VARADERO SOME HISTORY…………..
It’s about 5 hours northeast of Cienfuegos. The American mafia wanted to build a stretch of casinos from this peninsula all the way to Havana – so naming it the Casino Coast. However, when Castro took control from the corrupt Batista, he kicked the mafia out, who then started Las Vegas in Nevada.
This peninsula has some of the most stunning coastline in the country and is mostly populated by a plethora of all-inclusive resorts focused exclusively on foreign tourists. There is of course the town of Varadero > which caters in large part to tourists from the resorts and others who stay in casa particulares.
OUR VARADERO EXPERIENCES
March 27
A beauty of a morning as we prepare ourselves to wait until the 15:40 departure of our Viazul bus…the Casa owner graciously agrees to keep our luggage, so we set off to do very little to next to nothing for the day! First stop: Jose Marti Plaza ….good benches and shade trees to sit and check out the “action”
….even taking in a fashion “shoot”:
….and, preparations for a performance:
… then a walk down Cienfuegos Boulevard….
Interestingly a lot of young men and women wear US flag oriented tops and dresses, although there doesn’t seem to be much positive sentiment for the USA > never did figure out this dichotomy. In any event next up is the rooftop terrace of the Union Hotel where you can sip a beverage as long as you want . For lunch we decide on pizza but there is a line-up and we kill some time “speaking” to the 9-year-old daughter of a family in town for a family shopping outing from their nearby town of Cruces… gave up after 20 minutes and searched out another spot for our pre bus meal.
One more sign encouraging the revolution:
…although this fellow did not seem overly enthusiastic…
…and then back to the Casa, got our stuff and the owner Marilu insisted her husband drive us to the station…would not accept any payment > interestingly the car is owned by 3 families and the cost of upkeep etc. is shared …..a sad-looking vehicle ….could not figure out what it was ……although probably unsafe at any speed, the owner insisted we buckle in !!!
Exchanged our Viazul voucher for actual tickets and waited for about 20 minutes, actually quite ok although the Transtour bus was nicer. Several unofficial stops along the way…..driver and assistant purchasing a bag of beans from a roadside farmer …
…..dropping various friends off along the way (each time this meant a full final conversation before carrying on) and one official pit stop for the passengers, quite nice and then onwards to Varadero arriving at 21: 00 > a 5 hour drive. A brief delay to find a taxi …for whatever reason the police do not allow taxis at the bus station……go figure. Our casa was a 10 minute drive away and the owners met us as the taxi drove up. Very nice couple with a decent room with modern fixtures.
As we were supposed to meet our friend Bob and his partner Gail, we went to their casa which was less than 10 minutes away. A bit of an experience as the area near our casa comprises 4 storey apartment blocks resembling the hood with latin music pumping out over the half lit roadway. Found our friends and decided to meet up with them next morning to explore the Varadero beach area.
March 28
Yet again a wonderful sunny morning, copious breakfast > we actually had a real omelette and fortified with strong cuban coffee we are off to meet Bob and Gail.
Our lodgings below and the local area which looked less intimidating in the light…
…after picking them up we walked onto the Varadero peninsula proper as it is separated from the mainland by a canal…..
and the first order of business was to secure a Viazul bus ticket for tomorrow as we are leaving for Habanna……we are informed there are no tickets for the next few days. The station below:
This apparently is not uncommon and there is a Plan B, namely collectivo taxis which take those folks without tickets. We make an arrangement with one of these hombres >>>> hopefully he will arrive at our doorstep tomorrow!
We opt for a hop on/off bus option (5 CUC each) to explore the peninsula and which you can use all day.
The peninsula itself is 27 km long but entry to the beaches at the resorts is limited to resort residents…..
…….however walking the beach is fine. The beach is truly beautiful (and it is for good reason that all the resorts were built here), with the water different hues of cerulean (we did not see any litter on the beach which was pleasant)……
After a nice walk on the beach > the sun is brutal, a rehydration stop at a local palapa was declared….
…..fortunately, or, unfortunately, this degenerated into a “pub” crawl Cuban style, as we made our way slowly to Santa Marta and our casas. The plan was to meet up for dinner but as the hours passed we completed the day by having dinner on the main drag of Santa Marta at the Patio Bar. Our friends had eaten there before so we were welcomed like long-lost cousins. Good food, 2 bottles of wine, good laughs and final mega shots of coffee liquor …..for a ridiculously low price and we bid each a fond adieu and safe travels.
……the night was not quite over as we underwent a traumatic event >>> the parting of our ways with Moosie…….our very pleasant young server came over and shyly inquired whether she could purchase Moosie for her little ninio……after some deliberation (reluctance???) I was strong armed to give Moosie up. She was quite excited….
…. and gave me a heartfelt hug as we were leaving. Well, the fallback plan is to have Ella who is visiting us in Florida to bring us a replacement > Moosie 2, for the continuation of our travels…….