• February 11, 2014 Walking around Che city (Santa Clara)

    The first day in Santa Clara we walked up to Parque Vital and then toward the Che Memorial. We walked by a wall of cartoon murals by the municipal bus station(“Los humoristas declaramos Guerra a la guerra”, “Comedians declare War on War” ) some of them were priceless and could have run anywhere in the […more]

  • February 10, 2014 Off to Santa Clara

    We had breakfast and watched the painters start back at the color change on La Soledad. We were off to the Viazul bus station to get tickets and travel to Santa Clara. We should have waited and got tickets when we arrived but we didn't, and now we are paying for it. As more and […more]

  • February 9 2014 Sunday people watching, the ballet, and packing to go.

    We got the casa to phone ahead and there was no problem except that she had to call back, she thought we were leaving at 1705 not arriving in Santa Clara at 1705 so she had to call back to straighten it out. We were ready for a lazy day so we strolled down to […more]

  • February 8, 2014 Plaza de Carman, Art Galleries, Parque Jose Marti, and the Ballet.

    We are sharing the casa with four young ladies from Argentina. They are in their early twenties and traveling on the cheap. We were out early in search of Plaza des Carman and the church. We finally found the life sculptures that we were looking for, they are shown everywhere in advertising and we were […more]

  • February 7, 2014 Walking around Camaguey, noticing a bunch of Masonic symbols.

    Breakfast was good. The plan was to walk around, come back for a siesta and then dinner and the ballet. We walked around Parque Agramonte. The statue has a masonic masonic symbol on it. We walked up to the top of the Catedral Metropolitana and did a panaorama from the top of the bell tower. […more]

  • February 6, 2014 Camaguey Calle Republica, the Cuba apps, and the street celebrations

    There is very little English spoken at the casa, other than by the guests. The family lives in a very separate area from the guests so the casa doesn't have the casa feel. This is more of a hotel than a casa. The breakfast was good, but not as good as Lily's. We left after […more]

  • February 5 Bus trip to Camaguey

    We left Lily's on a bicycle taxi and got to the Viazul bus station. The bus left late and the bathroom on the bus was not working (not an unusual occurrence), by the time we got to the first bathroom stop Bonnie and I were the first off the bus, Bonnie dug out two coins […more]

  • February 4 2014 Final day in Trinidad, the Pottery place

    We had breakfast with a birthday cake and a present from Lily! Lily's birthday cake had a different icing than we were used to, almost a cocoa icing but an awesome chocolate flavor. We loved it, and I can't thank her enough. I got Bonnie a trip to Cuba for her birthday! Gave Lily a […more]

  • February 3, 2014 Getting lost in Trinidad, a museum day.

    It rained a couple times during the night and we woke up to close the window, then it stopped and it would get stuffy so we would open the window, then it would start to rain and we would repeat the cycle. The Casa has a nice sea breeze that cools it down nice at […more]

  • February 2nd 2014 Trip to the Sierra del Escambray National Park

    Breakfast early to get the taxi to the mountain. Lilly organized it for us (35 CUC). We stopped at a lookout that we actually saw the day we were atop the bell tower. Bonnie had pointed out the road to the Escampray. The taxi dropped us near the entrance to the hike. A LONG hike […more]

  • February 1, 2014 The train to Valle de Los Ingenious

    We had to be at the train for 9 am, both Bonnie and I thought it was a shorter walk from the casa to the train station that it was from the train station to the casa, could have something to do with the morning cool rather than the afternoon heat. We were ALMOST the […more]

  • January 31 Trinidad, Plaza Major

    Great and huge breakfast again, we kept the bananas for lunch. We were awakened by roosters all around us after a very nice sleep. We walked up to the old city of Trinidad, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Plaza Major, the center of the old town, is the focus of the tourists. We […more]

  • January 30, 2014 Bus trip to Trinidad

    We walked out toward Calle 37 and barely got 50 feet from the casa and was asked by a bicycle taxi if we wanted a ride to the Viazul bus station. He wanted more than we paid the car taxi, we declined, eventually he came down to the car taxi number and we agreed. There […more]

  • January 29 2014, The Bird Sanctuary

    We got up and went to the lagoon and saw lots of birds and plants. The guide's english was pretty good. She was saying that sometimes they see the national bird, the Tocororo, but it is pretty rare. We actually got a picture of one when we were at the Botanical garden and didn't know […more]

  • January 28, 2014 Cienfuegos Marti Day celebrations and the day of doors.

    No dance club on Monday night so this was the first good night sleep we have had in Cienfuegos. We were seriously talking of looking for another casa yesterday. We went up to Cubatour and asked about a trip to the Waterfalls and the Lagoon, 35 each to the falls, leave at 8 back at […more]

  • January 27 2014 Cienfuegos lay day.

    Another night of Night club and revelers. Bonnie was tired and so was I, we decided on a lay day. We watched the 1, 2, 4, and 8 person rowing teams and had an extra cup of coffee. This casa is much more like a hotel and has much more of a hotel feel than […more]

  • January 26, 2014 The Botanical Garden and the fort.

    We had a vegetarian omelet for breakfast, a one egg omelet with a cabbage salad inside. We were met at the Casa after breakfast by the taxi driver and his friend. Both Bonnie and I notice the driver slip his friend a commission. The taxi was an old Lada in OK shape The taxi driver […more]

  • January 25, 2014 Cienfuegos

    The night club next door kept us up for a while and then we were awoken again when the patrons left laughing and singing as they walked under the window of our room. Walked up to Jose Marti Park and toured the theatre. It was an impressive piece of work. We ran into the cleaning […more]

  • January 24, 2014 Off to Cienfuegos

    We had breakfast scheduled for 7 but we were ready early and so was Pepe so we were done eating by 7:10 We walked over to the bus station and it was a zoo. We were glad that we had our tickets already. It was a long bus ride to Cienfuegos. It was good to […more]

  • January 23, 2014 The Matanzas Hop-on Hop-off bus tour

    We finished breakfast and headed down to First Ave to get to the Matanzas Bus tour stop. The bus was a bit late and we ended up talking to a retired guy that had been coming to Varadero for years. He comes several times a year. It was interesting to hear his comments on Cuba […more]