Cuba, si! (January 2019)--Two days in Cienfuegos

In my previous post you would have seen our two-day exploration of Havana, Cuba. (If you haven't yet seen it and would like to, it's posted below this presentation in my blog.) This time we'll visit Cienfuegos, which we reached after a day at sea aboard the Azamara ship, "Journey." While Havana is located toward the western end of Cuba on its north shore, Cienfuegos is situated more toward the middle of the island on its south shore. We entered a large bay, then sailed north several miles until we reached the dock Wednesday morning, January 9, 2019.

Cienfuegos is a medium-sized city (150,000 population), settled at first by indigenous people, then by the French (1819). It sports an attractive downtown built around a city park, with some of its architecture displaying a French influence. Away from the center of town, however, buildings are crumbling and people are poor. Dogs and cats fend for themselves. Sheila and I saw this in our walk around the city. No tours this time.

Once again we found a Cuban shore visit to be pleasant, as we had in Havana. In Cienfuegos we were never interrupted by police or other officials. We presented our visas at the port and were free to walk wherever we wanted, no questions asked.

Now come along and stroll through Cienfuegos with Sheila and me . . .

At 6:45 a.m. we entered the narrow inlet that took us to that large bay (Bahia de Cienfuegos) where the city is situated at the north end. We passed a village. The sign, according to Google Translate, reads "Nests Socialist Cuba." Surely there's a different meaning for "nidos" ;-) A friend saw this and suggested the left end of the wall is missing and probably had been painted "BIENVE," which, with "NIDOS," would spell BIENVENIDOS: "Welcome."

Castillo de Jagua, built 1742 by King Philip V of Spain to protect Cienfuegos from pirates! We were not fired upon.

An interesting waterside building. A restaurant and/or bar, apparently.

We've now passed out of the inlet and are entering the enormous bay, northbound. Cienfuegos lies ahead.

Approaching the port of Cienfuegos, this scene is of a peninsula jutting out from the mainland.

A flock of black skimmers greets us as we approach our dock. Each skimmer's beak is marked with a red band.

As our ship maneuvers 90 degrees while approaching the dock, we get this due-south view from our balcony. A ship approaches in the distance, to the right.

Behold, Cienfuegos, its cathedral dome glowing as the sun rises.

Following us through the bay was the Holland America cruise ship, "Veendam." The small boat is a ferry from that ship taking passengers ashore because the "Veendam" was not able to arrange space at the dock. We arrived first, so we won the city's only space for a large vessel.

Now tied up at the dock, this is our view of Cienfuegos from the upper deck. At one time there must have been an enormous amount of maritime freight-handling activity in this large open space, which once was served by a railroad; we saw what remained of its tracks.

It's now 11 a.m. and away we go. Sheila leads her photographer toward the small orange building where officials will inspect our visas before allowing us into town (photo below).

Upon clearing the port we walked to the town square. Once again as in Havana, we found ourselves amidst a fleet of vintage American automobiles--and once again, they'd been repainted in eye-popping colors.

A delightful pedestrians-only shopping street.

"Che--Gentleman without fault and without fear."

Despite all those brightly-colored vintage cars converted into taxis, there's a thriving business in horse-drawn, open-air taxis. You'd think we were in 19th century Poland.

The old railroad depot in the midst of a slow restoration.

Looks a little different from that pedestrian street in the middle of town, huh? This is the scene as we headed back into town from the train station. You don't have to walk far to encounter scenes like this.

As this schoolgirl walks by with her book sack, images of Che Guevera and another Cuban hero glare down from an upper porch.

Happy, animated, chattering grade-school children await their school bus.

Biting my tongue. No comment!

Back aboard our ship for the evening's event, a dance where everyone dresses in white.

An excellent singing group and live band provided music and fun.

Our newly-made friends from Calgary, Alberta--Wendy and Jenny--dance with Sheila. Having two left feet, I danced with my camera.

How could they possibly end this evening without "Yyyyyy-M-C-A!!!"

Next morning at 7:30, from our window we spotted this sailboat approaching.

Good heavens, what a beauty! This was the Tauck Cruises three-master, "Le Ponant," 290 feet long, accommodating 60 passengers and a crew of 30. No wind this morning so they motored in.

After breakfast we disembarked after studying a map and deciding to visit the city cemetery (we're amateur genealogists) just to see what it was like. Walking through a typically poor part of town, Sheila is pressed upon by the man in red to take his buddy's horse-drawn taxi, but she declines. We continued on foot.

The old cemetery had no historic markers or even signs to tell its story, but it appeared well over 100 years old. It consists of a completely walled-in original area with an outside section for later expansion. The following photos speak for themselves.

Leaving the cemetery and headed toward town, we pass through another typically poor neighborhood.

We arrive at Jose Martí Park in the center of Cienfuegos.

As we walk back to the ship, we pass an impromptu outdoor barber--his mom--snipping away in cooler air and better light.

A phone booth! And it's operational, probably because we saw very few locals stumbling along staring at smart phones--not that they wouldn't if they could.

Sheila says "¡Hola!" to this perro--to the amusement of the mom behind her.

Before boarding for departure, we chat with a couple from our ship to compare what we'd seen in Cienfuegos. Sheila and I apparently were the only passengers who visited a cemetery and spoke Spanish to dogs.

With all aboard at 6:00 p.m. we prepare for the ship's thrusters to push us away from the dock.

This little guy watched as we slowly backed away. His owner is a port guard who spends his day in a phone booth-sized shed a hundred or so feet away.

A pretty sunset accompanies our departure as we head across the bay and out to sea. So long to Cienfuegos . . .

Thanks for looking! In another week or so I'll upload photos from our visit to Santiago de Cuba, where we visited the famous San Juan Hill (Spanish-American War) and a changing of the guard at the memorial graves of Jose Martí and (drum roll) Fidel Castro.

John