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Leaving Trinidad, my luxury Via Azul tourist bus crosses a mountainous area before reaching Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Avila on the way to Camagüey.
I would have liked to try an ordinary "ómnibus" that costs about the same price in pesos as the Via Azul bus costs in dollars (21 times less), but ómnibus tickets have to be purchased in advance and they are not sold to tourists.
I managed to get a ticket for the train from Camagüey to Santiago at the special tourist ticket office but it was an elaborate process. It was worse for Cubans and I gathered that some administrations had been infected by the same kind of bureaucratic controls that I had observed in the Soviet Union. What a pity!
The province of Camagüey is Cuba's largest and one of the most prosperous with its flat plain producing cattle, sugar and rice. This proud theatre testifies to the prosperity of the provincial capital in 1924.
In Camagüey, I stayed here with the Fernandez family that had been recommended by Madelin in Trinidad. It was a good choice, friendly people, (you can see some of the family members on the balcony), a nice room and a good location on Parque Maceo in the centre of the city.
Here is the view on Parque Maceo from the balcony.
Below, two more important landmarks, "Iglesia de la Soledad" on the left and "Iglesia Santa Ana" on the right.
I was lucky to be invited by Delgis Fernandez to celebrate new year's eve with her family and relatives. The first step was a visit to the market.
This fellow was selling yucca which is unfortunately unknown in Canada for it grows only in tropical climates (some is imported and sold in speciality groceries but most people don't know how to cook it).
Bocadillos of freshly roasted pork advantageously replace Big Mac hamburgers. I say advantageously because I have seen how big abattoirs and packing houses grind the worst scraps of animal tissue, fat and cereals very fine to make hot dog sausage and use the next grade of "meat" to make cheap hamburger patties for the fast food chains. Yuck!!!
Cuban fashion varies from modest ankle length skirts to highly revealing tights that are quite popular, perhaps because they're inexpensive.
These butchers selling pork did not mind having their picture taken.
And these, waved as they proudly exhibited their product.
The Camagüey market provides abattoir services not only for farmers but also for anyone who can manage to raise a pig at home.
It was interesting to see people wait in line while their piggy was slaughtered, gutted, scalded and cleaned before they took it home on their bicycle.
Here, Roque Fernandez and his wife Rosa Maria have begun to serve the new year dinner of, you guessed it, roast pork. I must say that it was absolutely divine!
The food was great, there was a lot of beer, I contributed some rum and we had a ball dancing to lively Cuban music. Here, Norge dancing with René's beautiful wife Dolores and Delgis' daughter Ealexis dancing with René.
The hostess Delgis Fernandez with her husband Vincente in the kitchen making sure that everybody has enough of everything.
Below on the left, Norge Barrera, communist party militant, with his wife whose name I forgot and Ealexis, and on the right, me dancing with Delgis' sister Maida, with Vincente and Roque in the background.
It was the best new year's eve party I had had in years! (Better than the previous one in Dali and the one before that in Conakry.)
From Camagüey, I took a night train that got into Santiago at eight in the morning. The train station was swamped with hustlers offering homestays and taxi drivers asking 5$US for the short drive to the city centre. I watched their antics with amusement and took a local transport to the centre for the equivalent of 2 US cents (A pickup truck with benches in the back that was much more comfortable than those I had used in Africa.).
I got off here, in front of the "Gobierno Provincial", two blocks from Parque Cespedes, the city centre.
This fine building, across the street from the "Gobierno Provincial", is one of Cuba's oldest museums. It was built in 1899 by Emilio Bacardi of rum fame.
Upon arrival, I walked the streets around Parque Cespedes and enquired at a couple of places that had a tourist room sign before choosing one on calle Félix Peña just next to the park.
This is the Santiago city hall, across the park from the cathedral.
And of course, on the other side of the park is the "Catedral de la Asunción".
This old church next to the "Plaza de Dolores" has been converted into a concert hall.
A little further east is the "Plaza de Marte", a 19th century Spanish parade ground.
Still further east, near the big Hotel Las Americas, I took this picture of a political propaganda billboard and wondered what our parks would look like with billboards glorifying our contemporary gods, the almighty dollar and the pursuit of individual happiness through flat out consumerism.
