February 14, nighttime, Arrival Holguin

There was a Dutch couple on the bus with whom we chatted for much of the trip from Santiago de Cuba to Holguin. They were visiting Cuba for a short while before continuing to South Africa. They were both doctors, and both had specialized in tropical medicine. Their intent all along had been to work in developing countries with organizations like Doctors Without Borders. They had already worked and traveled in southeast Asia and in west Africa. What a nice couple they were!

We arrived in Holguin at least an hour later than we'd expected — it was already dark. We fell into conversation with a friendly couple from Montreal, Maris and Eddy. (We meet them again later.) The accommodation we found in Holguin was ok, just, and that's the kindest thing we can say about it.

This is Valentine's Day and Nicole's birthday. It is such a big deal in Cuba! When we arrived, the parks and streets of Holguin were jammed with people, literally shoulder-to-shoulder, and live music was blaring everywhere. Sidewalk cafes were set up along the streets, but it was almost impossible to buy food because of the crowds. There must have been ten thousand people wandering around, and a good number of them were young women dressed to kill. We left the casa about 9 p.m. to look for food, succeeded only in buying ice cream and a couple of beers, and went home.

Tomorrow morning we will call ahead to some seaside places and decide where to go.

February 16, Holguin to Gibara

On the morning of the 15th, Wednesday, we left Holguin for Gibara. Gladly. Although it's a nice city, we weren't happy with the casa where we landed. We discovered that the room was not as clean as it could have been, we had our first cockroach visitor and some tiny ants in the bed. It was the home of an elderly widow who was quite poor and wasn't able to keep things up. She was also lonely and very talkative.

 

Fabulous old car seen on the way out of Holguin           Display marks the beginning of Gibara municipality

What a lovely ride! It's 35 kilometers from Holguin to Gibara, with pleasantly rolling hills and beautiful views.

As we rode along toward Gibara, a car slowed down twice, with someone waving frantically through the back window. We guessed after a while that it was Maris and Eddy, the Montreal couple whom we met at night in Holguin. They also were on their way to Gibara with their guide, and english teacher.. Even though the ride was fairly short, it grew warm as we cycled along, so we stopped for some guarapo. Delicious! Guarapo is the fresh-squeezed juice of sugar cane. It is very sweet indeed, but it tastes much different and much better than straight sugar in water. Served cold, it gives a real energy-boost. We each had two glasses! Right: cane is squeezed through something like an old clothes wringer to extract the juice. The photo below shows our first sight of Gibara harbour. Notice that there is a flat topped mountain in the background. Christopher Columbus described such a mountain when he first saw Cuba, evidence for the people of Gibara to insist that their town is the very place that Columbus reported. However, there's a rather similar mountain near the eastern port town of Baracoa, and people there also claim their home to be the place that Columbus first discovered.

Gibara, an old, weather-beaten seaside town, had changed since we were here last. It's just as weather-beaten, more so since the hurricaine, but there seem to be many more casas particulares renting rooms now, and a spiffy little boutique hotel on the water.

Waterfront of Gibara shows the ravages of many storms.

This area seems to be Little Montreal South. First there were Maris and Eddy. Then the first tourist with whom we spoke, when we were poking along Gibara's malecon, was another friendly Montrealer, Suzanna. She highly recommended the casa particular where she was staying. We had a couple of other places in mind, however, so we checked them out. In the end, the places we tried were full — in fact, lots of places in Gibara were full, which is a huge difference from 10 or 11 years ago. So we ended up in the casa that Suzanna recommended, and we're glad that we did.

It's Hostal "Villa Fakir," run by Dagoberto Sanfield and his wife Barbara, "Babi" (pronounced Bha-bee.) As casas go, it's nothing special physically, but the family and general atmosphere are outstanding. Right: Dago and Babi

Dago is a fisherman, but his passionate hobby is racing homing pigeons. It turns out to be quite popular here in Cuba. For example: this Sunday (when we'll unfortunately be gone) about 3,000  pigeons from here in Gibara will be taken to Sancti Spritus and released. They're all banded, and there's some sort of time-stamp system to keep track of their arrival. The first 100 pigeons to return are recorded and at least some of them win prizes. Dago says that when the 3,000 birds are due to arrive, around noon, the entire town will be outside watching for them, people clapping and cheering when the birds return. What fun!

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, Dago was training a new group of birds. He chases them away from their dovecote until a particular time, 5 p.m. in this case, forcing them to stay in the air and become stronger. Apparently there's quite an elaborate training routine, but of course we couldn't follow all the explanations in Spanish.

Left, Dago shows off one of his homing pigeons. Around sunset last night we went for a walk on the malecon and ran into Eddy and Maris. After a drink or two, they persuaded us to join them at 8:00 to visit a local drummer whom they met in the afternoon. We did so, bringing Suzanna along as well. We ended up in a Cuban home; one of two brothers was an accomplished drummer who gives classes at the local casa de cultura. A fair amount of rum was consumed, especially by Eddy who was well out of it, but it was fun. Also appearing at the house was a young couple, also from Montreal, who had cycled from Holguin. They were using our book, and once again we were treated like celebrities. This is really good for the old ego! Photos taken and so on. The young couple from Montreal, Dora and Sasha, were delightful people. (Photo below right.) Keeping count, of the tourists we have met in Gibara so far, five out of five are from Montreal.

This morning, we and Suzanna met Dora and Sasha at a little boat that ferries people across the bay, where there are a couple of small beaches. The beaches weren't much, but the company was good. After acquiring our first minor sunburn, we returned to Gibara and arranged to meet for drinks in the evening.

The boat that crosses the bay of Gibara                            Dora and Sasha on board   

Barbara and Suzanna, windblown                              Two more passengers  
       

Barbara and I returned to our casa for dinner, where Babi served an outstanding meal. All told, we're enjoying Gibara immensely. It's very relaxed, with genuinely friendly people, little changed by tourism, the "real Cuba" that one wants to experience.

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