Taxi amigo? Taxi? Amigo, taxi?

Our next stop was Cienfuegos, about 7 hours from Viñales. Cubans can’t take the tourist busses so they’re all crammed on older and more run down busses, pressed up against the doors and windows as they squeeze more and more people on board. It's pretty uncomfortable.

Cienfuegos is the French inspired city in Cuba, with 19^th century French architecture pretty much everywhere. It’s another UNESCO city (to be honest, they all seem to be) but with a gritty vibe to it. Our casa was out of the city a bit, down the malecón and towards the sea wall. The owners were the only endearing feature of Cienfuegos where we were constantly hassled by touts, ripped off by taxi drivers, and sold tickets for the bus begrudgingly by the surly bus station manager after two trips to the bus station. I think the trouble was that we were reliant on the local systems in Cienfuegos. If you need something, Cuba can be an incredibly frustrating place to be. If you don’t need anything, it’s positively charming.  

We arrived in Trinidad on the 13^th. Trinidad is still full of touts, but is more relaxed, and a lot prettier than Cienfuegos. It’s looks as if nothing much has changed since 1840 here; the streets are still cobbled, the houses are still standing where they were built (some barely) and the horses and carts are still a common mode of transport.  

There’s not a lot to do in town – the museums don’t offer much beyond some more revolutionary rhetoric and a lot of rooms selling Che post cards and memorabilia. But the atmosphere is enough to charm you into wanting to stay for longer. The music is particularly good, with an outdoor amphitheatre near the town square playing live music from the late afternoon until late at night. The Cubans have got impressive rhythm.  

Camagüey was the next stop and it was noticeably hotter than the other cities so far. In its original location, the city was attacked by pirates so often that they had to move inland where they designed the city layout to ensure any further pirates got thoroughly lost in the labyrinthine streets. It’s also Cuba’s Catholic centre with a heap of old churches, some of which have been around since the city was founded in around 1514. In total contrast to the Catholic soul of the city, we stumbled upon a truly bizarre explicit art exhibition that would make even the most liberal/open-minded art critic blush. It definitely needed some sort of warning before entry. Luckily, we also found the working studio of one of Cuba’s celebrated contemporary artists – a nice change from the Chevrolets and Che Guevara portraits everywhere.

After a few days here, the next stop was Santiago de Cuba where it was allegedly even hotter, and the touts even more aggressive with their calls of  “Taxi amigo? Taxi? Taxi amigo? Amigo – taxi?” So far we’ve found the best way to get rid of them is the classic Kiwi “Nah bro”. Must be something about the accent that gets the message across. 

Cienfuegos architecture

"Cienfuegos is the city that I like the best"

The old cemetery in Cienfuegos where the bodies are interred in the walls because the water table is too high - hmm.  

Typical Cuban bus service with faces squashed up against the windows and doors

The new spelling of our names

Spooky Santeria Museum in Trinidad - this is for the goddess of the sea, apparently

Trinidad taxis

Swimming in the Topes de Collantes

Trinidad

Two of the three triplets we befriended in Trinidad

View from the rooftops in Trinidad

Casa Musica in Trinidad

Esther, one of our hosts, sorting rice in Trinidad

Street art in Camagüey

Fidel's super cheap ice-cream chain in Cuba, Coppelia

One of the friendlier bici-taxi drivers around town. He asked Hamish to take a photo of his bici-taxi when he saw him taking photos of others. He said his had the best painting on it.