.

Friday, February 22, 2013 Today Peggy, Barb M. and I launched another successful hunt to bag the elusive accessible internet connection. It was amazingly (sadly, and ultimately predictably) comforting to be able to check e-mail and peruse headlines for news of home and the outside world. It seems the world is still turning without my help, which continues to surprise me. Using the Spanish keyboard was also an adventure, as what is embossed on the keys is not necessarily what shows up in the typescript. I never did figure out how to type in...

Feb 22, 2013 - Jibacoa

February 19, 2013 Tuesday What an interesting day as we left Vinales. It was sad to leave the Casa Particular and Nene, who seemed bemused by the lot of us. “Our man in Havana”, Leo arranged transportation this morning to the beach at Jibacoa, I think east of Habana, but I am turned around. We piled into a three seat car with all of our luggage and three men and took off. Passed by Habana and arrived at a new Casa Particular run by Idalmis and Aresky. I believe that we are their first guest so they are getting a feel for what to provide....

Feb 22, 2013 - Veradera

We all hopped into our local taxi vehicle today, which seemed much less crowded with only 6 of us in the car, and headed over to Varadero. This is advertised as the best beach in Cuba, and we were duly delivered to a lovely, sandy, white beach overlooking the beautiful variegated blue waters of the Atlantic. The water was refreshing, the sand inviting. Barb M managed to charm her way into allowing us to stay on some very comfy chaise lounges under the shade of some palm trees at a rather swank hotel, and their beachside barman kept us plied...

Feb 19, 2013 - La Boca Snorkleing

I am sitting out on our porch a little after 7 in the morning. Our wonderful hostess, Mallan just brought me cup of strong coffee. Living in a village we have adapted to the rhythms of the people here. By 7 am or so we hear the sounds of the town waking up - roosters, dogs, music, little children getting ready for school, people calling out to each other. At night it is pretty quiet. None of us are party people so after dinner we read, write & choose pictures for this blog and play cribbage. Peggy Well, it is now 12 hours later and I am...

Feb 19, 2013 - End of Vinales

We are still having no luck with internet. We get varying responses; that it is here, but not working today, that the cable/satellite connection will not be finished for another week, that it may be available at a different hotel… but essentially, they just have no internet availability. At this rate, we will next post on our travel site when we return to Mexico City!! I am surprised at how much I miss being in contact, not only with friends and family, but with the world news at large. Today, we went caving, checking out a local cavern,...

Feb 19, 2013 - Vinales

The weather has remained pretty blustery and colder than is typical for the past 2 days. No real rain today, but we are all getting good use from the shawls we packed. Last night we had dinner at a state run restaurant, which had wonderful live music, but the food was cooked in a rather desultory manner. Peggy and I had a cheese cream soup, which tasted and acted rather like some wall paper glues I have known. The music, however, was quite good; a quartet of guitar, bass, percussion and maracas. The harmonies were wonderful and the ballads...

Feb 19, 2013 - Enroute to Vinales

An initial disclaimer; I am writing after way too much rum. And not that horrible spiced stuff (sorry Thomas). After a few false starts, we made it to Vinales, where there are large rock mounds left over after the last ice age, making for an unusual landscape reminiscent of areas in China. Initially, we had arranged to have a minibus pick us up for the trek from Trinidad to Vinales, but at about 9 pm the night before, the driver arrived to announce that there was a “problem” and that the new price would need to go from $200 to $250. After...

Feb 14, 2013 - Ancon (The beach)

La Playa Ancon – white sandy beach, thatched beach umbrellas, water just cool enough to be refreshing, a tropical breeze fluttering – it all came together today for a wonderfully lazy relaxing time. We even arrived at the beach in style in a 1950 Chevrolet Torpedo in a lovely mint green color. The car was green, not the passengers. Later we stopped at a wonderfully local bar on the beach for 50 cent beers an wonderfully fresh fish and chicken plates, accompanied by crispy fried banana slices which were I kid you not better than french...

Feb 12, 2013 - Next day in Havana

Sunday, February 10, 2013 Today we got a late start then got on a sightseeing bus. In theory you can hop on an off this bus but It wasn’t quite as easy as we expected, however it gave us an overview of Havana. We stopped for lunch at the hotel Copacabana then back on the bus to place that was having a rumba contest. It was a bit claustrophobic for me so then we walked back to the Malecon, a street along the sea. We decided to take an old American taxi back to the Plaza Vieja where we people watched and had another drink. Then we walked...

Feb 12, 2013 - Around Havana

February 9, 2013 Rick and I went off on our own today, We wandered down to the Malecon to walk along the seaside and look at the tall ship SeaCloud. We could not identify the flag it was flying , but Rick thinks it is from Malta. We explored Havana Vieja which has amazingly beautiful architecture, lots of it crumbling . And lots of it needing restoration. We also went to a beautifully restored building with a telescope in it that shows what is going on in the street below. We were the only English Speakers there and the guide gave the...