We were a little sad to say goodbye to Olga, as we couldn’t have been made more welcome anywhere else! We set off by taxi to Parque El Nicho, about an hour away, initially on good roads, but as we got closer, the road got rougher and we weren’t sure the car was going to make the climb into the Sierra del Escambray mountains without overheating … but all was well. We then hiked the short Reino de las Aquas, a trail through the woodlands, across streams on little bridges to the Poceta de los Enamorados …
… the Desparramaderos Falls …
… and the Poceta Crystal where I swim in the lovely and clear but also very chilly water but Chris wasn’t up to the challenge!
We have a huge room on the first floor, with wooden shutters opening onto the courtyard and views over the roofs. Just outside the official old town, we couldn’t have picked a better spot.
The original cobblestones and pastel-coloured houses give the impression that time has barely moved on since colonial times.
From the 17th to 19th century, the city was a major central for trade in sugar and slaves and the buildings round the main square show how wealthy the landowners were. A long period of isolation protected the city from new building and there has been skilful restoration.
One has a tower which we climbed for the view. Many of the houses in the centre are renovated and freshly painted and often casa particulars of which there are around a thousand, or paladars, bars or shops.
Tapas seem popular here, and are great for a lunch snack when breakfast has been very generous! We’ve tried tomato bruschetta, little canapés with sliced egg and prawns that I thought were yummy and crispy plantain stuffed with veg and cheese. One choice that was less successful was the Kermato drink, which is tomato juice in a can … unfortunately on closer inspection, flavoured with almeja … or clams so no good for Mr Hayes after all … he should have stuck to the beer!
There seems to be music playing all town! Many restaurants and bars have a band playing a short set a couple of times an hour during lunch, the afternoon, dinner and later!
There is also the Casa de Trova and Casa de Musica which are more dedicated music venues with a succession of bands playing a set each for tips.
We seem to have the knack of hearing some music, buying a drink, then the band taking a break! In the evening the Casa de Musica charges an admission, but the music still floods the square so we bought mojitos from a booth and sat on the steps to listen.
We stopped for a sundowner one day and tried Canchancharas, a cocktail made of rum, honey and lemon which is served in little earthenware cups, in the bar of the same name. It was very tasty … almost as good as the mojitos, but we might have to try a couple more to be sure!
We had dinner at La Redaccion, which means The Editorial Team, so named as the newspaper El Liberal was edited here, and the table mats are made of pages from this week’s Cuban press. Chris had a pepper and tomato stuffed with savoury rice and I had slow roast pork belly which came with a really amazing tangy gravy and great sweet potato mash.
Taberna la Botija, set in a stone-walled house with wooden benches, has a huge tapas menu but we also came in the evening as their pizza was recommended and Chris has lasted a whole week with no pizza and not a proper chip either! Cuba’s history was brought home to us seeing the slave chains on the walls.
After exploring the town, we had several days out, firstly to Playa Ancon, billed as the best beach on the south coast, and it was lovely, with a constant breeze. We arrive on the Trinibus around 11.30, and were having such a lovely time, we missed the 3.30 bus back in favour of the bus at 6.00 and got to see the sunset from the bus on the way back.
There was a well-used network of railway tracks over Cuba in the C19 when it was the easiest way to move goods to and from the sugar plantations. Since then, many have fallen into disrepair or were deliberately pulled up during the 1959 revolution. Today a tourist train with open-sided carriages runs from the modest station in town, into the Valle de los Ingenios complete with in train entertainment!
We chose the Sendero Salto del Caburni in the Gran Parque Topes de Collantes, just over an hour of descent passed farmland and through shady woodland to the 62m high Caburni waterfall.
On our last afternoon we did a little souvenir shopping and in the evening returned to La Redaccion for another lovely meal.
Just had to squeeze in a couple more cars!
Tomorrow we move on … eastwards again!
Having confirmed our return to Fidel’s later in our trip, we set off early to catch our bus … but buses here obviously run on Cuban time so we waited a while. The bus was comfortable and we stopped at 104km from Havana at a rest stop for a lovely cup of cafe con leche, served with a short length of sugar cane … to stir or to suck, we weren’t sure, but we did both!
The front room is kept as a kind of front parlour …
… with several tea sets from the USSR and other china proudly displayed.
Our room has AC but it’s not that hot and the room is ventilated with high windows with bars for security.
Olga’s English is far better than our Spanish, which was great as she managed to organise all we wanted to see and do without resort to a tour operator and we are all for local enterprise! We spent the afternoon exploring in town. First stop, to buy a wifi card CUC$2 for an hour and try and get online … well the telephone company had no cards and said to try Hotel La Union opposite …
… the hotel suggested the telephone company … the hotel doorman said there was a local chico in the bar opposite who would probably sell us a card for CUC$3 … which he did and we thought it a result … until we visited the public wifi spot in Parque Marti, logged on with the card and spent 30 minutes hanging and getting nowhere … not the chico’s fault I hasten to add, just the system is so overloaded … maybe tomorrow! There is no private wifi in Cuban homes, just a system of public access wifi in selected places in each town, so demand is high.
More exercise followed with the 2km walk along the Malecon to Punta Gorda, a peninsular jutting into Cienfuegos bay …
We chatted to the Portuguese girl sitting beside us as the ferry made its way across the bay and passed several small cays to the fort.
The drive through the outskirts of the city and then the countryside to the garden was interesting. As we moved out of the old town the Spanish colonial architecture was replaced by concrete blocks of flats from the Communist era. It became obvious that the picturesque horse-drawn carts that take tourists down the Malecon are actually essential transportation for local people who need to get home from the bus stop on the main road. We saw livestock grazing, crops growing and men riding horses checking out the fields. Many people were hanging about junctions, hoping to hitch a lift to their destination. We arrived at the garden, paid our entrance and drove up to the cafe, then followed the rough tracks round for 90 minutes or so and saw huge stands of bamboo, palms and even a furry tree!
So it certainly isn’t Kew or Wisley and we don’t know how the garden was started, but it has the largest collection of tropical plants in Cuba and despite having had minimal maintenance for some years, we saw lots of exotic flowers.
While out and about, we’ve come across quite a lot of revolution propaganda which is unlikely to be around for much longer … but what we haven’t seen is any product advertising for anything, which is quite refreshing.
Finally, we spent a day at Playa Rancho Luna, just 20 minutes away. We aren’t quite sure how the taxi lottery works but today we won a souped up Kia which had a speedo that remained on zero … whatever the speed! The beach wasn’t huge and we began by being concerned that it was a bit overcast, but the sun was so hot when it was out, it was probably a good thing! We had a walk and admired the Sierra del Escambray mountains …
We took a quick turn round the block to stretch our legs and the evening was positively balmy after England. We returned for a home cooked dinner of pumpkin and eggs for Chris and marinated and grilled pork for me, served with salad and plantain fritters called tostones. We also had beans and rice called moros y cristianos – the black bean for the Moors and the white rice for the Christians and washed it all down with a beer. After our long day, we called it a night and dropped off to sleep listening to live music coming from the bar over the road.
We walked round the displays which were almost entirely in Spanish, with the odd caption in English. There was one small part about the reforms made after the revolution which looked like it had been newly curated and was ok, but for the rest, there were a lot of black and white photos of men in fatigues with guns, battle plans and various personal bits and pieces. There are still sprays of bullet holes in the courtyard …
We decided we had walked far enough and since we were conveniently passing El Floridita, home of the Cuban daiquiri and famous Hemingway haunt, we thought we’d try one out.
Everybody’s talking about visiting Cuba now, while it is still possible to step back in time to see the faded glamour of pre-revolution Havana and an island where little has changed since Castro swept to power in 1959. Reforms brought in by Raul Castro when he became president in 2008 and restoration of diplomatic ties with the US in 2015 mean times are definitely changing and we are eager to catch this moment before it passes and Cuba becomes modern and shiny like everywhere else.
We stopped in Salt Lake City and headed to Temple Square, the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or Mormons for a quick look. At the centre is the huge Salt Lake Temple begun in 1853 and built over 40 years by pioneers, which we found out more about in the visitor centre as we weren’t allowed in. There were also assembly buildings, a huge office block, a centre for family genealogy and a tabernacle where we heard an organ recital.
Originally, our plan was to return to Salt Lake City have a look round, and celebrate our wedding anniversary with a boat trip on the Great Salt Lake. Our wedding reception was held on a boat on the Thames and we have celebrated on the water ever since … no craft too small! We then found out that water levels in the lake have been very low, especially at the end of the season so decided to come to Provo and booked a sunset cruise on a sailboat on Utah Lake instead. Just before we came away, we found out that Utah Lake was closed due to an algal bloom causing health risks … Hopefully all is not lost … read on …
Heading north, we passed a sign that said Mystic River Zipline – 10 miles. After a while, I asked Chris what he thought about having a go, and he said it was 7 miles further! We stopped and were rigged out with harnesses and taken up the trail to the first tower with a 800ft line … it was great, really whizzy, and you twist round and see all the lovely autumn colour on the trees covering the hillside! The second tower had a pair of lines so we could race … although I think it was a dead heat … great fun!
We drove a couple of hours to Springdale, pretty much three years and a week after our last visit, when we found out our planned Utah Trail was not going to go to plan! However it’s a great opportunity to return to Under the Eaves B&B and enjoy the warm Southwestern hospitality of our hosts Mark and Joe.
Moving on, we drove a couple of hours north to Page. On our first trip, we had planned to visit the Grand Canyon and Page but when we rescheduled, we missed these places off with the canyon being closed and went further south to Phoenix and Sedona.
Leaving Cortez, we deliberately picked Highway 163 so we could drive through the stunning Monument Valley once more.
Our drive also took us from Ute tribal lands, passed Hopi lands and across the Navejo Nation and into our sixth and final state – Arizona. We stopped for coffee at the Blue Coffee Pot and were surprised to be told ‘we were alright’ when we came to pay. Confused, we hovered, and a girl came over and said the coffee was on the house. Feeling surprised but a little uncomfortable we left money in the tip pot!
Off Travelling Together 