Today we are off to see the wizard - I mean, off to the big city, Havana. We've had a relaxed weekend in Cienfuegos, although the Captain did get quite distressed when we discovered there is a local beer shortage. Apparently there are problems with the manufacturing of the main brands of beer, so we couldn't find any in the stores and we've seen people walk out of restaurants with dozens, because they can't get it anywhere else. Fortunately, there's always mojitos...
 |
| Remember the mountains in the last post? Well, these are the same ones, but seen from the north side. |
 |
| Lots of Spanish style architecture with pretty little courtyards inside buildings, like this one. |
This weekend's touring included visiting a graveyard, (where one grave was broken open and had a chicken's nest complete with egg down inside - haunted egg?) walking past the "train garden," which had old coal locomotives parked on tiny bits of railway track, and finding the naval museum which had missiles and other curiosities, but was closed, so our tour was limited to peeking over the wall.
 |
| Apparently the cemetery is not always open to the public, but it was Mother's Day when we visited, so we could go inside. |
Should you ever happen to visit Cuba, might I recommend a bicycle taxi? They are way fun, for 2 dollars we can have 15 minutes of transportation in style, riding along in the back seat to sounds of Whitney Houston and Bryan Adams. We've even contemplated paying the driver to sit in the back, while one of us pedals just for fun.
 |
| Cienfuegos has an oil refinery, and apparently back in the pre-socialist days, a bunch of oil barons had nothing to spend their money on except fancy houses like this one - Palacio Azul |
 |
| And this one, once a Palacio, now a restaurant. |
Today's method of transportation will be a bus for 5 hours to Havana, although we've been promised toilets and air conditioning. We will take the Spot Tracker, but not Diva, so you can watch for us on the map. Hasta luegos!
P.S. Did I tell you that Cuban customs officials have regulation green socks? How do I know this? Well, the officer and the dog handler came on board to inspect with the sniffer dog, and politely took off their shoes to go down into the main cabin, revealing the snazzy socks. After the sniffer dog (who we've met before) completed his job, he was assigned a corner in the cockpit to wait. He is a very enthusiastic springer spaniel, and he cuddled up to me, either for company, or to not-so-gently shove me over on the cushion, so he could have some too!
