Caibarién

Sunday, 21st February, 2010

The taxi was waiting for us when we got back from our tour of Santa Clara and the ride took just over an hour and saved us an enormous amount of hassle taking us from door to door, which turned out to be on the end of a peninsular. We would have had to get a taxi to the bus station to catch a bus at some ungodly hour then get a taxi from the other end to the hotel; so it was definitely worth the $25 cuc we bargained him down
to. The receptionist didn’t seem, at first, to have a booking for us; I gave her our passport’s then, without actually acknowledging that we did have a reservation, she got up from behind the desk and showed us into a room. She pulled the curtains across the large window and revealed that we were in a first floor room overlooking the ocean with a private balcony. The room is clean and tidy and not at all worn out; the bathroom is also very clean, tidy and almost new looking and promises to deliver water to 500C – now that will be a treat – and all for just $20 cuc our cheapest accommodation so far.

Our Rough Guide was accurate in its description of this ‘run down sleepy backwater’; but it was the ‘largely unaffected by tourism’ part that held the fascination for us. Most foreigners, it would seem, only breeze through Caibarién to visit the northern cays, the barrier islands developed specifically for foreign tourists, the only Cubans welcome are the staff!

After freshening up we took a walk back into the town to see what was around as the drive to the hotel had revealed little. We found ourselves in, what appeared to be, a fairly ‘shabby’ town with the occasional ‘well looked after’ building. There were very few cars around, just the Bicitaxis and horse drawn ‘coachies’. We were looking for was a shop where we could buy some water, ok – and some rum, as we hadn’t gotten round to it before leaving Santa Clara. However after a while of not coming across any such shop and with the day still very warm but fast heading toward the magic hour of ‘beer o’clock’, we gave up our hunt and instead went in search of the Malecon, or Sea Wall, as we had seen somewhere that looked pretty cool for this very important refreshment on our way in.

The young lady that served us – smiled, something that one expects elsewhere in the world but we have come to not expect here! We found a table where we could watch the locals enjoy their Sunday afternoon and just enjoyed for a while. The beer is the same price, generally, in all bars. After a couple we decided to make our way back and maybe explore another locals’ bar that we had seen on our way down but as we got close we noticed that is was closed, however, there was some very loud music coming from somewhere within the vicinity and so we set about investigating. When we found the entrance we realised that this was the ‘other’ hotel of Caivarién which we were entitled to go in and use the facilities. There was a swimming pool but on the other side of that was a large outdoor area which seemed to be heaving with Cubans out to have a very good time. Some had a beer but most had a bottle of rum and a can of ‘tukola’ the Cuban coke. We were the only non-Cubans there as far as I could make out but thankfully no-one paid any attention to us; so we just joined in.

Here we managed to purchase the water, rum and limeade we had be after. As the evening wore on we decided that we would go back to the hotel, shower, put some warmer clothes on and then eat before going back to re-join the fun. We did shower, change and eat but decided not to go back; we had both had enough by then. The dinner was not too bad, we didn’t get as much as we get in a Casa but then we didn’t pay as much as we do in a Casa; although on the menu, there was no soup available so we had to make do with the main course which was tasty and nicely presented; the accompanying salad had tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce.

The rain started before we went to sleep that night and it rained for the whole of the next day - welcome to the beach - again! We had come here for a rest but we had hoped that rest would be on the beach. This is the third time we have come to the beach and the third time it has rained! But if you are going to be cooped up hiding from the rain then a nice room with a view is not a bad place to do it and I spent the morning washing out all my dirty clothes and the rest of the day bringing the diary up to date. Tuesday, however, was perfect sunbathing weather. We spent an hour or so after breakfast on the balcony with a leisurely cup or two of coffee until the chamber maid knocked to service the room; and we spent the next few hours just lying around on sunbeds, Paul even went for a swim.

Our guidebook suggested that we would be able to hire a moped/scooter and ride along the 50 km causeway; there was also a possibility that we may have been able to arrange some diving; and so, getting bored with lying around we dragged ourselves away and took another walk into town. Unable to find any one hiring anything other than cars, which worked out ridiculously expensive (we only wanted a car for a few hours or so but we would have had to pay for 24 hours hire and the cars come with a full tank of fuel which has to be paid for whether you use it all or not) so we decided that was not an option. The other possibility we investigated was an organised excursion or at least a bus ride – neither of these were available which is surprising in that we can see, from our hotel room, the incredible number of buses that travel that causeway every day. The only other option appeared to be to hire an official taxi to take us there and back at $35 cuc each way, the same as hiring a car but without the fuel!

With this activity now clearly out of the question we inquired about getting back to Santa Clara to catch the bus back to Havana. The assistant in the Havanatur office informed us that there is a bus that leaves the town, at least one km from the hotel, very early in the morning and that there is, sometimes, a bus in the afternoon. Our only option, therefore, is a taxi back. We didn’t want to ask her to order an official ‘Cubataxi’ as they cannot be bargained with, they have a set dearer price. Regretting my decision not to book the return journey when we had the chance, we set about looking for alternative transport. We happened to come across the Bicitaxi rider that had dropped us off at the Cubacar office and asked him if he knew anyone with a car that might be willing to take us back to Santa Clara; he took our details and told us that he would get someone to come down to the hotel to discuss prices.

That night at dinner, the soup on the menu was still no available and the side salad had diminished a plate of carrot and beetroot. The hotel’s coffee machine had broken; the electrician had been called but would not get to them until the next day! The restaurant could offer us tea but had no other way of making coffee! The next morning at breakfast the machine clearly hadn’t been repaired so with nothing to loose we talked the waitress into getting the kitchen staff to make us a cup of coffee in the Espresso pot that we had bought in Havana the first time we were there. They were really sweet and although they did charge us for a cup each, we actually go a whole pot which gave us three cups each. Not only that, we were the only guests in the hotel to get coffee that day!

As we left the restaurant we had a word with the waiter, who could speak more English than the girls and asked him, in my very limited Spanish, if he had a friend with a car who might be willing to drive us back to Santa Clara on the Thursday. He said to leave it with him and he would get back to us.

Wednesday


After a little more sunbathing, well someone’s got to do it, we went back into town. This time we knew where we were going and so when we got a chance for a ride on a horse drawn ‘coachie’ we gladly jumped on board. These little vehicles carry eight passengers and, clearly, not many non-Cubans ever ride them in this town. Filling rapidly, everyone on board was really friendly doing their best to communicate even though communication was not that easy. We found our supermarket and purchased some more coffee and some water and then went and had some Cuban ice cream in the park. The ice cream was delicious and at 1.50 national pesos; which works out at about 5 English pence.


We walked around admiring the buildings. There are many wooden
sugar warehouses and some, what were once, stunningly beautiful building that are now regretfully slowly disintegrating, testament to its nineteenth century zenith.


Not one person in this town has held out their hand and begged for money and almost everyone has raised a hand and a smile. It is only since we arrived in Santa Clara that I have fallen in love with Cuba. If I could come to Cuba to teach English, this is the area I would like to come to. Feeling a little tired we gratefully accepted a ride back on another ‘coachie’ and when we got to the furthest place he would go he said the ride was on him. By this we were both very touched and thanked him but insisted on paying the tiny amount it cost to ride.

Back at the hotel, we sat on the beach for a while watching a school of windsurfers when our waiter came over and with him was his friend who has a car – a 1954 Dodge Boxer. Not a registered taxi, he gave us a price of $30 cuc,
I immediately bargained at $25, after all that is what the registered taxi (not a ‘cubataxi’) had charged to bring us to this place. He gave us this big long speech, which neither of us understood except that it was to say no. I countered with ‘that is what it had cost to get here’ and suddenly he agreed the price. We shook hands and arranged the pick up time. Later that evening we gave our waiter the $5 cuc tip to say thanks for the help!

Tuesday evening another European couple, German, had booked into the hotel and were sitting at a table near to us. We did our best to be friendly and informative and so when they came into the restaurant for dinner that night the four of us shared a table. These two are also a more mature couple; he works as a tour guide and she as a travel agent for a newspaper. They commented that the attitude of the rest of Cuba was very much the Russian way of communicating and it was then I told them that the older generation would have been taught Russian when they were at school where the younger generation are taught English and French. It seems they both speak passable Russian and so were now going to attempt to communicate with the older generation in that language. The ‘side salad’ this evening was grated carrot with a slice of tomato! With the restaurant coffee machine still not mended we invited them back to or room and we made them a cup of coffee – they supplied the rum!

Thursday, 25 February 2010

We didn’t have to be out of the room until 12 so we had all morning to pack up our bags and settle our bill. We stashed the bags behind reception and then sat out in the sunshine and waited to be picked up. It is now 20:22 and we are on the bus back to Havana to renew the passports, sort out the telephone line back home and pay some bills and then it is off to the other end of the island for our last few days and maybe even some diving.