Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos has a very different feel to the places we have so far seen. It's architectural heritage is more French than Spanish with wide boulevards and a French colonial feel to the buildings.  The main square is large and open with its very own mini Arc de Triomphe. The most spectacular building is the Casa de Cultura Benjamin Durate which was once a private Palacio. It is being renovated and will be a museum once finished. It has large airy rooms and beautiful iridescent tiles in one corridor.

The area we stayed in had lots of homes in art deco style and a number of large buildings one of which is the yaught club
We dropped in for a daikiri.  The area is on a promentory which sticks out into the bay. At the end is El Palacio del Valle. It was built in 1894 by an Italian architect who had a wild imagination. The dining room would not look out of place in the Alhambera. The stairs is heavily art nouveau and other rooms have an Italian or French feel. One guide book describes it as kitch but we liked it's insane mixture.   The roof terrace had lovely sea views and we watched pelicans diving for their dinner as we sampled their cocktails. A nice way to end our visit to a lovely city.

Heading south

It was a long drive down to Playa Larga but well worth it. The town, or rather village seems to be having a major refurbishment. There were piles of sand and gravel everywhere.  Our casa was lovely though. Casa Frank had the first decent shower we have yet had in Cuba. The beach was stunning.  My first experience of a Caribbean beach. White sand, shady trees and water the most beautiful colour of aquamarine.  It is also shallow here and warm! That was the biggest surprise to walk into a sea and feeling as if it was a warm bath.

After a huge dinner we went for a stroll and came across a bar with a band. After a few drinks we were brave enough to have a dance. Well I suppose we should really. No one laughed so I'll take that as a good sign.

The next day after another very large breakfast we headed off to Cienfuegos.  On the way we stopped of at a bay which operated as a mini resort. It is in the middle of nowhere and the road to it was , shall I say , challenging.  Caleta Buena lived up to its name.  It is a sheltered bay with a coral reef. As the reef was actually the shore I'm sure it isn't the most colourful but the fish.... After I got a snorkel that didn't leak I got my nerve together and spent ages looking at a fantastic variety of fish of every shape size and colour you can imagine. E said it was the best snorkeling she had ever done. I can only imagine what the offshore reef was like. It was amazing and the sunburn is totally worth it.

Vianales

A few hours north of Havana is another of Cuba 's UNESCO sites. The drive there was interesting. There is a 6 lane highway in the middle of Cuba.  But the road surface is unpredictable with many large potholes. Add to that the people standing under bridges waiting for busses or looking for a lift as well as the odd farmer standing on the central reservation or hard shoulder selling cheese,  onions or cooked chicken ;and a horse or two running behind a man on a motorbike, driving here is never dull.

Vianales is a small town in a limestone area with stunning views and odd rock formations.  We decided to go for a horse ride tour around the area. Bright and early we set off. After riding through some thick sticky mud our first stop was a tobacco plantation.  Because this is a national park the farmers are not allowed to use mechanisation.  They plough with oxen. The tobacco plants grow quickly. They are planted in oct/November.  Harvested in march. The higher up the plant the better quality the tobacco.  The farmer showed us how to roll a cigar. It was simply lay the leaves on top of each other and roll. It was amazing how it stayed together. 

The next stop was a cave. The erosion of the limestone leaves these outcrops of rock and we got our feet wet scrambling through the cave.

Our last stop was a coffee farm. The harvest is happening now. High school students have to spend a month picking coffee beans. They get a grade which goes towards their final school mark depending on how hard they work.

We had a bit of excitement on the way back as hubby's horse stumbled and he fell off. Luckily into the mud so he wasn't hurt. He was covered in red mud. The senora at the Casa took away his muddy stuff and good knows how got his trousers clean. Hopefully he won't come down with something nasty.

After a relaxed lunch at a local hotel we went to the local botanical garden. It is a garden planted in the 1920s by a Chinese man and his local wife. It has plants from all over the world and is gorgeous. They can grow anything here. The highlight was a humming bird nest with two babies. 
Heading south again tomorrow.  

Havana.

We have settled into our casa paticura. It is in a local neighbourhood. A working area I would say. The people seem to live in apartments some very delapidated. Nearby is the Hotel National which in contrast is 5 star at least. We wandered in last night and had a mojito overlooking the sea. Later we sat in a bar and listened to an excellent band playing the local music known as Son.

Today we were real tourists and headed into Old Havana.  Old it certainly is. There are wonderful colonial buildings. A lot are being renovated.  You can see they are gearing up for an influx of tourists.  The hotels are being spruced up. Street life here is fascinating. Everything from a carribean lady offering  to tell  your fortune to mechanics repairing the classic cars. We did follow the Hemingway trail and visited the hotel he was fond of, right in the centre.  Then we negotiated a cut price taxi ride home in a 1950s convertible. .well you have to really.

Things to know about Cuba

1. There are 2 currencies,  the Cuban pesos and the Cuc pronounced cook. 1 cuc=25 ish pesos.  Tourists are quoted prices in cuc but to add to the confusion they are often  called paeso or sometimes dollar. Restaurant bills can be in either.  Small private cafés often use  Mn (cuban pesos )  and when you pay in cuc will give change in pesos so you need to check your change.

2. Prices are negotiable.  It can be done in a quiet polite way where the first price does not have to be the final one. Decide what you want to pay and if that seller won't give it, another will.

3. Yellow taxis are the expensive ones. Taxis are generally expensive but if you get a local one they are more reasonable.  Local taxis tend to be the very old cars sometimes with a cardboard sign saying Taxi on the dash.  Again prices are negotiable.

4. You will get hustled. They are very good at it.

5. Prices make no sense.  A wonderful meal can be very cheap , a dreadful one very expensive. 

6 Mojitos cost around $3

7. A basic knowledge of Spanish is very useful.

8 Havana is more expensive than you expect. 

9 Unless you are staying in one of the big hotels, wifi is difficult to find. There are public hot spots. You buy a card from a post office for 1 hours connection. Then look out for groups of people hanging out on a street or in a square all looking at their phones, the odds are that's a hot spot.  The upload and download speeds are not very good. You will easily use your hour. This is difficult for an fb addict like me.

Havana nights

E is drawn to live music like a moth to a flame. She loves music. We began to think bands only play two songs. Everytime we heard a band playing in a cafe we would go in , order a drink, hear the end of one song and all of the second. The band would then stop playing and the hat would go round. This has happened a number of times so it is getting expensive to listen to music! So we decided to do it properly.  T had read about La Casa de la Musica a place to hear the best cuban musicians.  There 2 venues,  one in town the other in the suburbs. Our oracle Oscar the senor who made our amazing breakfast,  told us that the city centre one was closed for a referb. So off we went. Only when we got there did we realise the band didn't start until 1am. We had a mojito then sat with the other customers in a theatre like venue watching music videos drinking rum. The thing to do was buy a bottle for the table. They then gave you a tub of ice. We also got lemonade as there is only so much neat rum you can drink. The lack of dance floor didn't stop some impressive dancing. A chap we named Snake hips was a particularly flexible dancer.  E fell asleep but was up and dancing once the band got going. They were called Havana    
          And are one of the best in Cuba it seems. To be honest I wasn't mad keen
They had too much of a jazz feel for my liking.  We got home at about 3 am
In complete contrast Hubby and I went to the Cafe Parisienne at the hotel Nacional was all a tourist could want. A very colourful flamboyant show with scantily clad women and excellent dancers. We really enjoyed it. You could imagine you were back in the Havana of Hemingway and Greene.