Cienfuegos, Cuba

Cienfuegos, Cuba

We knew we had docked in Cienfuegos before we opened the curtain since the air in our cabin was foul.  It seems that every port has a refinery that spews out smoke and sulfur in prodigious quantities.  Since we were going to be on our own today we walked off the ship before most of the bus people and we were happy to do so because even our early departure wasn’t enough to guarantee that we wouldn’t be in a line for immigration.  This is a very small port and they literally have an immigration shed, just like the early days in the Caribbean. It had one x-ray machine and three or four immigration officers. They want to make sure we are not bringing any fruits, vegetables or other foodstuffs into the country.  The line took quite a while and it was really hot.  Someone said that were searching to make sure no one had any drugs, which triggered one guy to say, “Boy do they have the wrong crowd, unless they want my cholesterol medicine.”  Everyone then started to yell out what meds they had in their pockets and it was a giggle.  Very cool travelers and not much complaining.  

Once through, we were able to just walk into town, which was seven blocks up and six blocks to the right. The roads were stinky since they still use a lot of horse drawn carriages as mass transit, so between the refinery and horse emissions … well let’s just say it took our breath away.  The town itself is very small consisting of a central plaza with a lovely government building at one corner, a theatre on another and the obligatory cathedral at the end of the park.  There was a triumphal arc at the entrance which celebrated something important but I’ll be darned if I can remember what.  We had been told to go to the one museum in the town, which is really just an old building that is being restored, very slowly from the look of it.  The museum had just opened and we were the first visitors of the day so we paid our one Cuban CUC each (about $1) and started walking up the stairs.  Since we were the only ones there, I finally had a chance to speak Spanish to the docent and she was only too happy to tell me more than I needed to know about this building and its builder.  It was nice to be able to connect just a little, and Cindy and I wandered around and climbed the tower for impressive views of the city and harbor. 

I had purchased about two hundred mini tootsie rolls wrapped in American flag paper, thinking I would use them to start conversations or to show appreciation.  I gave one to the docent, who was genuinely thrilled to receive it, as well as the lady who was selling tickets at the door. We exited into the park and walked a bit before sitting in the shade and watching kids and parents going about their day.  I approached some parents and asked if their children would like a caramelo and they were only too happy to let us offer them to the children. Their faces just lit up and it was the high point of the day. 

We went into the theatre for a performance of a choral group. We were a bit surprised that they sang two USA show tunes and Oh Shenandoah, before doing four lovely little folkloric pieces.  The theatre itself was strikingly lovely and quite delicate having been build by a Scottish gentleman who made his fortune in Cienfuegos in the 1800s.  Then it was back into the intensifying heat of the day for a walk down the main drag, where we saw long lines for entry to the two banks, and a huge beauty salon/barbershop, which was really a cool looking place.  I had wanted to go in for a haircut but by then my shirt was sticking to my body and the thought of sitting in a hot shop had no appeal. 

We were walking down a long pedestrian street lined with outdoor vendors that led to the harbor when we heard the sound of a jet.  We, like all of the other people, looked up to see an American Airline Airbus 320 coming in for a landing at the Cienfuegos airport. Several people started to yell, American, American while pointing to the plane. It was like a scene from Casablanca where the folks waiting for an exit visa look at the plane heading to Lisbon and say, “Perhaps tomorrow we’ll be on that plane.”  We told the folks near us that we were American and conversations started to break out in Spanish and English, which was grand fun. We started to distribute lots of tootsie rolls and one guy, who said he was a teacher, wanted to exchange his one US Dollar for one Cuban COU, the convertible currency which is worth 25 Cuban pesos, the money that the people use. I gave him a COU but didn’t take his dollar so he took out a one peso and a five peso note for me to have as souvenirs since the one has a picture of Jose Marti, a national hero of Cuba, and the five has a picture of Che Guevara.

We headed back to the ship and we were really, really hot by now since the noon time sun was strong.  We beat the tour buses by about ten minutes so we didn’t have any lines to contend with. The ship was scheduled to leave at 1:30 but with twenty-five buses all arriving at the same time to go though security the departure time was quite delayed. From the AC comfort of our cabin we could see hundreds of people in the mid-day sun waiting to clear customs and security. It was an organizational nightmare and one that certainly could have been avoided. Those same happy travelers from the morning wait were now really unhappy campers.