Cienfuegos – The Paris of Cuba ….. April 2013

Land Travel to Cienfuegos, Cuba:  14 - 18 April 2013

Back to Boat Jobs

After our few days away in the tobacco growing region of Cuba it was back to Balvenie at Hemingway Marina, Havana to tick off a few boat jobs.  One of the joys of being tied up in a marina is the availability of non stop fresh water and the joys that come with it – endless long showers, laundry facilities and the opportunity to give Balvenie a much needed bubble bath to wash away the crusty layers of salt accumulated during our wet and bumpy ride along the northern coast of Cuba.

The time came for more goodbyes, a big part of the cruising life. Stu and Steph on Matador were heading south to Guatemala for the hurricane season, David and Brenda on Bandit heading north before us to the eastern coast of the USA.  Happy hour was planned on the dock and all manner of instruments appeared, an excellent evening of music and merriment was enjoyed by all – wonder where and when the reunion party will be? 

shopping at the local market by the marina – don’t have high expectations!

Boat jobs completed we took the easy option again and booked tickets on the Transtur bus and got collected from the Marina Hotel for our next excursion.  This time we were the first passengers onboard so enjoyed an early morning city tour of Havana as we visited several hotels collecting the remaining passengers.  It was 3 hours down the relatively empty roads to Cienfuegos, a city of around 500,000 inhabitants located on southern coast on the shores of Cuba’s largest natural harbour.  Several cruisers that had sailed along the south coast had stopped here and enjoyed it so we decided to stop and see it for ourselves.  When the bus stopped we were the only passengers to alight, and there wasn’t even a Casa Particular owner in sight to tout for our business.  Either we had found a tourist free gem or it wasn’t worth the stop!

French Architecture but Cuban Heart

First impressions were promising, an open town square was surrounded by classic buildings.  French settlers came here from Louisiana, Philadelphia and as far as Bordeaux in the early 1800’s, they survived hurricanes to transform this area into a mini French city.  Neglected over the decades it has now been added to UNESCO’s list and is slowly regaining its former glory.  We found a shady cafe overlooking the square, enjoyed live Cuban music and had cheese and tomato toasted sandwiches for lunch – the only item available on the menu! 

Bank or Brothel?

Our next piece of entertainment was one we weren’t expecting.  We needed to  change some money so walked to the local Cadeca (Money Exchange), the queue was a mile long so we decided to try the bank instead.  We found a building with a “Banco” sign on it, windows were all tinted , the door was locked and a couple of men were waiting outside. 

We asked if it was a bank and they confirmed it was and said we needed to wait.  Periodically women would come out in the shortest black miniskirts with 6 inch high stilettos and black fishnet tights and take one person in at a time, very few people were leaving.  Interesting!

Eventually it was our turn and yes it was a bank, all of the staff were women and there must have been a competition for the shortest black skirt and highest shoes – we couldn’t believe that was actually their uniform!  We felt it inappropriate to take photos to share the tale!

On to Trinidad

We had a lazy morning catching a Bici-Taxi out the 3 km flat road along the harbour to Punta Gorda, the marina and anchorage.  There were some fine old buildings along the seafront, some rather dilapidated, some just hanging on and others beautifully restored – much was the same throughout all the streets downtown too.  Our downtown Casa Particular had the highest ceilings we think we have ever seen in a “normal” home, way over 2 regular stories, you can tell it never gets cold there. 

We headed for the bus station early afternoon and joined a mass of independent travellers waiting for the Viazul Tourist Bus to nearby Trinidad.  It was an absolute state of chaos,  no one had been able to buy tickets, there was no indication if there were even seats available, or even if the bus was coming.  We all just stood around patiently waiting, the bus eventually showed up, cash was given to a man in the doorway, we walked across the bus station and bordered the scruffy dirty bus – the bus left full but we didn’t leave anyone behind.

 Just Luck or Organised Cuban Chaos?  

Cigars, Salsa & Rum – Must Be Cuba ….. Apr 2013

Land Travel to Vinales from Havana:  09 – 13 April 2013

Off to Explore Rural Cuba

Following our excellent one day “reccie” trip into Havana we spent a day cleaning the latest layer of salt from Balvenie, organised our bus tickets for the following morning and got ourselves ready for our first inland excursion within Cuba.  In company with our friend Tony we departed on the tourist friendly Transtur bus for Pinar del Rio province and the small rural town of Vinales.  The journey almost retraced our steps along the coast, heading southwest inland but paralleling the ocean as we passed through rolling countryside, fields of crops, banana plantations and hundreds of mango trees dripping with big juicy fruit ready for picking – interestingly there was no sign at all of the onset of harvesting the thousands of fruit.

 

The countryside was interesting, there was a motorway for a good part of the journey but the roads were almost empty.  The mix of traffic we did see was entertaining - a blend of ancient farm machinery, horse and carts, taxi tricycles, motorcycles with sidecars, American pre 60’s cars, Eastern Block ugly boxes like Ladas and Skodas, Russian buses belching out the most horrendous exhaust fumes, covered trucks converted to buses jammed packed with locals, oxen pulled ploughs and the occasional “normal modern car”, we don’t think we have ever before seen such a diverse assortment of modes of transport!      

The area surrounding Vinales was declared a World Heritage Site in 1999 and as we crested the neighbouring hills and had our first vista of the valley it was easy to see why.  Spectacular mogotes (limestone rocky outcrops) burst up from the relatively flat valley floor, they reminded us of landscapes last seen thousands of miles away in Thailand and Vietnam, steep sided, rounded tops – very unique.  The valley floor was a patchwork of vivid colours, large fields of recently ploughed rich red soil, pockets of still to be harvested tobacco plants, crops of maize or corn.  It was just beautiful.

Time to Try those Famous Cigars!

Getting off the bus in sleepy Vinales in one piece was no mean feat.  It is written that there are over 700 “Casa Particulars” in the valley and just a couple of smallish hotels.  The Casa Particulars are Cuba's version of a British B&B, and it felt like all 700 Casa owners met the bus to ply for our business, and there were only 16 of us on the bus -  completely overwhelming would be an understatement! 

We ploughed our way through them and escaped to the town square for a much needed coffee, however this didn’t deter the hardy amongst them who still hounded us for our business – we had much sought after tourist pesos.  We chose a Casa (around $25 double including breakfast), dropped our bags and set off around town to explore.  There is just the main street really, its a cute enough place but the main attraction is the gorgeous countryside and of course when you live on the sea it is even more special to venture inland.

Mojitos, Music & Mountain biking with Matador


We had prearranged to meet up with Steph and Stu off Matador (who had travelled down the previous day) for Mojitos, the national drink of Cuba – Cuban rum, lime juice and water with as many sprigs of mint they can spare, rather pleasant really and at between $1.50 to $4.00 each (depending on where and how flash/touristy the bar) somewhat affordable, just like everything in Cuba.   We spent a few hours soaking up the atmosphere (and mojitos!), listening to local bands and even fitted in dinner along the way, it had been a great day. 

Next morning we farewelled Tony, he was off to discover as much of Cuba as he could in the next couple of weeks and would meet us back on Balvenie.

 
Meanwhile Stu and Steph had plans to do a 34km cycle out into the countryside (they have high quality folding mountain bikes and had already cycled 100’s of km’s in Cuba) so we hired mountain bikes and joined them for some very serious exercise.  We had done some cycling in Mexico but it had all been flat, not much in the way of training! 

This was a scenic ride and to reach the viewing points there was a serious amount of hill work involved, but we soldiered on and had an excellent ride out of town on the almost deserted roads.  We certainly tucked into the local pizzas on our return to town, small pizzas for less than .50c each at the ”pizza oven in someone's front room” stalls, great value and our standard lunch fare whilst out and about.

Morning Coffee & Cigars in the Countryside



Not to be put off by our gruelling ride the previous day the 4 of us spent the next morning on the dirt farm paths out of town into the real rural farm lands.  The scenery was just stunning, the locals so friendly, the farm paths peaceful & the weather extremely hot!  We stopped for “morning coffee and cigars” at a farm, an entrepreneurial local has built a small thatched shelter, served excellent Cuban coffee, sold farm produced organic cigars and honey, how could we not stop?

 
Most of the tobacco crops had just been harvested, this area is a large producer of tobacco for those world famous, top quality Cuban Cigars.  The farmers must sell 90% of their crop to the Government but the other 10% they are permitted to sell privately or smoke.  The cigars produced on the local farms are organically matured, must be good for you?! so it was time to see what these Cuban cigars were all about.  Every picture tells a story!!

 

Stu and Mark seemed quite at ease cigar tasting

Whereby Steph & I didn’t quite seem to acquire the taste!

 

Broken Bikes and Bus trip back to Balvenie

 

Our bus wasn’t departing until 2pm so we had time to venture further afield and view the Mural de la Prehistorica, a 120m long mural painted on the side of a 617m high mogote.  It took 18 people 4 years to paint and apparently they continuously repaint it, keeps people employed I guess.  Maybe it was just the angle we viewed it from but it was rather hard to decipher its meaning. 

 

Our return journey to Vinales was somewhat eventful, thanks to me.  First I got a puncture just after leaving the mural.  Luckily Stu had a goodie bag of spares and produced an inner tube from its depths.  After checking the tyre for possible causes we saw that the tube had an existing hole which had been tied up with a piece of string!!!  With tube changed we were underway again, just under 2 hours till bus departure.  Not more than 5 minute later I got another puncture, oh dear – no more tubes.  Mark gave me his bike and decided to ride mine back with the flat tyre and off he went.   

But as we all know bad things happen in threes.  A few minutes later I heard a big clunk and looked down to find a piece of the bike (which will have a proper name) broken in two, my gears and pedals were no longer connected to the chain.  In between walking, scooting along pushing it with one foot while standing on one pedal, sitting on it and free wheeling on the occasional downhill parts and sitting and being pushed by Stu (great effort) on the flat parts we managed to get back to town, very hot, sweaty, dusty and totally exhausted only 30 minutes before the bus departure.

 

There was quite a heated discussion at the bike hire stall on our return with 2 broken bikes, we offered $10 for the part but they just weren’t taking it, more people arrived, phone calls were made, voices got louder – all in Spanish of course, all we wanted to do was sort it out so we could catch our bus, but we must wait.  Eventually someone comes flying in on a moped with a list of part costs, they didn’t want to take the $10 because it was too much, $7 was paid, hands were shaken and we were on our way.  There was just enough time to grab a hot pizza and a cold drink before the bus pulled out – phew, busy morning!

Back to Balvenie in Havana

     

Classic Cars in Cuba ….. April 2013

Hemingway Marina, Havana, Cuba ~ 23.05N 82.30W:  01 – 09 April 2013
Mangroves and Muddy Shallows

Our first week in Cuba was spent day sailing along the north western coast, in hindsight maybe we would have been better doing a two night passage from Mexico straight to Havana.  The first part of the coast offered protected anchorages  but all were mangroves, so there was no swimming as there are crocodiles (didn’t spot any), curiously not even any birdlife to watch at sundowners.  We were inside the outer reef but there were no opportunities for snorkelling or swimming in the parts we visited, the best was out of our reach in very shallow water so we played it safe, stayed afloat and kept heading eastwards for Havana in company with Bandit.  We threw in an overnighter for the last 116 miles, the wind co-operated for a while and we were able to sail, albeit tacking back and forward, then it strengthened to 20 knots right on the nose, the current kicked in against us, the seas short and steep and when we had only made a net gain of 4 miles to the good after 2 hours tacking we surrendered to the elements and burnt some more diesel.   

Checking In ~ Quick and Easy

We tied up to the Arrivals Dock at Hemingway Marina at noon and so the check in process began.  We had been warned it was slow, drawn out process with a stream of officials boarding the boat – asking questions, filling in forms, possibly wanting “gifts”.  And yes all that was true but it was all orderly, everyone was extremely friendly, professional and polite, and as skipper says “once you have checked into the Andaman Islands of India everywhere else is a breeze”!   We were all stamped in and tied up to our marina berth by 2pm, pretty good going we thought – wow, we were actually in Cuba.

All Checked In ~ Time to Check Cuba Out

We met up with Steph and Stu off Matador in the marina, first seen in Turkey, last seen in Barbados.  It was great to catch up again and they showed us the ropes getting into Havana like the locals do by “collectivo taxi” for about $2.50 instead of tourist taxi for $30, great to have some local knowledge to get us started.  We had an excellent day in Havana, an amazing city bursting with life, colourful and vibrant, music blasting out of nearly every doorway – it was buzzing.  But Havana will deserve much more time and a whole blog posting so we will save that for later. 

We are off to discover what makes Cuba tick

Mangled and Munched in Mexico ….. March 2013

Isla Mujeres, Mexico to Cayos de la Lena, Cuba ~ 21.55N 84.49W:  16 - 31 March 2013

 

Close Encounters of the Unwanted Kind

After our week long excursion through the Yucatan Peninsula we had plans of a leisurely few days at Isla Mujeres while waiting for our good friend Tony to arrive, and then we would all leave on the next suitable weather window - destination Cuba.  But as we know things don’t always work out quite as you would like them and while onboard one windy afternoon we were horrified to see a yacht backing into the marina at full speed, heading straight for us.  The skipper who was helming, was not even looking behind him as the strong wind pushed him down onto Balvenie, his crew member and both of us unable to safely prevent the collision due to the speed of the yacht. The sound of our very sturdy stainless steel dinghy davits being wrapped around the other boats rigging was not one we wish ever to hear again, thankfully we were able to push them off far enough to not do further damage as they motored back out of the marina, the skipper yelling “don’t worry, I’ll pay for everything”. 

And so the Saga of the Dinghy Davit Repairs Began 

It is a saga that contains no funny moments and absolutely nothing entertaining so really there is little place for it on the blog except that it basically kept Mark busy for nearly two weeks (and I helped lots too)- removing the davits, preparing the area to receive the fixed (and I use the term “fixed” very loosely!!) davits, daily dialogue with the repair shop in person after the initial 3 day promised repair time kept stretching ~ and eventually when they reappeared having them sent back for more adjustments then reattaching and sealing them.  Getting them back together called for skills that only a magician might possess.  How to make this stainless bracket one inch longer, that one two inches shorter, how to get this screw through that hole over an inch away.  The repair is what one might call “an absolute botch job”, the stainless blackened and bent, the support brackets out of place, not a pretty sight but we are in Mexico, standards and the quality of available tools and products is a lot lower ~ at least we got the davits back before the Easter break.

Moving On

Tony arrived from New Zealand midstream in the repair process so he was able to have a few days enjoying Isla Mujeres and even managed a long day trip on the mainland and saw his fill of Mayan ruins.  We moved out of the marina once we were all back in one piece and awaited our weather window for crossing the Yucatan Channel and making landfall in Cuba.

It is almost due east across the channel from Mexico to Cuba and there is the Gulf Stream pushing all the water from the Caribbean to the Gulf of Mexico which takes you north ~ sometimes the Gulf Stream runs at over 3 knots.  We knew it was not likely to be an easy overnight passage and left with the best forecast we were likely to get with light south east winds.  We got about 40 miles out from Mexico pointing as far south as we could, before the Gulf Stream gathered us up and pushed us north, from then on it was a battle to lay the western tip of Cuba and it was a war we were never going to win as the wind backed round to the east ~ on the nose again!  Still, sea conditions were ok and the fishing was great, Mark and Tony hauled in three big Spanish Mackerel which netted us 2.5kg of fillets, excellent effort.   

As we closed on Cuba the next morning we could see another yacht in the distance rounding the southern Cape and heading towards the same pass as us.  An hour or so later we entered through the reef pass about 100 metres behind our kiwi mates on Bandit, they had cruised part of the southern Cuban Coast while we had explored inland Mexico, 27 days after farewelling them at Isla Mujeres we made our unplanned rendezvous on the South western tip of Cuba, couldn’t have planned it better.

 

Welcome to Cuba 

More Mayan Ruins & Charming Cities ….. March 2013

Touring the Yucatan Peninsular - Part Two: 10 – 15 March 2013

Uxmal to Campeche

We started the day early again, we didn’t anticipate that Uxmal would be as busy as Chichen Itza as it is off the beaten track in rather a remote location.  However it is still close enough for day trips from both Merida and Campeche so we were there at 9am to beat the crowds. 

The ruins are in a much more interesting setting than Chichen Itza, the surrounding land has the only hills on the peninsular so this added another dimension.  It was easy to see why the Mayans had deserted this settlement around AD900 due to lack of water, the ground was cracking in the heat, most of the foliage that remained was withering away, even the weeds were dying.  Just why they located here in the first place without a reliable water source seems an obvious question.    

We enjoyed the ruins, they were in much better repair than Chichen Itza and because of the lay out and the undulating land they were much more interesting to explore.  We spent a couple of hours there and left just before noon, there were no queues waiting to enter, no hawkers selling plastic statues or brightly coloured sombreros, and just a few small guided groups roamed the grounds.   

Upon leaving we rejoined the Ruta Puuc and drove to Labna, a site quoted in Lonely Planet as “the site not to miss”.  Maybe the good bits have crumbled away or we just didn’t  find them but after Chichen Itza and Uxmal it was very disappointing. 

We passed through Ticul a major centre for weaving and ceramics, dozens of outlets lined a busy street with not a parking in site, on the outskirts of town there was plenty of opportunity to stop but not a ceramic in sight, oh well. So we started our journey south, the countryside was a little more interesting and we went through a few small pockets of crops, banana plantations and orange groves, a welcome change to the dry bush.

 

Over the past few days we had been “coping” with topes. In other countries these are called judder bars, speed bumps, sleeping policemen and probably alot of other things, in Mexico they are topes and we were learning to hate topes with a passion.  It is an excellent idea to have them to slow the traffic down, but when we peaked out at 8 sets of them in about 40 metres we had just about had enough.  ALL towns, villages and shacks had them outside, bumpy ones, ridgey ones, big wide ones, small high ones that we would literally fall off the top off – must drive the locals absolutely mad but I imagine there are very few pedestrian deaths in the Yucatan.  Anyway, that is my moan about topes.

Modern Art exhibition in a pedestrian street in Campeche

It was a long drive to Campeche on the Gulf of Mexico coast (slowing down for all those topes!!)  With around 300,000 population its a reasonable sized town and the old walled town  centre was declared a World Heritage site in 1999.  Extensive restoration and renovations have ensued, several thousand litres of all imaginable pastel coloured paints have been applied to every building and although it was all very cute we felt it lacked soul, it was just a little too orderly.  Even on Monday morning with the shops open and people in the streets it still felt as if it was missing something.  Maybe I just wanted it to be more European – geraniums hanging from pots on the balconies, flowering vines and ivy clinging the the sides of buildings, washing lines strung out – something to give it more of a lived in feel. We planned to stay two nights and booked into the Hotel Lopez, the location was good and parking free.  But after having a wander around late Sunday afternoon and evening, then a stroll along the waterfront on Monday morning we had “been there, done that” and headed off.

Campeche to Merida

So we still had 3 nights left and we hadn’t originally planned to go to Merida – big city, busy roads, too busy, but cruisers are very flexible so we headed north on a tope free 2 lane highway, what bliss!

Driving around Merida was actually quite straight-forward, once we got used to all the one way streets, round and round we went – 2 blocks this way then 2 blocks that way, we tried a couple of small hotels which were both full then we spotted Hotel Maria Jose with parking, always a bonus, so in we went.

We stayed 2 nights in Merida, this classical cultural city has a lovely old town area, some of the buildings have been returned to their former glory, and some are a tad rustic – paint fading, plaster peeling.  There a many squares with huge trees, small parks and then there is the centrepiece, Plaza Grande “El Centro”.  The Plaza is surrounded by wonderful building - side walk cafes lie amongst tourist shops, banks, museums and local shops and the ever dominant cathedral watches over proceedings from one end.  There is a great blend of customs and cultures and a vibrant feeling to this area.

 

The Governors Palace (Palacio de Gobierno) and the incredible artwork inside

We visited the art galleries and museums housed around this classical Spanish style square then walked just a couple of blocks and got back into real Mexico at the local market, vendors shouting, all manner of wares for sale, roadside stalls selling peeled mangoes, chilli spiced peanuts, fresh orange juice, all smelling and looking very good.

Merida boasts live free entertainment every night of the year so we tracked it down both nights.  The first night was in the town square - young teenagers in costume danced for over an hour, they were very good. The second night was interesting, a few blocks out from the centre a band was playing in a square and all the mature local residents were out in force to party!

Merida to Tulum

We started our trip back across the Yucatan retracing some of our previous steps, more roads with topes, a bumping we will go!  We stopped at Valladolid for lunch, another pleasant colonial town with the plaza and church dominating the centre.  Then we turned south east and headed to Tulum.  Tulum is located back on the Caribbean coast, we had hoped to stop here on our way north in Balvenie but weather conditions didn’t allow it. 

It is the only Mayan site situated on the coast so the ruins have a spectacular backdrop of the azure Caribbean sea.  We didn’t arrive till after 4pm and they close at 5pm so didn’t get to see them first hand but it was an interesting stop off point on our way back to Cancun. It was the most touristy of any of the places we had stayed over the week offering white sandy beaches with good swimming and diving, Mayan ruins on the doorstep, interesting array of eateries, accommodations, and night life – and just a couple of hours from Cancun.

Tulum home to Balvenie 

Our last morning was spent driving up the coast the final couple of hours back to Cancun.  Although the road runs parallel with the coast you get to see very little as all the coastal land is bumper to bumper resorts set in very grand grounds with locked gates and plenty of security.  I suspect this is done more to make the tourist feel secure than out of necessity, we have not felt unsafe or in any danger at all during our time in Mexico. 

We successfully returned our wee car unscathed and were delivered back to the ferry terminal in time for the 11.30am crossing to Isla Mujeres.  By 12noon we were back onboard Balvenie at Marina El Milagro.

Yucatan done!