Cuba Travel - Santiago de Cuba: Walking towards El Morro Castle

February 25, 2009, our last full day in Cuba had arrived. I had spent the night in Santiago and my local Cuban friends Maria and Manolo were ready to continue to be my tour guides. I received a nice omelette for breakfast and Manolo explained that he had not had milk for years. Cuba experiences severe food shortages, and milk in particular is in short supply. Only children 8 or younger are entitled to receive real milk products on Cubas libreta, the rationing card.




We were ready to head off to start our explorations and walked down to the port area where we caught a bicycle taxi. All three of us hopped on, and powered by pure renewable human power, we were wheeled past the Hatuey beer factory to the famous Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, one of Santiago de Cubas most famous landmarks.




I had to pay 2 Cuban convertible pesos (about $3) to get in, 1 peso for me and 1 peso for my camera. The Cementerio de Santa Ifigenia is a real germ, it features stunning architecture and beautifully designed monumental white limestone tombstones. Cubas national hero, José Marti, is buried here, and the cemetery dates back to 1868. One of the most well-known residents of this cemetery is Compay Segundo, who gained international fame with the Buena Vista Social Club and his most famous composition: Chan Chan.




We also watched a soldiers ceremony in front of a monumental tomb dedicated to revolutionary Jose Marti before we hopped into a local taxi, one of the ubiquitous 1980s Ladas, spartanic transportation at best, but it did the job.




It took us about 20 minutes to get to our next destination: Santiagos famous Castillo del Morro, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. More properly known as San Pedro de la Roca, this extensive fortification was designed in 1637 by an Italian military engineer and was built over an earlier existing fortress. Construction started in 1638 and took until 1700, with many stops and starts. This extensive fortification was intended as protection against pirates and is located on a prominent promontory overlooking the entrance of the Bay of Santiago de Cuba.




The view from the castle is outstanding and stretches along the southern coast of the island. The Sierra Maestra Mountains, location of so many of the key battles of the Cuban Revolution, lies to the west of the castle. During the last century, the fortress had deteriorated but was completely restored in the 1960s and finally designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, as the most well-preserved example of Spanish-American military architecture.




Now it was time to head back into the city and we hopped into another local taxi, this time an antique open green jeep without seat belts or doors, I might add. This mode of transport definitely had a very adventurous feel to it. We headed back into the citys centre and Maria showed me some local souvenir places where I could buy authentic Cuban handcrafted items. Before my workers bus was due to arrive at about 1:30 for my ride back to the resort, we sat down in the Casa del Té on Santiagos main square and enjoyed a couple of sandwiches and a refreshing beverage.




At 1:45 pm we boarded our workers bus and headed back to our resort for our last afternoon in Cuba. We spent it relaxing by the pool, watching a practice of our dance troupe and added a little game of table tennis before we capped off our Cuban adventure with a final dance performance by our talented dancers.




My week in Cuba had been a resounding success: after all I had managed to turn a bland all-inclusive resort vacation into an adventure trip with lots of interaction with the locals. My Spanish had greatly improved, I had learned so much more about Cuba, and I was sure going to be miss the sun and the lively atmosphere of Cuba. But I was definitely looking forward to some decent food back in Toronto.

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Travel & Events

Tags:

• Cuba
• Santiago de Cuba
• Cuban dance
• Horseback riding in Cuba
• Cuban culture