| CUBA VACATION
HABANA VIEJA
CIENFUEGOS
TRINIDAD
OUTSIDE HAVANA
VINTAGE CARS
D.R. VACATION
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The brochures call Cienfuegos
"the pearl of the south",
but they overstate its charms.
Admittedly it enjoys a great position, spread over fingers of land that protrude into a vast glassy bay, and it has some grand buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it was one of Cuba's most prosperous sugar-producing centers.
However, its port is heavily industrialized, making the bay's waters some of the most polluted around the island and marring the view with oil tankers and chimneys belching fumes.
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Paseo del Pradol.
This is Cienfuegos's main thoroughfare, whose rows of neoclassical, balustrade, and arcade buildings are painted every color of the rainbow. |
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Fabio.
This is my good friend Fabio, above is his parents house. I took this picture while he waited for us to follow him to a restaurant. He made a commission for each person he took to a restaurant or casa particular. He also got a 30 dollar fine if he was caught by the police touting these places.
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Our casa in
Cienfuegos.
These casa particulars have to pay a 250 dollar licence fee per month per bedroom they have for rent. Of course they rent 2 and declare 1, rent for 15 dollars and give you a receipt for 10. The world is the same all over.
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Goats feeding in
front of our casa.
The farmer brought his goats here every evening to graze, it also saved cutting the grass.
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A banked inline skate track.
All sports facilities are free, this inline skate track was a suprise to me. In all of Canada there is not one, in Cuba every small village has one and in Havana there are 8 such tracks.
There are lots of coaches and they place a lot of pride in their athletes. |
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Across from Jose Marti Park.
Around the center Cienfuegos' most stately architecture surrounds a pretty bandstand and a triumphal arch that marks the founding of the republic on large, palmy Parque Jose Marti.
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El Palatino Bar, two gentlemen from the Hemingway era.
The square's south flank is lined with a monumental government building, a good art gallery, a mellow touristy bar called El Palatino, and the opulent old Spanish casino (or social club), which, when restored, will house the local history museum. |
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