Cienfuegos
26 June 2016 | Cienfuegos
Mark
I was awakened by yelling quite near the boat ~7:00. It turned out to be the men and women's crew practicing. There were singles, doubles, quads, and octets - the later with a helmsman. The rowers appeared to be college age. I wonder whom they compete against. It was certainly different than we had seen elsewhere. Apparently Cienfuegos is a more affluent city and less run by the tourist trade. (It is the busiest port in the country.) The graceful boats gliding across the flat water in front of the marina and the mansions on the water's edge was quite a sight. I took Sandy & Will in to the dinghy dock by 7:30 and they went off in search of veggies. I checked the fuel and decided I needed to buy some so emptied the 3 x 5 gal. jugs into the tank and went in to the fuel dock to refill them. $1.00cuc/litre. By 10:00, Sandy & Will were back with veggies. They decided that they wanted to stay in a casa particular that they had read about that seemed real nice and had internet access, so on my next trip in for diesel I took them ashore. We agreed to meet later at a 'Rapido' they had found on the pedestrian boulevard that had $1.00cuc mojitos that Sandy assured me were actually pretty good. By 11:00, Deb & I were ready to go see the town so we left dink at the dinghy dock and walked out to the main street and immediately found a bici-taxi into the square for $3.00cuc. The driver was really nice. He had family in Florida (doesn't EVERY Cuban?) and pointed out various sights along the way. The square (Parque Marti) is very impressive. All of the buildings are in excellent condition at least exteriorly. There is a large gazebo near the center that is a WiFi hotspot. How cool to be sitting in this ancient city (known as the 'Paris of Cuba' for its French influenced architecture) sitting in the gazebo and checking email and facebook with several Cubans. We had lunch at the Palantino, a taverna recommended by the guide book. It was right on the square and convenient, but the food was the same ham & cheese sandwiches that are ubiquitous here (and not very good). Oh well, the setting was great. As we walked around the square afterwards, we discovered that most of the ground floors of the huge colonial buildings were now art galleries, usually run by the artist or his family. Several were quite interesting. Extending both S and E from the square are pedestrian boulevards. The Rapido where we had agreed to meet was on the E one, but since it was well before 3:00, we walked the S one first. The center of the street was filled with carts selling the typical souvenirs and the sides of the street were lined with more art galleries. Deb looked in vain for a present for her mother. The E boulevard was quite different. Near the square, the center was filled with trees and benches and the sides were stores - but more stores for locals than tourists - clothing and even furniture stores. Further down, the center was filled with the Cuban version of food trucks. Apparently attached to some nearby restaurant, several carts were selling 'cerdo assada' sandwiches - basically pulled pork that looked MUCH better than what we had for lunch! There were also carts selling mixed drinks - mojitos, Cuba Libre, etc. - and beer - ice cold draft for $0.50cuc! And walking around with a beer or drink is no problem. We found the Rapido and it had a band playing popular music at about 110 dB! Sandy said it had been much quieter in the morning. It did have good mojitos however. Will was feeling a bit under the weather and had not come, and we agreed that if we did not run into each other before then, they would be back at the boat ready to go by 8:00 Monday. We caught another bici-taxi back to the marina while Sandy went off in search of internet cards. At the boat, I made blackened snapper which Deb actually liked and she made fried green tomatoes which I enjoyed - a good meal, just the two of us. I wanted to go in to the nearby hotel and see their Cabaret show which the guide book had highly recommended. It started @ 10:00 and went until 'late.' Deb was less enthusiastic about going out, but agreed. We took dink in to the dock and walked the couple blocks to the hotel. It hadn't started yet - "maybe 10:30 or 11:00" We waited in a beautiful open air lounge near the swimming pool. Hotel Jagua is quite the nice place! When we finally heard music coming from the Cabaret, we went back. Cover charge was $3.00cuc per person for non-hotel guests but included a Cuba Libre. Inside was dark with an empty stage and sort of bad MTV on multiple screens around the stage. We were the first ones there. Gradually the room filled - mostly with 20's & 30's dressed to the nines. Still no live show. After nearly an hour, I asked the bartender if there was going to be a show. "Yes, the video goes until 12:00 or so and then the live show." We gave up and left. I guess we are just not city people.