The Santa Clara long-distance bus terminal is a madhouse. Served by several bus companies and their routes, the ticket purchase queue is long & noisy. Those of us with Viazul reservations avoid this mess and stand by a door just inside the terminal entrance marked reservations (in Spanish). One by one, customers are let in to exchange reservation paperwork for boarding passes. Ours say 5 A/B however with most of the bus passengers starting in Havana for later stops on the route the first 2-seat pair is again in the back; seats 33 / 34 are ours for the 5.5 hour journey to Camaguey.

As chaotic as the departure is, arrival at each bus terminal is more so. People, mostly young men, shout “taxi, taxi, taxi” at you as you disembark, and follow you around while gathering your luggage even though you say No repeatedly. Others in the throng shove casa particulare signs in your face. Our reserved casa particulare, like the one in Havana, did the pick-up correctly. As we leave the shouting behind and exit the terminal a young man is holding up a sign printed with my name. I identify myself and he hands me a Casa Ormida business card. Jerry verifies the taxi rate, 4 CUC, and we’re off in his bici-taxi. Casa Ormida is a clean, newly decorated home in the central part of the historic district and just 1/2 block from the walking street, Republica. Our room is on the first floor just inside the shared living room. Ormida is the mom, son Liurber manages the bookings. Pretty sure they’re new at the whole casa particulare business as there was just 1 review on the booking website; it was a positive one and the other casas higher on my list were booked so I took a chance. Standard room, comfortable bed, very little water pressure in the sink but shower pressure is ok with hot water, small bar of soap in the bathroom (!). 25 CUC / room / night. The downsides are the house / building systems are very noisy, clamoring all night long, and the breakfast which is coffee / milk / sugar and hot water for my tea, fruit juice, a bland-looking fruit plate, slices of bread rolls, a plate of thick bars of gouda cheese and thin triangles of ham. No eggs. At 5 CUC pp / day we’ll go out for breakfast tomorrow.

The Camaguey historic district, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is easily walkable even though the streets are deliberately laid out in a confusing manner to thwart 17th century invaders; no streets run parallel. We locate the central plaza, the city centre of all colonial towns, lined with shops and restaurants, and from there the other plazas and sites of interest. Among them: Casa de la Trova (closed the three times we attempt to visit), Catedral Nuestra Señora de la Merced (built 1748, most important church treasure is the Santo Sepulcro, a silver coffin, constructed in 1762 with the donation of 23,000 silver coins), Plaza del Carmen (life-sized statutes of everyday people going about their ordinary tasks - see photo gallery), and Teatro Principal (home of the ballet troupe secondly only to Havana’s Ballet National; closed with no performances during our stay).