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What route do you
take when you have decided to change your planned itinerary in order to
revisit Playa Caléton? You stop in two Colonial Cities; Santa
Clara and Cienfuegos (One Hundred Fires) enroute from Trinidad to Playa.
We had visited both cities three years ago but knew they were pleasant
places for a stopover.
Santa Clara January 22-25
Our guide book
suggests that a trip to Cuba is not complete unless you attend a
baseball game. We had only seen part of a pickup game three years ago,
so we scheduled an extra day in Santa Clara specifically to see the
Santa Clara Naranjas (oranges), of the Cuban National Teams, play.
Unfortunately, Santa Clara was not playing when we were in town, so once
again, we were out of luck.
My second idea was
to visit the Fabrica de Tabacos Constantino Pérez Carrodegua cigar
factory. It makes some of the countries’ premier brands of cigars and
promised to be more personal than the factories in Havana. We went to
the local Cubanacán offices to book tickets for a tour. The factory was
closed for tours at the moment and the office was unsure when tours
would resume. Once more we were out of luck. We would have to wait to
tour a cigar factory in Havana.
 Oh well, there was
still the huge Che Guevara monument to revisit. All the tour buses stop
to visit the site, arriving at 10 AM each morning. We hurried to get
there before the hoards descended. The monument occupies a huge square
dominated by We also remembered that tour groups had to wait their turn
to tour the impressive museum on the site but one couple on their own
could go right in. Che certainly remains a cult figure in Cuba, and
elsewhere in the world, but he was a fascinating man who led a
tumultuous, albeit short, life.
Parque Vidal is
the spot to see and be seen. Surrounded by renovated Colonial buildings,
it is a popular gathering spot for both locals and tourists. Our first
night we listened to a performance of golden oldies in the central band
shell. Another day the park was full of local families lining up at
vendor’s carts to buy ice cream, popcorn and chicharrónes, deep fried
pork skin, beloved by Cubans. Children waited for their turn to ride in
goat drawn carts that continually circled the park
We celebrated our
last evening in Santa Clara with dinner in the garden of Casa Particular
Florida. Their paladar, a privately run restaurant was one of the best
places to eat three years ago and
it has expended the number of tables and produced even better food.
Cienfuegos January 25-27
 Tour buses arrive
each day to Unesco designated Cienfuegos, park beside Parque José Martí
to allow their clients time to explore the many colonial
buildings surrounding the park, including a scaled down, pink version of
the Arc de Triumph in Paris, dedicated to Cuban independence. After
visiting a side street of artisan carts, the tour buses depart to get to
the next town in time for dinner. We were in the minority of tourists
who stay overnight.
We had time to
listen to music at 5PM in a small bar and garden patio next to the
Italianate Theatre dedicated to the Venezuelan Tomás Terry. The theatre
is still in use, offering plays in Spanish for adults and children. We
had taken advantage of the interesting tour inside the theatre,
renovated much as it was at the end of the 19th C, our
previous trip to Cuba but have never attended a performance.
The garden was a
great place to sit and relax, enjoy a beer or a Margarita and generally
take in the scene.
Punta Gorda, once
the upper-class neighbourhood of Cienfuegos , is reached by walking
south on the wide Paseo de Prado, past the life-sized statue of Beny
More, a well-loved local musician, and continuing on another 1 km along
the Malecón, a boardwalk beside the long, narrow Cienfuegos Bay. We
stopped for a rest in a Sculpture park full of imaginative installations
created by noted Cuban and Spanish artists. Our destination was Palacio
de Valle, built by a Spaniard in 1917 in an eclectic mix of Gothic, Romanesque, Baroque and East Indian Mudejar. A photography tour from Western Canada was madly snapping pictures and
so did we.
Varadero January 31 –
February 4
 Varadero is a lovely, long stretch of beach a few hours east of Havana.
It is known for its proliferation of luxury, all-inclusive resorts.
Three years ago we stayed in a simpler three-star hotel for a last
gear-down at a beach before heading home. We decided that would be a
good ending for our tour this year. We booked 4 nights at 3 star
Sunbeach resort and arrived by bus to be told that the resort was
experiencing hot water problems and we were being transferred to Villa
Tortuga, another 3 star resort on the beach nearby. The beach was good,
our room was comfortable but badly needed an overhaul and the buffet
style meals were acceptable, but nothing to write home about. We just
spent our time swimming and taking long walks on the beach, but decided
our impression of 3 star resorts in Cuba remained the same; the Casa
Particulars are far friendlier and all-round better quality.
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