March 29 A beauty of a morning……..yes, I know, those who have read our blogs, we are always complaining about great weather…..yes, it is arrogant !!! Sonia welcomes us with us a nice breakie and we talk a bit about their life…..her husband is a professor fluent in 4 languages, but is working in a…Continue Reading “Varadero to Habanna ……and back to the world”
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…Continue Reading “Cienfuegos to Varadero”
CIENFUEGOS SOME HISTORY………….. Cienfuegos, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about 250 km from Havana and 85 kilometers from Trinidad with a population of 150,000. The city was built on a peninsula on the Bahia de Cienfuegos, and has been dubbed La Perla del Sur (South). It was originally…Continue Reading “Trinidad to Cienfuegos”
March 24 Having decided to meet up with Andy we wandered down to his Casa but could not get in …most casas have grates and pretty heavy-duty doors, often without doorbells, so knocking and yelling are the go to plays. In any event we walked around a bit checking out his “hood”….. and came back…Continue Reading “Trinidad ……a Playa Ancon beachday”
March 23 We woke to the hysterical calls of the local roosters and the clippity clop of the horse carts on the street below …the dudes driving them looked like real life cowboys, albeit with a modern touch ……. bluetooth earpieces !! As usual, we heard the shouts of various vendors as they walked/biked or…Continue Reading “Trinidad…….touristing chores & plain old touristing”
TRINIDAD SOME HISTORY………….. Founded in 1514, Trinidad located some 260 km SE of Habana quickly grew and later prospered in a princely fashion from the sugar-cane industry concentrated in the outlying Valle de los Ingenios. The sugar boom that took root by the mid-1700s created a coterie of wealthy local sugar barons, who built…Continue Reading “Habana to Trinidad…….. and an afternoon walkabout”
March 21 Nice morning and same breakie…..decided to skip going to Hemingway’s house in the country ….bus ride seemed rather impractical and the taxi service was a little expensive given that you cannot go into the house but only look through the windows. Our casa owner Yali showed up and we made arrangements for a…Continue Reading “Habana Hop/Off Tour”
March 20th After a solid night’s sleep (not quite the 4 Seasons)… ……. and a good shower ….note the funky shower curtain: ……we head for the breakfast room which is a throwback to your great grandmother’s parlor: …………..unfortunately breakie was rather modest…..eggs and a hot dog being somewhat alien for us. But we are eager…Continue Reading “Habana Viejo Walkabout”
We would like to welcome our old readers as well as new voyeurs on this interesting combo trip >>> Cuba first ….a step into a Socialist environment followed by some rest and recreation in Florida and then a longish road trip home through the DSA (Divided States of America). Here we go again ……ferry…Continue Reading “Redeye Flight > Vancouver to Habana, Cuba”