An exercise in Cuban carelessness - Cienfuegos & The Bay of Pigs (Part 8)

Hasta la vista, Habana! Bienvenidos Cienfuegos!

On the next day we say goodbye to Havana and take on the Autopista towards Cienfuegos. The Cubans and the road markings aren't close friends, so the later ones are missing from the road. We get off the highway and continue onto some third class road. In one of the villages that we go through, only the main street is asphalt-paved, the side streets are gravel and mud. In this area, the main means of transport are the horse carriages and the bikes. However, I've got the feeling that the only thing the Cubans do is to travel, because under every palm tree, there are people waiting for somebody to take them on the road. On the next palm tree, we witness the following funny event: a car stops at something like a bus station and all the 15-20 people waiting there rush to the vehicle with the idea to get in. After a while the people back off and surprisingly nobody has gone inside the car and the vehicle is whole. In the village that we pass through and even in the larger towns, almost every house has the following mandatory tools of the loafer/kibitzer – rocking chair positioned toward the street and a working TV inside the house, which can be heard through the opened windows.

Another pimped up Moskvich

An exercise in Cuban carelessness - Varadero (Part 1)

Welcome. Have fun, whatever happens

In 2007, I and four friends of mine decide to organize a dreamed trip to Cuba. In December 2008 our dream adventure come true.

We pass the document check and although nobody is returned, our whole group has returned back, back to bygone times. But we are not alone, every step we take will be closely watched by Che and Fidel, following us from t-shirts, key-chains, billboards and street graffiti. That's why we boldly get lost into this unknown place, exposing us to a moderate dose of communism, retro cars, colonial buildings and endless tranquility.

We get accommodated at the hotel and afterwards go out for a bite. Everything looks rather old, there are abandoned buildings everywhere, and it should be the most glamorous Cuban resort. Time has stopped many decades before we arrive, but this is the main reason to come here, in the first place. Finally, we find a working ... thing and order five Cuba Libres, what else. The proportion of the cocktail ingredients is seriously messed up and we get kicked in the heads by way of welcome. Unfortunately, we don't have a clue that the situation with the cocktails (with little exceptions) won't change for better during the rest of our trip. The food that we get is of the same quality as the drinks. 

Sleepy Varadero

A view from above of the still sleepy Varadero and its early risers.