Ruminations of an Expatriate

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Sunday, May 25th, 2008...12:59 pm

Cienfuegos

I returned Friday from a two week visit to Cuba with a brother, a sister, and a friend of my sister. We paid the obligatory visit to Havana, after which we took a rather uncomfortable, dirty ride to Cienfuegos in the back seat of a 1950s Oldsmobile. The car’s original engine and transmission had been replaced by a belching Eastern European diesel engine, which made for a dirty trip. The standard back seat had been removed and replaced by two facing benches, so as to maximize the numbers of passengers which can be carried along the car’s daily route from the Havana train station to La Playa máquina terminal.

Máquinas are antique USA cars which serve as taxis for Cubans and which are prohibited from carrying tourists, though more intrepid tourists may often find a driver who will transport them. The trip to Cienfuegos cost $70. USA.

Cienfuegos, located upon a sprawling, undulating bay on Cuba’s South coast and known as Perla de la Sur (the Pearl of the South), is the most stunningly beautiful city I have visited in Cuba. The city is very clean, is traversed by a wide boulevard, and is home to a number of magnificent buildings, one, featuring intricate Moorish and Gothic arches, is perhaps the most opulent I have seen in Cuba. The lovely central shopping district was designated by UNESCO, in 2005, as a World Heritage Site.

The City was founded by French planters who arrived from Louisiana in the early 1800s. Cienfuegos Bay, one of the most important ports in the nation, is accessed by a narrow passage from the Caribbean which is guarded by the Castillo de Jagua, constructed in 1745 to protect the bay from pirates.

Excursions to the mouth of the harbor and back, aboard a lovely wooden boat constructed in 1994 and piloted by the same fellow for forty three years, can be arranged at the marina office for a cost of $10 USA. The price includes two sodas or bottles of water, and drinks may be purchased from the on board bartender. If you visit Cienfueos be sure to take the two hour trip.

We stayed in three different casas particular, the beautiful rear patio/garden of one, which I had reserved before leaving Xalapa, abuts the harbor. I stayed in the casa of Senora Yolanda who, when introducing herself upon my arrival, asked if I knew of the Cuban song “Yolanda” and was quite surprised when I began singing it to her. Perla and Orieste, hosts at the other casa are very warm and took particular interest in improving my brother’s Spanish.

Should you visit Cuba do yourself a favor and spend a few days in Cienfuegos.