Letters from Cuba, June 2009 (5) Cienfuegos guide

Greetings from Cienfuegos, June 2009

Cienfuegos town plan    Photo: Ann Barrie

The smiling Miriam, who mixed our cocktails on our arrival at Palazio Azul, works long hours. She was on duty until after 10.30 pm, and then again from 7.00 am serving and cooking breakfasts.

We had the morning at leisure, and so we walked toward the centre of town, hugging the water and the shade trees. We saw numerous casas particulares and guesthouses, which is understandable, as this peninsula is an attractive place to stay. We also saw lots of men, often in uniform, training dogs, probably to become guard dogs; these dogs looked healthy and well fed, but most dogs in Cuba are very thin. By about 10.30 am, the heat was getting the better of us, and so we hired a horse and cart to take us back to our hotel. (Horses and carts also serve as buses, with scheduled stops, on this peninsula.)

Ann Barrie on Cienfuegos 'bus' July 2009

We were collected at noon by our taxi driver, and our guide, Ivien. He took us for a drink on the rooftop terrace of Palacio de Ville, and then lunch at the Cienfuegos Club. At last someone with whom we could converse in English! He said, ‘Ask me anything you like’, and so we did. Ivien is thirty. His paternal grandfather came from Andalusia, Spain, and married a black Cuban woman. On his mother’s side he is Chinese, Indian, English and more.

Ivien choses the technology-computer stream at high school and now works as a software engineer for Artex, a Cuban Government enterprise that provides souvenirs, postcards etc, and has links with travel agencies. Apparently, Latin American Travel, which organised our five-day tour, is an Australian company, but it has to work through the Cuban travel company Paradiso.

Ivien said wages are very low, and soap is a genuine luxury, except for people like owners of casas particulares who are mostly better off than the average. Ivien's tour guiding for Paradiso is in addition to his Artex job, and is partly to improve his English, but also, so he can afford to pay for the room he rents in Trinidad de Cuba. He would normally live in the family home in Santa Clara, but his work has taken him away. Ivien’s father is an engineer in the sugar industry and travels internationally; his mother is a school teacher, trained during the education drive after the revolution.

When I asked Ivien if he was happy living in Cuba, or would prefer to live overseas, he looked wistful and said he had a group of friends living in Miami. They got there illegally via other countries —he said that once a Cuban has a foot on American land, he or she can stay. Another group of his friends live in Canada.

Ivien said that Cubans, if they have the money, can buy and well pre-1959 cars freely. However, to buy or sell more recent cars, you need official permission. If you have worked overseas you might get help to buy a car.

Bill Barrie (R) and guide Ivien, Cienfuegos historic centre, July 2009

After lunch, Ivien took us on a tour of the historical centre of Cienfuegos. I particularly loved the Téatro Tomás Terri, and paid one CUC to look round inside. There were ornate frescos on the ceiling, a sloping stage, and seats carved from Cuban hard woods. Artists who have trod the boards here include Enrico Caruso, Anna Pavlova and Sarah Bernhardt. After our tour, we were driven by taxi to Trinidad de Cuba.

Titbits:

·      There is no mains pressure in Cuba. Water all comes from tanks on roofs etc.

·      Traffic lights are very faint in Havana.

·      All light bulbs seem to be the eco-friendly variety.

·      We’ve seen little in the way of garden cultivation in the bigger towns.

·      Drinks in Cuba include excellent canned and bottled beer (Bucanero is strong, and Cristal is weaker); strong coffee; wonderful fruit purées; and rum, of course.

Blog by Ann Barrie