Through My Lens - Cienfuegos, Cuba

Port of Call: Cienfuegos, Cuba, Old Town

The first part of our tour in Cienfuegos was a dolphin show. Now we found ourselves going into the city on our way to the old town section. Cienfuegos is laid out in an amazing grid of streets and boulevards. The boulevards have large promenades in the center with benches and trees--a gathering place for a bit of peace and rest in the middle or at the end of a hot day. As we passed a building reminiscent of our trip to Russia, our guide explained that at one time the Russians were planning to make the city nuclear powered and had built residential buildings for their employees. Of course when the USSR fell apart, the Russians pulled out of the project.

We stopped in the middle of the historic part of the city, Parque Marti, named for the poet, journalist and patriot, Jose Marti. Like the square in Santiago, this one was surrounded by beautiful old buildings. The buildings all had colonnades in front of them allowing for plenty of shade to walk from one place to another.

Our guide took us into the Tomas Terry Theater which was under extensive renovation. The story of how Tomas Terry became wealthy is tied into the slave trade. He was quite a business man. He bought slaves cheaply that were not in the best condition and nursed them to health and then sold them at a much higher price. His estimated worth at his death in 1886 was 25 million dollars. In 1863 he attempted to get his theater built but it was not to happen until after his death when his family carried out his wishes. A statue of Terry graces the entrance of the theater.

After we wandered around the parts of the theater that were accessible, we went back to the Parque Marti and our guide pointed out several buildings including the beautiful Palace Ferrer and the Cathedral. We were given some time to wander around on our own and Bob and I walked completely around the square which had several art galleries with local artists' work for sale.

The Ferrer Palace was built by a wealthy Cuban family in 1912-13. They eventually moved on to Havana but it is said that Caruso, after singing at the Tomas Terry Theater, went to his room at the palace and sang from the balcony. You could have heard him for free by listening on the square below.

While the cathedral looked impressive from the outside with its red domed top, the inside was not nearly as nice as the one in Santiago de Cuba. We stopped in briefly and then continued on our way around the square.

Ferrer Palace

Our time on the square was up and we gathered at our pick up spot to board the bus for our next stop. We drove through a place called Punta Gorda which had several large mansions built before the revolution. The architecture was quite beautiful.

At a place that looked like it was perhaps some sort of school for the arts, we went into a large room that was set up with chairs and we were introduced to a group of ladies who played flutes (and one guy who played percussion). It was quite a concert filled with nice music and a bit of humor. The ladies had been playing together for seventeen years. None of them looked much older than twenty-something.

A mansion at Punta Gorda

After our concert, we returned to Parque Marti and were given directions to the "mall" which was a pedestrian street lined with little shops of souvenirs and art work. The middle of the street had kiosk after kiosk of souvenirs. We found a small painting of old cars that we bought. We're not big on souvenirs but that would at least give us something to remember Cuba by.

As we neared the waterfront, we noticed quite a few horse and carriages waiting for anyone who would like a ride back to the ship or around the town. Tourism is growing and I think the Cuban people are beginning to get a good handle on it.

Port of Call: Cienfuegos, Cuba

Cienfuegos is most likely named for the captain general of Cuba from 1516-1519, Jose Cienfuegos and not for a hundred fires which is how it translates. Its population is only about 170,000 but its deep water harbor makes it an excellent port for imports and exports. It was described to us as an industrial city with colonial charm. I wasn't sure what to expect but what we found was truly charming.

The doctor is behind the guy in white. I missed the shot.

Our Enrichment Lecturer, Sandy Cares, had told us what to expect at this port for immigration. Something new was that a doctor and nurse might be stationed outside the entrance to immigration and may use an infrared thermometer to make sure no one who is ill is coming ashore. We've seen this done before in Japan, for one. As the day was already heating up as we approached immigration and we were in the sun, I wondered if they could get an accurate reading. The doctor and nurse were there but it didn't appear that they were taking temps.

While the immigration building was quite small, the process moved quickly. Bob needed to get some of the larger CUC bills changed to smaller denominations so he went to the exchange window and they were happy to do that for him.

We boarded our designated bus for our tour. I wondered if they were the same buses we'd used in Santiago. (The buses we'd used for our Christmas Markets cruise last year followed our boat up and down the river.) Our guide this morning didn't speak quite as clearly as the previous day's guide but she was still quite understandable. We would have about a half hour drive to the outskirts of Cienfuegos to a dolphin show. When we booked our excursions, this one was an alternative to spending a whole day on an excursion to Trinidad. We're not fond of all day excursions and this one would get us out in the country a bit.

Audience participation.

The roads we took were a bit bumpy but in somewhat good condition--better than some of the roads we'd experienced in Costa Rica. This area has a French influence as the founder of the city, Louis de Clouet was a Frenchman from New Orleans and there was a French migration from Haiti and many French coffee plantations were established. We didn't see any coffee plantations but there were a lot of mango orchards along the way.

One of the other interesting facts we learned about this area is that it supplies artisanal charcoal. It is made from an invasive plant that was introduced to Cuba from South America. In clearing fields for agriculture, the Marabu plant can be taken and carbonized and used as a good quality charcoal. It was the first export in 50 years to make it to the US.

The dolphin complex was very much like those we've visited in the states. Not exactly Sea World style but very nicely built for the dolphins as well as the viewing audience. It was an educational facility as well explaining the life and habitat of the bottle nosed dolphin.

One of the trainers explained their mission and answered questions about the dolphins. Considering the language barriers he did an excellent job. The show was amazing. Dolphins are just amazing in their own right. One of the things we remarked about however was that they used a lot of people from the audience. I don't believe they were plants in the audience but one girl did have a bathing suit under her shorts. I was just amazed that there was apparently no signing of wavers and the interaction with the dolphins was without a trainer in the water.

Once aboard the buses again, we were on our way to the city for our walking part of the tour.