Day 2: Caibaríen / Remedios / Cayo Santa Maria
- After an early breakfast at the hotel, depart for Caibarién
- Meet with members of a local community print shop
- Meet with local children and the head artist at the community project “Color de Miel”
- Board a vintage train to the town of Remedios, en route stop at a
traditional Cuban restaurant where you will enjoy an typical Cuban meal
- Tour Remedios by “bicitaxi” and meet with local residents at the
town warehouse. Participate in a discussion about Parrandas, the
traditional carnival of Remedios
- Return to hotel Melia Las Dunas
After breakfast, we piled into our bus and headed for the town of
Caibarien, a town with a population of about 37,000 people, about 30 miles away. All of the buses we saw in Cuba were made in China, under the brand name of Yutong. Also, about half the tourist buses we saw were from Transgaviota, which I assume is a government tourist agency. All of the others were owned by another company (whose name I don't remember), presumably also a government outfit.
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| Some scenery on the way to Caibarien. Excuse the reflection off the bus window. |
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| Horse taxis on the way to Caibarien |
Our first stop in Caibarien was a print shop, run by the government, that was still using equipment from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I'm not entirely sure why they chose to showcase the shop, since it was not a private enterprise, and certainly didn't showcase cutting-edge Cuban technology--in fact, just about all of the equipment was manufactured in the United States. The head of the shop explained the printing process in Spanish, and our Cuban guide Lily translated.
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| Outside the print shop |
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| One of the managers of the shop showing us machinery |
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| Inside the print shop |
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| Cutting edge technology |
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| The Print Shop Boys |
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| Across the street from the print shop |
After the visit to the print shop, we had about 15 minutes to wander around the Caibarien town square.
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| In the town square |
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| Catholic Church |
There were a lot of families in the main square and several youth groups, including a martial arts class, and a baseball team.
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| A martial arts class |
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| Demo from the class |
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| Local beisbol team |
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| Street construction on the main square |
We then headed back through the streets of Caibarien to our next stop.
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| Back streets of Caibarien |
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| One of the nicer houses in Caibarien |
Our next stop was Project Color Miel (Color Honey), a cooperative on the ourskirts of Caibarien. The project seemed to be a combination of a honey "farm" and art collective.
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| The head of the project |
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| A seminar in beekeeping and honey making. |
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| Honey in the honeycomb. I ate some, but Brenda deferred. |
The back yard of the art collective had (as you might expect) a lot of art. The quote from Woody Allen seems to be very popular, but the literal translation is "
Things did not say, are because they say to them alone." If anyone has a translation that makes sense, let me know.
One of the neat parts about visiting the art colony was going into the house where it was headquartered. From what I could tell, the interior of the house was pretty typical, except for the overabundance of art. So, it appears that even though the exteriors of most buildings are in terrible shape, the interiors are not so bad. Our guide explained that this is because the government is responsible of the upkeep of the exterior of the building, while the resident is responsible for the interior.
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| In the kitchen |
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| In the main room |
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| The street in front of the art colony |
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| Some local citizens headed for an undetermined activity involving chickens. |
Our next stop (it was still late in the morning) was the Sugar Cane Museum, also near Carbarien. The museum is housed in an old sugar factory that is no longer being used. It also contains a collection of locomotives.
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| Entrance to the museum |
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| In the yard of the museum |
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| Our guide and a museum guide extracting juice from sugar cane |
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| Machinery in the factory--this was made by the Fulton Steamship Company. |
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| More artistic machinery |
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| This is what sugar cane looks like. |
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| Che says, "eat more sugar"! |
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| Part of the locomotive display |
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| More locomotives |
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| A working steam engine |
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| Choo-choo Charlie? |
At this point, I should mention that virtually everyone that we encountered in Cuba broke into a big smile when I pointed a camera at them. And they didn't ask for money!
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| The engine looks to be barely held together |
While I was contemplating whether the steam engine would explode in my face, we were told to get on the train, for a 5-mile trip to where we were going to eat lunch. Fortunately, we weren't in the engine, although I was anticipating a long walk through the Cuban countryside after it broke down.
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| On the train, safely away from the locomotive |
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| Cuban countryside from the train |
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| More countryside |
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| More countryside |
Despite my fears, we arrived at the restaurant (El Curujey) in a few minutes.
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| Restaurant sign and merchandise |
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| Entrance to the restaurant |
Lunch was typical Cuban food (chopped pork, shredded beef, rice and black beans, plantains, etc.) served family style. Highly edible, if not gourmet stuff.
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| At the table |
There were two things in common about every restaurant we went to. They gave us free mojitos, and there was a Cuban band playing. There also appears to be a government regulation that requires all bands to play "Guantanamera".
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| Cuban band playing (undoubtedly) "Guantanamera" |
After lunch, we headed (by bus) to the town of
Remedios. Remedios is noted for "Las Parrandas", a Christmas festival that is similar to Mardi Gras. When we arrived at the main square, there was a fleet of bicycle taxis there to meet us and take us to the building where they build and store the floats used in the Las Parrandas parades.
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| Bicycle taxis awaiting us in Remedios |
We began the trip by circling the main square, Plaza Isabel II.
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| Plaza Isabel II |
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| "Iglesia Mayor" of San Juan Bautista |
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| "Iglesia Mayor" of San Juan Bautista |
The next several shots were taken in the streets of Remedios on our way to view the Las Parrandas floats.
Eventually, we arrived at the warehouse where the floats were built and stored. We then got a seminar on the Las Parrandas celebration and float construction.
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| Arrival at the warehouse |
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| Some parade floats |
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| More parade floats |
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| An explanation of Las Parrandas |
After learning about Las Parrandas, we headed back to the main square for a few minutes of souvenir shopping. Here are a few more shots of Remedios taken on the way.
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| Che and old American cars dominate the souvenir stands |
We then had a few minutes to admire the architecture and automobiles around the main square.
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| I think this is a 1954 Packard |
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| A 1956 Chevy |
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| A 1951 Moose and a 1954 Packard |
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| A 1958 Chevy (I think) |
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| Inside the Chevy |
As mentioned earlier, Cubans are quick with a smile when they see a camera.
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| Well, not all of them |
From Remedios, we headed back to the hotel. In all of Cuba, we saw no billboards advertising products, but we saw plenty advertising the revolution.
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| Back at the hotel bar with a horde of Canadians |
After we got to the hotel, we still had a couple of hours to visit the beach, which was excellent. Free mojitos didn't hurt.
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| Pathway to the beach |
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| Communist cat |
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| A Cuban beach (albeit at a resort hotel) |
Dinner was at a buffet restaurant at the resort. Food was plentiful, and the wine was free. After dinner, we enjoyed some Cuban music and (watched) salsa dancing. Then back to the bar for more mojitos.
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| Cuban band playing (undoubtedly) "Guantanamera" |
Next: Day 3 --
Santa Clara again, and on to Havana
